This is my sixth week living in Denmark and I have started
to notice numerous cultural differences between here and Northern Ireland. The most obvious one is the University
environment and teaching styles. Lecturers
are called by their first names, they openly swear and their attire is a lot
more relaxed in comparison with Stranmillis University. It still surprises me when the students swear
at the tutors as I could never imagine myself doing this. A lot of the students also quite frequently
argue with the tutors or tell them that they are wrong and this is something I
find very strange because in University at home it is a rare occurrence for a
student to question a lecturer or argue with them. I don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing
as students and teachers can learn a lot from each other and I sometimes think
the tutors here say certain statements to provoke a reaction and prompt discussion. It is important to add that the students or
lecturers aren’t being rude or ignorant when swearing or arguing, it is simply
the culture here.It is definitely true that Danish people are more direct and to the point. Their city is cleaner, their transport system more efficient and almost everyone seems to own a bike.
The teaching styles are also very different to that of
Stranmillis. Classes last three hours usually with a short ten minute break in
between. This is something I am still
struggling with as classes at home usually last for an hour. Classes are more discussion and activity
based, with a lot of tutor and student talk, and in many of them we sit in
groups where we are expected to complete tasks or discuss specific points. I have yet to sit in a formal lecture and
have found that the overall teaching style is very relaxed and laid-back. I actually quite enjoy this teaching method
as there is a lot more interaction and it is easier to remember what you are
learning about. I have found that the
atmosphere in Denmark is very relaxed and was quite shocked when I noticed
young children getting the train home alone from school. I found it very surprising as you would never
see a young child in Northern Ireland travelling unattended and it made me
question whether they were allowed to travel alone because it was safer, or
whether through the education system here children are more independent and
want to do such things by themselves, as their school environment is so different
to ours. Another big cultural difference
is the food here. Although it is similar
in regards to what we eat at home, the price isn’t. The Danish government saw that as a country,
their obesity levels where increasing so they decided to add a Fat and Sugar
Tax onto products containing high levels of these. This means that items like meat, fruit juice
and chocolate, end up being very expensive.
The tax often isn’t added on until you get to the till which is quite
annoying as you end up paying more for what you got.
 |
| Rosenborg Castle |
 |
| Outside the National Museum |
 |
| An elk skelton. |
This week we also decided to make better use of our days off
with some sight-seeing. We visited ‘The
National Museum’ of Denmark to see the ‘Pre-Historic’ exhibition which was very
interesting. We also visited ‘Rosenborg Castle and Gardens’ which was
beautiful and this weekend we are going to the other part of Denmark with the Erasmus
students to visit Aarhus, so I am looking forward to that, although not the
6.30am bus we have to board to get there.
 |
| Pre-Historic Fashion. |
No comments:
Post a Comment