With my luck, I was placed, alone, in a classroom of, of all people, girls. Now, don't get me wrong, they were adorable. They had a range of disorders from Down's and fragile X syndrome to "we're not sure." Unlike the U.S., the definition of "disability" when it comes to special needs is up to the local municipality. On one hand, this allows a great deal of flexibility and personal involvement of the government - on the other hand, I feel that it hinders, in certain cases, treatment of certain disorders. Anyway, it was quite surprising to see how, even in a special needs classroom, the children had so much independence. They wandered in and out at their own will, free to go to other rooms in the building. They all also took part of the class activity (they had been making pajama pants), with both sewing with a sewing machine, and using a hot steam iron. Liability? Apparently not in Denmark.
Afterward, we paid a visit to Koldinghus, the last royal castle on the island. We were supposed to get a tour...but we ended up getting there an hour late, so we were on our own. Of course, the highlight of the castle was climbing to the top of the tower and taking in the sights.
The hostel we stayed that night was...well, I hardly think all hostels were like this one. Set besides a lake, we got an opportunity to take some canoes out for a while. It was absolutely lovely - the hostel itself, the lake in particular.
We also built a campfire that night and showed our instructor what s'mores were. Unfortunately, graham crackers do not exist in Denmark (like peanut butter, on a separate note), so we had to improvise. In turn, Line showed us what they do in Denmark. You take dough, roll it out really thinly and use it to wrap a sausage (i.e. hotdog) onto the end of a stick. It was kinda weird doing it, but it was like making your own hotdog, which wasn't all that bad. The thing both this and s'mores have in common? If you're like me and impatient, you can stick the whole damn thing in the fire and burn it all to perfection.
We stayed out there well after the sun had set. Sunset was very beautiful. Sitting on the dock, drink in hand, camp fire in view, it was quite a sight to behold - the colors reflecting off the lake's surface, the oranges and reds spreading across the sky.
The study tour ended with a trip the next morning to Lego Land! We were able to go under the pretense that Lego Land would give an opportunity to see how the park represented Denmark and other nationalities, an opportunity to view multiculturalism in a public setting, etc. In other words, we were given some assignment to do there...that we didn't (and I don't think they expected us to anyway).
The main attraction of the park was the variety of Lego replicas, reconstructing things from famous monuments to historic buildings to scenic countrysides.
Because the park is in Denmark, much of Europe and Scandinavia was represented, including some buildings and such foreigners would not be well-informed of. However, the good 'ol U.S. of A. had it's fair share of space in the park:
The models were very impressive, taking anywhere from a quarter of a million standard Lego blocks to ALOT more (the HUGE Statue of Liberty) for the replicas.
Of course, there was more to the park. Like with Legos, the actual toy, the park was divided into separate "lands." They ranged from a medieval, knights and dragon land to a pirate land, to a (surprisingly stereotypical) American wild, wild West-esque land - all with their own rides, etc. like any other park.
We left afterward for a four hour bus trip to Copenhagen. I only mention that because all I wanted to do was sleep. Line, however, woke us all up to show us the damn bridge again.
1 comment:
if you should ever find peanut butter, don't eat it!! it is not the same, and it is GROSS! i had this experience in London. Fortunately, my father had thought to warn me about this and gave me a jar to take with me (on the sly, of course).
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