Hej! As a student in the Child Development program here at DIS, a large part of my experience in Denmark is being around children. I’ve got to say, it’s a lot of fun. One thing that’s a big part of this program is the practicum aspect. All Child Development students are assigned to a practicum site which they go to on Thursdays. I remember not having any idea what to expect before I started. At some point towards the end of the summer, I filled out a short survey and listed preferences on the type of site I’d like to go to (and I honestly don’t remember what I put down), but there’s no guarantee of anything. I mentioned in a post a while back that my site is a private Muslim school, with students from Grade 0 to Grade 9. I move between different classes throughout the day, starting with a second grade class, to fourth grade, to fifth grade, and finally to first grade. There have been both good and bad aspects to being at my specific site, but I’ve got to say that the kids there are some of the sweetest kids. From day one they were super excited to have me there. I felt very welcome. Despite the language barrier, they never shied away from talking to me and asking me for help with their work. Of course, many times I had no clue what to tell them, but I was really proud of the instances where I got the question and was able to help them understand whatever was confusing them. They always loved to show me what they could say in English, and some of them were really surprised and excited when I was able to show off the little Danish I do know. I’ve gotten random gifts from the kids, from a drawing (I’m not sure what it was of) to a chestnut from outside. My favorite thing to receive, however, is the unexpected hug. The first graders in particular always seemed especially happy to see me and loved to hug me when I came and before I left. The kids at my practicum site have really big hearts, and I have to say that it was the best part about going every Thursday. Of course, experiencing Danish children doesn’t begin and end with my practicum site. The Child Development program also has this thing called The Children’s Room, which is something put on during the days that kids do not have school, but the DIS teachers still have to come to work. During those days, Child Development students can volunteer to take a shift and watch the children of DIS staff members. The first Children’s Room of the semester happened during Denmark’s Fall Break. This was also the week before Thanksgiving, so we decided this year to take the Thursday of that week and do a little Halloween party for the kids. I worked with a group of other students to help set up trick or treating in a few of the DIS departments, to bake cookies and set up a Halloween cookie decorating station, to set up a pumpkin painting station, and to set up games like Pin the Wart on the Witch (a variation of Pin the Tail on the Donkey). It was a lot of fun, and the kids were absolutely adorable! Several of them dressed up in costumes and got really into it. I think the event was really successful. The kids seemed to be enjoying themselves, and we DIS students were having fun being creative and playing around as well. It was also cool because I got to see some of my professors’ kids, which is always fun for some reason. Hopefully this event continues for future Children’s Rooms. Even outside of things set up by the Child Development program, I still get to enjoy how amazingly adorable Danish children are. My absolute favorite thing is that now that it’s cold outside, I’m now always seeing Danish children in the most adorable, fluffy snowsuits. Seriously, they look like little colorful marshmallows and it makes me so happy every time I see them. If there is any reason at all to come to Denmark in the winter, it is definitely to look at the cute little marshmallow children.
So, that’s a brief look into what it’s like being around lots of children in Denmark. And after all that I get to come home and be around three more crazy but amazingly sweet kids. Of course, doing so much with kids can be very tiring. There are days where I have the energy to nothing but pass out on my bed. But for me personally it’s very rewarding, and it makes me happy. Being in the Child Development program does not mean you need to be around kids 24/7, but if you’re super kid crazy, you will definitely have plenty of opportunities to play and let your inner child out with the children of Denmark! Vi ses!
0 Comments
Hej! It feels like it's been a while since I last posted, but that's probably because I've been busy having fun in London for the past week! That's right, I went with my CMC class on our Long Study Tour to London, England, and it was absolutely incredible. The great thing about Long Study Tour is that it's a great mix of enriching, relevant visits related to our course, and also time to just explore the wonderful city of London. We packed so much into this week, so I'll try to stick to a few key parts. This post might be a long one, so I hope you enjoy it! The Language So, just in case any of you were wondering, in England, people speak English. The signs are in English. The menus are in English. The little British children speak English. It was so refreshing to be back in a country where everything is in my native language. I love the opportunity to learn and get better at Danish, but even though the UK is not the same as the United States, this little aspect made it feel like being home again. The Food One of my favorite things about this trip was just how well we ate. When you’re on a college student budget, most of your meals are pretty simple and quite repetitive. When you travel with DIS, however, they really go all out for you. Here's just a few of my favorite places DIS paid for us to eat at - if you're in London and looking for some good dining, definitely check these places out: 1. Tas Restaurant - For dinner the first night we ate at a Turkish restaurant. We got to try a lot of different appetizers, including some delicious hummus, and then a really nice main course. If you’ve never tried Turkish food, I’d highly recommend it. 2. The English Restaurant - We had a really nice three course meal, and I would go all the way back to London just to eat the amazing risotto I had. I tried bread pudding for the first time for dessert, and it was really good. It was also cool because we had our own little room upstairs booked just for us. We might’ve left Denmark for the week, but that meal was very ‘hyggeligt.’ 3. Fortnum & Mason - Definitely the best meal, and one of the best parts about the trip was high tea at Fortnum & Mason. I’m not even a big tea person, but everything was so beautiful and tasted delicious. A very fancy presentation, and despite the fact that we were just eating finger sandwiches and scones, we all were so full. Nothing is more British than afternoon tea in London! 4. Desserts - Obviously dessert is one of the most important food groups, and London had a great variety to satisfy my sweet tooth. From warm brownies to knickerbocker glories, from mini cheesecakes to gelato, everything I had was so good. The coolest was probably this ice cream place called Four Winters, where they make their ice cream with seasonal ingredients and liquid nitrogen! Watching the process was cool, and the end result was delicious too! It should also be mentioned that all of the places we went out to eat at were amazing at accommodating any and all eating restrictions. We had some vegetarians, gluten free people, and people with dairy allergies on our trip, and they were always able to eat as well as the rest of us. DIS and all the restaurants took care of us very well. The Shows I think my absolute favorite part about the London trip was going to see shows. I love theater, and on Tuesday I got to go to the Globe Theatre, which was a cool experience. We saw Imogen, a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. I had honestly never heard of Cymbeline before, and I wondered how well I’d follow and enjoy Imogen. I needn’t have worried. It was such a great show. It was kind of a mix between Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear, and the modern setting created elements of fun and humor. The cast was talented and incredibly diverse, which I loved. One of the actors was even deaf, and though I couldn’t understand everything he said, I loved watching him sign on stage. I’m so glad we got to go as a group and see this show. I also went with Vivian, one of the girls in the class, to go see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at the Gielgud Theatre. An incredible show - I would recommend it a thousand times over. The stage design is amazing, and they use it in a way that for me gives an incredible insight into what a person with autism’s mind is like. Funny and heartwarming, I am so glad that I decided to go see this show. Whether in London, New York, or anywhere else, if you have the chance to go and see this show, do it. You will not regret it! CMC Site Visits Of course, part of going on a long study tour is to do things related to your core course. In a child development course it’s all about children, and our first visit was to the V&A Museum of Childhood. It’s a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the UK’s museum of applied arts. It was cool too see, and included a toy gallery with toys from across the years, an exhibit of children's clothes, a history of games and more. Melissa and I even found an old version of chutes and ladders and decided to sit down for a game Our group also split to visit two different nursery schools, and my group visited the Holmewood Nursery School. I thought it was a really great site. The children are two and three years old, and they do lots of fun and creative activities dictated by their own interests. The school was also very diverse, with kids not only from a variety of racial backgrounds, but also different first languages, kids with different physical and/or developmental disabilities. It was very different from my experience of schools in Denmark. I think my favorite part of that school (besides the kids’ British accents - adorable!) was that the teachers seemed to really know and care about the students as individuals rather than just a group of kids. When the Assistant Head, who was showing us around, would talk about kids from different backgrounds and histories, he always talked about them by name rather than by some ability, and during the tour he interacted with the kids as he passed them. It was great to see, and I think it was my favorite CMC site on this trip. We also went to Greater London Authority to talk with members of the Education and Youth sector of the mayor’s office. We talked with the Peer Outreach Group, a group of amazing young people helping to create change and affect policy in London. The work they do absolutely amazing. They help and empower youth, and they give them a real voice, actually bringing youth concerns to the mayor. It was a very inspiring talk, and I’m looking forward to digging more into the programs they talked about and how I can bring some of that back with me to the States. Touristy things So what do you do when you first get into the city, after dropping of your bags to the hotel? You get on the London Eye of course! It’s this really giant ferris wheel, the largest in the world when it was erected, and it gives you an amazing view of the city. It was cool to see the city at night from this view too! I took a walk with another classmate and Lea, one of our tour leaders, through Hyde Park, which was so beautiful and peaceful. There were lots of dogs (a good thing), lots of birds (a not so good thing, in my opinion), and we even got a phone call from Queen Victoria! Other touristy spots included The London Tower, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and more. Some of us also went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is huge. We unfortunately did not have time to go inside, but it was still really impressive from the outside. There’s so much to see and do in London, and even though we did a lot, I know there’s so much more that I didn’t have time to do. I will definitely have to come back sometime! This past week was one of the best in my time abroad so far. I love London, and it was so much fun to travel with my class. I think we’re a good group. I love that DIS has travel built into the program, and it’s a huge part of the reason I chose to study abroad here. I can’t wait to hear about everyone else’s travels as well. For now, I’m back in Denmark, and I’m going to enjoy being back at my home away from home.
Vi ses! Hej! Today I had my first Wednesday field study of the semester! Well, technically I had two field studies. The first was for my CMC class, and we went to the Imam Ali Mosque. It was my first time visiting a mosque, and it was a really cool experience. We went on a short tour to look at some of the most important rooms in the building, as well as just learning a lot of more general things about Islam. Then we sat and got a chance to talk with our tour guide, who was actually a Danish Muslim convert. There's a lot I could say about this visit, so I'll just stick with the three things that stuck with me the most: 1. The Architecture and Design The building was honestly extremely beautiful. It wasn't beautiful in an extravagant way, with jewels and sculptures and extra fancy furniture. It was actually quite simple in a lot of ways. I liked that their reasoning for simplicity was so that the focus could be on God and not on material things. Still, the Arabic script, the carpets, it was all just really nice to look at and appreciate. 2. The Inclusivity This mosque is a Muslim place of worship, but that doesn't mean that only Muslims are allowed inside. The mosque doesn't serve just one specific group of Muslims either, such as Iraqi or Turkish only. Instead, it does it's best to serve people from all sorts of backgrounds. The messages are often given in Persian, Arabic, and Danish so that whatever people in the community speak, they will be able to understand. Quran quotes are written both in Arabic and in Danish, so that all Danes can feel welcome in this place. The mosque also allows people, Muslim and non-Muslims alike, to use the buildings for other events . They want it to feel like a space for all people. It was really good to see this example of inclusivity, because people often have the idea that religion and especially Islam are meant to be exclusive, but I believe that true faith invites everyone to participate, no matter who you are or what you believe. 3. Being a Danish Muslim Convert Denmark is a very secular country, despite being labeled a Christian country. Danes also seem to have a struggling relationship with the growing Muslim population in Denmark. Some people have misconceptions about what it means to be a Muslim woman, and when my tour guide, we'll call her Mina, decided to take the veil, people couldn't understand why she would do such a thing. So many people began to treat her differently. Mina told us stories about the years of harassment she faced, and how nobody ever stood up for her. I learned a lot of different things from visiting this mosque, but the most important thing I took away is that it is not okay to be silent when someone else is being mistreated. I'm not Muslim. I don't have to be to see that Muslims deserve to be treated with respect and kindness just as everyone else does. I don't need to be in order to appreciate a mosque and what it being here does for the community. Being Muslim in Denmark may not be easy, but it is definitely beautiful. Of course, this was only the morning. I unfortunately had to leave a little bit early to book it to the destination for my second field study, this one for my Developmental Disorders class. This visit was to the Snoezelhuset, a really interesting place that helps people from a variety of ages with a variety of issues, especially sensory issues. It has four different rooms meant to stimulate senses in different ways, or sometimes to help shut off certain senses for a person who might be overstimulated. We got to go into each of the four rooms and explore a little bit. My explanations probably will not do these rooms justice, but I'll try anyway. Also note that these rooms are arbitrarily numbered, one can go into any of the rooms at any time. Room#1 The first room I went into was playing loud music and was filled with all of these bright colors. There were these tall skinny fish tanks (fake fish) with bubbles that changed color. There was a bed that you could feel the music vibrating through when you laid on it. There were toys and everything. It definitely seemed like a room meant to energize you, but our guide showed us how quickly it could be turned into a relaxing environment by putting on more relaxing music, turning out the lights, and draping these weight blankets on us. It was so relaxing and really cool. Room#2 The next room was the opposite in terms of color. Everything inside the room was black and grey with a little white. We laid on different bean bag type chairs or pillows or cushions, and the lights were turned all the way off. The only light came this small, rainbow colored curtain glowing in the dark. With more blankets draped over us (this one felt like it was filled with little plastic balls), it was so easy to just lay down and relax (and maybe take a quick power nap). This would definitely be a good room to focus on turning off all of the other senses and simply focus on your kinesthetic sense, feeling where you are in space. Definitely a nice and relaxing space. Room#3 This room was a giant ball pit. Need I really say more? Room#4 I forgot to take a picture in this room, but room number four looked like a fancy room at a hotel except better. A giant water bed filled the room, and it was heated, which actually felt really nice. There was also a hammock, which you could be swung in. The room was all white and felt very peaceful. I think that someone with anxiety or stress could really benefit from an hour here, because it's very relaxing in unexpected ways. I'm definitely interested in learning more about these methods. So, that's the Snoezelhuset. It was a very fun experience for me and my classmates, but it was also cool to hear stories about the different ways that just an hour at this place benefited people with brain damage, autism, or different sensory issues in amazing ways. Sometimes it's the simple things we don't think about that could make a big difference. Well, those were my two field studies. I hope reading about them could at least be a tiny fraction as interesting as experiencing them was. I really like the field study aspect of DIS so far, because you get to see really cool places and engage with what you're studying in a new way. I can't wait to tell you about more of my adventures here! Vi ses! Hej! So this week I actually spent a little bit of time outside of Copenhagen. One of my favorite things about DIS, and part of the reason why I chose the program, is that travel is built into the semester. There are four major travel breaks: Core Course Week, Travel Weeks 1 and 2, during one of which is your core course's Long Study Tour to another country, and then Thanksgiving break which you can use to travel or not. This past week was Core Course Week, so I'm going to share with you all of the things that made this past week really fun, an great learning opportunity, and an amazing bonding experience. It was an insanely busy week (and I'm still very tired from it), so I'll focus on a few key takeaways/favorite moments from the visits each day. Day 1 We got up bright and early to leave on the bus at 8:30 in the morning. We didn't actually leave at 8:30 however, as one of our classmates, Mark, was around forty minutes late. "Where's Mark?" was definitely a recurring theme of the trip (shoutout to Mark, aka the dad of CMC :P). Then we drove for three hours to get to our first site, Bakkeskolen, in Kolding. We got to talk to some fourth graders and help them practice their English, got a tour of the school from a few seventh graders, and then sat down with their class for a good ol' conversation about the American presidential election (because unfortunately there is no escaping it, even when you leave the country). Two main takeaways from that site: 1) Danish school's really value the child's environment as an important part of their education. Though the school was low SES, it was a very nice building with nice classrooms and relaxing lounge spaces for the students. It was interesting to see that priority 2) Though the school was labeled as an international school, neither the student body nor their curriculum met my expectations for what it means to be international or multicultural. It definitely sparked some interesting discussion in my class about what a multicultural space should be. After the school we visited Koldinghus, a royal castle from the 13th century. We got to learn a lot about its history and see some of the beautiful rooms inside it too! Day 2 Now we were in Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark. Our school for the day was Søndervangskolen, a school where 85% of students have an ethnic background other than Danish and many nationalities are represented. We got to talk to some of the students during a tour, and later during a session where we talked with them about being young in America vs being young in Denmark. My main takeaways: 1) In Denmark bilingual is often used as a synonym for not ethnically Danish. What does that mean in a country where everyone also speaks English and usually one other (Western) language? What does that mean when my fifteen year old tour guide, a Muslim boy who honestly looks more like me than an ethnic Dane would, speaks five different languages, something I wish I could do? What does it mean for these students to be minorities in Denmark? 2) In this school all students are given an iPad for use during their entire schooling. In the US, something like that might be seen in a private school where students pay a hefty tuition. Here, it was reasoned that these students should be given an iPad because they were from low SES backgrounds and were less likely to be able to afford this learning tool on their own. 3) School lunch in Denmark is significantly better than school lunch in America. While fourth grade me was eating mediocre pizza and some corn off of a plastic tray, these students were served rice and curried chicken on actual plates, and it smelled delicious! Next we went to ARoS, the art museum in Aarhus. We didn't get as much time in the museum as I would've liked (so I definitely need to plan a trip to go there again), but the exhibits I saw were amazing. It's also just such a beautifully designed museum. I'll share my favorite moments from here in picture format. For the night we stayed at a hostel, which was actually more of a really nice campsite. We ate dinner and then a few people went canoeing. Then we made a fire to make snobrød, which was literally us roasting bread on a stick. It was kind of hard to get the bread to be cooked all the way through without being burnt, but it was still a lot of fun. My cabin mates and I then spent the rest of the night watching Danish iCarly and some German soap opera about a guy we're pretty sure was an Amish pirate. Good way to end a great day. Day 3 Today was a very nature-filled day, and we started at a cool nature center that showed us a lot about how much kids can learn and benefit from being in nature. We then split into two groups to visit different schools, and I got to visit a Danish forest kindergarten. This one wasn't actually in the forest (although some actually are), but it was such as cool place. My top favorite moments from here: 1) Just watching children be free and playful. The moment we drove up we just saw a group of kids running around in nothing but their underwear, simply enjoying life. I could definitely learn a thing or two from them. 2) I got to practice my Danish with a couple of four year olds, and even though I couldn't engage in any longer conversation with any of them, I could introduce myself and learn their names. Honestly I was happy that they understood me and actually responded! After the forest kindergarten we hopped back on the bus to spend the last two days back in Copenhagen. Day 4 was just our normal practicum visits. I promise I'll do a post on that soon, but just a sneak preview to let you know how that's going: On Thursday I had to break up a fight between a couple of first graders. So...
The final day of Core Course Week was mostly a debrief, talking about all of the things that stuck with us during the tour. Some of it was the fun moments, the good food (we ate at really nice restaurants). Some of it was the problematic things we noticed in the schools, especially regarding multiculturalism. All of it was really interesting and helped me to even more shape my personal interests in child psychology. This was such an amazing week. I saw some really cool schools, saw some different places in Denmark, and I got to spend a lot more time with my classmates. I really love my CMC class, and I felt the bonds really forming during this trip. Hopefully these will be lifelong friends, even though we are all from all over the place. This was a really long post, but it was a really long week filled with lots of amazing moments. Hopefully it was interesting. I definitely can't wait for my Long Study Tour in London. For now I'll look forward to my may adventures in Copenhagen until then. Can't wait to share some more with you guys! <3 Vi ses! Hej! It's the end of my first week in Denmark. While most of this past week has been settling into my new home and getting introduced to DIS through several orientations, I do actually have classes that I guess I'm supposed to attend. Wednesday and Thursday were an introduction to my Core Course. I'm in the Child Development and Diversity (hereby known as CDD) department, taking a course called Children in a Multicultural Context (hereby known as CMC). I'm super excited to look at how child development in the States compares with child development here in Denmark, and how multiculturalism fits into it all. I'm also excited because part of the CDD program is being involved in a practicum, where I'll actually get to work with kids. I'll be spending my Thursday mornings from here on out working at a school, the Danish equivalent to a charter school, that teaches Muslim students from multiple backgrounds. It focuses on giving the children a Danish upbringing and education while helping them to embrace their own and other cultures as well. I'm both excited and nervous to actually start doing my practicum, but I can't wait to see all of the amazing things I'll learn and the ways I'll grow by doing it. So, because I have practicum on Thursdays, I'm not allowed to have any other Monday/Thursday classes besides CMC. I also don't have classes on Wednesdays, because they are reserved for field studies. This means that my Tuesdays/Fridays are pretty busy, and I got a taste of that today as I officially began classes. First I have Danish Language and Culture, which will hopefully help me to be able to have a nice, simple conversation in (correctly pronounced) Danish by the end of the semester. Immediately after I have Developmental Disorders, which I'm also really excited for. In case you wanted to know what happens in a class like this: Immediately after that class I have my last class of the day, European Documentary Film. I'm really excited for this class because it blends the theory of documentary film with production, and because we'll be making our own projects throughout the semester, my classmates and I all got new iPads for the semester! The best part of all my classes, however, is that I really like my classmates and teachers. In my film class, which only has 8 students (much potential to get very close by the end of this semester), another girl brought pizza for lunch and shared with the rest of us. Food is always the best way to bond and meet new people. It was also great because I don't have a lunch break on Tuesdays/Fridays, and sitting down to eat pizza is much better than trying to stuff half a sandwich in my mouth while walking down the hall to class. Overall my first day of classes went pretty well.
I will say one thing about DIS though. The academics are great, the teachers kind, and the students fun and diverse. But I don't think they were thinking of my well being when they put all the classrooms at the fifty-millionth floor of buildings with no elevators. I don't think I've ever climbed so many stairs in all my life. At least I can say with surety that I will have amazing calves by the time I go back home. Well, I'm off to watch a movie with my host family. Can't wait to share more adventures with you soon! Vi ses! |
AuthorOn ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. Part of my heart I'm leaving behind in the United States. Join me as I take the rest on an amazing adventure to Copenhagen, Denmark! ArchivesCategories
All
Google Chrome users will need an extension for the RSS feed
|