I’ve been encouraged to speak with Danish people in almost all of my courses here at DIS as well as by many of the orientation programs. Below I will periodically be writing about such conversations. Nyde! (enjoy!)
-27/4/16 a Danish professor on a field study
“We have this saying in Denmark that if we have a green Christmas, we’ll have a white Easter, and it’s the Jewish Easter…”
-22/4/16 a man next to me on the bus back from the Amsterdam tulip fields
The most interesting thing about this conversation was just how open, and friendly the man was. He told me all about his day at the fields, renting bikes. Then he continued to tell me about his life, where he was from, different sights seen in other places in the world and just completely friendly.
Never underestimate the kindness of strangers. Traveling has really made me appreciate people’s stories and experiences.
-21/4/16 with two plane seat-mates (one British, one American)
It was interesting hearing their own experiences in Danish culture/lifestyles. They both work in Denmark, met through a friend-finder type thing (tinder for friendships) and were going to Amsterdam for the weekend.
The British woman was shocked by the work culture she experienced. Not being able to fully engage with her co-workers, as she doesn’t speak Danish. It is unofficially against cultural norms for one to admit they know more than another person, as that would make the two people, unequal. Equality is a huge factor in Denmark and society is largely conducted in that way.
The American woman, is a guidance councilor in a high school. One interesting thing is that if a student goes to her about being pregnant or might be pregnant, its against the law to talk with her parents due to Danish law.
While they both live in Denmark, neither of them speak Danish. The English woman is learning Danish, but the American woman only plans to stay here for two years, before relocating to a new destination, new country.
-20/4/16 neighbor Peter
“Destiny is an interesting fellow”
“Draw a line, don’t let the bitterness overtake you.”
“Do you see the light or dark?” while looking at a picture of a burned down building.
*learning from others and their pasts may be what I enjoy the most about traveling and meeting new people
-27/3/16 with a fellow hostel patron (sorry I know its not a Dane)
This is just more that talking to people in hostels, and bonding through the simple “traveling” perspective is so interesting and easy. I’ve always heard stories about how you make friends/acquaintances in hostels, but I can truly say after traveling and staying at a few, I have talked to so many cool individuals. Meeting new people is so fun and inspiring.
-24/3/16 at a food stand place in Berlin (with a cute couple)
Randomly, while snatching a table to sit and eat at in this warehouse of food stands in Berlin we met a Danish woman and her Nebraskan fiancé.
My friend Tien and I asked about their entire life story, how they met, when their wedding is, how they’re honeymooning in Vietnam and some great tips for Copenhagen. While this isn’t quite about just talking about Danish culture or life, it was fun how open and easy it is to talk with Danes (and mid-western americans) no matter where you are in the world. I’m not quite sure we would have had the same open conversation with them had we not had the Copenhagen connection.
I was so happy and uplifted after meeting them, and talking to them about their lives. My overall happiness also extended from the fact that there are real love stories of “chance meetings” still out there.
-20/3/16 with a Danish woman on my bus to Aarhus
I really enjoyed talking about education (once again) but this time college or university education. I am always asked about what I’m studying, and trying to explain how I’m technically interested in a wide array of things, anthropology, urban studies, ethics is so strange to most Danes I meet.
In Denmark, one must choose directly after high school, which is ninth or tenth grade here, what field you want to study and work in. It could be normal university for, medicine, law, social sciences, etc. Otherwise, you go to a special school for engineering, journalism, chemistry, etc.
To switch from journalism to a social science degree of psychology you would have to start from the beginning completely, no transfer of credits, nada.
The bonus or difference for school is if you’re fully enrolled education is completely paid for by the country. So you don’t have to worry about student loans and the debt from switching schools. If you have graduated from one school, and wish to take extra courses to increase your potential and abilities, say one or two classes, you do have to pay for them. This is because technically, you have a job because you’re not a full time student.
I found the differences in university very interesting to hear, not just about the free university aspect (I feel like this is a highly advertised claim of the socialist economy). It’s interesting because if schools were uniformly like this in the United States, how many of my friends from college would I have not had the opportunity to meet and befriend. My home college has a wonderful engineering program, and I have many friends planning to go to med school, but I most likely would only know people in my major/similar field of study and work.
-19/3/16 with a Danish mother about education
it was interesting being explained the Danish education system from a mom’s perspective. She was worried about her fourth grade (10 year old) son having to choose between German or French to learn next year. He has already been learning English since the equivalent of kindergarten and she was very worried about him learning a third language so early on in his education.
As an American student, who was only technically enrolled in a second language upon reaching high school, I found this extremely interesting.
Articles I have read about language learning say after two languages its much easier to pick up other languages quicker and more efficiently. Her concern is completely understandable, but also from my own perspective, I wish I had had the opportunity to learn other languages so early in my life.
I often wonder if that would make me more skilled at learning languages in general due to its habitual part of my learning history.
-11/3/16 going to the DIS front desk to ask about something
Front desk worker: “Oh, you’re the girl who had to go in an ambulance a couple days ago! I was on staff that day! I was called upstairs, but all your fellow DIS students had already handled everything, it was so great of them.”
Me: “Hahaha (awkwardly), yeah..”
Front desk worker: “It was actually so funny, all anyone was looking at when you were wheeled out was the Paramedic. Do you remember what he looked like?”
Me “Uh, no.”
Front desk worker: “Oh, bummer, he was so good looking!”
-7/3/16 with a paramedic in the back of an ambulance
paramedic: “I live up north, I come down here for 2-3 days to work as a paramedic. I am housed in a hotel down here and then I go back up to my farm for a week or longer.”
me: “wait, so you’re not a full time paramedic?”
paramedic: “There’s a shortage of paramedics, so no I just do this to help out part time. I still have my whole farm to manage.”
-7/3/16 while waiting for my blood to be drawn by a medical professional
due to the fact I am a difficult stick to have my veins tapped into
nurse: “you know, with veins like these, you should never be an IV drug user”
me: ” oh so I should stick with the hard stuff like alcohol and go to Christiania..”
nurse: “oh yeah, definitely” — (whom I believe to have been joking/laughing to himself)
DIS advisor: ” wow, I don’t even know what to say to that, I can’t support or refute this conversation”
-2/3/16 with a guy from my hostel (Hideaway Hostel) in Dingle
We were with a group from the hostel, running to the bar down the street to hear some live music and grab a beer. I had no cash on me and the place didn’t accept credit cards, so I had to run to the ATM down the street to get some Euros.
This guy, who I literally met 5 minutes prior was so cute (in his personality wise) and walked me to the ATM. Maybe this is normal, but I was confused why this stranger was coming with me. “Oh, I have sisters, and I feel like walking alone to an ATM at night I wouldn’t want them to walk alone. Just a typical big brother mentality” he responded.
It gets better, due to my horrible memory, I could not for the life of me remember the order of my ATM pin to get cash. So he got out 40 Euro from his account and said I could pay him back later.
I was a complete stranger, I was leaving the next day, I could have totally just taken the money and ran (obviously I didn’t). I paid him back the next morning. It was such an honorable and kind gesture, a small kindness like that which makes me love the different communities I am able to explore while abroad.
-1/3/16 with a taxi driver in Limerick
driver: “so what do you think about Trump”
me: “ha, um no, I still can’t believe people are endorsing him as a viable candidate”
driver: ” yeah, I expect if he won, there would for sure be a third world war”
-25/2/16 comparisons between products (via host family during dinner)
Upon eating some ketchup with our dinner; “This ketchup isn’t as good as Heinz” -host mom, Jette
“It’s a Danish brand, but its rated higher than Heinz, so it is good” -host dad, Hans-Erik
“Well [my son] and I both agree, Heinz is better”– Jette
“What do you think about Hershey’s Chocolate bars compared to other chocolate bars?”– me, Bailey
“I’ve never had or heard of that” (after I showed her a picture)– Jette
“I don’t like milk chocolate, I’m a dark chocolate man. I don’t know what that is either (meaning Hershey’s)” — Hans-Erik
I found this conversation interesting as a person influenced by consumerism and advertising based in the United States for the majority of my lifetime. Companies that I assumed to be “worldwide” even if they are based in North America, are not quite so. I don’t often think about the “off-brands” or other versions of Ketchup, while I know there are some sold in the U.S. it is not something I wonder about or study.
-19/2/16 with a 20 something guy and an old guy
What do you think about Denmark’s new policies towards refugees? (taking all of their items of value upon their entering into Denmark)
20 something’s response; Oh that’s not real. It’s a media tactic to scare away people from coming, immigrating to Denmark. It will never be actually implemented.
old guy; The media are blowing that out of proportion. It’s the same as when someone looses their job, and cannot pay for things. What happens? They put their valuables (home, furniture etc) up for sale and the money helps them get back onto their feet. We [Denmark] are still more open to refugees than other European countries. This is something that has to happen in order to keep our standard of living well for all, even the Danes who are poor.
my understanding: As a Socialist state, taking care of others in the country is part of the entire system. If people start to just get and give nothing back, there won’t be enough to go around and the entire standard of life will decrease substantially.
-12/2/16 with the tour guide of our bike tour around Copenhagen
During our core course week we took a bike tour going through various neighborhoods of Copenhagen with a woman who works as an urban planner here in Denmark. She was a hilarious tour guide, and while she’s not technically Danish, she gave us good advice to find a Danish partner (boyfriend, girlfriend, significant other) to have an easier time getting a visa to stay in Denmark after our semester abroad is complete.
I found this hilarious, along with her other comments about daily life in Copenhagen, so technically, she’s now a Dane and shall be considered one in my records.
-4/2/16 in a Danish Health Clinic
So my doctor back home wanted me to get blood tested every 2-3 weeks even while abroad. While this has taken some time to get started, today I finally got blood taken.
I am normally a hard stick (my veins like to hide) and the whole flying squad is often called in. Today, the woman was very nice and only poked me twice before calling the “miracle worker” in. I tried to explain how I knew I was a hard stick, but even my normal points weren’t looking good.
Finally the second nurse got the blood flowing. After this experience, I realized the differences I expected from the US to Denmark were ridiculous. My veins aren’t magically going to change based on the latitude they’re in, and no amount of danish pastries were going to make them pop today.
What made my day, was when the first nurse started to apologize for her English, when she was totally well spoken and much better than me trying to speak Danish to her. Now I quote from her after the whole ordeal, “Normally we just talk about the weather.” So yes, just because its a different country, with a different language, you still just talk about the weather when getting your blood taken.
-26/1/16 with a Danish woman in an office
I was meeting with this woman to help me set up a doctor’s appointment and we got onto the topic of Minnesota. She had lived in MN for seven-ish years and goes back to visit friends every so often. With a bond like Minnesota, we got to talking!
We got onto the discussion of driving, licenses, and all of the nitty gritty details about each of those. Apparently, its very difficult to get your driver’s license in Denmark. People can get their license when they turn 21 here. Once you pass the test, which is done on a real road in an unmarked car, you have your same license [and picture] for LIFE. There is no renewing of said piece of plastic, it is good for the entirety of your life. No matter if you go bald in your thirties, they only re-check you at your retirement age (60-something).
This lovely lady was also explaining the difficulty levels between the US and Denmark vary greatly. She has gone through the process of getting her drivers license in MN and found it to be quite easy. If you fail, you can just go back the next day and retake it. In Denmark, you must re-take the entire Drivers Education course, behind the wheels, everything (and repay for everything!).
This made me wonder if Denmark has fewer cases of car crashes than the United States per year. Unfortunately, its a little difficult to compare the two, due to the characteristics of their crashes are so different. I would assume if they were, Denmark would have fewer deadly/seriously injured-inducing crashes.
Drive safe everyone! 🙂
-22/1/16 with a woman while waiting for the S-tog
She has two little girls, 5 and 2 but was discussing going out and the differences between the US and Denmark. In the US you must be 21 to drink , but must be 16 before you drive. It is opposite in Denmark, 15/16 to drink (depending on parents) and 18 to drive .
This allows for people to understand the effects of alcohol on their bodies and be able to understand and make better decisions when under the influence. This woman explained how she would drink in friend’s basements with their parents just upstairs, in case of emergency or accident. This allowed for a certain degree of “wildness” but under a controlled environment. I find this form of regulation and period of experimentation interesting, but important and meaningful. I wonder if this type of organization, with laws over age of drinking vs. driving would ever change in the United States. I also imagine that such a change would cut down on the traffic accidents that occur because of drinking and driving. I would be interested in the scientific and psychological effects of this system. Growing up the subject of drinking alcohol at a young age was seen to stunt growth and limit future intelligence.
Next, I asked her about letting her children, when they’re 15/16 years old, drink in her basement. She laughed and explained that it’s a very long time away from such a decision! Overall, she does believe the “supervised” parties have a good effect and are good overall, and so she probably will follow the same system as her parents.