Week 15

Personal Development

Week 15 has come and gone so fast. Partly due to the fact that I had my boyfriend, Ashley, over to visit again and partly because I have less than three weeks left here - so everyday counts! The weather has been very disappointing the past few days – it has rained pretty much every day and it is very cold. I am very proud to have lasted a Danish winter (with the sub zero temperatures and snow storms) without getting the cold, but I fear the ‘spring’ may be my downfall. Hopefully we can get a few good days before going home because there is so many parks I would like to visit.

Ashley arrived on Friday afternoon. We had a great weekend catching up, and visiting a couple of attractions like Amalienborg Slotsplads (the palace) and the Gefionspringvandet (the fountain above). Because he has visited before, we have done a lot of tourist things so I did not feel like that much of a tour guide this time! On Saturday afternoon, we went to Copenhagen Zoo. I like any zoo, but this one is class…really. Even though we paid a ridiculous amount of money in, it had loads of animals, and they were all available for looking at. No animals were sick, hiding, too tired to be viewed, visiting another zoo, lost or dead. It was very much worthwhile. We took lots of great pictures, but I shall only bore you with two – the first is my favourite animal – the tiger; and the second is a scary yet cute brown bear.

After the weekend, I knew I would have to get stuck back into my project work, but getting motivated is difficult – especially when shopping is another option. On Tuesday, I met up with Julia and Christina to go to the huge department store in the centre of town. Magasin du nord is home to many exciting (and expensive) brands, and we spent hours sifting through lots of yummy summer clothes – I cannot wait for the holidays! We completed our enjoyable yet tiring afternoon with a well-earned smoothie. We chatted about all the things we would like to do over the next few weeks, as they are going home at the same time as me. Hopefully we can get everything crammed in!

Cultural Development

Whilst Ashley was visiting, we thought we would hire some bikes. The city runs an initiative during the spring and summer months, in which there are bike parks located around the city. You place 20 krones into the bike and it is released from the stand. You can take the bikes whenever and wherever you wish, as long as you stay within the inner city, then return them to any of the 110 bike racks, and you get your 20 krones back – bonus! The scheme is very popular with both tourists and Danes, so it took us a very long time to find some bikes, as most of the bike parks were empty! An incredible 55% of Copenhageners use their bikes to get around the ‘green’ city, so I was really glad to get the opportunity to cycle in the city – even if it was only for a short while.

Thursday was a public holiday in Copenhagen. Kristi Himmelfartsdag (Ascension Day) celebrates the day Jesus ascended to heaven 40 days after Easter, and is a very important day for Danes. It is also a National Flag Day, so I saw many houses and churches with the Danish flag flying. Almost all shops and schools were off on Thursday, so Kirsten invited me to her church where a confirmation service was taking place. Also known as becoming a full member of the church, confirmations are commonly a ‘coming of age’ ceremony. I was surprised the service was not being held on a Sunday, but Kirsten explained it was because there were too many family and friends of the seven young people, so it would not be possible to have it with the Sunday service. I only realised the extent to which confirmation in Denmark is such a huge event whenever I arrived at church. There were so many people, taking photographs and dressed like they were going to a wedding. The service was lovely and obviously very special for all involved. The girls being confirmed had to be dressed in white, and the boys in black. Afterwards, the young people (around 13 or 14 years of age) got many gifts, and Kirsten told me that they would be going home for a big party. There is noticeable prominence and family celebration attached to confirmations in Denmark, so I was glad to be part of the service.

Professional Development

I have made time to go into university this week to work on my assignment. Getting into a routine is certainly difficult when you are trying to motivate yourself, but I am fortunate to have the opportunity to use the resources at university. With fewer distractions, and more literature and support, I got a lot of work done for my project. I feel my motivation to work independently is growing, which is a great relief!

My project is coming on quite well, and finding information from both countries is really worthwhile. The benefits of being able to compare two education systems are great. Not only am I discovering a lot of differences between Denmark and Northern Ireland, I am also discovering many similarities. It is helping me become more reflective in my own experiences and teaching methods, which I feel is an important part of being a teacher.

Most significantly, my knowledge in effective ways of practice is increasing. At the start of my project, I only had experiences from one education system, but now I am beginning to take scenarios from Denmark. I realise that this will not stop at Denmark, and I can continue to have an open mind about various methods in other countries in the future.