Thursday, October 10, 2013

Mr. Spedding's Questions

  • Reflections on friends and friendship:
I have reached the point where I know who is my friend and who is my acquaintance. I really enjoy all this "hygge". I think that it is nice to spend time together and become even closer.
  • Reflections on school:
School?! Well, I think that I do learn some things, though I would have learned 100 times as much at ISM. I think that it is also good how we also have hand and wood work as well as house work. They will probably be useful later in life... I find school here as a completely different experience. We have different schedules and we learn in a different way. It almost seems that the social part (hygge) as well as sport are more important than the academic part.
  • Reflections on Danish Culture:
The Danish culture is a lot the same and also different from the American culture... Here are some things from the top of my mind:
  1. It is the costumer that says "Thank you and have a nice day" when leaving a store
  2. Danes do not run a red light on their bike even if there is no one else around
  3. EVERYONE from Kindergarten and up has a cellphone
  4. Rugbrød, rugbrød, rugbrød and more rugbrød! 
  5. The Danes do not have much sense of personal space
  6. Rules are rules!
  7. Everyone is ALWAYS on time
  8. Different sense of humor
  9. Lots of swear words
  10. Lots of "hygge"!
  • Reflections on Danya:
I feel as if I am in a few worlds, under a few masks. A new and old friend mask, a daughter/sister mask, a student mask, a foreigner mask. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all of these masks, though now I feel balanced and well managed with who I am.  I am more than grateful of all the support in this whole adventure. I feel so much better now. I also realized (hopefully not to jinx myself) that the "hard part" really wasn't that hard. At school I was welcomed like an old friend, I was helped with learning the language and if I don't know how to say something, everyone can understand English. I think that it would have been harder if I came from a different country that has a language that is not very common as English.
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 10, 2013 at 12:55 PM

    Really? Everyone has a cellphone? How is the Danish sense of humor different?

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    Replies
    1. DanyaOctober 13, 2013 at 2:46 AM

      The cell phone thing is true... I guess they need it more than we do when all the kids go out on their own. It is a much smaller country.
      About the humor, you don't even want to know!

      Delete
  2. Tod SpeddingOctober 14, 2013 at 8:52 AM

    Thank you for this entry.

    It will be *very* interesting to observe yourself and the culture in the first days you return to the States.

    I like your reference to masks. The question is when/where is there not a mask. Are we nothing but masks? You've got 70-80 more years to figure that one out.

    Now I wonder: what do we Americans have to teach the Dans about living a good life and the culture of school; what do the Dans have to teach we Americans about living a good life/culture of school?

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