Week 5: School Trip

Week 5

Location of Thorø

My fifth week in the stunningly beautiful country of Denmark can be termed as quite eventful.
I went for a school trip with my class on Tuesday (8th Sept) and Wednesday (9th Sept) to a place called Thorø - a small landmass attached to the island Fyn. Being almost an island, there was water all around it. We stayed in a little building very close to the beach, so the view was simply stunning. While on the trip, we did some experiments like measuring the salt content in the water, finding the highest wind speed on the island, finding out the speed of sound and measuring the proximity to the equator. We had to cook the food, set the tables, clean the kitchen and maintain the toilets ourselves. Some of us swam in the very cold sea water in the evening; the sunset at Thorø was beyond breathtaking.



Sunset at Thorø

On Saturday (12th September), we went to a nearby town called Rolfsted to watch some bikers riding from Århus to Copenhagen stop by. We helped serve them some food and coffee to give them some energy to continue their journey. The total distance between Århus and Copenhagen is about 400 kilometres!





The bikers at Rolfsted

On Sunday (13th September), I went bridge walking with my host family on the Lillebælt bridge between Fyn and Jutland. We were 60 ft above mean sea level and had the most beautiful view of the underlying land and water. We could see the cars and trains passing under us. Even though I'm not afraid of heights, looking down gave me that feeling of vertigo I can't forget. It had been raining before we started, so it was pretty cold on the bridge. Despite that, it was a great experience. I'm going bridge walking again, this weekend, with Rotary. I hope it will be warmer this time.

I also had my first Gymnasium Party this week!

Language check: I'm beginning to understand some things that people speak in Danish, and I can also frame sentences and questions now! I'm able to read a lot of basic things easily now.



Week 3: Intro Camp - 24 hours of Danish

The mascot of Nørgaards Højskole -
Gudar

My intro camp started last Sunday. Intro camp is a 1 week program where all the exchange students meet and get introduced to the Danish language, culture, food and rules of the exchange program. Our intro camp was being held at a boarding school called Nørgaards Højskole. I'm just gonna give a day-wise summary of the intro camp.

Day 1
I took the train from the capital of my island, Odense, to the town of Bjerringbro on Jutland. I met a lot of other exchange students on the train. When we reached Bjerringbro, a bus picked us up from a railway station and took us to Nørgaards Højskole. I met my two Indian friends when we reached and we were accommodated into the same room. After we were comfortable in our rooms, we were sorted into our classrooms and toured the school with our teachers. It was a really amazing boarding school; it had a huge dining hall, a living room, a lecture hall, a party hall, a gymnasium, a billiards room, a bar room, a students play room, a volleyball court and a beautiful garden. After the tour, we went to the lecture hall for a short presentation on the Rotary Youth Exchange and, of course, the 4 D's. The 4 D's are basically four things that we are not allowed to do while on the exchange - drinking, driving, dating & drugs. After a quick dinner, we went for a walk to a small picnic spot.

India meets Mexico

Day 2
We woke up early, ate breakfast and had a short assembly in the lecture hall, after which we went to our classes for Danish lessons. We started with basics and by the end of the first three hours, we were completely mentally exhausted. After the lunch break, we had Danish lessons for 3 hours again. Later, we had a number of activities we could choose from - Michael Jackson choir, Filipino stick fighting, street basketball, Salsa workshop, Danish higgle workshop, etc. I decided to go with Filipino stick fighting. It turned out to be a really fun and interesting form of self defence!

Bonfire

Day 3
We had the same schedule for most of the day. In the evening, we had a bonfire and rock climbing (optional). It was really cold, as it had been raining almost the entire day, and my hands were numb by the time I was back on the ground after rock climbing. We sang songs and talked till it was curfew time.

Day 4

Velvet Volume

Again, we had the same schedule for majority of the day. In the afternoon, we learned about being a teenager in Denmark. We discussed what 'normal' teenagers do in Denmark. It was interesting to know how different teenage life was in Denmark and in other countries. In the evening, we had a concert with the Danish girl band Velvet Volume. They were extremely talented danced and enjoyed ourselves that night. I also figured out, that day, that Ludo (if you don't know what it is, you should really try it) is an extremely popular board game here.

The fog room installation display at ARoS

ARoS

Day 5
On the fifth day of intro camp, we went to the second biggest city in Denmark, Århus, for sightseeing. We visited the art museum ARoS, one of the best art museums I have ever seen. It had a large amount of installation displays (they're basically displays that need you enter them for you to see the art). The museum followed a theme of Dante's nine spaces of hell in the basement, which had nine installation displays. As you went higher in the building, the artwork became more positive. On the roof, was a rainbow coloured passageway, which signified heaven. We went into 3 installation displays: a mirror illusion room, a fog room and the rainbow passageway on top of ARoS. Later, we were allowed to walk around the city.

Sculpture of a humongous
lifelike boy

In the evening, again, we could choose between various activities. I was tired after the long day in Århus, so I decided to sit in the lecture hall and talk about why Denmark was the happiest country in the world. It was an interesting evaluation done by the people in a video shown to us. Click here to see the video

Day 6 and Day 7

After Danish lessons that day, we had a send-off party. We had dance and music till midnight and most of us slept quite late.

The next morning, we met in the lecture hall for a farewell speech, said goodbye to the other exchange students and our teachers, and left for our homes.

Intro camp was an amazing experience. It opened my eyes to the culture of countries around the world. It was frustrating and entertaining to hear people speaking in their own languages and beautiful seeing the colourful flags of so many countries together. It made me realise the reason why exchange students exist - no matter what the political relations in these countries are, we exist to promote friendships between people in these diverse countries. We exist to show, that no matter how many political boundaries exist between countries, we can be the threads binding the small friendships between these countries; yes, w may be just students, but we are not insignificant, because we could be the ambassadors representing our countries, showing others how amazing our countries truly are.

1 Month Observations - Denmark

I've been in Denmark for ONE WHOLE MONTH now! I've had some of the most amazing experiences of my life here in only a month. I've been meeting new and different people for a month now. I haven't seen anyone I've known my whole life for a month now. I've been away from my family for a month now. I've been hearing people speak a foreign language for a month now. I've been learning the Danish language for a month now. I've been a member of my host family for a month now. I've been living in a small town for a month now. And most of all, I've been in love with Denmark for a month now. Yes, Denmark is a small, but stunningly beautiful country with the happiest people in the world. It may have high taxes, but it also has no poor people and free education & healthcare. I've written down a few things I realised about Denmark in this one month from the point of view of an Indian.

The exchange students to Denmark this year

• You wouldn't believe it's the happiest country in the world when you're walking on the street - it's almost like smiling at a stranger in a public place is banned.
• The people can appear to be really cold at first, but once you get to know them, they can be the nicest people in the world.
• They drink a lot of beer.
• Everything cost double the price of that in Mumbai.
• Carrots in everything - everything.
• They love meat (which makes things difficult for vegetarians like me).
• There are no school buses but there are public buses used by students of different schools.
• Everyone waits for the signal to turn green before crossing; even if there are no cars on the road.
• There are special traffic signals for cars, bikes and people.
• They party hard.
• They wear only black, grey and/or white clothes.
• A lot of High Schools are called Gymnasiums.
• No word sounds like it looks.
• In school, it's up to you to study. The teachers don't shout at you if you don't study or come late to school.

Representing my country

Honestly, I can't imagine it's been a month already. It still feels like I've been here for only two weeks. Although, at the same time, I've done so much here, it feels like more than one month should have passed by now. I don't miss my family much yet, but there are moments when I just feel like going home and hugging them. The Danes are such warm and welcoming people; it would have been next to impossible for me to adjust into living in Denmark if I didn't have a great host family, counsellor and class. I can't wait to hygge in Denmark.

And, of course, the customary sentence in the host country's language to conclude the post:

Jeg kan lide Danmark. Vi ses næste uge.

Hej hej!