Thursday

On Thursday, we started our day by visiting a daycare and kindergarten school. Children typically attend daycare un. til they are 3 and then attend kindergarten from ages 3 - 6. One thing that was surprising to us was that the young children take their afternoon naps outside, no matter what the weather is like. If it's snowing or raining, they cover their carriages with a tarp, and in the summer with a bug net.

Next we made our way to the local nursing home. We were given a tour and an explanation of the care the elderly receive . We were surprised to learn that nurses actually receive lower salaries than teachers in Denmark.

After lunch, we went to Møgeltønder to see Schackenborg caste, the home of Prince Joachim and his wife, Princess Marie. Unfortunately the Prince was not home at the tíme; he was in Copenhagen celebrating the Queen's 70th birthday.

We then took a drive through the countryside visiting the Trøberg ruins, a Protestant Church and monastary, and the border between Denmark and Germany. We could stand in two countries at once!

The day ended with seeing "The Black Sun", an event where up to a million starlings visit the marshes in search of food and rest for the night. So many flock at once that they can actually black out the sun. The event can be seen every spring and autumn, and we were lucky enough to see them on the last possible day. Our guide estimated that there were about 13,000 to 16,000 starling birds out tonight. Despite the fact that we were freezing (temperature was about 45 degrees, but extremely windy), it was worth going to see.

 - Krystal Smeak