Hi! My name is Kelly Jones, and I study Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel. I’m on exchange at Denmark Technical University (DTU), which is just outside of Copenhagen.
This past week, my parents visited me. I was just finishing up my travels from Berlin and Krakow on Friday, 4/18, and they were set to arrive the next day. Because it was Easter weekend, I had assumed that most of Copenhagen would be closed. Because of that, I planned to host an Easter dinner with them at my house. My mom’s side of the family is Polish, so I began planning to have a Polish dinner. I didn’t have time to cook a traditional Polish meal or Easter Brunch, so I just planned to serve all of my favorite Polish foods growing up. Since I was coming from Krakow, I was able to buy authentic sauerkraut and horseradish to bring back for the meal. I planned to pick up more ingredients to make a whole meal back in Copenhagen.
The Saturday my parents arrived, we walked around the city and and needed to pick up any remaining dinner ingredients before the grocery stores closed for the holiday. After some research, I found a polish deli in Christianshavn, which was across the river on the south side of Indre By, the main central part of the city. The walk to the store took us near the Danish parliament, the Glypotekt Museum, and many other beautiful buildings. I was ecstatic to finally see my parents after so long and was eager to catch up with them. I hadn’t been able to call them as often as I had hoped, so it was a great time to learn what had happened since the last time I spoke with them. Additionally, the last time my parents visited a new country was a few decades ago, so they were thrilled to explore. I enjoyed their childlike excitement as we chatted, walked, and pointed at every cool build we saw. We finally arrived at the Polish deli after a 45 minute walk and a few detours to walk down pretty streets or peer into nearby restaurants and shops.
The store was perfect! All of the items were shipped directly from Poland and I recognized a lot of the brands from stores in Krakow. I had a few items in mind: pierogi, kielbasa, and another non red beet horseradish. Pierogi were a favorite of mine growing up: I ate them at nearly every meal whenever I visited my family in Wilkes Barre, PA. They hold a special place in my heart, as I’m transported back to my childhood self every time I eat them. My mom and I decided that we wanted riskier pierogi, as that is the traditional filling consisting of mashed potato and cheese. Next, we bought two different kinds of smoked kielbasa, one that my family always ate, another that the cashier recommended.
Elated that we had found everything for the Easter dinner, my parents and I walked back to their hotel. It was getting late, so we decided to part ways and meet up in the morning. We bid our goodbyes and I walked to the train station. Because it was Easter Sunday the next day, we planned to do an outdoor activity.
The next morning, my parents drove to my apartment in Lyngby from Copenhagen. They brought a few croissants with them from the hotel bakery and we got ready to drive to Møns Klint, which are cliffs on the Isle on Møn about an hour and half south of Copenhagen. As the city faded into the distance, we drove through beautiful fields of yellow flowers. Small little towns and villages cropped up around the road every once in a while, but rolling hills mostly made up the picturesque scenery. The clouds gave way to the sun beaming down and it turned into a perfect spring day. We spent the next few hours walking along the top ridge of the cliffs, climbing down flights and flights of stairs, and then hiking along the rocky beach of Møns Klint. The weather was amazing! It wasn’t too hot, and the sun perfectly balanced out the wind to create a comfortable temperature.
After finishing the day at the Isle of Møn we started the trek back to my house for Easter dinner. We stopped along the way to get souvenirs from the isle of Møn and enjoy the warm weather. Once we arrive back at my house, we quickly got to work preparing my the sauerkraut, pierogi, and kielbasa. While cooking with my family, I felt so at home and connected to my ancestry. I was so happy to have been able to visit Poland and buy ingredients at local markets, and then visit a large authentic Polish deli in Copenhagen. I remembered eating pierogi growing up with my relatives who have now passed away and the cherished memories I have of them. The images of me and my mom hand rolling pierogi in my childhood home kitchen played over and over in my head as a smile made me smile spread across my lips. I had brought my fond memories to life in Denmark and I was comforted to know that home wasn’t so far away.