Speaking at the Academy for Talented Youth

What is the best way to see how the future of the country will look like than getting to know its younger generation? I was lucky enough to meet all the young talented Danish high school kids at the seminar organised by Academy for Talented Youth (Akademiet For Talen Unge) which all the brightest kids participated in to get inspired for their future adventures, careers and lives.

I was chosen to speak at the event, taking place in a Nørre Gimnasium in North West Copenhagen, where I shared my educational, intercultural, and psychological journeys.  Speaking to young kids who look up to you is an inspiring experience in itself. Being asked very mature questions that made me reflect on my personal experiences, my worldviews, and my life, was astonishing. Kids, who still have not experienced the real world, asked the most sincere questions.

I noticed that many of them were interested in how us, non-Danish citizens, viewed them, Danes. I had an impression that they wanted to be more self-aware of how the rest of the world viewed them, as if they lacked some of international contacts and relationships. They were puzzled and wanted to know, why us (me and Michael, another speaker at the event), out of all countries in the world, have chosen Denmark as a country to study. To them, kids who grew up in the most peaceful country with most certainty, was unclear why we would move into that peace and quite and not go for something more fun and adventurous.

It made me think about it once again. Even though I had that same question many times before, the answer kept on changing every time I was trying to answer it, depending on time of the year, or sometimes even, day, when it was being asked.

During the winter, when the days are dark and streets are grey, wet and cold, I loved Danes’ love of home, the comfort they would create around them, the love of their hygge (Danish cosiness) with candles. They seemed to dedicate more time to more meaningful, non-materialistic life pleasures, when they tend to spend more precious moments with people they love and care about most.

During the summer, I loved its country’s nature, its greenery, and the way people know how to enjoy simple pleasures of life. Walking or jogging along the coast, picnicking with the loved ones, sharing a beer or a glass of wine in the park, rollerblading, cross country or cross city cycling are just a few things that most Danes enjoy. I love being a part of all this. So far I have experienced a country with a great work/pleasure balance. These are the experiences that I am taking back with me, no matter where my next move is going to be. 

American entrepreneur once said “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from”. This is exactly how I feel about Denmark, this is the country that I don’t want to leave, and it will be most difficult to move again from here. It is a country where everything seems to flow, a country where the society seem to look after you, so you and your mind becomes more settled, and it is easier to find that peace within. People deal with problems on a regular basis, people tent to see the best in life, and Danes are famous for their appreciation of all simple pleasures of life.

They are my personal experiences. One can argue that us humans are programmed into being proactive, into being adventurous, and they get bored if life is too stable. I guess the reason why these things are most important to me is because of my most hectic life in the past 12 years. Moving from one place to another, being constantly challenged, and most importantly, constant lack of certainty, made me appreciate and fall in love with Danish values. Again, one might argue that these are just imaginary values, this is how Denmark is branding itself, and peace and quite are only for people who are lazy and don’t want ‘something more’ in life. Do not get me wrong here, Danes are not lazy people who sit around the table lighted by candles, doing nothing and enjoying life. No. They are very hard working people, with good reasoning behind every good idea and gut feeling, which makes them into very much efficient people. They are what now is called ‘Glocal’. They know what is happening in the world, they are very educated (55% are at higher education level), they travel a lot. But at the same time their values for their communities, their families, and cosiness of home are always there whenever they are, whenever in the world they are. After many years of rather ‘closed’ politics, they now in the process of opening up to the world, wanting to share all their knowledge and their values. They might be different from the rest of their neighbours English and German, and not as forward in their ways of doing business. But as they say, once you get their trust, once you get to know them, you have a partner or a friend for life. The Danish way.

I am aware that there are many generalisations here which I find hard to make sometimes. When you get to know real people in real places, you realise that everyone is different, no matter which country they are from, or whenever they live. The more people you meet, the more difficult it becomes to discuss people as a unity at all. Another great quote by Eleanor Roosevelt to finish off this post ‘Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people’. So I present just an idea for you, Denmark from my perspective, a simple guideline and descriptions of general trends. Come and see Denmark, meet Danes, and then we will discuss our ideas over a hot cup of tea.

Big thanks to all the young talents from the Academy, their wonderful questions was an inspiration for this post.