The crazy things of Denmark

Hello!

I am in Denmark for 5 weeks now and I have noticed a couple of things that I found interesting, funny or just really crazy and I would like to share it with you:

• Denmark is expensive. I went to Copenhagen on Saturday and to cross a bridge on the highway you have to pay 35 euro. And when you pass it again, you have to pay it again. You would think it is a really special bridge made of gold, but nothing of that was true. It was just a regular bridge that connect two islands. But also just daily groceries are way more expensive compared to the Netherlands. 
• At some nursery's they let the baby's sleep outside in their prams. Maybe that is not really strange but wait: some mothers just let their pram outside of the store with the baby in it! They think it is safe enough to let their child outside. My dormmate told me that once there was a Danish woman in New York where she let the pram with her baby in it outside and she recieved a big ticket from the police for doing that. Here in Denmark it seems normal, but I don't think you can do it in another country.
• Denmark is a good country for cycling. There are a lot of people using their bikes everyday, just like in the Netherlands. But they really see that as a sport! I like to just cycle relaxed to my school or to the store, but the Danish go so fast like they are joining the Tour de France. And they all have a sportive bike with millions of gears. My bike has only 3 gears and flowers on the handlebar and a big pink bell. Nothing sportive about that.
• And then the fashion: Scandinavian style is minimalistic. But it is also really boring. They wear only black, white and grey and they always wear sneakers. Nobody is wearing heels. Even with a fancy dress or skirt they wear their sneakers. The sneakers can be in any colour, it is probably the only colorful thing in their wardrobe. 
• The neighborhood where I live is the ghetto of Aarhus and the most poorest in the country. When I tell someone (from Denmark) that I live in Brabrand they feel sorry for me. It might be a really multicultural neighborhood, but I like it in a certain way. It sucks that it is far from the citycentre (25 mins by bike), but for now I think it is ok. For the Dutch people: you can compare it with the Bijlmer in Amsterdam. You hear a lot of bad things about it in the news, but to live there is not so bad as they say. 

Well, enough shared for today. Later this week I will write a post about my visit to Copenhagen last Saturday! 

I'm back!

Hello people!

It is a couple of weeks ago since I wrote my last message. There happened some things and I had a lot on my mind because of that. But I am back now!

The last time I wrote, I just finished my first week and school was just started. Now I am already in my 4th week of the minor. I really like the minor, although it is a lot focused on kids. But I am learning a lot new methods and the lessons and assignments are really interesting. Yesterday we visited a primary-school in a rich area of Aarhus. It was a really big school (900 children!) and the whole area was amazing. There is place enough for the kids to play and they have a lot of freedom. The school-system looks a lot like the Dutch system, but there are also some big differences. For example, when a child don't want to join a game or a lesson, they don't have to. The teachers don't force them. Also, in the school we visited, only 5% were immigrants. But in the neighborhood were I live, it is 5% Danish children. So there is a big difference between several schools!

It was really interesting to see how the pedagogues and teachers work with the children. The children are really free and I expected a lot of annoying kids because of the freedom, but they were so brave and listening really well. The freedom gives them space to develop in several ways and gives them positive energy.

Yesterday-evening we had a prémiere of our own movies. In the first week we got an assignment to make a short movie about yourself and an important thing in your life you would like to share with your classmates. It was really nice to see all the movies (digitails) from eachother. It was a nice way to get to know eachother in a different way.

Today I went to a forest where you can walk around between deers. It was a beautiful forest next to the sea and there were a lot of deers. In the beginning they were a little scared, but we sat down for a while and the deers were coming to join us :-).

Furthermore there were some parties, some funny days at school, some eating, some drinking and a little sight-seeing in the last couple of weeks. I will post some photo's below!