The future is now
Hello, everyone. My name is Frederic, and I’m an exchange student from Denmark. You may notice that I don’t look like your traditional white-skinned foreigner, and if you know your geography, then you might also know that Denmark is located in Northern Europe. Usually, Danish people have fair hair and blue eyes, or the like, however, I’m considerably dark, and have black hair.
My mother is from Thailand, you see, while my father is Danish. They met each other almost 25 years ago in Thailand, when my father was working for the UN.
I’m extremely grateful to my parents that I was born to be a half between two continents so different, and far from each other.
Denmark is a tiny, but prosperous country. We have our own language despite our size, Danish, which we practically only use amongst ourselves. It may sound close to Swedish and Norwegian, but if you ask me, it’s not.
Therefore, we learn English in school from a very early grade, and virtually any Dane can speak English enough to travel alone.
Since I was very little, I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture. It came from many places at first, such as Super Sentai in the TV, to writing essays about Japanese myth, to finally studying the language and becoming an exchange student.
In the end, I don’t know what kind of person I am anymore. I’m a European with an Asian appearance, speaking English better than my own mother tongue, with an immense interest in Oriental culture.
I would say, however, that this kind of person is becoming more and more common in Europe. Europe’s countries’ borders are literally shoulder to shoulder, so we frequently visit each other. If you take Japan in comparison, then it’s a country that’s been secluded for ages because of its location.
Japan is like a single seed, which was placed in its very own garden, and then allowed to grow as freely as it desired. Instead of getting mangled and fighting with other countries for space, it became a beautiful rainforest, all by itself. This is why it is such a magical place to visit.
Young people nowadays aren’t afraid of taking chances. We call taking chances ‘living’. You know the feeling of uneasiness when you’re about to speak in front of a mass of people, or about to perform a massive feat? For example, jump across a wide creek in front of your friends – the icy cold feeling in your bones, the rush in your stomach, the sweat in your palms, as you descend from the ground, the others behind you going “It’s dangerous, you don’t know what will happen!” Well then, I’m going to find out, because this is what I call living. Imagine that creek being several thousand miles wide, and where you’re going, there’s no turning back for a whole year. That’s how it felt on the plane on the way to Japan.
I’m still surprised at how little Japanese people know of their fame around the world. Nowadays, a great deal of Europe and America’s young has become Orientally oriented, pardon the pun, because of Japan’s absolutely unique culture. However, when I told my host parents how my mother and father enjoyed using a Nintendo Wii every morning, they were astonished that I even knew of Nintendo. You need to get out more!
The world is changing rapidly, especially in the sense of global contact and communication. I feel that it is important to keep up with the times, and always be oriented about what’s going on around you. I’m a very integrated citizen of the Internet, so it’s been easy for me to follow events around the world. I’ve made many friends across the globe, whose countries I’ve traveled to, solely for the purpose of being wanting to meet them in real life.
Two years ago, when I told my classmates where I was planning on going, their reactions were a bit different than expected. “Whah? You’re going to the MOON!?” ((Uhh, yeah sure, I’ll bring back some cheese, or mochi, or whatever.)) It’s much more common for Danish youngsters to go to places like America or England, because everyone’s been there before, so they know it’s safe. I think that because of being raised by parents from different parts of the world, I started out with a better comprehension of the world around me. I quickly became a regular of the Internet, because I wanted to contact that “world outside”, which I couldn’t really do from cold and tiny Denmark alone.
In this day and age, distance is no longer an obstacle concerning contact between different worlds. With the Internet, we can find any knowledge in the world, if we wanted to. Anyone could become “global”, if they wanted to.
The only question here is; are you aware of that?
Hello, everyone. My name is Frederic, and I’m an exchange student from Denmark. You may notice that I don’t look like your traditional white-skinned foreigner, and if you know your geography, then you might also know that Denmark is located in Northern Europe. Usually, Danish people have fair hair and blue eyes, or the like, however, I’m considerably dark, and have black hair.
My mother is from Thailand, you see, while my father is Danish. They met each other almost 25 years ago in Thailand, when my father was working for the UN.
I’m extremely grateful to my parents that I was born to be a half between two continents so different, and far from each other.
Denmark is a tiny, but prosperous country. We have our own language despite our size, Danish, which we practically only use amongst ourselves. It may sound close to Swedish and Norwegian, but if you ask me, it’s not.
Therefore, we learn English in school from a very early grade, and virtually any Dane can speak English enough to travel alone.
Since I was very little, I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture. It came from many places at first, such as Super Sentai in the TV, to writing essays about Japanese myth, to finally studying the language and becoming an exchange student.
In the end, I don’t know what kind of person I am anymore. I’m a European with an Asian appearance, speaking English better than my own mother tongue, with an immense interest in Oriental culture.
I would say, however, that this kind of person is becoming more and more common in Europe. Europe’s countries’ borders are literally shoulder to shoulder, so we frequently visit each other. If you take Japan in comparison, then it’s a country that’s been secluded for ages because of its location.
Japan is like a single seed, which was placed in its very own garden, and then allowed to grow as freely as it desired. Instead of getting mangled and fighting with other countries for space, it became a beautiful rainforest, all by itself. This is why it is such a magical place to visit.
Young people nowadays aren’t afraid of taking chances. We call taking chances ‘living’. You know the feeling of uneasiness when you’re about to speak in front of a mass of people, or about to perform a massive feat? For example, jump across a wide creek in front of your friends – the icy cold feeling in your bones, the rush in your stomach, the sweat in your palms, as you descend from the ground, the others behind you going “It’s dangerous, you don’t know what will happen!” Well then, I’m going to find out, because this is what I call living. Imagine that creek being several thousand miles wide, and where you’re going, there’s no turning back for a whole year. That’s how it felt on the plane on the way to Japan.
I’m still surprised at how little Japanese people know of their fame around the world. Nowadays, a great deal of Europe and America’s young has become Orientally oriented, pardon the pun, because of Japan’s absolutely unique culture. However, when I told my host parents how my mother and father enjoyed using a Nintendo Wii every morning, they were astonished that I even knew of Nintendo. You need to get out more!
The world is changing rapidly, especially in the sense of global contact and communication. I feel that it is important to keep up with the times, and always be oriented about what’s going on around you. I’m a very integrated citizen of the Internet, so it’s been easy for me to follow events around the world. I’ve made many friends across the globe, whose countries I’ve traveled to, solely for the purpose of being wanting to meet them in real life.
Two years ago, when I told my classmates where I was planning on going, their reactions were a bit different than expected. “Whah? You’re going to the MOON!?” ((Uhh, yeah sure, I’ll bring back some cheese, or mochi, or whatever.)) It’s much more common for Danish youngsters to go to places like America or England, because everyone’s been there before, so they know it’s safe. I think that because of being raised by parents from different parts of the world, I started out with a better comprehension of the world around me. I quickly became a regular of the Internet, because I wanted to contact that “world outside”, which I couldn’t really do from cold and tiny Denmark alone.
In this day and age, distance is no longer an obstacle concerning contact between different worlds. With the Internet, we can find any knowledge in the world, if we wanted to. Anyone could become “global”, if they wanted to.
The only question here is; are you aware of that?
This page has been viewed 68 times
