Hello! So I think currently it's actually colder at home/Villanova than it is in Denmark... HAHA welcome to my life! Except for you guys it'll probably last a week and for me at least another month. Anyway I'm not going to give a recap of everything I've done this past week because no one wants to read another book. So I figured I'd just tell you about some of the cultural differences I've noticed so far that are pretty cool!
1. There are babies running around everywhere in adorable little snow suits. Their attitude towards children seems pretty different from what I can tell so far from that in America. First of all, I'm pretty sure both moms and dads get maternity/paternity leave when they have a kid, which is a lot more accommodating than policies at home. And they trust the people around them a lot! Moms and dads and couples are walking around Copenhagen all day with their babies just running down the streets. You can also leave your baby in a stroller outside a store while you're shopping inside, and very rarely will any harm come to your kid. Definitely not something anyone would ever do in America. I think actually I heard a story that a Danish woman tried the same thing while visiting American and got arrested for child endangerment or something. They also ride with their kids on the back of their bikes, or in like carriages attached to their bikes. It all looks pretty foreign and dangerous to me, but everyone does it and everyone seems very happy. Also the snow suits are just beyond adorable, these are the most bundled up kids I've ever seen and when I have kids I will most certainly be buying all of their clothing here. Plus, I think a lot of children are allowed to sleep outside or are put outside when they're crying (from what I've heard). That's probably why they have lungs of steel and are able to play sports outside for hours when its like in the teens.
2. They have so many political parties! At least five but definitely more. However, they realize they need to compromise between them all, and they seem to function far better than the political system in America. My friend and I were curious as to how opposing they are, since Denmark operates under a constitutional monarchy and social welfare state idea. As far as we could tell, none of the parties really oppose those ideas, although I think there is some small party that wants to abolish the social welfare state. But otherwise, they just differ on ideas of how prominent it should be. I'm not sure about the other policies, but it's pretty refreshing to be in a different country instead of the consistent liberal conservative arguments at home.
3. Biking! Everywhere all day every day. I don't know how their faces don't freeze off but they don't. Other than my first biking experience the day I arrived, I'm waiting to get back into it until it's maybe above 30 degrees and not slushy from the snow. But the public transportation is super accommodating to bikes and so are the streets! Naturally I seem to get in the way of bikers because I don't know how to navigate through them like the Danes do but everyone seems so safe and natural about it. Most stair ways going down to the train have a ramp on the side for bikes, and there are bike racks everywhere. There's also one or two bike cars on the train. Definitely can't wait for it to get warmer so I can try and be truly Danish and bike everywhere.
4. Public transportation here is the coolest thing ever. They have the train (S-tog), regional trains, the metro, and buses. Its all so easy to use!! I take the train into the city every day and its awesome. Its comfy and fast and generally reliable. Most Danes actually find them really unreliable as I guess sometimes they get delayed due to weather, but compared to public transportation at home I think it's awesome. The insides of the trains are really nice and everyone stays generally quiet. Plus, they have free wi-fi, which is just awesome. Of course, whenever I plan to catch a certain train, I miss it; now I just leave and catch the next one.
5. Danes in general seem really informed about world news, even about American news and politics. They also aren't afraid to talk about politics with you, or so I've heard. Most of my teachers say that Danes don't really do small talk, and so it's not abnormal for them to bring up issues like abortion or gun control. But the GREAT thing about them is that they generally don't judge you for your ideas, as long as you can support them. Which is my general stance on all politics and so it's awesome that most people here are similar. Very refreshing from the close minded ideas of 'I'm right and you're wrong' that you usually get.
6. Danes LOVE throwbacks!! I've been in a cafe when they played Destiny's Child 'Soldier' and Usher's 'My Boo'. And when we went out Saturday night there was one bar that basically only played American throwbacks. Love it.
There were some other things I wanted to mention that naturally I forgot but I'll write about them when I remember! Also meant to tell you a bit about my classes..
At 8:30 on Mondays and Thursdays I have cross-cultural communication, which is my core course. Basically it means that's my main area of study here and we go on a short tour to northern Denmark, and Kullen and Malmo in Sweden. Then we go to Belfast for a week. So far it seems pretty cool. The instructor is the head of the communication department here and she seems nice. We've watched a bunch of videos of different cultures communicating, through ads and comedy which I like a lot.
Then I go to Danish.. As hard as I thought French was, Danish is even harder. And for once, I think it'll be the vocab, not the grammer, that is hard for me. It's like nothing is pronounced at ALL the way it's spelled, and it's really hard for me to remember words if I can't picture the spelling in my head. It's completely different from English French or Spanish and I am struggling already. But, our Danish class did go to a cute cafe last night for a (free) dinner and wine which was nice; we all bonded over how hard the language already is. Luckily I have 5 people already fluent who can help me! :)
And then my last class on Monday/Thursday is International Advertising, which also seems pretty interesting. It's a lot more marketing than it is like designing ads, which is new for me. We have our main professor who likes to think of himself as our 'coach' instead of our teacher, and who was the head of a lot of companies involved in international advertising which is cool. We also have another part time teacher who currently works in the field.
On Tuesdays/Fridays I start at 8:30 with Journalism vs. Public Relations which definitely wins the prize for coolest teachers. It's taught by two professors, one for PR and one for journalism. The PR teacher is a guy who's super funny, and works as the head of press for an organization here called DIGNITY, which is the Danish Institute Against Torture. And the journalism professor is a woman who used to be a broadcaster for one of Denmark's biggest TV news stations... and she was on dancing with the stars... and she ran for parliament. She said she wasn't a fan of/didn't know there would be so much tabloid publicity with dancing with the stars, and her politician career was fairly fleeting. However, she quit broadcasting for a specific reason that she hasn't revealed to us yet. I think now she runs her own journalism company of some kind and might still commentate on TV news? Either way she's pretty cool, and the two of them together are hilarious.
Anddd lastly I have History of European Ballet, which I only had for the first time today. It seems kinda boring but interesting nonetheless because it's about ballet. The teacher is an older guy who teaches theater stuff I believe, and is kinda grumpy but really passionate about ballet. Also we're going to see 4, maybe 5, Royal Danish Ballet performances so I'm not complaining. Plus it looks like we're going to spend a lot of class time watching ballet variations so still happy.
I've been here for over a week now and only slightly adjusted to the cold! But I will continue trying to update this and take as many pictures as possible! :)
Love
Colleen
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