Even though we are neighbouring countries, the once close relationship that Denmark and Germany had, can seem far away today. Many people may think that there are many differences, between the cultural aspect and also the everyday life of a Danish student, and a German – but in reality it is not so different as we found out during our visit in Naestved Gymnasium from January 27th – 30th.

Through this project, we have experienced that it’s still possible to form a closer bond, and to see past the prejudice that we might have had. Between every country, there is bound to be things that slightly differ, like for example, in Denmark a computer is an essential part of the education system, whilst in Germany it is a little more old-fashioned from our point of view. But it is important to note, that Germany is actually not an old-fashioned country – their system just works a different way, and that doesn’t make it worse than what we know from Denmark. Because differences don‘t have to be bad – talking to people from Germany or Denmark helps us learn more about how things are outside of where we live – because both Germans and Danes are very open-minded people, and we have an interest in learning about the culture, and through this working on improving the relationship between German and Danish students. – cause that is what the project is all about.

One of the main things we have learned, is that the two countries are actually very similar, much more than you would initially assume. The countries are very close geographically to each other, so even though the culture of course has its differences, a lot of things are more or less the same. We go to school, we talk with our friends after school or we do sports in our spare time. One difference is that a lot of Danish students have a job in their spare time, while this is not a common thing in Germany, and if they do, it mostly isn’t because they need the money, like it often is in Denmark, but more because they want to. But as you may have noticed throughout this article the differences that are mentioned, aren’t actually very big – it isn’t something that defines us as students, and it isn’t something that makes us incompatible as people. Of course the language can be a barrier, but barriers are made to be broken.

Through this project, this is exactly what we have learned – that it is possible to connect people between Denmark and Germany, and it is possible to have a better relationship as a region.

Text and Photos: Class Eb, TMS

The project took place in the frame of the Interreg project „German-Danish Youth creates Future“ and was funded by KultKit.