Nothing rotten in the state of Denmark

     I was surprised to find myself the only American at Modisa.  In fact, there was only one other North American, and that was a young lady from Vancouver.  There was a Norwegian, a couple of Germans, and several Australians, but by far the majority were from Denmark.
     Now, I don't know about you, but before this, Denmark is not a country that came across my radar screen very often.   I may have mentioned at some  point in the past that on Netflix, Scott's and my favorite genre is "somber Scandinavian dramas,"  and some of those have been Danish, but that's about it.
      Now, after meeting all these Danes, Denmark is very high on my list of places to go!
     The first thing that struck me about them was "how did they manage to get here?"  Here we were, in March, during the middle of the school year, at a location that was, well, not exactly cheap to get to.  How did all these college students manage?
      I was shocked--in a very pleasant way-- to find out!  It turns out that there are virtually no private schools in Denmark.  The reason is that the public schools are so uniformly excellent, there is just no call for them.   Students not only get free tuition and board at the Danish public schools, but like all Danes, they enjoy free health care.   Students also receive a living allowance while they're in school courtesy their government.
      And there's more!  Studies have shown that students do much better in college if they've had the experience of a "gap year,"  in which they can travel abroad.  So the Danish government PAYS them to take a gap year, and the only way they would have to pay it back is if they failed to go back to school.  
      So, almost all these kids were travelling as part of their gap year experience.
      To a 21st century American like myself, this was almost incomprehensible.  We've become so used to  questioning government expenditures and to the theory of privatization of just about everything.   It sometimes seems like the collective universal American goal is to DECREASE TAXES.  It felt pretty weird to have them stare at me with surprise--and maybe a little SYMPATHY-- when I told them that in the U.S., we have to pay for our own health care.
      I can only imagine that  Danish taxes must be astronomically high, but these kids were outstanding examples of why that may not be such a bad thing.  
      They were supremely well-educated.  They switched back and forth between the Danish and English languages with fluid ease.

Some told me that most of their college textbooks were in English.  They glowed with good health.  They seemed amazingly optimistic and confident about the future and their role in it.  They were smart, funny, warm, friendly,  good-natured, and perhaps most importantly, adventurous!  Eager to take on new experiences with a completely open mind and heart!

     Looked to me like the Danish government was getting its money's worth!