Easter on Bornholm

This past weekend was Easter break at DIS and myself, among many other students, had plans outside of Copenhagen. Every Easter, my host family takes the ferry to Bornholm, a small Danish island off the coast of Sweden to visit their relatives. About a month ago, they had graciously extended an invite to me and I was beyond excited to join them on their vacation!

Thursday

On Thursday afternoon, I boarded a bus at Dybbølsbro Station that would take me to Ystad, a small town on the coast of Sweden. From Ystad, I boarded the ferry to Bornholm. The ferry ride was smooth and I spent most of my journey listening to music and podcasts. When I arrived on Bornholm, I joined my host family and their extended family for an early Easter dinner and watched as my host siblings and their cousins searched for chocolate Easter eggs in the backyard!

Friday

The following day, I started my morning with a walk to the beach guided by my host brother. The sun had just risen and there was a still a morning glow over the ocean. After breakfast, my host family and I went to their cousins house for cake (cinnamon rolls are commonly called cake in Copenhagen) and a family walk along the beach and through the forest. Unfortunately, the walk was cut short due to strong winds that made walking along the beach a bit difficult.

For lunch, we stopped at a traditional fish smokehouse. As someone who isn't the biggest fan of fish, I stepped way out of my comfort zone to try smoked herring on rye bread. While it wasn't my favorite meal, I did finish all of it and enjoyed getting to try a traditional meal. That afternoon, we walked around the small city of Svaneke where we watched glass blowing and even got to make our own frosted glasses! The evening ended with watching a beautiful sunset over the dunes!

Saturday

Saturday was for exploring new places! We stopped at another smokehouse for lunch where I was feeling slightly less adventurous. I ordered fish and chips and watched as my host siblings climbed up and down the rope ladder to an old fishing boat that was turned into a swing and hung from the ceiling over the restaurant! After lunch, we headed to Hammerhus, an old castle ruin on a cliffside over looking the ocean. We explored the ruin and continued down the side of the cliff to watch the waves crash along the rocky shore!

Sunday:

On the final day of my trip, I ended up going on a 6 mile hike through the island's forests. Spending Easter morning hiking was a beautiful way to ground myself and reflect on the weekend. Within the first few seconds of my hike, I was greeted by a cow and watched as she walked past me down the path. As I continued on, I started to feel some stress rising. The trail would soon merge with a bison enclosure where I would be in the same territory as a herd of bison! The forests were dense and I wasn't sure what I would do if I came across a bison. I kept walking and enjoyed being in the forest and the nice change of pace from the city. As I wrapped up my hike, it had just started raining and I was grateful to be having lunch soon. Unfortunately, (or maybe thankfully) I didn't end up seeing any bison.

After my hike, we had lunch with my host siblings' grandmother and, soon after, I left to get back on the ferry to Sweden. Since it was so windy, the boat ride was pretty rocky and I was very thankful for the sea sickness medicine their grandmother had given me before I left. After arriving in Sweden, I boarded the bus back to Copenhagen and happily climbed into bed.

Spending Easter with my host family on Bornholm was an amazing experience with memories that I will carry with me for a lifetime. It was so much fun to spend time with their extended family, try traditional foods, and practice more of my Danish!