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.
