Hey!
Well I suppose the last time I wrote was in the summer holidays. Although I hardly think it counts as summer if it is pouring down with rain some daysJ
So I realized from looking back over reports (mostly just to try and find where the last eight months has gone) that I had written a lot about what I had been doing and not very much about the general differences or my impressions. So I thought this report I should do both.
Being a student here the main differences I notice are at school. From my first day I was shocked by little things like students calling teachers by their first names, to a 5 minute break in the middle of the class in which ¾ of the class would go out and smoke. Another thing I found really strange at first is not wearing a school uniform, there is a lot of emphasis in Denmark about brand name clothes and I have heard horrible stories about what some girls do in their spare time to afford all these clothes. People as young as 11/12 here are starting to get very preoccupied with it also.
The way the school is run is also different. School in Denmark is paid for by the government, as well as university. But in exchange there is a sales tax of 25% on goods and services. Once you are over 18 you are also eligible for an SU payment, like a student allowance, the size of which depends on how much you need- it is more if you live away from home etc. Absences are also handled very differently. It is quite simple in Denmark to skip a class, you just walk out really. But it is all marked down. If a student misses a certain amount they can either have the SU payment taken off them (so that they often can’t afford to stay at school because they have to work more to cover expenses) or they can just be kicked out of the school. The course I am in (HF) is like a fast tracked version of the normal Gymnasium. It is two years instead of three and is for students who have already worked for a few years or been to other schools and so the students are usually older, living away from home and working a lot. They do not have tests or assignments that count towards their final grade – just exams at the end of the year. This makes it difficult if you stop before the end of the year as you have nothing to show for the time you have spent there.
There are also a lot of differences in teen life in general. The legal drinking age is sixteen and a lot of teenagers also smoke – if not always then usually just at parties. They also have very high wages here- maybe because the taxes are more. But a thirteen year old has a minimum pay of around 50Kroner. That is just over 10$. I think the minimum wage for that age in Australia is like $6.50. There is also a question of whether Danes are more responsible the teens in other countries. Certainly in school they have to take responsibility- no one checks they have done their work. And in general Danes have a lot more freedom from their parents to drink and party. But it is believed that this freedom leads to irresponsibility in that children of twelve are drinking and working.
The great thing about Denmark is that it is such a small country! It is never too far to go anywhere and the public transport is set up extremely well. The cost is another issue. Danes (as a lot of Europe) also rely on cycling as a major form of transportation. This is largely due to the high price of petrol (~11kr per litre = over 2$ per litre) as well as the huge taxes they have on importing and buying cars. Most families also only have one car. My first family would maybe only use their car once a week-if that much. And it was cute because if we all needed to go somewhere we would all bike together- even in the rain of winter! I also thought it was cute the first time I saw bike traffic lights, and parking houses for bikes.
The Danish word for taxes is Skat, ironically enough this is also a word in Danish used to girlfriends or partners (similar to honey or dear). So if you have ever wondered where a large portion of the money goes the Danes have figured it out J In Denmark there is also up to 60-70% salary taxes for those is the highest income brackets. It is very hard in Denmark to become “very” rich from work because of this. But with all the help from the government it is also hard to be very poor.
Denmark also has a few laws that are different to Australia. It is lacking a street drinking law. I will never get over seeing people at the train station or walking down the central street at eight in the morning with a beer. They were the first country to allow gay marriage in 1989. Most people working in companies have just a ½ hour lunch break. The majority of stores open at 10:00 am also.
Oh I should also tell you what I have been up to. I went to a small castle in Nyborg with my host Dad. The castle is now leased out for events such as concerts or murder mystery parties. I also went to a football (soccer) game with my host brother between Odense (where I live) and Aarhus (Denmark’s second biggest city). Odense won 3-1.
Over the summer holidays the exchange students from the Northern hemisphere have gone home and more have come in. This was bittersweet as it was hard saying goodbye, but fun meeting new people.
I also went to Sweden for a few days with another exchange student and her host family. We were in the Swedish countryside, actually where Pippi Longstockings originates from. It was really beautiful spending three days swimming in the lakes and going for bike rides.
There was a lot of talk here about the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. It was very anticipated for after Heath Ledgers death. And strange because people were coming up and like congratulating me on what a great job he did (he was actually amazing in it, creepy, but amazing) as if I had some part of it being from Western Australia.
My host parents also took me to a Viking market day at the local Viking museum. There we tried Viking bread and saw a play about some of the Vikings who used to live in the area. This museum also has a set of discovered ruins which they have encased and you can see how a Viking was buried in the ship in a sort of ritual burial. They were believed to have taken food and animals to the afterlife (similar to how the ancient Egyptians used to have slaves and food in their tombs).
My host parents also took me to Copenhagen for a weekend one of my last weekends living with them. That weekend was one of the last of good weather and so we were able to go on a canal tour as well as seeing Princess Mary’s castle (she was in Australia however). We also visited a very interesting place in the center of Copenhagen called Christiania. It is known as a free state and has about 500 residents who live there with mostly self built houses, and different rules on taxes and all things. It used to have a pusher street, but that was banned about 5 years ago. But there is still a large number of drug deals taking place there. This photo is taken inside there of my host mum and I. note the no photos sign.
We also saw the castle called Kronborg which is famous for hamlet. It is in the town of Helsingor (known as Elsinore in the play). In the catacombs below the castle there is a statue of Ogier the Dane (Holger Danske), legendary Danish hero. It is said that when Denmark is in its greatest danger he will come alive and save it. ^
The next weekend we went to Legoland. I can’t say enough good things about Legoland. It is made up of water rides, roller coasters, cinemas as well as mini cities made all of lego! Even Hans Christian Andersen made out of lego, what could be more Danish?
The next weekend I went to Copenhagen for a concert by a Danish pop band Alphabeat. This was one that I had heard about and told all the Exchange students to come too. There ended up being over fifty or sixty exchange students so it was a lot of fun. The band was amazing also!
Well that is about it for this month J
हा' det godt! (Have it good I guess in English?)
Jennie
Well I suppose the last time I wrote was in the summer holidays. Although I hardly think it counts as summer if it is pouring down with rain some daysJ
So I realized from looking back over reports (mostly just to try and find where the last eight months has gone) that I had written a lot about what I had been doing and not very much about the general differences or my impressions. So I thought this report I should do both.
Being a student here the main differences I notice are at school. From my first day I was shocked by little things like students calling teachers by their first names, to a 5 minute break in the middle of the class in which ¾ of the class would go out and smoke. Another thing I found really strange at first is not wearing a school uniform, there is a lot of emphasis in Denmark about brand name clothes and I have heard horrible stories about what some girls do in their spare time to afford all these clothes. People as young as 11/12 here are starting to get very preoccupied with it also.
The way the school is run is also different. School in Denmark is paid for by the government, as well as university. But in exchange there is a sales tax of 25% on goods and services. Once you are over 18 you are also eligible for an SU payment, like a student allowance, the size of which depends on how much you need- it is more if you live away from home etc. Absences are also handled very differently. It is quite simple in Denmark to skip a class, you just walk out really. But it is all marked down. If a student misses a certain amount they can either have the SU payment taken off them (so that they often can’t afford to stay at school because they have to work more to cover expenses) or they can just be kicked out of the school. The course I am in (HF) is like a fast tracked version of the normal Gymnasium. It is two years instead of three and is for students who have already worked for a few years or been to other schools and so the students are usually older, living away from home and working a lot. They do not have tests or assignments that count towards their final grade – just exams at the end of the year. This makes it difficult if you stop before the end of the year as you have nothing to show for the time you have spent there.
There are also a lot of differences in teen life in general. The legal drinking age is sixteen and a lot of teenagers also smoke – if not always then usually just at parties. They also have very high wages here- maybe because the taxes are more. But a thirteen year old has a minimum pay of around 50Kroner. That is just over 10$. I think the minimum wage for that age in Australia is like $6.50. There is also a question of whether Danes are more responsible the teens in other countries. Certainly in school they have to take responsibility- no one checks they have done their work. And in general Danes have a lot more freedom from their parents to drink and party. But it is believed that this freedom leads to irresponsibility in that children of twelve are drinking and working.
The great thing about Denmark is that it is such a small country! It is never too far to go anywhere and the public transport is set up extremely well. The cost is another issue. Danes (as a lot of Europe) also rely on cycling as a major form of transportation. This is largely due to the high price of petrol (~11kr per litre = over 2$ per litre) as well as the huge taxes they have on importing and buying cars. Most families also only have one car. My first family would maybe only use their car once a week-if that much. And it was cute because if we all needed to go somewhere we would all bike together- even in the rain of winter! I also thought it was cute the first time I saw bike traffic lights, and parking houses for bikes.
The Danish word for taxes is Skat, ironically enough this is also a word in Danish used to girlfriends or partners (similar to honey or dear). So if you have ever wondered where a large portion of the money goes the Danes have figured it out J In Denmark there is also up to 60-70% salary taxes for those is the highest income brackets. It is very hard in Denmark to become “very” rich from work because of this. But with all the help from the government it is also hard to be very poor.
Denmark also has a few laws that are different to Australia. It is lacking a street drinking law. I will never get over seeing people at the train station or walking down the central street at eight in the morning with a beer. They were the first country to allow gay marriage in 1989. Most people working in companies have just a ½ hour lunch break. The majority of stores open at 10:00 am also.
Oh I should also tell you what I have been up to. I went to a small castle in Nyborg with my host Dad. The castle is now leased out for events such as concerts or murder mystery parties. I also went to a football (soccer) game with my host brother between Odense (where I live) and Aarhus (Denmark’s second biggest city). Odense won 3-1.
Over the summer holidays the exchange students from the Northern hemisphere have gone home and more have come in. This was bittersweet as it was hard saying goodbye, but fun meeting new people.
I also went to Sweden for a few days with another exchange student and her host family. We were in the Swedish countryside, actually where Pippi Longstockings originates from. It was really beautiful spending three days swimming in the lakes and going for bike rides.
There was a lot of talk here about the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. It was very anticipated for after Heath Ledgers death. And strange because people were coming up and like congratulating me on what a great job he did (he was actually amazing in it, creepy, but amazing) as if I had some part of it being from Western Australia.
My host parents also took me to a Viking market day at the local Viking museum. There we tried Viking bread and saw a play about some of the Vikings who used to live in the area. This museum also has a set of discovered ruins which they have encased and you can see how a Viking was buried in the ship in a sort of ritual burial. They were believed to have taken food and animals to the afterlife (similar to how the ancient Egyptians used to have slaves and food in their tombs).
My host parents also took me to Copenhagen for a weekend one of my last weekends living with them. That weekend was one of the last of good weather and so we were able to go on a canal tour as well as seeing Princess Mary’s castle (she was in Australia however). We also visited a very interesting place in the center of Copenhagen called Christiania. It is known as a free state and has about 500 residents who live there with mostly self built houses, and different rules on taxes and all things. It used to have a pusher street, but that was banned about 5 years ago. But there is still a large number of drug deals taking place there. This photo is taken inside there of my host mum and I. note the no photos sign.
We also saw the castle called Kronborg which is famous for hamlet. It is in the town of Helsingor (known as Elsinore in the play). In the catacombs below the castle there is a statue of Ogier the Dane (Holger Danske), legendary Danish hero. It is said that when Denmark is in its greatest danger he will come alive and save it. ^
The next weekend we went to Legoland. I can’t say enough good things about Legoland. It is made up of water rides, roller coasters, cinemas as well as mini cities made all of lego! Even Hans Christian Andersen made out of lego, what could be more Danish?
The next weekend I went to Copenhagen for a concert by a Danish pop band Alphabeat. This was one that I had heard about and told all the Exchange students to come too. There ended up being over fifty or sixty exchange students so it was a lot of fun. The band was amazing also!
Well that is about it for this month J
हा' det godt! (Have it good I guess in English?)
Jennie
