Between Art, Crab Burgers, and the Feeling of Belonging
January 21, 2026
I went home last evening with a warm feeling inside me. Not the overwhelming kind, but one that lingers. And as I thought about it later, I realized why this New Year's reception in Skagen touched me so deeply.
Sometimes there are evenings that begin quietly and echo for a long time afterward.
Our employer, Toppen af Danmark, had invited us to the New Year's reception. The venue couldn't have been more perfect: Skagen Kunsthus on Sct. Laurentiivej 31. A place you don't simply visit—you experience it. Within its walls, you encounter works by Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, and of course the great masters of Skagen itself: Peder Severin Krøyer and Michael Ancher. Art history and local history, side by side so naturally.
But the art wasn't the only pleasure.
The buffet was, as is so often the case in Denmark, a little celebration in itself: fine finger foods, wonderful crab burgers, artfully arranged smørrebrød, salmon rolls, panko-breaded chicken. And of course: with it all came an incredibly delicious dip.
Does one spell dip with a double p? Or just one?
I really wasn't sure in that moment, and I've just realized how often this happens to me now. German and Danish blend together, words suddenly look different, feel strange or familiar all at once. A small stumble in language... but somehow, that's also a sign that you've truly arrived.
But back to the celebration! Yet the most beautiful thing wasn't the art or the food. It was something entirely different: the people who were there.
Seeing colleagues again—ones I'd barely or hadn't seen at all since November, since the Christmas parties. Six or seven weeks is a long time. You miss each other. Sure, you see one person or another at the Lucia celebration or briefly at Christmas. But everyone together, in one big group, laughing, talking, connected: that was simply wonderful. I savored that evening very consciously. I felt welcomed. I realized how comfortable I feel here in my new home, in my work environment, in this life in the north.
And then there was that quiet, almost unexpected moment of happiness: During the speeches, I realized how much more I understood than I did a year ago. Not everything, not perfectly, but so much more. And that felt like a small personal New Year's gift.
It was an evening filled with art, encounters, enjoyment, and the deep feeling of being exactly in the right place.
