On our last day in Europe, we received an independent
research day to visit places of interest on our own. We had a very rainy day, yet we managed to
get a lot completed. As our group
walked, several soldiers marched by,
so we followed them to Amalienborg Palace.
We were told that if the queen was in palace, we would see a flag above
her residence. The queen wasn’t home
that day, but her son was. We watched
the changing of the guard that occurs once every two hours. The guards watch the royal family’s residence at all times.
We moved on to the
Rosenborg Castle, which was my definition of
ornate. I don’t think I have ever seen
so much gold, silver and other precious jewels in one place! At times, I found similarities to the
Biltmore Estate, yet this castle was built in 1606 and was King Christian IV's summer residence. The ceiling was so
intricate and exquisite. We were all
joking that we should just lie in the floor to take it all in!
One of the most powerful places that I visited was the Resistance Museum. Here we
learned about Denmark’s role in resisting the German occupation during War World II. When talking to a local Dane (who had a relative in the Resistance), he became
teary eyed, yet said that Denmark is moving forward. Denmark works well with
Germany now because Danes forgave and understand that not all Germans were
Nazis. I fully enjoyed this museum, yet
left tender-hearted due to the powerful images, videos and artifacts.
As a friend and I were walking around the city, we saw
students with a teacher and decided to go talk with that teacher. We talked about differences in schools and
her history becoming an educator. The
teacher used to be a flight attendant for twenty years and decided to do what
she had always wanted to do-teach. She
talked to us about working at a private school, school day (longer than ours)
and the number of school days (230 compared to our 182). The class started to walk into the school,
and she invited us up to her classroom.
We didn’t have to sign in, and I didn’t see a prominent office
either. When we entered the small, yet
efficient classroom, we saw a SMART board in the front of the room and a
blackboard in the back of the room. The
students were working toward end-of-year exams, yet told us that they didn’t
have tests throughout the year! Teachers
grade on overall performance instead of tests.
Students were also ready for their holidays (vacations), and a few said
that they would like to visit America.
The teacher left her students in the classroom, and walked us all the
way down to the exit. I was so intrigued
about how she took the time to welcome us in and gave us her full attention.
This was such a spontaneous journey, but everything that has been spontaneous
has provided some of the best experiences.
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| Kind teacher in Denmark |
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| A classroom in Denmark |
We had are farewell dinner at Cafe Nytorv, and I looked around at
all the smiling faces at the restaurant.
Everyone got along so well, and we were told that we were
one of the best groups that bonded and worked to be with different people each
day. I will cherish the new friends that
I made along this journey.
Lastly, I told myself that I would run all five lakes of
Copenhagen, but I kept putting this off.
I finally got the gym clothes and tennis shoes out for this beautiful
lake area in the heart of Copenhagen.
Just when I was feeling good about running the approximate 7K, a Danish
runner talked to me briefly about running the lakes twice; oh well. We didn’t see hardly any overweight or any
obese people in Denmark and realized that the healthy food and focus on
exercise was held in high regard. When riding on the plane, I talked to a Danish woman that said she went to McDonalds maybe once a
year. She mentioned how kids don’t have
sugar in school lunches, and most kids eat a sandwich on whole grain bread for
lunch. Fries are not allowed in schools
nor are sodas. She mentioned how she had the same teacher for 11 years, yet had several other teachers throughout the day. She talked about the ski holiday in Febraury and visiting several European countries during this time. Something I found to be interesting is that women automatically receive one year off for maternity leave and the father receives two months off to help at home.
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| Flight home |
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| One of the lakes |
I’m sad to see this journey come to an end, but I’m
extremely grateful for this experience.
A friend and I were talking about how we share a bond that no one else
will understand, and that the relationships, experiences and laughter will
stick with us forever.
