Another week in the books here in Denmark. I am learning so much in all of my classes, especially about the school systems here (which was a huge goal of mine). I already know techniques that I can bring back to the states and incorporate into my future classroom.
One amazing aspect of the DIS program is that no one has “classes” on Wednesdays. 
These days are set aside for what we call “field days”. They are opportunities for all of my classes to give the students experiences in the field, regardless of the subject or content area. For example, this week, my Danish language and culture class took a trip to a local high school. Besides feeling completely out of place in my flannel shirt, jeans, and birks, it was my favorite classroom experience thus far. The students there have the age range of 16-19, and I swear they all look like they just stepped out of a Calvin Kline magazine photo shoot. Our time there was spent asking and answering questions about ourselves, our hobbies, our schooling, and our home country. The students (who speak flawless English) were genuinely interested if our cafeterias looked like the ones in Mean Girls, and if college was just like American Pie. It was a great experience, and a fun way to get to know the opinions of youth in the country.
On Friday, my host father Michael celebrated his birthday. We had a small party for him, where I was able to meet my host father’s parents and grandmother, as well as my host mother’s parents. None of them speak English well, so I spent most of the night listening to rapid Danish, without a clue of what they were saying (my host mom did act as a translator at some points). My favorite parts of the birthday were the cake, the decorations, and “cheers”. The cake was a traditional Danish cake, store bought layers of cake with filling and fruit between each layer, topped with a glaze and whipped cream. The decorations consist of Danish flags. Like a lot of flags. Basically picture a super ‘Murican, Fourth of July party, with everything as red, white, and blue, with American flags everywhere. Now change those flags to Denmark flags and that’s a birthday celebration. My host mom keeps telling me that she is going to decorate the apartment with American flags for my birthday, and I have politely told her “no thanks” several times. The best part of the night was the “cheers”, or “skål” in Danish. It’s not like in America, where you toast in the beginning and it’s done. Nope, this continues throughout the meal, creating a game of calling out people for drinking their wine, then forcing everyone to stop eating and take a drink. As the newcomer, every time I picked up my wine, I was told “skål”, forcing me to wait for everyone to get their glass and say “cheers” for the table. It was a very fun, and new, birthday celebration experience.
Med venlig hilsen,
Bethany