What is Nordic?

What does it mean to be a Nordic country?

Today with my class, I visited the Nordic House so we could see an exhibit called "New Nordic". It was a series of about 30 different mini exhibits - from paintings to photographs to wood carvings to models of rooms to video's to 30 coffee bags laying on the floor. Each of the exhibits had a different "artist" with a connection to a Nordic country, and each of them had a small caption with their exhibit. Some were poems, little stories, or just a sentence about the piece.

We were each given a packet with questions to answer at each exhibit, but it was all in Danish, so I was unable to participate. This blog post is how I justify not answering the questions. Luckily, those captions were in English as well. So I went around, read them all, and happily took in the aspects of "The Nordic".

So, what is Nordic? This is what I found out.

Nordic is about threads that connect them to each other. All of the Nordic countries, while vastly different, are wound together in one way or another through culture, language and history. The Nordic countries often joke about each other, but the connections and genuine kindness they share is strong.

Nordic is about the warm, light nights of the summer and the long, cold nights of winter. It is about the presence and absence of light, and the way it shapes the Nordic people. A very special quality of the Nordic countries, I believe. It is one of the most powerful definitions of "Nordic".

Nordic is about wet wool mittens. Really. One of the stories that I read was written by a Norwegian man, accompanied by a model of a school classroom. He talked about how his memories of childhood included sitting in a classroom every morning to see a pile of wet woolen mittens and hats piled up on the radiator. I have experienced this feeling a few times while I've been here - being all bundled up outside in the cold rain, and then chucking everything on the radiator when I get home.

Nordic is about being cozy. Remember hugnaligt? I read today that the Norwegian word for this is "koselig". It means the same thing. Being inside on one of those long, winter Nordic nights, surrounded by friends and family, drinking coffee or tea and maybe doing some knitting. Being cozy is a nice feeling anywhere, but I am discovering that the idea is quite special to the Nordic countries.  I think I need to knit something out of wool before I leave.

I really enjoyed looking at all these exhibits. It makes me feel extremely lucky and thankful that I chose a Nordic country for my exchange. I love every aspect of Nordic - the weather, the people, the wool, the cozy feelings, everything. Yesterday, I got drenched in water. It had been raining all day and I was walking alongside a giant puddle, and this car decides he's not going to slow down. I was a bit pissed for the first minute, but then I remembered that there's a radiator at home waiting to give some love to my mittens and scarf.

It's hard to appreciate being cozy if you haven't been drenched in freezing water. This is why I love "The Nordic".

PS - Thank you all for reading. I smile every day that I see the pageviews on the side of my blog, knowing someone is appreciating hearing about my adventures. Love to all parts of the world!

Katie