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.
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