Erasmus+ project ‘You’re welcome’ ended and I hurry to write everything that I experienced there. I heard before very many things about Denmark but now I saw everything by myself. Sunny Danish people, colourful houses, little mermaid, expensive shops and more you can see in capital of Denmark-Copenhagen. We lived in the Eastern Denmark in Stenløse, small town with beautiful nature, lovely houses and starry sky, which we could enjoy.
The main project topic was refugees. All week we listened many stories about refugees and also had an opportunity to talk with real refugee. Refugees are people too, with their stories, feelings, and thoughts. We sometimes forget it; we sometimes forget that our ancestors were refugees too. Now, migration and refugee movements in the Mediterranean countries have gained unprecedented momentum in recent months. The situation along migratory routes to Europe and within Europe itself is changing faster than ever before. We should help them and do not scare because it is normal to help each other.
The first day I met many new people with which I communicated all week. For me, each new person was a new world. Different people were from various cultures, we were all different but all we had many similarities. It is always nice to realise what person from other country with other culture could have a lot similarities with you. All week we played many interesting games and tasted food from different countries.
Now, I want describe more wonderful facts that I saw there. The first fact that surprised me it was national Danish food culture. There are three main meals in Denmark: breakfast and dinner are typically eaten at home, whereas lunch for practical reasons has to be eaten elsewhere and often consists of a packed lunch brought from home. In the morning, most adults drink coffee or tea. Children and young people often eat milk products with cereals such as corn flakes, muesli or oatmeal. The lunch was very strange to me; I accustomed to eat hot dishes for lunch. In Danish culture accepted that lunch is a cold meal consisting of slices of rye bread buttered and covered with for instance various kinds of sausage, sliced boiled egg or liver paste. Furthermore, sandwich is national Danish dish and they eat sandwiches everywhere.
The evening meal is called ‘middag’ because it used to be eaten in the middle of the day. It is eaten at home and most Danes make an effort to gather the family around a hot meal every evening.
Another strange thing I have noticed in Denmark is flags. The flag is everywhere. The Danish flag has a name: ‘dannebrog’, which means “Danish cloth”. Legend tells that the flag fell from the sky during a battle of the Danish army against Estonia, when they were praying to God to save them from defeat – which worked. The Danish flag is a common sight in Copenhagen (and Denmark). It is found on public buildings, and a lot of people even have a flagpole in their gardens. Birthday is another popular occasion to use flags for decoration. Not only royal birthdays, but every single family birthday is celebrated by pulling out the flag decorations! You can buy napkins, paper plates and cups, even small paper ‘strøflag’(sprinkle flags) to just throw on the table… the possibilities are endless! And of course, the miniature flagpole can’t be missing from any birthday table! In Danish shops I saw many flags that you could buy for your celebration.
The last thing that surprised me in Danish culture it was Lutheran Church of Denmark. One day we went in small stone church in Stenløse. The strangest thing was that priest was woman. In Denmark more than 50% priests are women. The small Lutheran Church with religious atmosphere was very remarkable in that evening and I will remember this day for long years.
In conclusion, I think that each new trip, each new person opens other worlds and other possibilities. I want end this article with words by British-born essayist and novelist of Indian origin Pico Iyer: We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.
