"Do Sports and School (not drugs)"

The post title comes from the motto on the back of the tshirts for the basketball camp for kids at my neighborhood pool, good old Westmoreland. In case you couldn't tell from that, this post is just a little summary about, you guessed it, sports and school so far! And, I know what you're thinking- 2 posts in 2 days?! Haha well, I figure after being so good about updates during the first few weeks here, I need to get back into the rhythm of posting.

SCHOOL

Classes are good, for the most part. I am taking Children in a Multicultural Context and the practicum that accompanies that course (my forest kindergarten observation), which are both really interesting. Then there is Environmental History of Europe, taught by a VERY charismatic, animated, and intelligent man named Peter- it's been pretty broad and theoretical so far, but I'm enjoying that class a lot. I'm in Danish Language and Culture, which I like, since I want to try to learn some Danish (but as mentioned previously, it is NOT easy!) I feel like I don't necessarily respond that well to the style of that class, but so far, so good. And, I even have my own private Danish tutor at home- my host brother Mads! He's been teaching me a few words/phrases each day. Finally, there is Developmental Disorders...it's probably (definitely) my least favorite class so far; it's pretty boring right now, but hopefully it will get better.

I just found out (-funny that I can go abroad without even knowing this. I also went abroad without having a valid ISIC, or International Student ID Card. Good work, Bucknell?) that grades abroad don't transfer. I guess I should have figured that, because or else going abroad would probably be a big boost to people's GPAs, but for me it wouldn't have mattered much. The official policy is that credits, not grades, transfer, so my GPA isn't affected. I just need to get a "C" in each class to have the credits count.

This is a new concept to me! Never in my life have I gotten a C in a class, and I definitely don't plan on getting one here, but after spending the past many years of my life in institutions where the exact letter grade plays a role in determining my future, it is a foreign concept that grades don't matter. I guess that is a good thing- in theory, my effort should now be determined by own desire to learn and grow, since I'm pretty sure I could get a C with my eyes closed (more or less), but it will be interesting to work in this system throughout the semester.

PRACTICUM

dancing with 2 of the girls (one of the few clear pictures)

is so great. I've only been there twice, but I LOVE it! The kids are beyond cute. I just got back from my second observation, and it was just as good as the first. Today we actually spent a lot of the day (or, the time I was there, from 9:15-2:30) inside, because the head pedagogue was sick, so there were less adults. It was a little rainy too, so I was okay with that. After putting my coat and bag in the adult coat room, I began walking through one of the rooms with rugs to play games on, tables to draw or play on, etc, and little Nora (left in the picture) came running up to me and gave me a huge hug, remembering me from 2 weeks prior, which was cool. She grabbed my hand and pulled me eagerly to one of the kids' coatrooms, where there were three other girls and a stereo- DANCE PARTY! We all danced together in the room for probably 30 minutes, with other children going in and out of the room freely. We danced in circles, and played a "follow the leader"esque game- lots of fun, and as I said, the kids were adorable. I brought my camera in (my expensive DSLR camera) for the kids to play with, and they passed it responsibly from person to person, although I kept my hand under it just in case, haha. They took tons of pictures, unfortunately, they are blurry for the most part (5 year olds and my camera settings/focus were not getting along), but there is one above.

After dancing, we played an old school memory card game with faded pictures of baby animals, colored a bit, and then had lunch. We watched some Danish kids movie that I couldn't really follow, but involved three kids who played practical jokes on a teacher and tried to outsmart bullies...something with

two girls drew my portrait for me :)

 money, in an apartment building- yeah, clearly I couldn't understand it. Although I will say that my Danish is getting SLIGHTLY better, thanks to time and Mads most likely, and it is definitely getting easier to communicate with the kids. Probably also because they've learned how limited my Danish is, and try to be more nonverbal. Anyway, after the movie we got suited up and went outside for playtime and snacktime, and the kids ran around for a while. There was also a delivery of tree branches and wood, dropped off inside the fence by a big bulldozer/earthmoving type machine, which fascinated the kids. And then, there was some casual woodstacking- you know, totally standard. A few of the pedagogues carried branches from the pile and put them into the little wood shed thing for shorter pieces, and in a stack against the barn type building, for bigger pieces. The 3-6 year olds helped, of course :)

Overall, another good day at the practicum- I'm definitely excited to get to know the kids better and experience a little taste of the Danish childhood I have come to love and envy.

SPORTS

As mentioned previously, I play for a soccer (fodbold) team here, a mix of DIS students and Danes, which is really cool! Although I couldn't play in our intersquad scrimmage this past weekend, I did play in our friendly the weekend before, and it was great! Although, as mentioned, we were on a frozen field that probably wasn't the safest surface I've ever played on, it was great to run around and kick the ball again, with people who have grown up playing the game. Most of the DIS students play on their Division III teams of various levels, and the Danes are good as well, so it's pretty competitive. DEFINITELY makes me wish that I was playing D3. Oh well. I played outside right midfield the whole game, which became my regular position for my club team in high school, so it was just like the good old days...except the whole different country, different language, different teammates, etc. The only bad thing about soccer is the commute- it's about an hour and 15 minutes away by bus, train, metro, and walking, and practices are LATE on Wednesdays. Oh well!

Aside from soccer, I have been running every now and then as well. Many people here joined a gym; there's a really nice one near DIS, but I have never paid for gym membership in my life, and I still can't wrap my mind around doing that when I can just put on some sneakers and run outside. The cold, wind, rain, and especially darkness are a slight deterrent to this, although the weather has actually been pretty good (especially compared to CT!), and even the darkness is improving daily. On my free Wednesdays (we occasionally have field studies for a class, I haven't yet though) I've been taking Milo for a short run around the area, which is fun, and occasionally I bring my running stuff to school and run after class. My shins have been bothering me a little though, so it hasn't been too frequent (mom, it's not a big deal, don't freak out).