I'm back! From Western Denmark! Specifically the adorably tiny town of Odense. What a wonderful trip. I'm sure some (most) of you share my original sentiment about Western Denmark which was "what the hell could possibly be over there? Cows? Pigs? Maybe a windmill or two? Well, as it turns out, Western Denmark is actually a really amazing place. My three days there were far too short, but let me tell you what I was doing while I was there...
I think I said in my previous post that I was studying child development in Denmark, which a multicultural twist (Denmark is becoming a more heterogeneous society and this is causing some problems with many ethnic Danes) This is especially interesting because the American and Nordic/Scandinavian methods of child rearing and development are incredibly different. (Feel free to skip this paragraph, I just think it's interesting!) In Denmark they put kids in daycare at the age of one with very few exceptions. All of the daycare is free due to their political welfare system here. When they are about 3 they move on to what we would typically consider preschool, (but they call it kindergarten), and they stay here until they enter "real school" at the age of 6. So here comes the cool part. In "kindergarten," they are literally allowed to do pretty much whatever they want. Here is an example- In the school I worked in this past week the kids wanted to go play in the forest. So the teachers rounded them up, took them on a bus then a train into the Danish forest. (no permission slips or calls to the parents!) When they got to the forest they were allowed to play however they wanted for the next 3 hours. I saw 3 year olds dangling from trees, chasing one another with sticks, throwing mud etc. Then at lunch time they all sat down and at their lunch with REAL CUTLERY. THREE YEAR OLDS WITH KNIVES. SHARP KNIVES. Albeit foreign to me, this is the Danish system of child development. They put a great deal of emphasis on freedom and individualism in order to create a well-rounded mature adult. But more about Western Denmark and Odense!
Day 1
After a 6:30 wake up I hurried to the bus with Jenny. As I approached the buses, it dawned on me that, in true Mandy fashion, I had forgotten my lunch in my apartment. I sprinted back to my apartment with all my belongings up all 4 flights of stairs grabbed my lunch and ran back to the bus. I frantically searched for the correct bus until I finally found it and ran on. As usual, I was the last one there but at least I made it-lunch and all. Our first stop was the HC Andersen School. What's really cool about this school is that only 30% of the school are ethnic Danes. The other 70% are Turkish, Somalian, and many other countries. We learned about how they work together and why this heterogeneity is so important to them. We talked with tons of administrators and a bunch of the students including one Muslim girl who was the most well spoken and articulate person I've ever talked to. And she's only 14. After a few hours here, we went to this gigantic outdoor playground. It was beyond cool. It has all this different sections for big kids and little kids and a ton of playground equipment, little houses to play in, a zip line, and a ton of animals. Many of the "kindergartens" call this their school and meet there everyday and play. (no matter the weather!). After taking a tour here, doing some observing, and a little playing ourselves, we headed to a place called "Act Now." This was a improv group for Muslim women and men. We did some activities with them which was really cool. This group of people was also reallllly talented. After all this activities we headed to a buffet dinner which was actually the highlight of my life. Here is my typical daily menu (due to serious budget constraints) compared to what I ate at this dinner.
Typical Menu-
Breakfast- yogurt+apple
Lunch-yogurt+apple
Dinner-Ramen, scrambled eggs, or sometimes chicken with frozen veggies
Buffet-
10000 pieces of chicken
30 lbs of salad
6000 dinner rolls
my body weight in potatoes
some chocolate
after slipping into a food coma, I headed back to the hotel and hit the hay.
Day 2:
Another early wake-up but it was well worth it. Our first stop was the Vollsmose (sp?) kulturhouse. This is where low income individuals can come in for counseling or help finding a job and they also had a wide array of extracurricular activities available. (Art, music, dance, running team). The next stop was probably the best thing I did all weekend. We went to the Hans Christian Andersen children's museum called the "Tinderbox" after one of his fairy tales. This place was like kid heaven. We literally did nothing academic here, we just acted like 5 year olds. Someone read us a fairy tale, then we had to paint a picture of what happened in the fairy tale with watercolors. Then we got to dress up like characters from the fairy tale out of their costume box, and then we got our faces painted. Jenny and I dressed up as chickens and got our faces painted like tigers. Basically the best day of my life. After this we had some free time where I went to the real HC Andersen museum (with my face painted like a tiger), and did some learning about him and his life. After this free time we went to a Turkish restaurant and ate some traditional fare there. After once again, eating my face off, we all went to a Ugandan drum show called "Drums of Love." I really can't put into words how amazing this was. People studying abroad in Europe- look for them coming to your area, they are so so so good. They are so full of energy and intensity, I didn't ever want to leave their show. After this I went home and fell right asleep.
Day 3:
After some breakfast we packed up the bus and headed back towards Copenhagen. On our way we made a detour for a little cultural visit. (because all of our other visits had been SOOOOO academic...) We toured a castle which was really cool because it was super old and had all these amazing and old paintings in it. After this, we had a little free time and walked around the tulip garden surrounding the castle and went in a butterfly house that had hundreds of really beautiful butterflies! So pretty. The next stop was the brewery on the premise. Our teachers idea. We sampled 5 different kinds of beer (bleh, none of them was any good), and ate some delicious tapas. Finally, after an exhausting marathon weekend, we headed back to Copenhagen!
Whewwww what a long post! More to come soon. Love you all
xoxoxo
Mandy
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