I hope to keep in touch with many friends this way, like I did with friends here when we were i Fayetteville.
Maybe it will even inspire some of you to visit the little kingdom in Scandinavia?
Adjusting back to life here in DK is difficult in a way we never thought it would be. Perhaps I can describe it this way : We feel we belong in two countries now. Leaving Fayetteville was like ripping out some part of our hearts.
We will never forget the warmth and friendlyness, curiosity and openmindedness that we met. Thank you, all of you. Welcome here, if you get the chance.
When you go abroad for 10 months, you look at your country, your culture and your life and yourself in a different way. You get a wider horizon so to speek. You find out that there are so many other ways of living, so many other understandings, - and also you find out how much we are all alike in the end anyway.
Something that is striking when you return from the US is the coolness in the Danish culture. Of course the weather is cooler, but also the people are cooler. Not your friends or family, but people in general. When you pass people on the street, you just walk by, not a word, not a greeting. Unless you know people. I have tried to take home the friendlyness and openness, have tried to greet people with a "Hej". Just to try to make a little difference in my own approach. A few people greet me back, but mostly they just look down, or act surprised.
Of course this is an unfair generalisation about Danes as a whole. But we live in Odense, a city of about 190.000 citizens, and this is how it looks here. Its different in smaller towns and in the countryside.
In the trafic I find people are very rude. Cars driving faster, not taking care of the many bicyclists and pedestrians. Honking their horn for nothing, if someone is driving a little slow or something like that.
When buying grosseries, the cashier speeks just the least possible words, like "Hi", "Would you like your receipt", "Have a nice day", sometimes without even looking at you, like something they were told to say. If I try to start a conversation, with someone next to me in the queue, they either answer with one word, or maybe just look shy at me, like "are you crazy?"
Why is it like that, I wonder ?
Is it the cold and dark climate, that makes people depressive?
Is it the fact, that we dont have so much personal space here?? (5.5 million people on an area 1/3 of Arkansas), so everybody protects their territory?
Is it because the majority dont go to church and get a moral and ethical inspiration there? That we are a spiritually poor country?
Is it because the pace of everyday life here is stressfull and too fast for many people, so they get more unsocial?
Is it the "Law of Jante"?
I dont know the answer.
On the other hand, if we are together with people we know, with friends and family, then we are just as friendly and nice as people from Arkansas...
Here are a few pictures from september days in Danmark. Its cool, and changes between windy, rainy and grey to sunny and pleasant. Temperatures around 55 these days.
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| Ready to go for a bicycle ride. |
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| The wine is almost ripe. |
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| By Odense Å - in Munkemose. (Odense river - in Monks bog) |
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| At the lake in Munkemose. |
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| Ugly ducklings enjoying the late afternoon sun. |
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| The old man and the Fjord. |
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| Rosehip Rose. |
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| Rosehip harvesting by the fjord. |
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| Flowers and bees. |
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| By Kerteminde beach. |
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| Vikings after the swim - water 54 F air 55 F |
