Hello all!
So this week went by fairly quickly, with few assignments and a lot of fun at practicum.
There is this little boy Tobey, who understands English, and therefore he is the child with whom I have been spending most of my time. He loves me and he was having me follow a very specific running course and playing with me for a lot of the day. There is also a girl who understands a bit of French, so I was able to use that as well. However cool that is, we discussed today that while home languages such as English or French or German, in another girl's case are sometimes able to be used in the school, any Arabic or other Middle Eastern languages are not, even by the Muslim paedagog at my site. It is an interesting difference, and today in class we learned that sometimes if a teacher speaks one of those languages, they will be asked to speak Danish only, while I am allowed to speak Danish, English, and French to the children.
So it was a fun day on Thursday.
Friday I went to class then boarded the bus with only 7 other students, to Ribe, Denmark, in Southwest Jutland. It began as a Viking market around the year 710, so it is celebrating its 1300th anniversary as a town this year. It is very small and very quaint and beautiful, with its half timbered houses and cobblestone streets surrounding the Cathedral from 1134. I loved it there.
The first day we had a scavenger hunt, visited a medieval monastery, and the cathedral, and sort of saw a bird phenomenon known as "The Black Sun," where all the starlings in the area gather to practice for migration. It was pretty cool. The monastery and cathedral were both beautiful places, and the day could not have been better! We climbed 290 steps up to the top of the cathedral where we got a breathtaking view of the town and the surrounding areas. We even did some analytical sketching of the inside of the cathedral to really get a feel for the details of the architecture, which is something I have never done, but I really enjoyed it and it gave me new perspective.
All in all, it was a great weekend.
I found out today that I will be able to see Les Mis and Avenue Q in London, and we get to take a Bollywood dance class, among our other visits to the Freud museum and various community centers, playgrounds, and schools.
I am sooo excited!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A Typical (If possible) Week in Denmark
This week was pretty normal, with nothing much happening. I went to class, went to practicum, ate dinner with my host family and watched TV/movies, etc.
It was a very nice, fun week. The most noteworthy occurrences began on Wednesday when our class was taken on a field study, a grown-up word for a field trip. I had two that day, one in the morning to the DIA Skole, a Muslim private school in Norrebro, an area of Copenhagen. I was extremely interested in this trip. The school teaches classical Arabic, Danish, and English to all of its students, and they were all more than willing to show off and ask us questions or, in the case of the younger students, sing us a familiar song about 5 Little Monkeys. After that, we found a nice cafe and got treated to drinks by our school. I spent the rest of my morning with 3 girls from my class, talking, shopping and eating DELICIOUS food.
One of the girls, Bailey, showed us a bakery close to campus with good prices and fabulous food. I got a huge fresh baked bun with Brie cheese, mixed greens, and a pepper, which I removed, all for 30kr which is about 5 bucks. It was so much better than any $5 footlong sub I have ever had at Subway.
My second field study was to an allotment garden area in Gladsaxe, a suburb of Copenhagen. An allotment garden is a peculiar thing. It is run like a little government, with a union of gardeners and a volunteer to be the chairman. Families or individuals can rent land for about $400 a quarter, and on that land they are responsible for having a house (usually summer homes for those living in the city) and a well-kept garden. Here we were given weinerbrod, or Danishes, told of the history of the gardens in Europe (they are everywhere but they started in Denmark as early as the 1600s, but mostly popping up in the late 1800s), then taken on a tour. After this, we were treated to another Danish tradition (like weinerbrod), lagekager or layer cake. It was magical, but apparently better cakes exist, and I will find one.
Thursday I went to practicum at the preschool, and had lots of fun and few language problems, though they did happen. My paedagog whom I work with took me and the other student, Marissa, on a tour of all of the other sites, which was cool. The paedagog, Henriette, is so helpful and I know she will be an excellent resource as the semester goes on.
Friday I went to the mall, Fisketorvet with my friend Katie and her friend Leah. I finally found rainboots, but I bought them the next day, which I will get to. I learned not to go to Baresso again, no matter how good the chai is, because no chai is worth 6 bucks. I stocked up on winter things at H&M, my new favorite place. I bought gloves and thick tights.
Saturday I helped my friend Justin move out of his old folkehojskole in Helsingor to an apartment with a roommate in Ordrup, closer to school. Afterwards, we went back to Fisketorvet where I bought my rainboots, which I definitely needed yesterday.
Now, Sunday was the main event! It was the FCKobenhavn vs Brondby football match! I made sure to wear blue to support FCK. The game was NUTS. This is a huge rivalry match, and they charge extra just because they knew the Brondby fans would be insane, and they were. My mom and Danish professor say this was the worst they had ever heard/seen it. At the beginning of the game when FCK scored their first goal, Brondby lit flares and threw them onto the field and held them in the stands. They had to pause the game for a few minutes to let them burn out. Then, toward the end, when Brondby knew they were going to lose, they began setting seats on fire. Yes, you read that right. The grand totals = 487 seats burned, 44 arrests, and 2 police men injured in riots before the match, on the way to the stadium. The total damage equaled 600,000kr, which is roughly 100,000 USD. They charge more, about 50kr each ticket to cover these damages, so they have 1,500,000kr to spend to replace the seats, as long as my numbers are right.
It was a great week. This week I am planning my travels to Greece, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and hoping to get tickets to the 25th anniversary show of Les Mis in London. That would be amazing.
Also, stay tuned for my blog about my trip to Ribe, the oldest city in Denmark, which just celebrated its 1300th birthday!
It was a very nice, fun week. The most noteworthy occurrences began on Wednesday when our class was taken on a field study, a grown-up word for a field trip. I had two that day, one in the morning to the DIA Skole, a Muslim private school in Norrebro, an area of Copenhagen. I was extremely interested in this trip. The school teaches classical Arabic, Danish, and English to all of its students, and they were all more than willing to show off and ask us questions or, in the case of the younger students, sing us a familiar song about 5 Little Monkeys. After that, we found a nice cafe and got treated to drinks by our school. I spent the rest of my morning with 3 girls from my class, talking, shopping and eating DELICIOUS food.
One of the girls, Bailey, showed us a bakery close to campus with good prices and fabulous food. I got a huge fresh baked bun with Brie cheese, mixed greens, and a pepper, which I removed, all for 30kr which is about 5 bucks. It was so much better than any $5 footlong sub I have ever had at Subway.
My second field study was to an allotment garden area in Gladsaxe, a suburb of Copenhagen. An allotment garden is a peculiar thing. It is run like a little government, with a union of gardeners and a volunteer to be the chairman. Families or individuals can rent land for about $400 a quarter, and on that land they are responsible for having a house (usually summer homes for those living in the city) and a well-kept garden. Here we were given weinerbrod, or Danishes, told of the history of the gardens in Europe (they are everywhere but they started in Denmark as early as the 1600s, but mostly popping up in the late 1800s), then taken on a tour. After this, we were treated to another Danish tradition (like weinerbrod), lagekager or layer cake. It was magical, but apparently better cakes exist, and I will find one.
Thursday I went to practicum at the preschool, and had lots of fun and few language problems, though they did happen. My paedagog whom I work with took me and the other student, Marissa, on a tour of all of the other sites, which was cool. The paedagog, Henriette, is so helpful and I know she will be an excellent resource as the semester goes on.
Friday I went to the mall, Fisketorvet with my friend Katie and her friend Leah. I finally found rainboots, but I bought them the next day, which I will get to. I learned not to go to Baresso again, no matter how good the chai is, because no chai is worth 6 bucks. I stocked up on winter things at H&M, my new favorite place. I bought gloves and thick tights.
Saturday I helped my friend Justin move out of his old folkehojskole in Helsingor to an apartment with a roommate in Ordrup, closer to school. Afterwards, we went back to Fisketorvet where I bought my rainboots, which I definitely needed yesterday.
Now, Sunday was the main event! It was the FCKobenhavn vs Brondby football match! I made sure to wear blue to support FCK. The game was NUTS. This is a huge rivalry match, and they charge extra just because they knew the Brondby fans would be insane, and they were. My mom and Danish professor say this was the worst they had ever heard/seen it. At the beginning of the game when FCK scored their first goal, Brondby lit flares and threw them onto the field and held them in the stands. They had to pause the game for a few minutes to let them burn out. Then, toward the end, when Brondby knew they were going to lose, they began setting seats on fire. Yes, you read that right. The grand totals = 487 seats burned, 44 arrests, and 2 police men injured in riots before the match, on the way to the stadium. The total damage equaled 600,000kr, which is roughly 100,000 USD. They charge more, about 50kr each ticket to cover these damages, so they have 1,500,000kr to spend to replace the seats, as long as my numbers are right.
It was a great week. This week I am planning my travels to Greece, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and hoping to get tickets to the 25th anniversary show of Les Mis in London. That would be amazing.
Also, stay tuned for my blog about my trip to Ribe, the oldest city in Denmark, which just celebrated its 1300th birthday!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Most Amazing Weekend (So Far)
So Thursday morning I had to wake up at 5:15 to get to Frue Plads by 7:15 to board the bus for our short study tour to Western Denmark. We spent most of our time on Funen and in Odense and its surrounding areas, also known as the birthplace of the world's most famous Dane, Hans Christian Andersen.
The first day, we crossed over onto Funen, pronounced Foon and spelled Fyn in Danish. Our first stop was to a school called the Hans Christian Andersen school, which is a school of 400 students from grade 0-9 (or kindergarten to 9) which represent 16 different nationalities. In this school, diversity is an asset, and the children learn about each other through Socratic discussion with one another and are given tremendous opportunities to challenge themselves and each other, and to build self-esteem and to learn to the best of their abilities so they can reach their potential. The school was built in 2000 and was incredible to be in. We had the opportunity to ask students about themselves and to work briefly with some of the younger children. It was an incredible place that is doing great things for the children of the area.
We spent the majority of our time this weekend in a suburb of Odense called Vollsmose. It could be seen as a sort of ghetto, because it is made up of about 10,000 people mostly of minority background. It is considered to be dangerous by many Danes because the media reports the worst cases. However, I did not have the same feeling when I was there. I felt oddly connected to it.
From the school we split up and half of us went to Yggdrasil, a center for minority mothers to come with their children to learn how to best take care of them and to make friends in the community. The other half went to a children's city in Vollsmose, which was basically a giant supervised playground with houses and pirate ships and slides and swings. But that I only know from pictures because I went to Yggdrasil.
After that we went to the university in Vollsmose/Odense to see and interact with a theater group called Act Now. It was comprised of 5 Muslim women/girls and 1 Muslim man. They do a sort of theater called forum theater, in which the actors gain insight and the answers to the conflict in the play from their audience. This was perhaps my favorite part of the trip, because it opened my eyes. I saw past the headscarves and all my preconceived notions of what it is to be a Muslim woman, and I saw for the first time that everyone is the same. Everyone has hopes and dreams (and these women had high ones that they were already achieving) and problems, but no matter where you come from, you can find common ground and connection that can bridge any cultural differences that may exist.
We went to dinner following the theater activities at a Danish buffet called the Ugly Duckling. Then, about 6 girls and our professor walked around Odense at night and got cake and wine or in my case, water and a flodeboller at a cafe. We then retreated to the hostel and went to bed.
We had a wonderful breakfast at the hostel and then went to the Vollsmose Kulturhus, a community center that offers help finding a job, community activities, computer classes, a recording studio, and a venue where cultural activities can be held. Then we went to a bazaar for lunch and shopping, though it was mostly empty due to Ramadan. From there we walked to Fyrtojet, or the Tinder Box, a children's center next to Hans Christian Andersen's home. There, we heard a story, painted a picture, played dress up and got our faces painted. Then we went to HC Andersen's house, where I bought a teacup and something for my mom.
We ate Turkish food for dinner, then went back to the Kulturhus to see a musical/dance show called Drums of Joy by a group from Uganda. It was absolutely incredible and informative, and my friend Trisha and I want to buy the cd.
On the note of new friends, I now feel like I know and can talk to every person in my class. This experience brought us all together, and I feel like I have at least 2 more close friends, but about 15 classmates that have now become friends. The extent of friendship differs, but I definitely feel like I am friends with the majority of my class.
Saturday, our last day, we visited Gavnø Castle, which dates back to 1402 but is furnished in the Rococo style (one of my favorites). It is home to the largest privately-owned collection of paintings in Europe. The castle looked like it was out of a Jane Austen novel, and a family still lives there, a baron and his wife and children. My favorite part of the castle was the grounds, and the fact that it was furnished so lavishly with gold molding, treebranches, roses, and teacups.
This was the most incredible weekend and experience I have had so far, and it makes me very excited for London, which will be more of the same, only in one of my favorite cities in Europe.
You can find photos on my facebook.
The first day, we crossed over onto Funen, pronounced Foon and spelled Fyn in Danish. Our first stop was to a school called the Hans Christian Andersen school, which is a school of 400 students from grade 0-9 (or kindergarten to 9) which represent 16 different nationalities. In this school, diversity is an asset, and the children learn about each other through Socratic discussion with one another and are given tremendous opportunities to challenge themselves and each other, and to build self-esteem and to learn to the best of their abilities so they can reach their potential. The school was built in 2000 and was incredible to be in. We had the opportunity to ask students about themselves and to work briefly with some of the younger children. It was an incredible place that is doing great things for the children of the area.
We spent the majority of our time this weekend in a suburb of Odense called Vollsmose. It could be seen as a sort of ghetto, because it is made up of about 10,000 people mostly of minority background. It is considered to be dangerous by many Danes because the media reports the worst cases. However, I did not have the same feeling when I was there. I felt oddly connected to it.
From the school we split up and half of us went to Yggdrasil, a center for minority mothers to come with their children to learn how to best take care of them and to make friends in the community. The other half went to a children's city in Vollsmose, which was basically a giant supervised playground with houses and pirate ships and slides and swings. But that I only know from pictures because I went to Yggdrasil.
After that we went to the university in Vollsmose/Odense to see and interact with a theater group called Act Now. It was comprised of 5 Muslim women/girls and 1 Muslim man. They do a sort of theater called forum theater, in which the actors gain insight and the answers to the conflict in the play from their audience. This was perhaps my favorite part of the trip, because it opened my eyes. I saw past the headscarves and all my preconceived notions of what it is to be a Muslim woman, and I saw for the first time that everyone is the same. Everyone has hopes and dreams (and these women had high ones that they were already achieving) and problems, but no matter where you come from, you can find common ground and connection that can bridge any cultural differences that may exist.
We went to dinner following the theater activities at a Danish buffet called the Ugly Duckling. Then, about 6 girls and our professor walked around Odense at night and got cake and wine or in my case, water and a flodeboller at a cafe. We then retreated to the hostel and went to bed.
We had a wonderful breakfast at the hostel and then went to the Vollsmose Kulturhus, a community center that offers help finding a job, community activities, computer classes, a recording studio, and a venue where cultural activities can be held. Then we went to a bazaar for lunch and shopping, though it was mostly empty due to Ramadan. From there we walked to Fyrtojet, or the Tinder Box, a children's center next to Hans Christian Andersen's home. There, we heard a story, painted a picture, played dress up and got our faces painted. Then we went to HC Andersen's house, where I bought a teacup and something for my mom.
We ate Turkish food for dinner, then went back to the Kulturhus to see a musical/dance show called Drums of Joy by a group from Uganda. It was absolutely incredible and informative, and my friend Trisha and I want to buy the cd.
On the note of new friends, I now feel like I know and can talk to every person in my class. This experience brought us all together, and I feel like I have at least 2 more close friends, but about 15 classmates that have now become friends. The extent of friendship differs, but I definitely feel like I am friends with the majority of my class.
Saturday, our last day, we visited Gavnø Castle, which dates back to 1402 but is furnished in the Rococo style (one of my favorites). It is home to the largest privately-owned collection of paintings in Europe. The castle looked like it was out of a Jane Austen novel, and a family still lives there, a baron and his wife and children. My favorite part of the castle was the grounds, and the fact that it was furnished so lavishly with gold molding, treebranches, roses, and teacups.
This was the most incredible weekend and experience I have had so far, and it makes me very excited for London, which will be more of the same, only in one of my favorite cities in Europe.
You can find photos on my facebook.
Sweden, Tivoli, Class, and Family time.
Wow it's been a while...so much to tell. I apologize for all of these mega posts, but during the week I don't have a lot of time to write.
So here we go. Friday night, no one was going to be home except me and my mom, so we went out and got some pizza, which is okay here, but different and it makes me miss New York Giant. Then I think I finished watching Dexter and worked on a paper. I had 2 papers due this week and lots of reading. However, Saturday was my friend Julia's birthday, so we had plans to go to Tivoli. Before that, my mom and I went over to Helsingborg, Sweden on a ferry. It was only 48 kroner for a return ticket and it only took about 20 minutes to cross the Øresund. It was a great day for such a trip, and we walked around the city, had coffee and cake in a cafe, shopped, and visited Helsingborg castle.
When I got back home I got changed and got on the train to Copenhagen for Julia's birthday. It was lots of fun, we walked around the park, took lots of pictures, got ice cream, and finally, we went on the tallest swing carousel in the world, which is 80m or 262ft. The view of Copenhagen at night was incredible, though they made me take off my glasses so it was mostly a blur. I will have to do it again and sneak them on somehow.
After the ride we went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, which gave us a distinct American feel. We each got our meals, then waited for an hour for the check. You would think, most likely, that this is bad service. But in Denmark, it is good service. They will never take your plates unless it is obvious that you are finished, and they will never force you out by giving you the check too soon. In Denmark, all restaurants take hygge - coziness, very seriously, and they want you to feel comfortable. So, they light candles, and let you stay there as long as you'd like. It's actually quite nice.
Sunday and Monday and Tuesday I worked on papers and watched Project Runway, then in the evening after dinner on Sunday, my mom, Sofie and I watched The Proposal. :)
Wednesday I was free from field studies so I slept in and then my mom and I went for a walk around Kronborg Castle. We walked on the beach looking for amber (we didn't find any this time, but both my mom and a friend of hers from work have found it under the seaweed, so I am on a mission to find some also), and I saw a bunch of Jellyfish washed up on shore. Then we reached the castle and walked around it and into the courtyard, though not in this time. It was a very nice day.
This post is already far too long so I will post the next one right after this, because I feel this weekend deserves its own post.
So here we go. Friday night, no one was going to be home except me and my mom, so we went out and got some pizza, which is okay here, but different and it makes me miss New York Giant. Then I think I finished watching Dexter and worked on a paper. I had 2 papers due this week and lots of reading. However, Saturday was my friend Julia's birthday, so we had plans to go to Tivoli. Before that, my mom and I went over to Helsingborg, Sweden on a ferry. It was only 48 kroner for a return ticket and it only took about 20 minutes to cross the Øresund. It was a great day for such a trip, and we walked around the city, had coffee and cake in a cafe, shopped, and visited Helsingborg castle.
When I got back home I got changed and got on the train to Copenhagen for Julia's birthday. It was lots of fun, we walked around the park, took lots of pictures, got ice cream, and finally, we went on the tallest swing carousel in the world, which is 80m or 262ft. The view of Copenhagen at night was incredible, though they made me take off my glasses so it was mostly a blur. I will have to do it again and sneak them on somehow.
After the ride we went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, which gave us a distinct American feel. We each got our meals, then waited for an hour for the check. You would think, most likely, that this is bad service. But in Denmark, it is good service. They will never take your plates unless it is obvious that you are finished, and they will never force you out by giving you the check too soon. In Denmark, all restaurants take hygge - coziness, very seriously, and they want you to feel comfortable. So, they light candles, and let you stay there as long as you'd like. It's actually quite nice.
Sunday and Monday and Tuesday I worked on papers and watched Project Runway, then in the evening after dinner on Sunday, my mom, Sofie and I watched The Proposal. :)
Wednesday I was free from field studies so I slept in and then my mom and I went for a walk around Kronborg Castle. We walked on the beach looking for amber (we didn't find any this time, but both my mom and a friend of hers from work have found it under the seaweed, so I am on a mission to find some also), and I saw a bunch of Jellyfish washed up on shore. Then we reached the castle and walked around it and into the courtyard, though not in this time. It was a very nice day.
This post is already far too long so I will post the next one right after this, because I feel this weekend deserves its own post.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Busy Week
Hello again!
It's been a while, so let's recap. Last Friday was my first official day of class, and I know that I will have next to no life while I'm here, because I actually will have a lot of homework and projects, but also a lot of field studies and trips as well. Friday night was the Welcome Party for DIS students, which I was going to go to, but my friend Amanda, who is the only other person I have met here who doesn't drink, couldn't go because her family was taking her to their vacation house. So, I got home, at dinner with my mor. Because my sister Sofie was going to be going to the discotek and my brother Rasmus was going to be at his girlfriend's or with a friend, my mom (sidenote: it is a curious phenomenon, but all study abroad students tend to refer to their host family as "my mom/brother/sister" etc.) decided to take me to Tivoli Gardens to see the lights. It was gorgeous and so fun, and I got probably the best ice cream cone I have ever had, with the creamiest soft serve I have ever had, a flødeboller (some sort of chocolate covered marzipan), and strawberry jam/sauce. Then, we saw a concert by one of Denmark's most famous singers whose name I can't remember, but whose music was quite catchy.
Saturday morning, I attempted to use the bicycle that my family had for me to use, but it was too tall for me. I was going to go see my sister play football but instead I stayed home and I think I skyped my parents. Later, the three of us went into town to have a look at the shops and I went to my first H&M where I bought a new school bag because mine was getting too dense. Sunday I did homework then went to the host family meet and greet where I met up with a girl named Katie who I had been speaking to about Kate Nash tickets (which btw are way too expensive and the place was impossible to find, just ask Amanda who I dragged with me all over town to get them).
The beginning of the week was normal, just a bunch of assignments handed out and completed, train trouble (nothing serious, just a couple of late/missed ones) and learning money lessons. But Monday my Danish professor took us to a really nice cafe in the student district and we enjoyed each others' company and some good food! On Wednesday, my Danish class went to Christiania, which for those of you who don't know, is a totally autonomous community in Copenhagen. It was founded in 1971 by a bunch of homeless people and hippies who created a community out of old military barracks and ruins. It is the 2nd most popular CPH tourist activity after Tivoli and it is home to about 1000 residents who may lose their homes if the recent ruling holds in the high court. Ask me if you'd like to know more about it, there are too many details to cite here.
Thursday, today was my first day at my practicum for Children in a Multicultural Context. It is sort of like an internship/observation. It is located in Nivå, a rural suburb of Helsingør (sort of). I was very nervous because I am working with 0-6 year olds and I don't speak Danish, plus I had NO clue where it was. However, I was able to find it, and I had so much fun with the kids. And it turns out, with kids you don't necessarily have to speak the same language to understand each other and get along, so the next 10 weeks are going to be so amazing and I can't wait to get to know the kids better when I can speak a little more Danish, which I know will happen because I already learned a lot of phrases, like "Hvad hedder du" What is your name? Jeg hedder Kate. My name is Kate. Ja/Nej - yes/no. Skal vi lege? Do you want to play? Er du sulten/tørstig? Are you hungry/thirsty? Spise - Eat. So I think I will be fine, and I think it will be one of the best experiences I have ever had.
Coming up: My first test, a shopping trip to Sweden (maybe), celebrating Julia's birthday at Tivoli, and some more kid stories and other adventures :D
It's been a while, so let's recap. Last Friday was my first official day of class, and I know that I will have next to no life while I'm here, because I actually will have a lot of homework and projects, but also a lot of field studies and trips as well. Friday night was the Welcome Party for DIS students, which I was going to go to, but my friend Amanda, who is the only other person I have met here who doesn't drink, couldn't go because her family was taking her to their vacation house. So, I got home, at dinner with my mor. Because my sister Sofie was going to be going to the discotek and my brother Rasmus was going to be at his girlfriend's or with a friend, my mom (sidenote: it is a curious phenomenon, but all study abroad students tend to refer to their host family as "my mom/brother/sister" etc.) decided to take me to Tivoli Gardens to see the lights. It was gorgeous and so fun, and I got probably the best ice cream cone I have ever had, with the creamiest soft serve I have ever had, a flødeboller (some sort of chocolate covered marzipan), and strawberry jam/sauce. Then, we saw a concert by one of Denmark's most famous singers whose name I can't remember, but whose music was quite catchy.
Saturday morning, I attempted to use the bicycle that my family had for me to use, but it was too tall for me. I was going to go see my sister play football but instead I stayed home and I think I skyped my parents. Later, the three of us went into town to have a look at the shops and I went to my first H&M where I bought a new school bag because mine was getting too dense. Sunday I did homework then went to the host family meet and greet where I met up with a girl named Katie who I had been speaking to about Kate Nash tickets (which btw are way too expensive and the place was impossible to find, just ask Amanda who I dragged with me all over town to get them).
The beginning of the week was normal, just a bunch of assignments handed out and completed, train trouble (nothing serious, just a couple of late/missed ones) and learning money lessons. But Monday my Danish professor took us to a really nice cafe in the student district and we enjoyed each others' company and some good food! On Wednesday, my Danish class went to Christiania, which for those of you who don't know, is a totally autonomous community in Copenhagen. It was founded in 1971 by a bunch of homeless people and hippies who created a community out of old military barracks and ruins. It is the 2nd most popular CPH tourist activity after Tivoli and it is home to about 1000 residents who may lose their homes if the recent ruling holds in the high court. Ask me if you'd like to know more about it, there are too many details to cite here.
Thursday, today was my first day at my practicum for Children in a Multicultural Context. It is sort of like an internship/observation. It is located in Nivå, a rural suburb of Helsingør (sort of). I was very nervous because I am working with 0-6 year olds and I don't speak Danish, plus I had NO clue where it was. However, I was able to find it, and I had so much fun with the kids. And it turns out, with kids you don't necessarily have to speak the same language to understand each other and get along, so the next 10 weeks are going to be so amazing and I can't wait to get to know the kids better when I can speak a little more Danish, which I know will happen because I already learned a lot of phrases, like "Hvad hedder du" What is your name? Jeg hedder Kate. My name is Kate. Ja/Nej - yes/no. Skal vi lege? Do you want to play? Er du sulten/tørstig? Are you hungry/thirsty? Spise - Eat. So I think I will be fine, and I think it will be one of the best experiences I have ever had.
Coming up: My first test, a shopping trip to Sweden (maybe), celebrating Julia's birthday at Tivoli, and some more kid stories and other adventures :D
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