The trip

Our daughter was supposed to stay 3 weeks in United Kingdom as a part of a language course. She has been talking about this trip for almost a year. She had no doubt in her mind. If anyone had, it was we parents.

We have taught our children to be Danes. Regardless of our background as foreigners, we have always felt that it was our duty to educate our children as Danes. We have proof that our children have been successful. They have attended numerous bag-parties and are very well socialized.

But one thing is to live and be successful in Denmark another is to attempt a transmission of these skills into another and I have to state not so developed culture.

So as any other parent to well-adjusted youths in a time where patriotism is the very answer to the survival of a small nation in the European elite project called the European Union, we had reasonable doubt about how our daughter would deal with her first trip alone outside Denmark and we decided to plan an “Exit plan”.

She went. Well arrived she faced the first obstacle – the students on the school had to wear uniform. It was only a T-shirt, but wearing uniform is a sign of failure in Denmark. Uniforms are reserved for people in low-paid jobs, who ended up in a McJob career taking a path nowhere.

She cried when she phoned home. It was clear that she was broken, but we urged her to give the stay a second chance and try to socialize with some of the other students. But then she met a second and insurmountable obstacle. The normal way for a young Dane to socialize with other youth – over a couple of beers – was not allowed. Faced with weeks of isolation, we talked with her and decided to make use of the “Exit Plan”. We pulled her according to the advice experts have given for stays by Danish youth in foreign countries.

She has now returned to Denmark and we love to have her home. She seems by all aspect unharmed, which we contribute to the fact that we pulled her before the 14-days limit.

However, the trip was not a waste.

First it made her value her home, her parents more. It brought us closer as a family.

Second but not least it removed any doubt in her mind about her identity as a Dane. Some claims that it take generations to be fully adjusted into the Danish society and I have to agree that some foreigners like me are not prepared to sacrifice the traditions from their origins, which is a absolute must if you truly wants to be called a Dane.

Our daughter became a integrated Dane. She learned to value her dearest and all it took was a little stay in another country.

Do not state that nothing can be learned abroad.