Day 1
Welcome to the Dins’ 2024 World Tour blog! We’ll keep this website posted with our travels; for each stop, one Din will write about their experiences in that location.
Our 2024 World Tour began with a long line for Logan Airport pizza and an evening flight to Reyjkavík, Iceland. Personally, when I tried to sleep on the flight, I was met with the unfortunate (but very cool) reality that the sun never fully set––it went straight from sunset back to sunrise. We landed in Reykjavík at 4:45 AM, where we had a short layover to buy hot dogs in the Keflavík Airport before boarding our next flight to Copenhagen. When we finally arrived in Copenhagen, we were met by Karen Marie, one of our hosts, who gave us a wonderful welcome and showed us how to navigate the public transit system en route to our homestays. The homestays were in scattered locations, but Birgit, our primary host, is located in the peaceful suburb of Lyngby. We knew we needed to stay awake to fight jet lag, so we headed back downtown for a packed day of sightseeing including the Rosenborg Slot and Nyhavn. From here we split off, with many Dins going to have dinner with their homestay hosts. I ordered some sausages from a stand on the street, then rented a bike for several hours to explore the downtown area more. We eventually made it to CopenHill, an artificial-grass ski slope on top of a trash burning heap. Unfortunately, the limited skiing hours meant we couldn’t go up, but it was pretty amazing just to look at. We finally regrouped at a cafe for some dinner, then returned to Lyngby to get some sleep!
Day 2
After a lot of travel, we were all pretty exhausted, so the next morning was slow. We convened at Birgit’s house for a delicious homemade lunch that she and fellow schoolteacher Dorthe prepared for us. We also rehearsed to prepare for our first performance of tour. We spent the afternoon exploring Lyngby, a nice and pretty lively town, where Kavi and I managed to score a free day pass for PureGym to have a great push day. We changed and got together for our first gig at Ordrup Church, where we enjoyed a good audience turnout and an overall extremely successful introduction to Denmark. The sun doesn't set until around 10:00 PM at this time of year, so we wanted to get food, but everything was closed. Finally, an Italian chef called us from across the street to come to his empty and closed-up pizza place. We were still dressed in tails and he referred to us exclusively as “penguins.” He let us have a bottle of wine for the table and some bruschetta, although the kitchen was closed. We eventually convinced him to bring us a pizza to cap off a bizarre and fun interaction before turning in for the night.
Day 3
We took another slow morning, walking around the town of Lyngby until Birgit once again prepared us all a delicious homemade meal. We had two gigs on this day––the first was at Gentofte Hovedbibliotek, a stunning modern library designed by the same person who did the Sydney Opera House. We were fed some snacks afterwards, then moved on to our second gig at Lyngby Church, an incredibly beautiful and historic church in the suburbs that we managed to completely fill with people for the performance. The audience loved it, and we had the pleasure of sharing wine and conversation with them in the church afterwards. After finally finding some late night food in Lyngby, we ran into a group of Danish guys around our age who were very curious about the tails. They turned out to be very nice, so a few of us went out to have drinks with them and learned a lot about the cultural differences between our respective countries. It was late by the time this finished, and you could even see the sky starting to faintly brighten in the distance in preparation for the incredibly early 4:00 AM sunrise. This was most definitely a signal to go to bed.
Day 4
We all handled our next morning separately––I had planning work to do for the coming tour stops, so I went to a local coffee shop to catch up on all the emails I had missed during the hectic start of the trip. Birgit generously prepared lunch for the group yet again, and we said our farewells to her, as she was traveling to another part of the country that evening. Our first performance of the day was at the Rigshospitalet, where Karen-Lise, our other primary coordinator, works. We sang a performance in the lobby, and it was a very meaningful way to give back, as various people in the hospital tuned in to listen. We also had the honor to perform privately for one of Karen-Lise’s patients who couldn’t make the performance physically––we went to his room in the hospital to sing a song for him. We then split up to explore; I stayed with a small group to walk around the Nørrebro area of Copenhagen. As Karen-Lise said, it’s the college town of the city, a lively area with lots of shopping where young people hang out. We regrouped for a delicious dinner with the entire group, over the course of which we one-by-one changed back into our tails in the restaurant bathroom. Our evening performance was at a cafe and bar called Tjili Pop, where we sang as part of a program with a Danish singer-songwriter, the tech director of the bar, and an open mic night. It was clear from the amusement of the crowd that this was a great novelty––unsurprisingly, they don’t often have Harvard a cappella groups performing. I’m happy to report that they loved it, and we really enjoyed getting to share the stage with some local performers. All in all, it was an incredibly fun and successful evening, and the entire group stuck around afterwards to socialize and watch the open mic night.
Day 5
Determined to make the most of our final day in Copenhagen, Mattheus and I biked north to see the beach. Unlike most of the locals, we jumped in the freezing cold water, though we could only bear it for a few minutes before heading back out. We went back downtown to buy some souvenirs, get pastries, and see Amalienborg Palace, home to the King and Queen of Denmark. The palace was pretty stunning, and it felt like an important thing to see before leaving the country. We wanted to try to ski CopenHill once again today, but due to the limited skiing hours, it didn’t work out. We noted it as a to-do for the 2026 tour. After regrouping for rehearsal, the Dins headed to perform at a private party for Asbjørn, Kristoffer, and Magnus Eriknauer, three brothers who are former students of Birgit’s. They hosted a friends and family event with about 50 people in attendance in a courtyard and offered the Dins generous food and drinks. They emphasized how excited they were to have us, and we were amazed to see how much that sentiment was true of the entire crowd. As we finished the set, they called us back enthusiastically for an encore, and we then were able to hang around the party and enjoy socializing with everyone there. All of us had a ton of fun singing and talking with everyone, and it was a fantastic closing night to our time in Denmark. A few of us went for a second dinner at a modern restaurant in Copenhagen that blew us away with delicacies like smoked grapes (this proved divisive at the table). We headed back to Lyngby so we could split off to our homestays and pack for our next stop.
Day 6, part I
Mattheus and I woke up early in the morning and absconded to Sweden. We took transit from our homestay in Lyngby into Copenhagen Central Station, where we then hopped on a train to Malmö. The train ride was beautiful, going across a long bridge over the water between the two countries. We arrived in Sweden, bought souvenirs and Swedish soda, took some photos, and hopped back on the return train to Copenhagen. We essentially spent 2 hours on trains to get 30 minutes in Sweden, but it was worth it to see a new country, if only briefly. We then regrouped with the rest of the Dins in Lyngby where we headed to Copenhagen Airport for our flight to London. Copenhagen was an amazing city, and all of the Dins thoroughly enjoyed our time in Denmark. The performances were fun, our hosts were incredibly kind, dedicated, and enthusiastic about our visit, and all in all, Copenhagen was a fantastic way to kick off the 2024 World Tour that will be hard to top. We hope to come back again next time!
Signing off,
Ben #278
