Week five, and finally Spring is here! This past week has brought a lot of blue skies and melting snow; so thermals are no longer a necessity. The nicer weather makes it so much easier to do things and go places, without worrying about being warm enough which is great!
At the weekend I visited a Flea Market in Amagerbro (just east of the city centre). The place was packed with random second hand goods that I just loved searching through to find a bargain. I spent around two hours sifting through what some may call ‘rubbish,’ but it was very rewarding – I was able to make a few purchases! Spending Saturday afternoon exploring some of the smaller streets off Strøget was really fun, and made me realise how fortunate I was to be in such a beautiful city that is packed with never ending amounts of shops and cafés that are very unique and individual. That evening, we went to an Irish pub for the Ireland v England rugby match. It was great to do things I would consider a ‘normal activity’ if I were at home, as it just reassured me of the fact that I am living here, and no longer a tourist!
Even though I would no longer consider myself a tourist, I still like to get lost every so often – just to be spontaneous. With this in mind, we always like to leave ample time for journeys. Such a journey would have been Tuesday morning. Greg and I had been asked by our lecturer to speak on our experience of the Northern Irish education system at a different university - the University of Copenhagen. Situated in the city centre, we thought the journey would take us over an hour, especially seeing we had to be there for 9.15am – the busiest time to travel. So, we decided to leave at 7.30am, which meant getting up at 6.30am - not fun. To our ‘delight,’ we arrived for 8.20am. It was a bittersweet moment, but the day got a lot better. We were invited to go for lunch with the class we had just been with. Most of the students were Danish, so it was really nice talking to people our own age form Denmark, as our Erasmus classes are with International students.
The Danes took us to a really nice (and cheap) restaurant in a great area of town; and told us a lot about the city, and where to go – so our list of things to do is getting longer, rather than shorter! I am looking forward to more discoveries.
Cultural Development
We have just come back from a tour of some of the churches and museums in Copenhagen. The trip, arranged by our Religion teacher, was really interesting and I came away feeling very ‘cultured!’ We started off at the National Museum, which had some great exhibitions on Danish prehistory (The Bronze Age and Iron Age,) The Middle Ages and Renaissance, and finally The Prince’s Palace. I was surprised to see how much jewellery the museum had on display, and this was definitely
my highlight!
We moved onto The Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirche). The huge church is very beautiful inside, so it was no surprise to me that the Danish Royal Family held all their important events here. After lunch, we visited another grand church – The Church of Our Saviour (Vor Frelsers Kirke.) The building can be seen on the other side of Copenhagen due to its amazing corkscrew spire. Apparently the building is famous for being quite unsightly from the exterior, and is supposed to be viewed from a distance - I don’t believe this. The view from the top is supposed to be amazing; however it is closed until April, so I will be coming back! The interior is even more impre
ssive – especially the organ and altarpiece.
We moved onto Dansk Jødisk Museum (The Jewish Museum) which is both architecturally and historically interesting. It exhibits parts of Jewish life in Denmark from 400 years ago to more recent activities. The fact that the majority of Danish Jews were saved from Nazi persecution by their Danish compatriots is reflected in the architecture – the lighting, open spaces and the fact that no walls are perpendicular. The emblem (shown below) represents Mitzvah – a Hebrew word that translates as ‘obligation,’ ‘deeply felt reaction’ and ‘good deed.’
Cultural Development
We have just come back from a tour of some of the churches and museums in Copenhagen. The trip, arranged by our Religion teacher, was really interesting and I came away feeling very ‘cultured!’ We started off at the National Museum, which had some great exhibitions on Danish prehistory (The Bronze Age and Iron Age,) The Middle Ages and Renaissance, and finally The Prince’s Palace. I was surprised to see how much jewellery the museum had on display, and this was definitely
my highlight!We moved onto The Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirche). The huge church is very beautiful inside, so it was no surprise to me that the Danish Royal Family held all their important events here. After lunch, we visited another grand church – The Church of Our Saviour (Vor Frelsers Kirke.) The building can be seen on the other side of Copenhagen due to its amazing corkscrew spire. Apparently the building is famous for being quite unsightly from the exterior, and is supposed to be viewed from a distance - I don’t believe this. The view from the top is supposed to be amazing; however it is closed until April, so I will be coming back! The interior is even more impre
ssive – especially the organ and altarpiece.We moved onto Dansk Jødisk Museum (The Jewish Museum) which is both architecturally and historically interesting. It exhibits parts of Jewish life in Denmark from 400 years ago to more recent activities. The fact that the majority of Danish Jews were saved from Nazi persecution by their Danish compatriots is reflected in the architecture – the lighting, open spaces and the fact that no walls are perpendicular. The emblem (shown below) represents Mitzvah – a Hebrew word that translates as ‘obligation,’ ‘deeply felt reaction’ and ‘good deed.’
Our trip ended at the Black Diamond – the amazing Library building. On this visit, we were fortunate enough to be taken to the very top of the building, to look over the bridge which runs along the roof. Standing on a glass bridge looking down to a mass of open space and very tiny people was frightening but worth it.
The trip allowed us to see some extraordinary reflections of Denmark’s great architects and heritage. Next week I am visiting the Danish Art and Design Museum, so more on architecture next week!
Professional Development
This week has been another busy week at university. Multicultural Classroom was our first class of the week. We reflected on the definition and models of cultural identity and exhibits of culture which allowed me to experience more activities that I could use in the classroom. We had an hour of discussion within the class, and the methods of discussion were very beneficial – I hope to use such methods in the future. The next part of the class looked at the importance of family. This promoted interesting discussion on a very personal topic.
The trip allowed us to see some extraordinary reflections of Denmark’s great architects and heritage. Next week I am visiting the Danish Art and Design Museum, so more on architecture next week!
Professional Development
This week has been another busy week at university. Multicultural Classroom was our first class of the week. We reflected on the definition and models of cultural identity and exhibits of culture which allowed me to experience more activities that I could use in the classroom. We had an hour of discussion within the class, and the methods of discussion were very beneficial – I hope to use such methods in the future. The next part of the class looked at the importance of family. This promoted interesting discussion on a very personal topic.
In comparative education, we looked at the Danish equivalent of the GTCNI competences. The ‘Professionsideal for Danmarks Lærerforening’ was very interesting and I was able to compare both documents. It was interesting to see how much of the document had similar stances as the GTCNI’s competences. It made me realise the benefits of being on Erasmus and experiencing many different education systems.
In Danish this week, we drew upon all our knowledge of the language we have learnt in the past month. We had to create an interview for a Danish person, and then interview them, as well as present them to the rest of the class. I was surprised at how much Danish I had actually picked up on, and how much we had learnt already. It was encouraging, and hopefully next time I am spoken to by a Dane on the train, I will not look at them blankly as if they are asking me a really inquisitive and important question…
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