All things new

The Danish general election was held on 15 September this year, and after ten years of being governed by (mainly) the same party - the Liberal Party (Venstre), this year the Social Democrats secured the majority of the votes. For the first time in Danish history, they have a female prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who incidentally is married to Neil Kinnock's son, Stephen (a little bit of trivia is always interesting :o) ). I haven't followed Danish politics before, and am only learning about the different parties and their policies. I have always been interested in politics, but for obvious reasons this interest has been focused mostly on Irish politics. It wasn't until there was all this talk about the general election in Denmark, and then the presidential election back home in Ireland that I realised I do not have a vote in any general election unless I do the following: return to live and work in Ireland, or become a Danish citizen. I don't know if either of these things will happen (more likely the former rather than the latter), but it feels strange to think about your vote being taken away from you. I will of course have a vote in local elections in Denmark (so I could influence what happens in Aarhus municipality), but it still feels strange to be suddenly excluded, when we supposedly live in a democracy, where the rights of everyone are taken into account. I look forward to learning more about Danish politics and how they implement policies etc, as it will be good to compare it with what I'm used to in Ireland. Here's a sample of who stood in this year's elections (I'll include three photos of candidates in our area - to be uploaded later today) firstly, we have Harry Potter; secondly, Borat; and thirdly, a guy who's head was too big for the election poster. Not sure if any of them were successful  (will check this out: news in, Borat didn't make it.).

About two weeks ago the weather took a turn for the worst, and autumn had arrived in full swing - torrential rain (especially when I was cycling to Danish classes for some reason), grey, overcast days, and even getting a little cooler in the evenings (for me anyhow - for the Danes the summer never arrived). Anyhow, last week the sun came back and it has been around 22 degrees on average. I love to look out the window of the apartment to see the autumn-coloured leaves illuminated by the sunshine, with the blue sky in the background. There is also a certain smell in the air when autumn arrives - it's the same smell I remember from childhood when we went back to school, or the smell when I first started university. I really like this smell, and perhaps it influences why I love this time of year in particular. The Danes have been talking about an 'Indian summer' and it makes me smile, as I always remember in Ireland people saying 'this year we'll have an Indian summer', but they said that every year. The weather is always nice in September in Ireland - it was when you had to go back to school, so of course the sun came out! Anyhow, since October is officially here (I think we went from Sept 3 - Sept 30 in a blink of an eye), it's nice to still have some lovely weather, because everyone has warned me about the winter since August. And I thought the Irish were the only ones who could talk about the weather for an entire evening :o) We share a lot of similarities with the Danes, but I was informed last night that it is highly unusual for a Dane to invite you to their house for dinner (something about they don't want you to feel that you have to invite them back...) so the next aim on my list is to be invited to an all-Danish household, and then tell non-Danes of my experience :o)

View from the apartment

I have started Danish classes - they began three weeks ago - and it is such good fun learning a new language again. There are people from all over the world in my class - mostly because they've come here to do a PhD or postdoc. When everyone asks me (i.e. Danish people) why I'm here, I just have to say: I have a Danish boyfriend, and the same look of 'aaahh' appears on their faces. Why else would I come to this country, they think (out loudly!).

I began teaching at the start of September, and all is going well so far. Getting on top of the reading before the students do is probably the biggest challenge, but I'm exploring an area I haven't taught before, so I'm also learning too.

My final new thing happened two weekends ago - I took part in the H.C. Andersen half marathon in Odense (where Áine and Troels live and the birthplace of HC Andersen - but no relation to Troels or Esben) and I finished in a time of 1:51:43. It's my best time so far for a half marathon. This was probably helped by the relatively flat course, but not helped by the constant, heavy rain from the starting gun to the finishing line. What helped my recovery were a leg massage and a pint of beer, courtesy of the organisers. There were three firsts associated with this run: beer for participants, a rose for participants (given with the medal) and the fact it is the only women's half marathon in Europe.

After finishing the HC Andersen half marathon in Odense