Your Friend, Venlig Hilsen

A miracle happened in Module 3: we have finally started speaking a bit of Danish at school!

Now we have a new teacher, Mette, who explores familiar topics in different ways. We divide into groups, roll dice to get questions, and answer them in a playful way on “Kahoot.”

We take turns asking each other questions written on small pieces of paper. Since the printer broke, Mette wrote them all by hand for us.

And we also write short essays, covering simple topics—free time, hobbies, sports, housing, work, and homeland—talking about what we did before coming here and our new interests.

When you move, you start anew. Some things no longer fit, so we search for new passions. These little stories remind us of who we are and make us reflect on our identity. Through each other’s stories, we learn about our classmates and the world.

The summary of my past work feels almost like an epitaph—a professional history that reads like a memory, written in the past tense. May it rest in peace.

Now, my days are filled with school and little notes in life’s margins.

We write letters in Danish to an imaginary friend, beginning with the familiar “Hvordan har du det?” [How are you?] and ending with “Venlig hilsen” [Kind regards]. It feels like a miracle—I can write a full letter without translating word by word (of course, with some inaccuracies).

Someone once misunderstood “Venlig hilsen” as a name rather than just a polite letter closing. When replying to a friend, they addressed him as Venlig Hilsen—after all, with that “-sen” at the end, it sounds perfectly Scandinavian, just like Nielsen, Hansen, or Jensen!

One assignment asked us to describe our childhood home. Amina talked about an 800-square-meter house by the sea, while I described our small 42-square-meter apartment and our summerhouse with an orchard, a vegetable garden, berry bushes, and giant rhubarb. It felt like a paradise garden—our childhood, our previous lives.

Finally, we answered a question that made us pause: “Where do you see yourself living in 10 years?” Most of us would like our own “drømmehus” [dream house], and we shared our dreams—all in Danish! Well, dreams have their own way of coming true in time.