Week 14

Personal Development

Coming to the end of week 14, the past seven days have yet again confirmed how much I am enjoying being in Denmark, and with only a few weeks left; I want to continue benefitting from living in Copenhagen. This week has been a little slower than the last three months as we do not have timetabled class at school or university. Instead, our work is based on our individual assignments so I have been trying my best to, as my mum would say, ‘Get up and go!’ instead of staying in the house - it breaks the week up a little more!

This weekend, I spent time with a couple of girls, Sara and Anina, from my class before they returned home to Switzerland. We went for a meal and drinks together on Saturday, and it was so nice to get chatting. I felt like I was still only getting to know the girls a lot better just before they left to go home, and we all agreed that we regretted not spending time with each other at the start of our trip to Copenhagen. It gave us a good excuse, however, to plan trips to each other’s country. I am thoroughly looking forward to visiting Switzerland, and welcoming the girls to Northern Ireland. It’s great that we have the opportunities to travel now we have met people from all over Europe.

On Sunday I took advantage of the free train service which happens every first weekend of the month. I went along with four other girls who are remaining here for the rest of May to a small village called Køge. We spent the afternoon sitting in a cute coffee shop with coffee and cake, and then took a nice walk on the beach. Finding the beach was a little difficult due to the large industrial estate and port located right in the view of the beach. We spent quite a lot of time walking in those kinds of areas that have the ‘Warning – Do Not Enter!’ and ‘Restricted Area’ signs around. We were very safe though, and had a lot of fun laughing at all the strange looks we were getting from the workers, whilst trying to find where we were supposed to be. The beach was worth the wait. Even though the weather is improving, it is still not sunbathing time yet, but it was refreshing to get out of the city. I felt like a child, coming home on the train with really heavy eyes and yawning a lot, I knew I had had a good day. Cultural Development

Visiting another part of Denmark was definitely the highlight of my week, when I went to Køge on Sunday. Located south of Copenhagen, along the coast, it took us 45 minutes to get there on the train. Travelling from the built up city to the open spaces and green fields made me feel like I was back in Northern Ireland, with farms and detached houses spread across the countryside. Køge is a small town with lots of attractions for holiday makers. There are camping and caravanning sights, making it a popular spot for Danish families. It is also home to a large harbour where you can get the ferry to the island Bornholm. The harbour is natural and so one of the oldest in Denmark. Since 1288, it has been used for foreign trade. Apart from the normal ‘tourist’ things that the town offers, there is also a football team, HB Køge. Its stadium has a capacity for 10000 spectators and was founded in 1927. Without sounding too much of a football fan, the club had its biggest game to date in 1954 when they became the first team outside Copenhagen to win the Danish championship.

Yesterday, I visited school with Julia to give Gurli, one of our teachers, some flowers. She was sick on our last day, so it gave us a good excuse to go back to visit school and see some of the pupils. We were sitting in the staffroom chatting over coffee, when I heard the strangest noise. At first, I thought it was a fire alarm, but it seemed louder and more frightening than a school alarm. It sounded like a siren that you would here in a World War 2 film, and within a few seconds of it starting, I was looking around me with a puzzled look on my face. I was put a little to ease when I realised the only other person with a puzzled look on their face was the only other person not from Denmark – Julia. I looked at Gurli, and she had a little smile on her face. ‘Do not worry,’ she said, ‘that is the siren that goes off one Wednesday each year. To make sure it is working.’ Looking for a more comprehensive explanation, Julia and I glanced at each other, and then at Gurli again. I asked what the siren was for, and she explained it is for a disaster, or if a war starts, to let everyone know. I could not believe that I was actually hearing what sounded like a war siren, then to be told that is in fact what it is. Julia and I have never heard of such a thing, and we certainly do not get it Northern Ireland, so I was very amused to be able to say I have experienced such a thing. The siren lasted only a few minutes. After around 10 minutes, it went off again…perhaps it was broken somewhere and needed tweaking. I came home and ‘googled’ the siren for a bit more detail, and found out that the Air Raid Siren is tested every May to make sure it is working. The siren will be used to warn Danes of war, nuclear spills and other disasters. I was also able to find a video of someone recording the noise yesterday on YouTube, if anyone is interested?

Professional Development

We are now a week into our assignments. We have all chosen our own themes that are relevant to our own teacher education. I have learnt a lot from being in Denmark, so I wanted to incorporate this into my assignment. Although choosing a theme such as multiculturalism in school was very tempting as I have learnt a lot from studying this the past few months, and have discovered many great resources about the topic; I have decided to choose a theme that is concentrating on my main subjects – mathematics and science. I feel this will be most beneficial to my education degree, and I have already realised there is a lot to talk about in relation to teaching methods and resources, as well as the curriculum and general education systems in both Denmark and Northern Ireland. I am excited to get into my assignment, and will also be glad to get it completed!

My main concern about doing this project will be finding the correct literature for my chosen topic. Finding literature in a different country is hard enough without it being in Danish! Fortunately, we have been assigned a tutor to assist with our projects. My tutor, Lars, is a specialist in physics and chemistry and we have already met once. I ran over a plan of what I would like to cover in my assignment, and he was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction as far as literature and research is concerned.

I will meet with my tutor every week, which is a great incentive to do work! It is hard for me to find the motivation to start working each day, as sightseeing and being with friends in Copenhagen is very tempting! I find I am able to concentrate more at university, so I am trying to go in as often as I can to continue with my project.