Dinner at the Ambassador of Portugal’s Residency in Copenhagen

On Monday 18 April professors Fernanda Gláucia Pinto and Georg Fischer along with students Juul van de Voort (BA) and Peter Haldborg (MA) had the pleasure of attending a dinner-buffet at the residence of the ambassador of Portugal, Rui Macieira’s residency. The occasion was the visit of professor Ricardo Reis, associate dean for International Affairs of Universidade Católica de Lisboa.

After a three-and-a-half hour journey from Aarhus to Copenhagen, a few cups of coffee and a beer, and finally a trip to Charlottenlund, we arrived at Rui Macieira’s residence where we were greeted by the ambassador himself. Shortly after, he thanked everyone for their participation in his welcome speech, soon followed by a short speech by professor Reis – both in European Portuguese, obviously.

After the speeches it was time to enjoy the delicious food! Moments after the dinner was served people were flocking around the buffet, enjoying a mixture of Danish and Portuguese delicacies, including a fantastic chicken-inspired dish and håndmadder. To the great delight of several guests a small table across the main buffet offered Portuguese red and white wine as well as the fantastic and best-selling Portuguese beer in the world, better known as Super Bock. Unsurprisingly, the entire stock of this marvellous beer was soon as empty as the dishes containing the aforementioned chicken-inspired food. It is certainly safe to say that people enjoyed both the buffet and the beverages, and during the entire time the small talk was free-flowing and the atmosphere was joyous with exuberant guests making jokes and laughing. We all got to know several great people, including some of the professors and students from Brazilian and Portuguese Studies at Copenhagen University.

After putting in a concerted effort in cleaning the buffet dishes the dessert arrived, as many eyes visibly lit up while ignoring desperate shouts from well-satisfied stomachs trying to signal that maximum capacity had been reached at least half an hour ago. However, the eyes won and mouths were working overtime consuming delicious cinnamon rice, pudding and orange-flavoured tarts. At this point the small talk was less audible, as the guests were trying not to explode due to what some people would call excessive eating.

Little by little, people started to bid their farewell, exhausted stomachs made their way home accompanied by light rain and growing darkness outside. Meanwhile, Juul and Peter had a great chat with the residence’s valet, who managed to enlighten us about everything from Portugal to the peculiarity of love. What a life-affirming and feel-good character he was! The only time he said “no” was when we cheekily asked for more Super Bock beer, which he would have happily provided had there been any left!

By the time we had to leave in order not to miss our train back to Aarhus the vast majority of the guests had already taken off. We duly thanked for fantastic hospitality before entering a taxi escorting us to the train station. We managed to acquire the necessary provisions for our trip moments before boarding the less than packed train. It did not take very long for both Georg and Juul to fall asleep, but both Fernanda and Peter managed to stay awake until we all reached Aarhus. After all, Mineiros (and people deeply in love with Minas Gerais like Peter) should fell very much at home inside one of their most cherished possessions, namely the trem (“train” in Portuguese)…

After a long but delightful day we all said our goodbyes after exiting the train in Aarhus. It had been a lovely experience for everyone involved, and the company was not too bad, either!

Written by Peter Haldborg