Hej, Jeg hedder Merve og jeg kommer fra Tyrkiet. Jeg er 25 år gammel.
Or in other words, hi beautiful people! I am Merve Gürel (25) from the Republic of Turkey. I just completed my ESC (European Solidarity Corps) project as a volunteer in Denmark. I do not know where to start since there are many things to say. It is hard to summarize and write a short blog about one year in a very different country, in a different culture.
About a year ago, I got accepted to a project at DTU (Technical University of Denmark) in Denmark. There I was working as a coordinator on a project called “Carbon”, which aims at creating an international and inclusive campus life for all students of DTU. For that purpose, I was responsible for organizing various events, activities, and programs to promote diversity and inclusion. Through my volunteering, I have had a chance to improve my project management, leadership, event organization, social media, communication skills and much more.
It was also very interesting to experience the Danish working culture, which is very different from the Turkish one. In Denmark, as I observe, there is a mostly horizontal organizational structure, whereas in Turkey it is vertical. People at work were very friendly regardless of their position and they were open to help me. I always felt that I was very welcomed there. Moreover, there was no dress code, so I was very relaxed about what I was wearing. There were even times that I went to work with my pajamas and sportswear.
I was also very lucky in terms of my supervisor and colleague. My supervisor and mentor, Trent (34), was so friendly, caring, and nice to me. Whenever I needed help, he was always there for me and supported me and my personal development throughout the whole process. My colleague, Fedor (22) from Russia, was also an ESC volunteer like me and he was the first person that I knew in Denmark. He was the one that I had seen every day and the most. There happened some misunderstandings caused by personal and cultural differences but in the end, through communication, we always have gone through those obstacles together. I feel grateful about the project bringing Trent and Fedor into my life.
(From right to left: Fedor, Trent, and me)
One of the biggest highlights of my project was my Danish host family, which was my first interaction with Danes. I did not have a family notion before but they were a family to me. They included me in their family and opened their house to me. We went to Sweden, celebrated Christmas, New Years, and many other special occasions together, which were all new to me. They also organized a Danish birthday for me, where I woke up with their singing in the early morning, eating my favorite breakfast altogether, and having a proper birthday with songs and lagekage (Danish birthday cake that is my favorite).
(While we were having breakfast in the morning of my birthday)
(From my Danish birthday party)
Living with a host family was a key part of my volunteering as well as my work since I was interacting with my family every day. My host parents Charlotte (34) and Christian (31) have two little daughters Alma (3) and Thea (6), who are the cutest kids in Denmark to me. It was lucky for me to have very young host parents since they were like friends to me that I shared everything. Now, even after my project, it makes me feel weird to wake up without Alma and Thea’s sounds. Even if I have hundreds of photos and videos of them to watch whenever I miss them, I still get very emotional while writing these several sentences about them.
(A photo with my host family from my departure day)
There is a saying that most of the foreigners in Denmark know: “Danes are very exclusive in the choice of their friends’ group”. That’s right! Yet they are also very friendly and nice. It was the very beginning of my stay, I did not know anybody in the country. Once in the office, I told them that I had no plans for the upcoming 1 week of holiday in Denmark. Then one of my colleagues offered me a date. I was thinking that she was just being nice to me but then she texted me for the details and that is how I met my good friend Astrid (24). Now I am planning to visit her at Christmas.
(From my first date with Astrid in Dyrehaven)
(From the evening that we got locked in Kongens Have for two hours and waited for police or an officer to get us out while raining. Yes, it was very cold!)
Dalida found her love in Portofino and I found mine in Denmark. Before him, I did not have faith in love and relationships and everything has changed with him. He made me believe in goodness and helped me to overcome my prejudices. We traveled together a lot in Denmark. He introduced me to his family, who were so friendly and warm to me from the beginning. We all celebrated Eastern together, gathered many times, played games, and so on. They made me feel like “I have got another family from Denmark”.
(From one of the gatherings with my partner’s, Anders’, family)
If you hear “Danes sound like they have a potato in their throat while speaking” or “drunk Swedish” about the Danish language, well, it is most probably true. I think it is easy to learn grammar but when Danes speak, it is a completely different language because of all those rollings and mumblings. Of course, these are my personal opinions, no offense! It is up to the person to judge a language but I enjoy learning more about languages, so it is a pleasure to learn Danish for me. It opened a new world to me and helped me to gain a different perspective towards the World. If you are a person like me, I am sure you will be able to say “rødgrød med fløde” pretty soon.
Most of the Danes speak English pretty well which was an advantage for me at the beginning of my stay for communication but that turned into a disadvantage over time. It felt weird to push people to speak in Danish with me while they speak English well and I don’t speak Danish that much. But some people do not speak English, such as my little host sisters and my partner’s parents, which pushed me to try to speak in Danish with them. I think that helped me a lot in my Danish language skills. Therefore, go and find those who don’t know English!
When I arrived in Denmark, there were still Covid-19 which brought most of the obstacles to my life during my volunteering. Even though I chose to attend that project during the pandemic, I do not regret it. I felt safe all the time in Denmark, where the government handled the pandemic pretty well. When I look back, that one year was the time of my life. I have not felt that happy before and I am so glad that I came to Denmark as an ESC volunteer, that changed and shaped my entire life.
ESC Solidarity Projects 