




(L-R): Nordea bank, Ivan (why again does he have a hook for a hand?), the beloved text, a quotable quote, a day in the life of Stine & Ivan
Okay, so now that it has been a good 5 or so days since pre-semester Danish courses finished up I thought it would be best to type a few reflections on the course while the memory is still fresh (and while I can still remember some Danish!). As for first impressions, I thought the opening orientation ceremony was rather uneventful and at times, quite boring (I hate to think what it would have been like had I not got lost on the metro and actually turned up on time!). The only positive was that there was free (bahaha – a student’s favourite word!) fruit and water bottles as you left for class.
In regards to classes themselves, well it was indeed a bitter sweet experience. Initially, the novelty factor was huge and it was great getting to know a few people and discovering where everyone had travelled from and why they had chosen Copenhagen. The whole getting up at 7:30am (for me at least) for class was fun at first. Hahaha but as the week/s progressed and parties/socialising became more frequent (and, suprisingly, doing your homework became more infrequent) the whole getting up in the morning became a pain. I swear that there were somedays where I woke up to find myself stranded on struggle street destination nowhere – but somehow I always managed to drag my lazy ass to class on time (which is more than I can say for a few of my fellow students!).
The whole ‘I am only ever going to speak to you in Danish come hell or high water‘ mentality was, objectively speaking, a great idea as it promoted an accelerated learning process. However, the whole ‘sink or swim‘ attitude adopted by the teaching staff became quite a nuisance when you would only ever get answers (svars) to your questions (spørgsmåls) in Danish – how on earth are you meant to improve if you don’t understand it in the first place??? – I observed that most of the people had their will ‘to find out and learn more’ broken within the first week or so!!! On the other hand, the fact that your teacher only conversed with you in Danish meant that you quickly acquired new ways of saying often (tit) , goodbye (farvel), shut up (hold mund) and my personal favourite way of saying finish (slut).
As for the textbook – well it was entertaining in parts (for instance, refer to page 14) but on the whole, it left much to be desired – the fact that all of the homework instructions were in Danish made it difficult to complete the task properly (mind you, the fact that I was attempting to do it at 12am probably didn’t help either!) and the little emphasis placed on basic nouns, verbs and syntax left you prone to errors! Nevertheless, the textbook was responsible for introducing me to the wonderful lives of Stine, Ivan, Søren, Sofie and Markus and for this I am thankful
! Hahaha but I do have to question the repeated reference to Nordea bank … was this subliminal advertising or what? (mind you, having experienced the joys of aplying for an account with the Danske bank part of me wishes I did go to the Nordea bank – who knows maybe one of my newly acquired friends could have helped me out – providing they weren’t on frokostpause!!!)
As for the cd accompanying the textbook – I listened to it once – enough said?
The exam – it would have been nice to have been given the exam format earlier and also at the same time when the other classes received their notices (ie: not 2-3 days after!!!). Furthermore, I don’t think that it was entirely fair that the story about Jane was examinable given the fact that our class learnt about her on the day of the written exam (and 1.5 days before the oral exam!) but that is all in the past now. As for the actual exam, I think it was very well done and definitely not as daunting as I had anticipated (even given the fact that I picked out the story of Markus & Sofie!). The written exam was also administered quite well too.
The ‘closing ceremony’ – it was interesting to see that after 3 weeks of intensive study (well at least class participation!) we students weren’t the only ones left a bit bemused by this language they call ‘Danish’ (which, incidentally, is the only language you can eat!). It was rather painful to watch the song “Vi skåler med vores venner…” being performed by some brave students (but full kudos to them for doing it despite the fact no one else knew the words and technology let them down at the last minute!). Again, the saving grace was the free fruit and water bottles on offer!
As for the cultural course – the canal tour was very good fun, I unfortunately missed the rundball tournament (though I have heard it was fun), the tour of Statens Museum for Kunst was good and the trip to Amager Strandpark was alright (I stress ‘alright’ mainly due to the fact that, as was pointed out to me, we Aussies are quite spoilt when it comes to beaches!).
So final conclusions? – on the whole I would definitely recommend doing the pre-semester Danish course offered by the university! (in fact, it should be made compulsory!) Although it may not be reflected in my aforementioned thoughts, the course has provided me with so many benefits and has really allowed me to settle into Copenhagen and get to know some people before real university kicks off. Admittedly, I still may chuckle like a little school girl whenever I see shop window signs displaying the word ‘slut’ (but I think that is more attributable to my lack of maturity then anything else!) but some of the Danish phrases (the ones I can actually remember!) have proved to be useful when interacting with people within Copenhagen (not to mention the fact that they are also great ‘ice breakers’). So definitely sign up for the course – it is definitely a wise choice!!!
Oh and if you’re wondering whether I passed? – I did (selvfølgelig!!!)
(L-R): Amager Strandpark, the class, the Museum entrance, end of course celebrations



