Hej alle ! I am Charline, come from
a little town deep in the Gers, and I've decided to spent my third
year abroad in Aarhus in Denmark. It was kind of easy, the
administration stuffs were quickly done and I was officially accepted
in May and that was it, I've booked my flight and prepared my
luggages for 10 months ! Bye bye France !
You usually know you're landing in Denmark when you see wind turbines everywhere. I arrived in Billund just near LEGOLAND (biggest pride of Danes I think) and then I took the bus to Aarhus, the capital of Jutland, 260 000 inhabitants with 44 300 students and also called by the Danes “The City of Smiles” (stuff I've red from a leaflet I received). When I arrived in Aarhus, my “Buddy”, kind of mentor from the University, welcomed me and gave me the keys of my room in Skjoldhøjkollegiet (biggest dorm of Denmark). Here I share kitchen and common room with 12 other peoples, an exchange student from Barcelona and 11 cool Danes.
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Me after my first bike ride by Danish
stormy weather ! But still happy to be here :)
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On Friday I went to the
International Centre of the University to register, and they gave me
lots of gifts ! Some maps, city guides, a pen, a sim card and... a
(sexy) rain coat. Then I visited the Old Town (Den Gamle By) which is
in fact an open museum which reconstitutes the Aarhus of the XIXth
century (unfortunately closed when I went there because in Denmark,
everything closes at 4 pm) but I was able to see some houses, the old
mill and the Botanical garden.
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| The sexy rain coat ! |
On Sunday, I have finally fit into
Danish way of life... I bought a bike ! I've found it on dba.dk which
is in fact their “le bon coin” and I had it from a nice guy who
loves fixing bikes. Here people are always on bikes, you can find
bikes everywhere and often unlocked... (big change from Toulouse! ).
And actually I think that big calves and strong legs is the sexiest
thing that you can have to attract Danes... Because NO Denmark is not
flat and you have to go through all the hills in Aarhus and in fact
the University is on the top of a “mountain” (yes they say
mountain for what we can call a bump) and if you don't believe me,
let's just see my legs after 6 months living in Denmark I will
attract every Danes with them.
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| Bikes, bikes everywhere ! |
The University is totally modern and
new, there is basically WI-FI everywhere and everything is
digitalized. The relationship student/professor is very different
from France, here you call your professor by his/her first name and
actually the course is based on debates among the students and
everyone has to be active in class.
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Maybe I forgot to tell you... but the seal of the University is two freaking dolphins and an anchor ! And the motto is Solidum petit in profundis |
I have plenty of projects in mind to
discover Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries during this
year abroad and I hope you will find these northern countries as
warm, welcoming and beautiful as I see them. Furthermore Danish
people are truly the most helpful and smiling persons I have ever
met, every time you ask someone your way in the street, they smile
and help you in a perfect English. So NO there is not only the UK to
study abroad in English and YES Denmark is awesome even if right now,
when I'm writing this words it is still “hot” (by hot I mean
21°c) and that you know, winter is coming...
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