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 !

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 !!