Thank you for today

One of the fun things about getting your Masters in English in a land where English isn't the first language, is the fact that cultural traditions and local sayings end up getting mixed in with the daily dialog.

One of those quaint little traditions is how the Danes say "Tak for i dag" after they have spent an entire day with you, or even a few hours which is the case when you take classes at Copen- hagen Business School. "Tak for i dag" (pronounced "tahk for ee day") is literally translated to "Thank you for today" and at the end of each class my professors close their session with those four words and it makes me smile every time.

Another fun experience is doing project work (a common method used in Danish university systems) with native Danes and finding yourself stuck mid conversation on a word that just doesn't translate. Luckily for us, humor always translates so we often find ourselves laughing over words that just sound funny when put in an English context. Words like "width wind" which is tail wind, or wind that is going your way while on a bike or in a plane, etc.

Another part of the experience that goes with taking classes in English when you live in another country is getting used to words being pronounced wrong. Sometimes it takes a few seconds to figure out what they are trying to say, but you catch on quickly. The only thing that you can do is hope that the bad pronunciation doesn't rub off on you or your fellow classmates.

Chances are high it won't as most of these people have been speaking English since they were in the 3rd grade, and have little to no accent. Something that may take a lifetime for me to accomplish with the Danish language.