Slideshow of Danish adventures in 10 minutes

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.

Beautiful Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós - Ekki múkk from Sigur Rós on Vimeo.
Listen to their beautiful northern melancholic melodies on www.sigur-ros.co.uk

Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg

Århus, the world's 'smallest city'

View of Århos from the top of ARoS Museum

Århus is the second largest city of Denmark and is unofficially considered to be the capital of Jutland region in Denmark. The city is home to the country's top university which makes it into a very vibrant and alive place. Århus's famous ARoS Museum of Modern Art attracts many art and culture enthusiasts which also helps Denmark communicate to international audiences.

Why Denmark?

Many of my friends were puzzled when I have chosen a small town, up in the north of Denmark, Aalborg, over the ‘city of dreams’ and of great buzz, London. The answer was easy. I wanted to concentrate on my studies, and found it difficult to concentrate surrounded by London's noise, needed a break from the busyness, needed to sort out my thoughts, which I found difficult to do in London. I have made the most of London over the past twelve years and it was the time to move on, to search for a place where there was no buzz, but peace, time to reflect on my experiences, and simply some order to my life. London was great when I needed inspiration and life experience, it was a great platform for inspiration, for networking, and of course, career development. But there was no need for external world to inspire me anymore, my head craved more freedom and space instead and it was wild nature that I felt could bring me more inspiration then megapolis. I was not enjoying any of the city’s pleasures, I have been to many galleries, gigs, concerts, theatre performances and it was not something I was enjoying anymore. I was not enjoying acquiring new relationships every week without anyone wanting to keep their relationships going, I didn’t enjoy feeling that only reasons people would find me interesting and would invite me to their fancy parties only because they found me ‘useful’ in their career climbings. I wanted some more honesty and slower pace of life, where I would have time to work on my projects and concentrate on things that were more meaningful in life.

I was always fascinated by how different Scandinavia is from the rest of the world, colder temperatures also looked attractive to me, as I, being born in Russian Saint-Petersburg, represented a proper northerner. It was also my personal interest in a social political system that Scandinavian countries shared and I was hoping that coming to Denmark to study would help me understand its culture and its people better. I was lucky enough to meet a few Danes before coming to Denmark who were genuinely good people with characteristics I always respected in people, polite, rational, calm, honest and direct.

I have also heard about ‘Danish happiness’ which I thought was more about people themselves and how they saw things rather then about Danish greatness as a country. Danes just know how to appreciate what they have, accept things as they are and feel satisfied with them. My rather confused self craved that sense of order and peace they had in their communities.

They were educational statistics that I was very much impressed with and high rankings in students’ satisfaction. Programs were well designed and were very much personalized. It seemed Danish Universities were interested in educating its students to the highest level and cared about students do well in the future. I have never had this feeling in England, especially while studying in London. In London I thought it was much more materialized, it was more about appearances and self-marketing rather then real knowledge. English professors were very much preoccupied with their own research, they hardly had any time for their students, and of course not for any personal contact with them. Maybe it was just my personal unlucky experience with my particular degree, but that is how I saw things and that is why I did not want to carry on with my future development in England.  

And so the decision was made to come to Aalborg as they had a multi-disciplinary Masters degree that I thought could help me to narrow down my interests and help me choose my future path. It is a great experience I must say, I am learning new things every day, not just from my lectures, but from people around me, from Scandinavian culture, nature and air. I could not be any happier. Sometimes I wonder when I am going to start missing the buzz.. Can’t get enough of that peace, quietness and space.

Louisiana MoMA adventure

After my visit to Helsingør and discovering the wonders of new Culture Centre Kultur Værftet, I took a train to Frederiksbourg. This beautiful town has become home to another cultural spot, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The town is half-hour train journey from Copenhagen and you can purchase a ticket that will buy you both travelling and the entrance fee (and will save you a few kronas). When walking towards the museum along the coastline, where cliffs and breathtaking views make it into an adventure in itself, I could not stop wondering how unique Denmark is. You would not think of a better place for an art gallery, right next to the sea, to the waves, to the sky. It is all this never ending spacial freedom that we find ourselves surrounded by, that makes this gallery's visit into an unforgettable experience. All galleries that I have attended in London could not compete with their sometimes claustrophobic, windowless, locations, positioned in a way where your brain finds its limits in thinking and creative freedoms. Here you let go of your limitations.You breath in fresh winds and find yourself inspired even before stepping inside the gallery.

You would't think that Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is a big gallery when you enter this falsely small looking village-type house covered in plants that bring that feeling of coziness one might feel at their home garden. Large white space opens right after you enter that building and you realise how mistaken you were about its scale. Corridors lead you onto long but perfectly-timed journeys through exhibitions. Open space and views over the sea follow you throughout your wanderings and it is only occasionally when you stop to think about true dimensions and size of the gallery. It is not the size, but rather the planning, corridors and mazes that fool you into thinking that it is it a rather big building. In reality, it looks tiny from outside, flat, and as if it has grown out of the earth like a mushroom.