Week 10 (19/03/2012-25/03/2012)

Personal Blog

Having been living in Denmark for over two months, I now feel that I have gotten into the swing of day to day life here. I am well settled and am feeling at home with the Danish way of life. I love the relaxed Danish way of life so much that I may return home to Northern Ireland a completely different person, as before I came to Denmark, the word relaxed did not apply to me at all!  I’m therefore hoping to take home with me the relaxed atmosphere that I have experienced here in order to help myself to relax more in my daily life in Northern Ireland. I think the Danes have mastered a more healthy way of life. I have settled in here so much so that I have been reflecting on what it will be like when I go home. I think that because I have adapted to a different culture and way of life, it may be strange at first when I return home and it may take a few days for me to adapt again to the culture and daily life in Northern Ireland. One thing which will be a shock for me is having a house with a lot of rooms, as for two months here Kerri, Trisha and I have lived in one room only. I will be spoiled for choice of rooms to sit, eat and sleep in!

Having reflected on what it will be like to have numerous rooms to live in, we got some excellent news this week, that we could move to a bigger room is in the student house ‘Hvidebo’ (which means ‘The White House’ in English). This is the main halls here and it is a converted house with shared communal kitchens and bathrooms. It is where the Danish students and also some Erasmus students live. Apart from having a bigger room, we were delighted with our move as we were beginning to feel isolated where we lived before as we were living in one room which when you opened the door lead to outside, therefore there was no common area and no people passing in and out. The White House provides a completely different atmosphere with people always passing in and out, stopping for chats and cups of tea in the common rooms and generally being a warm and friendly place where we feel a lot more safe and sociable. Living in a closer proximity to some of the other Erasmus students and Danish students allows us all to get to know each other better than before as we can share meals and movies together a lot easier now. 

Our new bedroom.

Our dressing room!

Although I’m really embracing and making the most of my time here, I am also missing my family, friends and boyfriend at home. Being able to skype them all however, makes it so much easier to keep in contact and makes me miss them less as I can see and speak with them regularly. I feel that I am actually coping better than I had thought I would have in terms of missing my family and boyfriend and feeling homesick. It is a lot easier to overcome these feelings when I am surrounded by such a lovely group of people who are all having the same feelings and are in the same situation as me. It may also, amongst other things, be these similarities that contribute to bringing people from different cultures so close together. 

We have booked a trip to Berlin for next week. There are 9 Erasmus students going on the trip, from various countries, therefore I am looking forward to and am interested in what it will be like to travel with and get to know them all better!

Week 9 (12/03/2012-18/03/2012)

Cultural Blog

After a busy week of reading and classes, Kerri, Trisha and I invited the other Erasmus students to join us to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Copenhagen on Saturday as we discovered that there was a parade and Irish music. We were surprised to find out that there was a parade in Copenhagen, as it isn’t a city that I would have imagined to have celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. The other Erasmus students from Spain, Austria, Holland and the Philippines were very curious about what to expect from the day as it is not typically celebrated in the cities in their countries. 

Parade

Crowd gathering for music and parade

We all agreed to wear green and drew shamrocks on our cheeks to get into the Irish spirit for the day. We felt a bit stupid getting on the train in Vordingborg with shamrocks on our faces, however when we reached Copenhagen, we did not feel out of place at all as it was packed with people dressed completely in green, some wearing crazy hats and outfits, we actually looked underdressed in comparison! I have never seen people dress up so much for St. Patrick’s day, even in Ireland! The Irish music being played live in front of the city hall was being listened to by hundreds of people, which created a lovely Irish atmosphere and made me feel at home. As we walked along with the parade, I was surprised to find out that most of the hundreds of people there were actually Danish, some with Irish descent and some not. Many Dane’s seem to like to celebrate the day as they like the atmosphere. After the parade, we continued to celebrate in one of the Irish bars in Copenhagen, all of which were full of people. The other Erasmus girls said that they really enjoyed the day and are looking forward to visiting Ireland now as they got a small taste of and an insight into the Irish culture. I also enjoyed giving the girls an insight into my culture and look forward to learning more about theirs. The Holland girls have their celebration ‘Queen’s Day’ coming up in April, so I’m looking forward to that.

Enjoying drinks at the Irish Bar

A not so pleasant event this week for me was a visit to the Dentist. I had a tooth ache, and on visiting the Dentist, I was informed I had to have a Root Canal procedure. In Denmark, just like in Northern Ireland, everyone has to pay for their dental care, so I had to pay 4700 Danish kroner for the treatment! The dentist was so kind however, as I have found most Dane’s to be, and she gave me a 1500 kroner discount! This was really helpful as it was a lot of money to have to pay when I hadn’t expected it! During my time in Denmark, Kerri, Trisha and I have noticed that the Dane’s couldn’t be kinder to us, however when we hear stories from some of the other girls in our class about their experiences, we have come to notice that it may be our nationality that goes in our favour, and that if we had a different nationality, we may have had a different experience. The Danish people have a liking for the Irish people and culture, perhaps because it is similar to their own in some ways and many Danes have told us that they enjoy meeting and talking with Irish people.

The dentists in Denmark, I have heard from the Danish students, get a very good reputation but are very expensive. On my visit to the dentist, I noticed that the quality of the surgery, the equipment, the dental treatment and the personal care were excellent. I couldn’t even begin to compare the treatment here with my dental treatment at home, as the treatment here is superb.

This has been a very busy week, so I’m looking forward to a relaxing week ahead.