Today was the first day of going to school with my host student, and for the first time I feel like I've really got a sense of the life of a teenager in Denmark. For Caroline and I, the day begins by leaving the house at 7:20 to catch the bus for school. Here, they haven't got yellow school busses or strictly student bus routes, but rather public transit buses with paths to schools from nearby towns. From the town of Nibe where I'm staying, it's about a 35 minute bus ride to get to Støvring Gymnasium.
All of the Canadian students and their hosts met in a classroom where we spent a few minutes introducing the teachers. Something I noticed immediately, and had quite a difficult time getting used to, is that the teachers are referred to by their first names. A student wouldn't even address their principal by his or her surname. I suppose this isn't the most major cultural difference I've seen so far, but it was particularly striking. I think that even a difference as subtle as the way of referring to a superior is a reflection of what type of relationship the students here have with the adults at their school.
Next, we took turns giving prepared presentations about life in our respective home countries, and then were given a tour of the school. Having been built in the 70s, the building wasn't exactly the pinnacle of Scandinavian design, but it was really interesting to pick up on the differences between Strøving and Western. For example, all of the desks are built with hooks underneath so chairs can be hung without their feet touching the ground. This obviously isn't any sort of mind-blowing cultural anomaly, but it was yet another little difference that feels unexpected to a Canadian and entirely normal to a Dane.
Another notable difference was the structure of the class timetable. The students have all of their classes with their homeroom, just as is normal for an elementary or junior high school in Canada. What was extremely unusual, however, was the length of each day period. Classes begin at 8:30, and at 10:10 first period ends and is immediately followed by a 20 minute break. Then, there is another 90 minute period, one more 20 minute break, and then a third, final period to finish the school day by 14:10. For some reason, this was really jarring to the Canadian students. Really, we only have one more period than they do, and our 40 minute lunch hour means the amount of break is roughly the same, it was really difficult to adjust to what feels like a much more laid back timetable.
While our timetable has only 4 periods a day, the semester system at Western means that we have 8 different courses each year. Here, they also have 8 courses, but there is no consistency to how often they happen or during which period they fall. Rather than a set schedule that is maintained throughout the semester, the school comes up with a new timetable each week, and students have to check every morning to see which classes they have. "Heavy" courses such as sciences, math, and humanities (what we call "core subjects", essentially) will generally occur 3-4 times a week, and subjects such as PE or Music may only happen 0-2 times. Additionally, if a teacher is sick or has an appointment, class is simply cancelled. Substitute teachers are an entirely foreign concept in Denmark.
The last activity of the school day was to introduce to our major project groups and topics. Over the duration of our time at Støvring, we will be collaborating with Danish students to put together a presentation comparing an aspect of Danish and Canadian society. My group's topic is education, and it will be interesting learning more about an issue that is particularly relatable to us as teenagers.