Thursday 7 February 2013

Back to School


It feels nice rather than strange to be back at school. it's especially nice that I'm at a technical college, the equivalent of a PLC college in Ireland, as my own education thus far has been completely academic, mostly in buildings that take themselves and their history very seriously.

In case I didn't make it clear as to why I'm in Denmark, I'm doing a course in Carpentry and Design at Kobenhavs Tekniske Scole. It's a 6 month introduction to the basic principles of carpentry, joinery and design. So far it's going very well, but I'll make a separate post about the course content, I want this to just be about my acclimatisation in Denmark.

Sadly without bikes, we've been walking the 4 or so miles to the college daily. It's getting tiresome, walking is irritating when you know biking would take a third of the time, but the walk along frozen lakes in the snow is very pleasant.

Our first day of 'school' (funny going back, funnier for Leo who has worked at a bank for a few years) was very laid back, we just did some short introductions, drank coffee and got basic course materials. Then Leo and I had to run off to an administrative office in some unknown part of town to register in 'The System'.

As anyone who arrives here for an extended stay will work out, you can do nothing without a CPR number. As European Union citizens arriving here is fairly simple-you get a residency permit and after filling out a form they process you and issue you with a number. This number entitles you to open a bank account, join a library, get a mobile phone contract. But until then, you're stuck in limbo. I'm hoping my number comes next week.

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