danish 'high school' graduation
Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 5:23PM I thought moving to Denmark and working from home would mean that I’d have all the time in the world to do things like blog and be lazy. Errrrt.
One thing we’ve been celebrating for a little over a week now is Christian’s little sister’s graduation from Gymnasium (Danish High School). The high schools here are notorious for gruesome exams and it’s not an easy school to get through so we are very proud of her.
Danish tradition lesson time! Remember when we were trying to steal booze from our high school graduation parties? And how alcohol on school premises was pretty much forbidden in an amendment to the constitution somewhere? Well we greeted Emilie in the hallway immediately after her last exam and popped champagne!
It was pretty emotional for Emilie…. and obviously for me. I’m practically walking Hallmark these days, so touched by everything. I cried, eh god. No I think it was a very proud moment for everyone there (mom, grandma, brothers etc).
The following day we held a 10 minute party for Emilie’s entire class (~30 ppl). Huh? Well tradition here is that once all the students in a class finish exams, they take a ‘party bus’ around to everyone’s house.
Ok what? So high schools here are small classes that ‘specialize’ / ‘major in’ specific academic areas. Christian’s class was Math & Science and Emilie’s was Language and Social Studies (I think that would be the translation anyway). So they’re taking all the same courses together for three years.
The party bus is a Danish long-time tradition. The class one year behind them decorates the truck with laurels during a small ceremony held in the morning after exams. Then comes party party party. The first house usually serves some breakfast but then on out it’s mostly a liquid diet and they leave as quickly as they arrive. 25+ houses in one day is a tough feat!!
We served champagne, fruit and softice for Emilie’s class at Christian’s mom’s house. They were at the house for literally 10 minutes.
These trucks are found all over on the Friday after exams – and everyone honks at them. You can hear them a mile away. Emilie’s truck had its own DJ, I was so jealous. I so wanted to get on and pretend I was just finishing high school again! ;)
Another tradition are the hats/caps that the graduates wear. They don’t do typical graduation ceremonies with caps and gowns like we do in the States but their hats are cooler and have more meaning anyway! All your classmates/friends/family sign the inside of the cap and some bite on the rim for good luck (something like that anyway.)
We culminated the celebrations yesterday with a brunch to celebrate with family and some of Emilie’s closest friends. We love you Emilie and are so proud of you! xo
danish tradition, family, graduation in congratulations, denmark, family, tradition
Reader Comments (1)
Aww Jill! You're the best!
Now I'm almost crying again!
I'm SO happy to have you here!
Love you!