the Danish way of storytelling...

Tuesday started with a course called Danish storytellers, Film / literature. I've never thought about Danish literature and films that much so I was quite interested what we were going to learn in the course. The only author from Denmark I knew is H.C. Andersen and the only thing I know about Danish films is that there is a genre called "Dogma 95 films", an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. I was curious about finding out more about that special topic but instead we talked about Danish literature, the canon taught in Danish schools and of course H.C. Andersen (which wasn't bad either). Our teacher Hanne brought us some books for children. Our task was it then to find a translation on the internet and to retell the story in our own words. The three groups had very different stories to tell, sad and funny ones, but all of us did a great job creating an exciting atmosphere just by using our voices. For me it was a great chance to work on my rhetorical skills and to improve my ability to speak freely in front of other people.

weblogs and introduction...

Our programme on Monday started with an introduction to the creation of a weblog, our tool for recording our impressions and learning progresses during the next months. For I had never used weblogs before I found it a bit difficult in the beginning but I soon got used to the handling of the different customizing and editing functions. Afterwards we got a short introduction to the Danish educational system. What I found most striking was the fact that the schools want their classes to be acompanied by one and the same class teacher during the nine years of primary school education. In Germany the class teacher change every two years. The introduction to the Danish school system - also serving as a preparation for our school visits on Thursday - was followed by a brainstorming of our knowledge about Denmark. My list contained many stereotypes about food, people, climate,... Then we presented our lists to each other in small groups and designed a poster, which should express our group's view on our host country. All of us contributed similar aspects to a certain extent but we also complemented one another in our ideas. The products showed a great variety of aspects connected to Denmark in completely different arrangements and layouts.

first steps...

We spent some weekend hours with walking around the town to get an impression of its appearance, an idea of the locations of supermarkets and other shops, but also a feeling for the city life. What I found most interesting were the historical parts of the city, especially the architectural relicts of medieval times, which had been fondly restored or rebuilt. As my favoutite I chose an old timbered house in the "Castle street". There are some other places and buildings I find worth mentioning here (but it would be impossible to list everything, it's just too much ...), for example the medieval chathedral which can be seen from almost everywhere in the city, the pedestrian precinct, the harbour, the old cemetery, the fjord, etc. During the first days there were so many impressions crashing down on me that I can't put all of them into words, sorry... ;-)

The magnificent Seven...

I went to school on Friday morning with many expectations and unanswered quesitons in my head. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next and that really made me nervous. But meeting the others students and also Jette - our ersamus coordinator - was quite a pleasure. Jette answered all questions and took her time to lead us around the campus. The seven of us immediately started with getting to know each other. From the beginning there was some kind of harmony among us. And I very soon got the feeling that the following three months could become a great experience for all of us.

new beginnings...

I got on the train in Kiel at 13:42 on Thursday January 31st. I was very tired because I hadn't slept the last night that much for I had been at a concert in Hamburg the day before. But nevertheless I was also excited and a bit nervous to leave my town, my friends and my family behind to encounter a whole new episode of my life.
About one hour later I had to change trains in Flensburg, and several minutes later again in Padborg. So there I was, entering Denmark, actually only for the fourth time in my life, with only little knowledge about the country and its people, their laguage, food,...
I went to Vojens, where I had to leave the train, facing the welcoming and warming sunshine of southern Denmark for the first time (just kidding, it was stormy and dark with a mixture of rain and snow...). But I had to wait for the bus, so I remained in the cold for 20 minutes, until my bus arrived. On the way to Haderslev the sky got even darker and the wind heavier. What a nice welcoming party...
At the bus station in Haderslev at my tutor Mette was awaiting me at 16:45 and I felt a lot better when we arrived at the flat I was going to stay in for three months. I didn't know neither my flatmate nor the other erasmus students, neither the town nor the people that live here. But that was going to change soon...

The erasmus course at the CVU Sønderjylland

CVU Sønderjylland provides a three-month international modular course, ‘Living and Learn-ing Together’, specially designed to foreign students.
The course will be a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops and individual studies under guidance, excursions in the region, school visits and practicing periods. The foreign students will also get the opportunity to mingle with local students in some of the courses.
The course will provide the students with skills, knowledge and experience, in order to in-crease their intercultural competence, i.e. the ability to live and work in heterogeneous groups. The students will become aware of the qualities of other teaching and learning tradi-tions. The students will reflect on their new experiences through the use of ‘weblogs’ and ‘portfolios’.
The topics during the three months are: Introduction to Denmark and the Danish language, comparing education and school, aesthetic learning processes, citizenship and globalisation, international week: Language across borders, school experience.

Hi you out there,
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