Talk about a European adventure!

The Cotes have packed up and headed to Denmark, arriving in the capital Copenhagen on Saturday.

“We’re pretty excited for sure,” said former Stampeder Rob Cote. “We’re taking a chance at what we think is a pretty exciting opportunity and adventure.

“I’m proud of my wife Natalie; she got into the Copenhagen Business School MBA program. She’s going to take her Master’s in Business and it’s a year-long program, so we’re hoping and planning to be in Denmark for about a year before returning to Calgary.”

After years of living around the schedule imposed by the football season, this journey is Cote’s way of giving back to his wife for her years of support.

“When I was playing football, it comes first in a lot of areas,” he explained. “Family always comes first, but in terms of scheduling and logistics, my football schedule controlled everything.

“It was the main factor in how we planned our lives. She carted our kids across the country a couple of times to watch us lose a couple of Grey Cups. She was pregnant at the 2014 Grey Cup and couldn’t celebrate with us.

“This is being able to put my money where my mouth is and say I vowed to go along on your adventures as well. This is my chance to go and support her and put her first and put her dreams first.

“It’s an opportunity to return the favour to my wife.”

So, Carpe Diem, right?

“We’re trying to seize the moment,” agreed Cote. “Still, it’s a plan that we’ve had in the works for a long time, probably about a year and a half. She was looking at schools all over the world, some in Canada and a bunch in Europe, and we wanted to take the chance to go and be a family unit.

“We’ve travelled in Europe before and we felt that we had an itch that we wanted to go and scratch in terms of spending time as a family and stepping outside of our comfort zone a bit, so that’s we’re going to go do.”

Cote said this get-up-and-go-together template is one he’s familiar with.

“Calgary is family, this is home for me,” Cote said. “I was born in Calgary, but we lived in the U.S. when I was young – my family took us there for work. We’ve had some conversations in our family about how that shaped our lives and I think this could possibly do the same for our children now.”

Of course, a move like this is not an easy one, regardless of the circumstances.

But during a global pandemic? Not an issue for them, although it has made some things more difficult.

“It’s raised a lot more questions,” explained Cote. “It hasn’t actually affected us too much, other than we would have gone over for a scouting trip to decide what community we wanted to live in and things of that nature. The Covid-19 situation in Denmark is being handled well. They have slightly fewer cases per capita compared to Alberta, so we felt comfortable with what we are going into.

“The biggest challenge is having visitors; we were planning to have guests coming over but that’s going to change because of safety, quarantines, and other factors.”

With Natalie busy with school, Cote will get to spend some quality time being Dad to Miller and Wynn.

“Priority number one is to be the primary caregiver while we’re there,” stated Cote. “We are hoping and planning to get the kids into the public school system there, but we’ll have to wait and see how that plays out.

“First and foremost, I’m going to be with our two young boys. If we’re cruising the city every day and doing daddy home-school, that’s awesome. And if not, then I’ll try to get some work and I’ll be starting a Blog. It all comes down to whether I’m with the kids 24 hours a day or 18 hours a day.”

Stay tuned for information about Rob Cote’s Blog and how to follow along!