Students and teachers from the Nørre Gymnasium in Denmark visited Whitman March 19 as part of an annual exchange program. While in Bethesda March 17 to 21, the visitors stayed with host families, toured D.C. and spoke with Whitman students about American and Danish culture.
Prior to visiting Bethesda, the 27 students and 3 teachers who came as part of the exchange program visited New York City.
The Whitman-Nørre exchange program began three years ago, when Nørre’s principal discovered Whitman while looking for an exchange partner. Mathis, who helps facilitate the visits, said the program has much to offer students.
“The goal is for kids to see another way of life, another culture,” Mathis said. “A key component to this is the home stay aspect of it – you learn a lot by being in someone’s home.”
To facilitate conversations about the culture differences, the students discussed with social studies department head Robert Mathis’ AP NSL classes the differences between the U.S. and Denmark, such as the law that allows one to buy alcohol at age 16 in Denmark. Mathis and his students also asked about taxes, which are much higher in Denmark; church-and-state separation, which Nørre teacher Marianne Zandersen said is taken much more seriously in Denmark than in the U.S.; and the Danish political scene, which Zandersen described as very liberal.
”Obama is very much more to the right than the most right-wing party in Denmark,” Zandersen said.
Rebecca Vaa, one of the exchange students, said she felt very welcome in the U.S.
”People here are really friendly and open-minded,” Vaa said. ”People are willing to talk to strangers and hold the door open for people, whereas in Denmark, people are sort of closed and keep to themselves.”
Nørre student Ismael Rihani also commented on the prevalence of cars as a means of transportation in the U.S.
”I don’t think that Danish people are so happy with the way that America has big cars compared to Denmark,” Rihani said. ”We use bicycles, pretty much. I didn’t really see any bicycles here.”
Junior Gabrielle Gerecht, who hosted two Nørre students, said she and her guests Andrea and Mia had fun walking around Bethesda and D.C.
“They really enjoyed Georgetown because their shops aren’t open on Sundays,” Gerecht said. “And they enjoyed the cherry blossoms because they don’t have anything like those.”
Nørre Gymnasium is similar to Whitman and is a good community for Whitman students to visit, Mathis said. Students will have the opportunity in November to visit Denmark.
“Their school is highly academic, and their students go to university,” Mathis said. “Economically, they’re a little more diverse; we tend to be more upper-middle class. It’s a good fit.”
