It has been almost a week since I have returned from my homestay experience in Denmark. Readjusting back to normal daily life has been pretty strange and the responsibilities of daily life serves as a grand juxtaposition to traveling.
On the last day of the homestay, last Friday, we visited the viking burial site museum called Lindholm Høje Museum rather than attend class with our students. The many stones shown in the pictures are actually grave markers for the vikings that used to live there. Stones arranged in the shape of a triangle were markers for men and circles represented women. Since the vikings moved village locations every 40 years or so, some of the newer graves from when the vikings became wealthier from their conquests, the markers for esteemed warriors are made in the shape of a ship. It’s incredible how much you can learn about a group of people from their burial rituals (not to sound morose). The museum provided glimpses of daily life from ancient Denmark. We saw things frozen in time like pots, beads, sewing materials, and even human remains in the facilities. The buried bones of different viking people who were killed by illness, fire, and age were displayed in their original form, down to the valuables they were buried with. Prior to this day we had not learned too much about the vikings, apart from going to the viking ship museum, but this visit taught me a lot. In the afternoon, we returned to Støvring Gymansium where we presented the results of our Canada and Denmark comparison. Since it was the last day, the school threw a potluck with all the families and students involved. There were tables filled with amazing food prepared by the Danish parents which I thoroughly enjoyed. We also took part in traditional Danish dances held in the gym afterwards which was a ton of fun as well. After being dropped off at our hotel in Aalborg, many tearful goodbyes were said and our Canadian students proceeded to spend their final night in Denmark. Since we were flying backwards in terms of time zones, it was easier to evade jetlag despite our combined 7 hour layovers and 3 flights. Our trip has reached its completion, but as for the Danish students… They landed on Saturday and I hope to see them around school soon as they take part in their homestay!
Canada and Denmark Comparison
As I have mentioned before, over the course of our time in school we completed a group project comparing the difference between Canada and Denmark’s healthcare system, education system, unemployment rates, and poverty rates. I took some notes about Denmark’s differences during the presentations and here they are.
Healthcare:
The Danish healthcare system is similar to Canada in the sense that it is universal. The entire country operates under the same healthcare rules instead of having what is covered by the government determined by the province as they do here and much more services are covered. There are less doctors in Denmark than Canada, but wait times can be much shorter. Most of the healthcare system is public unlike Canada, but if an individual has been waiting for surgery for over 2 months, they are entitled to seek a private hospital to perform it but have the government pay.
Education:
Students get longer to learn in Denmark and they have more grades than us. Between what we would call grade 9 and grade 10, students attend a boarding school for social development purposes. School is also free from Year 1 all the way up to university with the exception of supplies for some optional classes. It is also normal to take a gap year after gymnasium (high school). Teacher-student interactions are much less formal and definitely more personal than it is in Canada. Students are equals to their teachers. What I find interesting was that although Denmark’s high school completion rate is lower than Canada, but their post-secondary completion rate is much higher. This is probably due to the fact that post-secondary is paid for in Denmark but is far too expensive in Canada.
Unemployment:
The unemployment rates of Canada and Denmark are very close, 6.8% and 6% respectively. This is probably because Canada has a much larger population. Denmark was also hit by the recession in 2008 and it took longer to recover from. A problem in Denmark is the retirement age. Though it is the same in Alberta, some young Danish individuals have a hard time finding employers even with a good education because many jobs are occupied by the middle-age and up. For those suffering from unemployment, the Danish government will pay cash benefits to citizens, though not as much as Canada. However, they do offer job-search help to those who need it.
Poverty:
In Denmark, you must be earning an equivalent of $18,697.11 after taxes or less for at least 3 years to qualify for government assistance for poverty. It is approximated that 1 in 20 Danes live in poverty. However, the Danish salaries are higher than they are in Canada with the minimum wage being $20 CAD. Keep in mind though their taxes are very high in order to sustain their plentiful social services and 8% goes towards social security.
Thanks so much for following my Danish adventures, though this is the end of my trip, I hope I will have many more stories to come in the future. I am beyond grateful for the generous family that hosted me during the week I was there, and to the teachers and staff from both Denmark and Canada that made this trip a reality. My experience has taught me so much about the differences between cultures, and has allowed me to take on new perspectives and I am so glad I participated in this one-of-a-kind trip.