This is me, diligently updating my blog like a good foreign exchange student is expected to do. As I sit here in samfundsfag (a class designed to teach politics, government, economics, and the like), it's easy to contemplate life's great mysteries, because I have no idea what's going on in the class itself. I have a general concept (we're comparing the cultural differences of Lebanon, Denmark, and the United States, at the moment), but it's certainly not enough to write home about and far from enough for me to be worth anything in class discussion, even if I had the Danish at my disposal.
Last Friday was idrætsdag, a sort of field day where all the classes in the gymnasium got together and were in activities focused on teamwork and things like that. Each class was assigned a country, making the day something akin to the Olympics; another exchange student's class was Italy, my host brother was given France, and so on, and so forth. My class, 2.e, was given the prestigious honor of being
North Korea. Here I am, in Scandinavia, prancing about with a makeshift North Korean flag, and I think that itself speaks to a massive cultural difference between the United States and Denmark. In the US, doing something like this would possibly be risking media coverage for imitating a political enemy of the state; here, it's all just good fun. For all the preaching about free speech, I feel I'm much more able to speak my mind - especially ideologically - here than I ever was at home. Perhaps that's because, at least politically, I'm a little more Danish than I am the stereotypical American.
I went to Aarhus to visit Jenny on the weekend, because there was a festival there that she wanted me to see. It's great having her so near, knowing that I have someone who really is family to talk to and within driving distance if there is ever an emergency. The festival was a prime example of the fact that me not speaking Danish is even funnier in open streets when people try to approach me. I'm fine once we get past my initial greeting ("I'm foreign, and if we're going to speak Danish, you're going to have to do it slowly."), but it's nerve-wracking to experience someone who doesn't know that I'm a foreign exchange student coming my way. All Danes that I've met speak English, and they speak it well, so if they ever really need me to understand something, there isn't a problem.
Everyone told me that Danes would be cold, but I haven't experienced that yet. I think they're quieter people (for the most part) than Americans, and they aren't going to go out of their way to approach you if you don't make the first effort, but that's not fair to call them cold because of something like that. I was told Danes would be rude, and in some ways it appears that way; they don't say "excuse me" as superfluously as we would in the US, and they aren't as likely to begin a conversation, but hugs are still common, and people are always friendly and helpful so long as you ask. A lot of it comes from not being the ugly American that I think many Europeans expect when the USA comes to mind. They're happy to talk, if you'd like, but calling Barack Obama the Kenyan Antichrist isn't going to much raise their esteem of you. Americans have given themselves a reputation of stupid loudmouths who are unwilling to give any opinion but their own the time of day, and if you're truly like that in a society as egalitarian as Denmark's? You're in for a rough exchange.
In short, I love it here, and I don't think the Danes mind having me around too much either.
<3
-Lex
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