The Wadden Sea
This summer, six young people from our Riis Academy program traveled to Denmark for a week-long excursion, as part of our long-running Danish Cultural Exchange Program. Conceived of as a way to nurture the ties between the agency and the birth country of our founder, Jacob Riis, the program is now in its twelfth year and continues to offer participating Riis youth and their Danish peers the wonderful opportunity to explore new cultures and broaden their worldview.
On June 29th, the group, which consisted of four seniors from Riis Academy-InfoTech, two seniors from Riis Academy-Queensbridge, and their chaperones, Michael Rieger and Veronica Franklin, set off for Denmark. Upon arrival in Copenhagen, they embarked on a scenic three-hour train ride through the Danish countryside to Jacob Riis’ hometown of Ribe, where they were welcomed by their peers and host families.
The following day marked the start of five consecutive days of adventure and immersion in Danish culture. The group toured Ribe, which is the oldest town in Denmark (1300 years old!) and spent a day exploring the wonders of the Wadden Sea. They also visited the Ribe Viking Center where they participated in reconstruction workshops and had the opportunity to shoot ancient long bows. And, throughout the week they explored the local countryside by bicycle, dirt bike and horseback. This year’s trip was particularly special as it coincided with the opening of the Jacob Riis museum in Ribe. The group received a private tour of the museum and attended a celebratory dinner at the Ribe Rotary Club, where they had the opportunity to meet the great granddaughter of Jacob Riis, Lela Riis Agnew.
At the end of the week, the group returned to Copenhagen where they spent the last two days of the trip touring SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark, enjoying a canal boat tour, and, of course, shopping! As an added bonus, a 36-hour flight delay meant that the group got to stay an extra night in a 4-star hotel courtesy of Delta Airlines!
The trip was a great success. The students had the time of their lives and learned a great deal about Danish culture. Later this year, a new group of Riis Academy juniors will be selected to participate in the next cycle of the exchange, and a whole new intercultural adventure will begin next summer!
