Every program of DIS goes on a long study tour during our 3 week study break, and a short study tour over a weekend to greater Denmark. My program, European Culture and History went to Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark. Although the tour was called "Ribe Study Tour," we spent very little time actually in Ribe.
After a sleepless night, we boarded the bus and left Copenhagen around 9am and I immediately fell asleep, or at least as asleep as I could be on a very uncomfortable bus with a microphone-happy tour guide. We stopped several times along the way to Ribe at different locations. After crossing the world's third longest bridge from Zealand (the island Copenhagen is on), we stopped at a castle on Funen (the island west of Zealand, east of Jutland). Members of the royal family still reside in this castle, but had to open it up to the public to pay the enormous taxes. They entertain the public with beautiful gardens, sculptures, mazes (we had to cheat to get out!), museums, tree-top bird watching walks, etc!
After a short stop in a small harbor town to eat lunch and stretch our legs, we continued through Runen and visited a Danish folkehøjskole, an ”alternative” school for the arts. Your average American would call it a hippie school, but it is an old cultural tradition and still highly regarded in Denmark. Folkehøjskoles specialize in many different areas, from religion to art to fishing. The one we visited focused on film, musicals, dance, etc.
We took a short tour of the school and hung out with the Danish students there. We played a US vs. DK football/soccer game and got slaughtered, but we returned the favor after teaching them American football. Our feet were covered in mud by the time the dinner bell sounded, so we just walked around with bare feet. I think I’d love this place! After dinner we had tea and coffee and conversation with the students, and then listened to a guitar/singing performance by Martin. It was so much fun!
We left the folkehøjskole for Ribe, where we were sleeping. Our “hostels” were amazing. They were actually like small townhouses, complete with a full kitchen, cable TV and a hot, enclosed, well-pressured shower!
Friday we went to an island town off the west coast that is only accessible during low tide. We took a tractor-pulled bus across the sand and biked around the island. The scenery was breath-taking. It was like stepping into another time with old windmills, farmers, and a lot of sheep and cattle.
We stopped at a few towns on our way back to Ribe, but they were kind of on the boring side. The scheduling wasn’t the best, so we hit the towns after everything closed. We ate dinner in Ribe at an Italian restaurant and went on a “tour of the night-watchman.” The tour was in Danish and English, but we tended to tune him out during the Danish part and forget to pay attention during the English part. Plus it was dark, so we couldn’t really see what he was talking about!
Saturday we got up and went on a daylight walking tour of Ribe, and I wish we had done that in the beginning of our trip. The town is beautiful and has hundreds of years of history, but we didn’t really have time to explore! Ribe was a Viking village, and they have a fabulous museum of artifacts and remnants from the time of the Vikings. It was very interesting! We went to one of two Catholic churches in all of Denmark. After Denmark became Lutheran, the king had all the monasteries burned. He allowed the one in Ribe to remain however because of all the good works of the nuns. Right beside the cloister, of course, is the Lutheran church, which was a very strange mixture of old and new. We climbed the tower to get a view of the whole city. It was beautiful and a great way to end our trip.
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