Submitted by Brooke Levinson on the 2018 fall semester DIS program in Copenhagen, Denmark…
Europe is your classroom. This concept is the platform from which my study abroad program has been built upon. In every class, lecture and meeting you will hear the DIS professors preaching this phrase. This is why our program gives off a week, to be devoted to personal travel. It was hard to get back to the day to day school life after such an adventurous week of traveling the world.
Knowing that the transition back into learning can be hard, my “Children in a Multicultural Context” professor chose an alternative class. Instead of a normal lecture, my professor, Maja, decided we should “travel” as a class. We spent Monday morning in Turkey and Islam. Since, this is not physically possible,we took the journey mentally. We went to a Turkish café and learned the Turkish customs around tea. After the class breakfast and cultural chatter, we continued on to a mosque. At the mosque, we learned about the religion and culture of Sunni Muslims. The mosque itself is one of three constructed mosques in Denmark. The mosque acts as a community center and religious haven.
DIS has a policy of teaching through doing. On Wednesdays, we do not have class so that professors can use this day to show students the realities of the field they teach. My Danish language teacher has taken my class to an English Class in one of the biggest high schools in Denmark. My “Art in the Making” professor has taken my class to an interactive art exhibit where we sat and sketched color blocks of the famous art before our eyes. My “Children in a Multicultural Context” professor has sent my class to schools all over Denmark. I was selected to go on a special field trip to visit a private Muslim school in Denmark. This opportunity was exceptional due to the mere fact that Muslim schools are very rare in Denmark. DIS, as a program, goes above expectations, they strive to show students the real world, not merely the four walls of a classroom.
This concept of doing what I learn is truly inspiring. I am learning so much about myself through this interactive educational process. I have realized that I am so behind compared to the world when it comes to language. I have met an entire class of high school students who speak at least three languages. The art museum visits have taught me how many different angles there are to works of art and the difference between seeing a painting in a textbook, versus seeing a painting right in front of you. Real life visuals allow you the opportunity to analyze the technique, proportions, and make your own judgements of the art based off your position in relation to the piece. Interacting with students of various cultures has brought to the surface how little I truly know about how big and diverse our world is. It might sound undeniably self-centered, but I truly feel that this program and Denmark itself have been designed to mentally challenge me in new ways.
