Week 13 (16/04/2012- 23/04/2012)

 Personal Blog

Having spent a week at home for Easter, during week 12,  I wasn’t sure how I was going to react when it was time for me to return to Denmark again. However, although I was sad to leave my friends and family again, I knew that I would see them again in 6 weeks time. At Dublin airport I was surprisingly okay saying goodbye, which shocked me. This showed me how much I have come on since leaving for the first time in January. 

I was excited to get on the plane and see all my Erasmus friends again. I missed them when I was at home and this shows me what it will be like when I leave Vordingborg and my Erasmus experience is over. I will really miss all the friends I have made here as we have all become so close during our time here. I have really enjoyed getting to know and spending time with a group of people from different countries. We have discussed how crazy it is to think that the whole group of us, who are so close right now, may never all be together in the same room again after our Erasmus time is over! We have all planned to meet up in different people’s home countries already and I really hope we do stick to our word.  I really feel I have made friends for life.

Post- Easter Brunch

Post-Easter Brunch

Although leaving Dublin airport I was fine, when I arrived in Copenhagen train station to the buzz and crowds, I had a sudden realisation that I wasn’t at home anymore and so I felt a bit homesick. However, when I finally arrived back in Vordingborg and saw all the familiar faces of the people there and my room with all my things I felt at home again. Within an hour of unpacking and settling back in, it felt as though I had never been away! I had settled straight back into life here in Denmark. This has shown me that although I may not realise it now, I will miss aspects of my life here when I return home, particularly the relaxed, laid back lifestyle and also that as a person, I have become a lot more adaptable to change and spontaneity, since coming to Denmark. 

Vordingborg day festival

Although I look forward to 6 weeks time when I return home and see my family and friends who I miss, I am keen to spend my time left here wisely. The scary thought is that I have only 6 weeks here to spend with my friends and also to do and see all the things that we have wanted to and planned to see before we all go home. I know that time is going to fly between sightseeing and completing our paper, so these few weeks may be the busiest of my time here in Denmark!

Week 11 (26/03/2012- 02/04/2012)

Cultural blog

  

This week, having no class on Tuesday, 9 of us from our International Class decided to take a trip to Berlin. Most of us had never visited Berlin before and were interested to find out about the rich history and about each other. Since there were different nationalities and cultures all taking part in the trip, including 3 Dutch, 1 Spanish, 1 Colombian, 1 Turkish and of course, Kerri, Trisha and I, it was quite a different experience for me and has definitely developed my cultural awareness of various other cultures even more as I have never travelled with people from other cultures before. I have also never lived in a room with people from other cultures, which was interesting as we shared a hostel dorm together. It was interesting to observe the different practices; habits and rituals that different individuals have that are either individual to the person’s personality or to their culture. 

Travelling with people from different cultures was very beneficial to my personal and cultural growth as we all learned a lot from each other. It was a very enjoyable experience which I am looking forward to repeating during my time in Denmark, when we visit somewhere else or take day trips together. Something I enjoy the most about my Erasmus experience is socialising with a group of people, all from different countries. I feel I have learned so much from this, including words and phrases from different languages, trying different foods and taking part in different traditions. This is something not often experienced in Northern Ireland, which I now know through taking part in Erasmus,  is such a shame, and that the population of Northern Ireland are losing out on this valuable experience due to the lack of culturally open-minded people in Northern Ireland and their reluctance to mix with people from different cultures. I myself would have been in this category before coming to Denmark, however my views on mixing with people from different cultures have changed significantly, and on my return to Northern Ireland I will be more aware of different cultures and will make the most of any opportunities that arise to socialise with people from different cultures. 

The group at Berliner Dom

When travelling together with a variety of people from different cultures there are of course some difficulties which we faced. These were that not everyone always wanted to do the same thing; however, thankfully, we were able to compromise on things. Another issue was that the Spanish and Colombian people like to eat dinner at around 9 or 10pm, were as the rest of us liked to eat at about 6pm. We also managed to compromise on this however and dined at 7 or 8pm. This is something which I would never have thought of as being an issue; however I am now more aware of these issues when planning future trips. 

During my trip to Berlin I learned a lot about the troubles associated with Berlin and Germany. I was very surprised to learn about the life that the people of Berlin led as although I had heard a lot about the Second World War, I had not heard much about the segregation of Berlin. We visited the  remains of the Berlin wall, The Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Berliner Dom and the newly regenerated area Potzdammer Platz. 

The group at Brandenburg Gate.

 

All in all, my trip to Berlin was very culturally enriching due to the people I was travelling with and also due to the historically intriguing, lively and artistic city of Berlin. 

Next week we have our Easter holidays where everyone in Denmark returns home to their families, as Easter is seen as an important family time here and also by some of the other Europeans here on Erasmus Therefore we also decided to take a trip home to celebrate Easter.

Kerri and I at the East Side Gallery

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!