PESHTIGO – Sitting just 25 minutes away from Denmark’s capital of Copenhagen, Køge has approximately 30,000 residents — including Victoria Larsen, an exchange student whose host family is based in Oconto Falls.
Larsen stays in touch with her family back at home, but is also enjoying her time here. She said her 21-year-old only sister lives only 10 minutes away from her back at home, but the time difference can play a factor now in Wisconsin.
“We text each other on Mondays, but sometimes I’m in school while she is about to go to bed due to the time difference,” Larsen explained.
Larsen’s family also includes her mom, who is a single parent following the passing of her father three years ago.
Larsen shared that she misses her father, but said, “It’s great to have a second home, a second family here in the U.S.”
The United States, Australia and New Zealand were among the initial options offered by agencies that Larsen was able to explore with her mom. Larsen made it a priority to find a good-fitting family.
“I did not want to go to a big town because I wanted to experience what a U.S. teenager would experience.”
This year would be Larsen’s junior year in Denmark, but she will return to a different specialty school after her year in America.
In Denmark, Larsen said, “they give us time to focus on life outside school, so there is little to no homework. We do it in school or get a small amount of homework. School days have plenty of breaks during the day.”
She named some of the other differences, sharing that “the subjects here in Wisconsin are a lot easier. Some of the math contents can be hard, though.”
She praised the fact that there is a larger array of subjects to choose from here in the U.S.
Larsen did agree that Denmark has similarities with Wisconsin.
The latitude, weather and cold winters… none of that is foreign to her.
“Soccer and handball are bigger in Denmark.”
When I brought up Danish kringles, Larsen said with a smile that she has not seen those in Denmark.
Larsen mentioned the “høge” lifestyle I had heard about before, confirming it is very present back at home still.
This lifestyle represents coziness, contentment and well-being. It focuses on enjoying life’s simple pleasures, intimate togetherness with family and/or friends, a warm atmosphere and a relaxed, unhurried pace. It is integral to Danish happiness and culture.
Honoring the above lifestyle, Larsen loves spending time with her house sisters who are very close in age. She says she is staying at a dairy farm in Oconto Falls and loves the atmosphere.
Her favorite food in Denmark is sliced pork with potatoes. This was a good avenue towards similar delicious food at the farm. She also loves fettuccine alfredo.
“I don’t have a sweet tooth, but I like peanut butter cups. I just don’t like added sugar in many products here,” Larsen said.
“We have Halloween in Denmark too, but it’s not as big as here. We dress up too, but it’s not really the same. It was fun to experience it here,” Larsen said.
She said her mom traveled for a visit over Christmas break for a week and stayed right at the host family’s farm house, loving every bit of the experience.
Larsen plans on taking a trip to Chicago over spring break, and later on she will visit Marquette, Mich., before she heads back home for her junior year.
My meeting with Larsen was also shared with Pan Atlantic Foundation’s local coordinator Tiffany Krall, who said one of Larsen’s host family’s sisters was the one who initiated the eventual match up with her current host family in Oconto.
“The host family mom is not on Facebook, so we were able to find Victoria a home there thanks to one of her host family sisters.”
Krall is available for questions from families interested in hosting students in the future. She can be contacted at krall.tiffany@gmail.com.
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