"Nearly" the end of this unique experience ...

As a conclusion to this unique and marvellous experience, Aurélie and I can say that first, this Erasmus stay in Denmark was really amazing : we really learnt a lot.
We are really glad to spend one more month here with Vikki, Cedric, Isabel, Mery, Carla, Seyhan, Zeliha and Sinem :)

And more, creating this blog was really a good idea: thanks to it, our parents/family/friends/etc can share this experience with us even if they are so far...
They can see all our pictures, comments, opinions, etc and also be aware of another culture.
It was also a way to share our experience between Erasmus students by reading the others' blog: we could see how they felt, etc.

This blog will stay online as a souvenir of this unique experience for the rest of our life...

Thank you - Tak :)

Teaching practice in Realskole

From Monday 11th to Friday 23th Aurélie and I went to "Realskole" and observed some English lessons. We heard it was a private school where parents have to pay.

We got the chance to observe 4 differents classes : 7b, 7c, 8a, 8c. They were between 13 and 15 years old.

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Immediatly we felt at ease there and also with the teachers. They were all nice with us and didn't hesitate to answer our questions. They tried to make us involved in the lessons.

The first days, they offered us to make a presentation about Belgium.
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We were really surprised by the students' level of English. It was really great to make some activities with them : they have a lot of ideas and they feel at ease. They know that they are able to speak and dare to take part in lots of conversations.
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We also observed some similarities and differences between Denmark and Belgium. For example, the lessons here last 45 minutes and 50 in Belgium. The students here don't have to complete a diary but we have to do it in our country. Finally, nobody repeats a year here. In Belgium, if a student fails his examinations, he has a second chance in August and if he fails again, he repeats his school year, even for one subject.

We noticed that there were many differences as far as the school system and teaching English are concerned.
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Being aware of that made us realize that there are many ways to be a good teacher :)

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Fourth International evening !

On Wednesday our Danish favourite friends prepared us a greaaaat meal ! :)

We finally tasted the "Frikadelle" and some other typical dishes... :)


The buffet was delicious!

Drama in Aabenraa

Last week he had "Drama" in Aabenraa with a great teacher called Flemming!

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The first session, we had some icebreaking and games. For example, we were divived into groups and we had to depict some feelings, sentences.. We just had to stand up without moving and the other groups had to guess the feeling, the environment...

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The second session we also started with a few games in order to feel at ease with each others! Then the first task began : each student received a leather mask. It was amazing to see how we were different with those on our faces and how easier it was to act without seeing our faces... So, we were supposed to be an "embryo" and we had to develop, to "be born" as the music was playing... We had things like an umbrella, a phone, a hat etc. to discover and of course we had to discover each others.

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The last task we had make for this lesson was to make a play by listening to some music. We were divided into 3 groups and we had different music for each group. I was with Seyhan, Zeliha, Joanna and Cédric and we were asked to create a play by listening very sad music..

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"Drama" was the best lesson I've ever had here! It was a really good experience, I think we all had fun there :)

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We took advantage of this lesson in Aabenraa to visit the city and its surroundings. First we walked along the shopping street and then went together to the beach... It's a very nice city!

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Can you see the difference?

Crazy country :)

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And finally ... Spring time ! (We were waiting for you sun)

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It's so great to walk without our big boots and coats.. And just with sunglasses !

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Third International evening !

Let's discover Turkey this time...

First they had prepared a turkish tabbouleh, a really good one :). They also had brought some turkish sweets. Afterwards Sayhan sang a turkish song, amazing voice! Finally our 3 turkish girls showed us typical dances from their country and some Erasmus students even took part in them :D

It was a great evening, as usual !

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International Week [from 15th to 19th April]

So many people, so much fun!

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Monday:
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First of all we welcomed about 30 new students from whole Europe : Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Germany and Austria!
We started this first day with an intercultural activity: first we had to be in groups according to our country and we draw pictures, symbols.. of our culture, country. Then we made intercultural groups and had to draw things concerning a culture we didn't belong to! Finally he had to present our pictures to everybody... It was really to see the similarities between the pictures (Those who had to represent Belgium know us very good :))
We finished the day with a Danish lesson: I was a bit disappointed because we Erasmus students knew those words already... But I think the new sutdents had fun!
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Tuesday:

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Cooking: it was really great! We learned how to prepare a typical lunck box in Denmark... We also got the chance to taste some typical things from here!
Music: pleasuring as usual :)
At about 4 p.m. we started to cook a typical dish from our own country : Aurélie, Marguerite, Cédric and I decided to prepare some "Boulet à la Liégeoise". People told us it was delicious so I was happy :D
That evening was amazing : there was a big table full of food. I don't think I was hungry after all those dishes... But I really couldn't stop eating!
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Wednesday:
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It was the day of the exhibition.
In the morning we got divided into groups : with Aurélie we decided to choose the workshop "Language" and I really don't regret it! Actually we had to create something about "Interculturality". Moreover we were with Danish students.
In the afternoon we had to create a new poster about our own school, in Belgium as far as I'm concerned.
Then we all got the chance to see all posters at the exhibition and students were there in give to give more information about their posters.
It was really well done!.
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Thursday:
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Excursion-time! We all went to Ribe, the oldest town of Denmark. First we went to the Vikkings' Museum, very nice! Then we got time to have a walk in the city... Very beautiful city ;)
In the evening came THE INTERNATIONAL SONG CONTEST : it was so great! Each country performed very well! And the winners were... Belgium :D (Flamish speaking-part)

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Friday:
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Already time to say goodbye :(
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Second International evening !

This time... Czech Republic, Norway and Poland were in the place !

Our three Czech students prepared us delicious "jednohubky" ! We also had the chance to taste some Czech beers (not too bad ;))
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Norwegian girls prepared us some waffles : incredible ones! And also typical cheese from Norway (Sorry girls, I really hated that :))
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Finally our Polish girls organized some games.. It was great! Then they also had prepared some food.. Sweets, really good as well!
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Trust me, we weren't hungry anymore that night! Thanks guys!

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Carnival Party!

A so great party!

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It was the first we really went out.. First we met together in order to have a drink and have fun. Then we went to the party at about 10 p.m. Finally we went to the Friday Café to dance a bit more!

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It was so funny to see all those costumes : vampires, Lady Gaga, a nurse, Hawaiian girls, Amy Winehouse, a gymnast, some hippies...

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We had a really great time together!

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First International evening !

Let's start with Belgium & Hungary...
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We decided to create a quiz about Belgium : the questions were quite simple and each country was represented in a group... And after a few questions, people were more aware about our culture.
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Then, it was Viki's turn : she presented Hungary thanks to a great Power Point and showed us a typical dance... It was really funny!
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Finally it was time to taste the best beer and chocolate of the world, belgian ones of course :D
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I'd like to explain here each International evening because I think it's important to be open for other cultures! It's so great to learn more and more information about Spain, Turkey, Poland, Norway, Hungary... And Denmark of course ;)
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Trip in Copenhagen (February)

Wednesday:

We arrived in Copenhagen at 2 o'clock. We get installed and then went to visit the Round Tower (Rundentaarn).

What an amazing view from there, wonderful! Then, we had some free time to eat and have a drink with all the Erasmus students :)

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Thursday:

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Because of the frozen water, he had a walk in Copenhagen and we saw The Royal Library, the Opera House, the Little Mermaid (a so tiny statue :)) and the Amalienborg Castle.

Then we had some free time to eat and go shopping in Stroget! In the afternoon, we went to Rosenborg Castle. Eventually, we went to a vegetarian restaurant... The food was delicious and we had a great time together!

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Friday:

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First of all, we went to the National Museum : I really enjoyed the Rain Forest and the children's museum! We endend this three-day trip with the Carlsberg Brewery... And of course with the tasting of a beer ;)

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It was an amazing trip! Nevertheless it's a pity that we went there in the winter because we were really frozen and some interesting things were closed...

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Lessons here...

So different from Belgium... And the most difficult thing is to stay sometimes for more than 3 hours, and for the same lesson! It's quite amazing because in Belgium we change subjects every two hours and we have the lunch break at the same time every day... 11 o'clock is rather early to have lunch and 2 o'clock is quite late ;)

Let me explain you some subjects!


* Danish

I was really happy when I heard that we would have a Danish lesson! But I'm quite disappointed actually... Even if our teacher is nice, I think we don't learn Danish in a good way. She works really fast and we don't have the time to assimilate the words and expressions we should be able to know now...

Nonetheless, I've learned:
Jeg hedder Sophie = My name is Sophie
Jeg kommer fra Belgium = I come from Belgium
Jeg taler frans og lidt dansk = I speak French and a little bit Danish
Ja = yes
Nej = No
Tak = Thanks
Vaersgo = please
En, to, tre, fire, fem, seks, syv, otte, ni, ti = 1 to 10

What a strange and difficult language!


* Art

Really great lesson even if I really can't draw! We had to draw a self-portrait... Look at this masterpiece :)

* History

Let's just hope we're going to learn more about Denmark and Haderslev, instead of Germany...


* Language and identity

It was also a good lesson!
First of all, we received a sheet like this one :

We had to colour this picture...

- Pink in my heart : it represents French of course! French is my mother tongue and I will never forget this language. I think in French, I dream in French..
- Red and blue in my head : it represents English and Dutch! Next year, I will have to teach those two languages to pupils from the secondary school so I have to improve them all the time.
- Orange in my feet : it represents Spanish! Orange is a warm colour, like this beautiful language. Why in my feet? I can't speak Spanish but I'm really looking forward to learning it later!

Then we had to pick out on our favourite colours from our language portraits and write a poem (An eleven word poem). This is mine (A bit stupid, I agree ;))

Pink

The pig

In the mud

I see it happy

Definitely!

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* Danish and European stereotypes

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Of course we have some stereotypes about each country. This is what I was told before coming here :

- Danish men have got blond hair (Not really ;))

- Technology well developed (For sure!)

- Green country (Well...)

- Bautiful landscapes (True!)

- ...

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These are just stereotypes... You really need to live in a country to realise that stereotypes are not true all the time!

Each student had to write a few sentences about his/her own nationality and country. These are mine: You can tell I'm Belgian because..

- I eat a lot of chocolate

- I drink a lot of beer

- I LOVE French fries :D

- I've got one of the best tennis player in my country

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* Music

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We had a lot of fun! The main thing I will remind is that you don't have to be an artist to take part to such a lesson

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* Physical education

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I hate phyisical education! But here, it was completely different from what he usually do in Belgium. We made a lot of games... We were like children, it was so great!

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27 Erasmus students..

Here we are...

Lynn, Vojta, Sinem, Siv Hege, Marta, Aurélie, Esther, Ondrej, Loes, Viki, Isabel, Marguerite, Ania, Zeliha, Sophie, Ine, Mette, Marie, Katka, Stefanie, Carla, Cédric, Maria, Seyhan, Kari, Joanna, Caroline!

:)

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Our flat...

I'm sharing a flat with Aurélie, another Belgian girl! We were in the same school and also in the same class in Belgium... Of course, know her very well :)

Our new address is: Praestegade, 18, 6100 Haderslev

I've got my own big bedroom and we are sharing the (tiny) kitchen, living room and bathroom! At the beginning, it was quite difficult to live in a new house without our habits, decorations... But now I think we wouldn't change it!

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My new life here!

Haderslev… That’s where I’m living now until June!

I arrived here on Saturday 30th January. Of course, it was the first time I saw this town, so wonderful!

On Sunday, I was completely lost without my parents, my friends... The only thing I wanted to was to return back to Belgium!

Then the first week began...

It was the first time I saw many different nationalities! We are 27 Erasmus' students from Spain Poland, Turkey, Hungary, Norway, Czech Republic and of course, Belgium!

It was also the first time I went to the Friday's cafe... That's when everything began: we began to talk to each others, create some friendships, organize some parties... My Erasmus has begun!



Throughout this blog, I'm going to tell you about my experience in Denmark!

By the way, that’s the first time I use a blog… Please, be indulgent :)

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