The language: in Denmark we speak Danish. Have you ever heard a German speak German, that’s kind of like how it sound when a Dane speak Danish. Weird and confusion you would think, but I don’t. Imagine the very first time you had Spanish in school, that look the students have, is the same look people give Danes when they speak. The only thing they understand is the curse words, because they are pretty much the same, and then people think we curse a lot, but we don’t. Maybe a little more than Americans do, but not a lot more. The order of the word in the sentence is different, we would say, “That would I too do” instead of: ”I would do that too”. If you remember back to your first Spanish lesson, you would remember, what the first thing the teacher learned you and your fellow students. “My name is Siri” was the first thing, so why not learn to say that in Danish too “Jeg hedder Siri” (I named Siri.)
And then one more thing about our confusion language, we have three more letters: æ
And then one more thing about our confusion language, we have three more letters: æ
, ø, and å. The food: Have you ever had meatballs? And did you like it? If not you never had the Danish kinds. This meatball are perfect, you serve them with skin boiled potatoes and gravy. So if you ever come to Denmark, promise me to order “Frikkadeller with Brown Sauce, and boiled potatoes. This dish gets served in every Danish family, with respect for them self. It gets served for every holiday. In every restaurant that serve Danish food. This dish is the national food, and the resend for that is that this dish is good, real good.One of the most famous Danish dishes other then “Frikkadeller” (Meatballs) is riceporridge. You eat it with cinnamon and melted butter on top. People think it sounds disgusting, but no way it is! You usually serve it in December, the last 24 days to Christmas Eve, and you eat on Christmas Eve too. This dish is actually from France, a dish called “Ris a la Mande”, but when it came to Scandinavia you removed the crust almonds, and made it off just rice and milk. The dish is called “risengrød” and it is a very traditional dish, and there are a lot of traditions based on the por ridge. In my house, every time we eat this, we drink strawberry juice, but there is a more national tradition. In almost every home at Christmas Eve, you eat dish for dessert, only this day a year there is an almond hidden in the porridge, and the one person that gets the almond wins a marcipanpig, and it is a big honor.
And then there is the licorice. Do you know any American kids their likes black licorice, I don’t. They would say it was hot and not sweet, and that is why they don’t like it. I think it taste like sugar, it taste weird and nothing like licorice should taste like. I grew up with Danish licorice, witch it is really hot and spicy. There are not a Danish kid, how doesn’t like it.
The Religion: The biggest percent of Danes is Lutheran Christians, but only fewer than 2 % of the Danes attend church ones a week or more. There is also a lot of Muslims in Denmark, because a lot of people emigrated from the Middle East.
The traditions: The biggest holiday in Denmark is Christmas, but we celebrate it on the 24th, Christmas Eve. People have big dinner parties with their Family, play giftgames and do the traditional dance around the Christmas tree will singing about Jesus Birth, and Santa Claus and so many other things about Christmas. Another big day is “Grundlovsdag” (the first law day), this day celebrates the day we got the first laws from a government. We have the oldest Monarchy in the world. We there for have a Prime Minister. Having a Monarchy comes with a lot of traditions.
People do often not have any idea about what Denmark is, but where is actually some things we are famous for. Have you ever seen the little mermaid? The author behind that story, and stories like “the ugly duckling, Thumbelina, and Princess on the pea, was Danish. His name is Hans Christian Andersen, and he is one of the best writers ever. His fairytales is known all over the world, and they are the best. What about Lego, have you ever played with that, yes we can take the honor of that too, or what about the great Caroline Wozniacki, number 1 rank tennis player in the world. Education: The education system in Denmark are really different then the school system in America. A Danish law says that you are required to go to school for ten years. Between ages 5-6 education starts in kindergarten, or also called grade 0. After that you start in 1st grade, and then 2nd, and there on to 9th grade. 9th grade is the last grade that you are required to attend. From grade 0 – 9 you go to the “people’s school” they are divided in to 3 parts. The lower school going from grade 0 – 3, the middle school going from grade 4 – 6 and then there is the upper school going from 7 - 9 grade (this all the same school, located same place). When you end grade 9 you take exams, and if you don’t fail those, you can ether choose to go to 10th grade (which is for those who had a hard time in 9th grade, and aren’t ready for high school yet) or you can go to “afterschool years school, which is kind of like a boarding school, where you live there. You can go on exchange to foreign country or just go directly to High School; the high school is called the Gymnasium and is 3 years. There are 3 different kinds of high schools, business gymnasium, normal gymnasium called STX or working gymnasium (if you want to be a builder or something like it). All this is funded by taxes, and is free. But more and more parents choose to send their kids to private or alternative schools. Either because they don’t agree with the politics taught in the public schools or because they don’t think the public school is good enough.
After your high school years, you can go to college also called university. The most universities are located in the major cities. The most universities are public and you don’t pay anything to go there, in fact the governments pay you for it. They day you turn 18, and you are under education (it don’t matter if it is high school or university) then you will get S.U, which stands for “the governments education help”, how many money you receive every month, depends on a lot of things like: do you live at home with your parents, how many money do your parents earn, which education are you taking, which county do you live in (some county give extra help). The average payment a month, for kids there do not live at home is about 1000$ (that is not a lot to live for en Denmark)
Other things about the education system: Sport is not a part of the school system, but instead you do it in private clubs after school. The normal day for a 0-9 grader is about 8 am- 1 / 2 pm. A normal day for a High School student is from about 8 am – 2 / 3 pm. Your schedule change every day, so you have the same schedule every Monday, and the same every Tuesday, and there on. You are in the same class (the same students, and you have teachers there follow you for ten years) from 0 – 9th grade and from first high school year called 1.g to 3.g which is the 3th year of high school. It is the same students, have the same classroom, all year. It is the teacher there changes class rooms. It is only when you have laps that you go to the special lap rooms. Lunch in school is very different, because everybody brings their own lunch, or from 7th grade the students can leave the school doing the lunch break, so they ride their bikes to the grocery stores or the pizzeria. Yes you go somewhere with your class (if its close by, usually up to an hour on bike) you ride your bike or if is longer away you take the subway or the train.
Health care: Like the education, healthcare is free, and is funded by taxes. But more and more people choose to get a health insurance so they can be treated at private hospitals, where the waiting time for surgery is shorter. Dentist care is free till the day you turn 18, and after that you need to pay for it. This means that all kids that need it get braces and retainers for free to.
Denmark is a constitutional Monarchy (there are a queen and a prime minister) with a representative democracy based on a unicameral parliamentary system. Denmark has a prime minister, and under him/her, there are the ministers (each minster has a ministerial, ex. the minister of environment rules the ministerial of environment).
The country has the “folketing” (the people’s council), which is kind of like a parliament. Every four years 180 members get elected to the “folketing” then the party with the most people in the “folketing” gets to decide who is going to be the prime minister (from their party), and then the prime minister decides who is going to be the different ministers. (The parties the ministers are from are never only one party, there are 12 parties ((but there is often formed new ones, and some close)), but they go to getter to make two different possible governments (the liberal/conservative parties called the blue/green side and the social democratic parties called the red side). Ex so if the prime minister is from the party the Liberal party of Denmark, then there are ministers from all of different parties on the blue/green side. For a bill to become a law you need over 50% of the “folketing”’s votes.
When the “folketing” makes a law, the queen needs to sign it. It is her only job in the government, she does not have veto, and it is against the law for her to go in to politics.
The government is founded by taxes.
The voting age is 18
The country has the “folketing” (the people’s council), which is kind of like a parliament. Every four years 180 members get elected to the “folketing” then the party with the most people in the “folketing” gets to decide who is going to be the prime minister (from their party), and then the prime minister decides who is going to be the different ministers. (The parties the ministers are from are never only one party, there are 12 parties ((but there is often formed new ones, and some close)), but they go to getter to make two different possible governments (the liberal/conservative parties called the blue/green side and the social democratic parties called the red side). Ex so if the prime minister is from the party the Liberal party of Denmark, then there are ministers from all of different parties on the blue/green side. For a bill to become a law you need over 50% of the “folketing”’s votes.
When the “folketing” makes a law, the queen needs to sign it. It is her only job in the government, she does not have veto, and it is against the law for her to go in to politics.
The government is founded by taxes.
The voting age is 18
