Module 3: Citizenship and globalization

Some of these lessons were very interesting, but some were a little too difficult for us I think. The lessons about globalization were quite interesting, but we already had a lot of discussions and lessons about that subject, so it was more like a kind of ‘repetition’.
Some of the activities were maybe a little too difficult or maybe not really interesting for us. But it was sure that our teacher prepared our lessons very well ! They had a good structure and he also tried to have a lot of interaction with his students. Which is always more interesting and fun for us, the students of course.

Module 2: Aesthetic Learning Processes

Those lessons I really liked. The art lesson was very nice. Although we had to drawn many times our own face, but sometimes in a different way, it was still an exciting lesson. Maybe a little too long, but I think there was reason. Because we really needed quite a long time to be really in a good ‘artistic mood’. So I think it was important that we continued drawing for a while, so we could become better and better.

The music class was very nice. I really loved the songs that we were singing. The exercises we did were fine. It was a little bit the same as we did many times in Belgium already. But many other students never did some kind of activities. So maybe the music lessons in Belgium are as important as in Denmark, but it was very clear that not all of the countries did have that much and that kind of music lessons.

The cooking lesson was really GREAT !! I like cooking, and a good thing was, that we were together with Danish students ! I really loved that ! When I came back from the lesson, I felt so happy ! I think it was a wonderful experience. I learned some Danish words and I met some Danish students. We prepared a Danish and a Belgian starter together. It was a real pleasure to work with them. I had a nice time and they were so friendly. And I think our starters were very good ! Almost everyone enjoyed it as much as we did !
The dinner together was fantastic. We had such a nice time together. The atmosphere was great. We were laughing all the time and we eat a lot of very well cooked food. I didn’t have to eat at night. I eat so much ;-)

Module 1: Comparative Studies

The module about ‘Comparative Studies’ was for me one of the most interesting ones. We learned a lot about the different school systems all over Europe. It was very interesting to hear about other countries and in which way they are teaching.

First of all, there were the differences between the organizations of the school. In some of the countries, you don’t have a real difference between primary and secondary school like we have in Belgium. In Belgium you have: primary school from 6 to 12 years old and then they go to secondary school from 12 until 18 years old. In Secondary school, they have to choose a direction in which they want to ‘specialize’ in a certain way. Or they’ll study a ‘general’ direction, that one prepares you for most of the different studies in High School or University. But even then, you can choose between: languages, human studies, mathematics, science or Latin. There are also some directions which prepare you for a job. So after you finish Secondary school at the age of 18, you can immediately go to work.
In other countries, like for example in the Czech Republic and Spain, they have a school, a kind of ‘college’ from 6 to 16 years old. So there is only a ‘general’ direction which prepares you for a further education or a job.

I found it really very interesting to learn about it. And I think it’s great to have a lot of nationalities in our Erasmusgroup, so we can learn not only about the school and education system in Denmark, but also about how it works in other countries all over Europe !

I was really looking forward to the lessons about Danish literature and storytellers. But in fact I was a little disappointed concerning these lessons. I really expected some more information about them and their stories. Not just a movie about their life. Even though it was very interesting to watch ! But I would have prefer some more information about their stories and about the literature of Denmark and that we could see the movie about their life at home or later on the day, just as an option. I really would have stayed longer to watch the movies about their life. But it was quite okay. I just expected more of the lessons. But finally it was still quite good. Because I learned a lot about H.C. Anderson and his life ! I really did !

CPH: We are Red, we are White, we are Danish Dynamite !! ;-)

Our trip to Copenhagen !!

The third week started with 2 days off. On Wednesday morning, we had to leave at 10 a.m. to catch the bus with all the Erasmus students to go to Copenhagen for 3 days !! We were all there in time. We went to Vojens by bus, and then we went to Copenhagen by train ! We really had a nice trip, even though it was quite long.

The first day in Copenhagen, we went to the ‘Round Tower’ by Tourbus. I really liked the panorama view we had on the top of that tower. It was great ! Although the weather was quite cold, windy and sometimes even with some snowflakes falling from the sky, we had a great afternoon in the main city of Denmark !
After some information about some places in Copenhagen itself, we had some free time. We went shopping and we went to a bar to drink a hot chocolate.
For dinner, we went to the ‘Burger King’ in the center of the city. After that, we went to the bar at the youth hostel where we had a nice and cozy evening.

On the second day went to visit a lot of things: the castles, the little mermaid, Nyhavn, the Royal Opera, the Library,… Even though we had a lot of snow during the afternoon, so it was very, very cold, we had a wonderful time in Copenhagen. I really enjoyed that city !!

Friday we went to the National Museum, which we really enjoyed ! The children museum was wonderful ! I would like to have a lot of museum like this in Belgium to ! Even at our age, we had a lot of fun there and it was great that we could try everything by ourselves !
After that, we went to the Carlsberg brewery by bus ! I was very happy that I chose to go there. Because it was a nice place to visit.

Then we had to meet at the Youth Hostel to go back to the train station. After a 5 hour during travel, we were back home. We had a great time and I would like to go back to Copenhagen in springtime. Because I liked the city a lot and I’m very curious to see what it’s like without snow !

We like to party !

The second week started with some lessons about Danish storytellers and Danish film and literature. In fact we expected it more interesting.. We just saw the movie about H.C.Anderson his life. It was a very nice and interesting film. But we expected some more information.

I really liked the lesson about language and identity. It was very interesting and I was very surprised that all our portraits were so different!
My portrait looked like this and the explanation was the following:
Flemish in pink:
- In my head: because it’s the language I think in, I dream in,…
- My eyes: all I can see, I name it in Flemish in my head.
- My mouth: it’s my mother tongue.
- My heart: it’s the first language I knew by heart.
English in red:
- It’s quite a difficult language for me. I never was very good in English.
- My hands: I’m not very ‘handy’ with the English language.
French in yellow:
- It makes me think of the summer and a sunny weather.
- Around my heart: it has taken a big part of me, because I like that language a lot and I’ve got a lot of French friends I like a lot.
German in blue:
- It’s a ‘cold’ color because I don’t like German and I only had some German lessons for about one year, only 1 hour a week, so I’m really not good in German !
- My feet: I colored my feet, because it’s not in my head or mind anymore. It has become ‘passive’ knowledge for me now..
Danish in green:
- The color of hope, because I hope to learn the Danish language during my stay in Haderslev !
- My ears: I just discovered the the language by my ears. I still need to learn to understand, speak and to read this language.

An ‘Elfchen’ written by myself:
Yellow
The Sun
Feels Quite Hot
I Really Like Summertime
France

On Tuesday, we had a birthday party at the Norwegian residence ! It was Siv Hege’s 27th birthday, so we were all invited to have some birthday cake and some other Norwegian specialties ! We had a very nice time ! It was also very good to be all together so we could get to know each other a little more !
On Wednesday, we were invited at the Spanish-Hungarian-Turkish-Belgian residence. We had a half an hour walk to get there. But we had a wonderful night there.

On Friday, we prepared our stay in Copenhagen ! We were all looking forward to it ! I’ll hope we’ll have a great time there !!

Let the adventure begin !

The first week in Haderslev: The beginning of the real adventure !!

The first night was the worst. All alone in a big residence. But the next day when I woke up, I met 3 Spanish girl and Cédric ! The boy I met in the Students Café Friday afternoon. I was very happy to meet new people !
Then we went to the ‘city’. First we had our first ‘Danish meal’ in a Hamburger Restaurant in the center of Haderslev. Then we went shopping. The first weekend was quite long. Because we didn’t know what we could do.
Saterday night, two Czech people arrived at our residence. We were very happy to meet them ! We had some dinner all together and we tried some Danish beers.

The first day at school was very nice ! We met Jette and the University prepared some breakfast for us. We really enjoyed that ! Jette and Charlotte are so friendly ! They tried to make us feel as at home and they were always ready to answer our questions or to help us !

The first lesson was about creating our own weblogs. That was very difficult for me ! I had already a Belgian blog, but this blog was much more difficult to create and there was a problem with mine. Because the other students couldn’t see mine. I still don’t know why, because I created another blog, a few days later, and this one works.. So I don’t know what I did wrong, but the most important is, that this one works ! I’m very happy !

On Wednesday evening we were expected at the Students Café, where we had a great night ! But, we couldn’t stay very late, because the day after, we would go visiting a Danish ‘Kindergarden’!! I was really looking forward to the visit !!

And my expectations came true. We were very welcome there to have a look in their Kindergarden. It was very interesting ! The system is so different as we have, in Belgium !
- There are 2 parts, one for babies from 6 or 8 months until 3 years old. The second part is for young children from the age of 3 years old ‘til 6 years old. After that, they go to primary school.
- There are much more teachers as in Belgium. For about 40 children, there were about 4 ‘Pedagogies’ , 1 who prepared the lunch and about 3 pedagogic helpers !! So that means that there were about 7 or 8 adults for 40 children ! That’s amazing !
- All the ages are mixed up together. They have many different rooms, with each it’s own meaning or reason. So they’ve got a playroom, a gym class, a room for ‘art’, a room to relax,…
- They don’t have to do some activities prepared by the teachers.
- The teachers don’t have to prepare anything. They just have to play with the children or help them. But they don’t have to make any written preparations the days before.
- The teachers don’t have to prepare different activities for the children. The children can choose by themselves what they would like to do or play.
- They put the babies outside, even in wintertime to sleep.
And so on…
I was really very surprised ! I enjoyed the school visit a lot and I liked the people very much. They were so friendly and the tried to answer all of our questions. I was really satisfied after this school visit. I learned a lot about the Danish Kindergarden and their education system ! A was very happy, because I knew that it was very different from our own system, but I didn’t know in which way it should be different. But now I finally knew..

The walk in Haderslev was very interesting as well ! We learned a little about the history of this small city.

In the evening, we went to Jønnes Grill to have some dinner with some other Belgian girls. We had a great time and we liked the food a lot. And we were very surprised that it wasn’t that expensive !
After a good dinner, we went to the ‘Fredagscaféen’. There we met a lot of Danish students and also the other Erasmus students. We had a great time !

The first week was a very nice one ! We learned a lot about the Danish school system and about the Danes. We also learned our first words and questions in Danish ! One thing is for sure: the Danish language is very difficult, especially the pronunciation I think !! But we still have some time left to exercise and to make some progress, I hope ! :-)

The first meeting with Denmark and the Danes !!

Meet Denmark and the Danes !!

After weeks of preparation, finally I had to pack my bags for my 3 month during adventure in Harderslev! I was a little nervous, because I’d never been in Denmark before and it’s the first time that I’m leaving for such al long time!
It was very difficult to decide what I should take and what was a little less important. I was so afraid to forget something very important! I only could take 20kg with me on the plane. My suitcase weighs about 7kg ! So I could only take about 13kg with me !! But finally, I succeed!

That evening, I went to my horse to say goodbye. It was quite surprising, but it was like she felt that I was going to leave, because she was a little angry.. I hope she will be alright. But I’m quite sure, because my little sister and my best friend will take care of her. So I’m sure she’ll be alright!
After that, I went to a bar, where I could say goodbye to some of my friends. At that point, I realized that I would be leaving in the morning! It was quite difficult, but I was very happy that I could say goodbye to them!

At the morning, we left home very early because my plane was leaving at 7a.m. So we had to be at the airport at 5a.m.! I was very tired and nervous. I would meet 4 other Flemish girls at the airport. I was looking forward to meet them! Because I didn’t know them before. At the gates we met each other. They were very friendly and they ‘adopted’ me, so I wasn’t alone anymore.. I was a little more reassured.
After a very good flight, we arrived in Copenhagen! There we needed to catch the train to Vojens. But the system isn’t the same as in Belgium. So it’s not the departure time that’s written on the tickets, so we missed the train. But fortunately they changed our tickets. We had to run, but then we were finally on the train to Kolding. There we had to catch the bus to Haderslev.
Our buddies were already waiting for us at the bus station. They were very friendly. They brought us to our residence and to the supermarket. The adventure could start !!

My first impression of Denmark and the Danes? The Danes are quite friendly and Denmark is a very nice country, with a lot of nature and snow !!