School: So I will start with talking about school, since that is definitely very different. I'm going to Bornholm Gymnasiet, which is basically the only school past tenth grade on the island. It involves basically a stereotypical high school in America, but it also it connected to a campus that is similar to a vocational school. Students can choose either one. The stereotypical one is abbreviated STX. Nope, I have no clue what it stands for. If you google Campus Bornholm, that is the public website for all of the schools. Yes, there is an English version! STX is organized into three grades, first, second and third. I started in first grade. Each grade has separate classes that you stay with for all of your core classes. My current core classes are Math, Danish, English, Physics, a sciency thing that is currently biology, Biology and Samfund. Samfund is sort of like Danish culture, but it also involves politics. The teacher's basic explanation of Samfund is that it involves the economy, politics, and sociology of Denmark. It is like culture in the way that you can have a samfund of North America, or of the US, or of a specific town. Even a neighborhood is possible. This is the class where we have been discussing feminism and equality in Denmark. We did an income study between our parents, most of the men have less education but a higher income. We also have electives, where half of the grade has a choice of a set of electives, and we all have one of those at one time. I am in music and German. That is a basic overview of the workings of a Danish school.
Now on to my experiences. The first day was hard. Really hard. I was definitely overwhelmed. They learned that I spoke some Danish, so they didn't give me anyone to help me, just treated me like everyone else. I ended up following the one person who talked to me to lunch. Thankfully, they were all new too so we all got lost together. I was not a happy person the first day. The second day went much better. We got a tour of the school, so I somewhat knew where things were, and I was able to concentrate more on what the teachers were saying instead of being in the right place at the right time. Since this was also the day where people talked to me, I was pretty happy. Wednesday was weird. We started the day with learning how to folk dance, then we learned a Danish song. After this we ate lunch, then went to third period. It was supposed to be 90 minutes long. NOPE. The presentation lasted 15 minutes. Today I made a friend who happened to ride the same bus as I did, so I didn't have to make the 45 minute bus trip alone. There was someone to go with me on Tuesday, and I was driven to school Monday. Thankfully the bus system isn't hard so I don't mind going by myself anymore. Thursday we performed the dance, then got introduced to more classes and teachers. Friday was the same, without the performance. Monday started with the hardest class, Danish. I hadn't met the teacher yet. When he walked in, I couldn't understand a word he said. Huh? Apparently he speaks Bornholmsk. Sorta a cross between Swedish and Danish, the slur some more. And he talked really fast. Needless to say, I will not be understanding much of that class. In Math I'm learning stuff I learned in seventh grade. So no progress but Danish will be made in that class. I'm learning a lot in physics and the other class that is currently physics. I also really like Samfund, even if I can't participate in the discussions. Overall, school is going pretty well, I'm making friends and learning a lot. Thanks for reading the whole thing! I promise that the next post (also tonight after I shower) will have things about my host family and house and extra curricular activities. Bye for now!
I very much enjoyed this and your other post. Thanks for sharing! Love you!
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