The end of our trip in Thy was full of adventure.
On Thursday I attended the office of some Advocat (lawyer) colleagues of my host father Peter's and was shown how a small office in in Denmark is managed. Two of the partners from the office were kind enough to show me around the office, before a third partner Rasmous took me to court with him.
Similarly to Queesnland, the government are starting to cut costs here in Denmark, and recently Thisted lost it's courthouse. The building now deals only with very small matters, and accepts some documentation. Therefore, most of the lawyers must now drive a hour to get to court.
Rasmous had a criminal law case on, where a young man had been charged with obstructing a police officer, and also a serious assault (spitting on a police officer.) It was very interesting to see the differences that the two legal systems have!! I have compiled a list of the most noticeable below:
- there is no security check when you enter a courthouse in Denmark. In Australia you would have your bag checked, and often you go through a metal detector.
- the client who was currently in prison was allowed to travel to and from prison on the train by himself!! This really astounded me given there was no officer escorting him.
- on the bench is one magistrate and two civilian 'judges' who act as a small jury panel and all 3 make a determination of guilt.
- the lawyers tables are facing each other, and they were not required to stand when speaking.
At the end of my work experience Peter picked me up and took me to H&M to buy a thick coat because I was constantly complaining of the cold and wind!! Haha. We were very successful in our pursuits. That night my host family took me to a beach called Cold Hawaii (a local joke) where there were atleast 75 wind surfers out. It was about 10 degrees - I think they were crazy!! We returned back to Thisted with a small stop off on the way to collect some candy. My host sister Laura and I had eaten so mug before dinner that we nearly couldn't fit it all in! Haha.
Our last morning in Thy was spent at the national park. They are very different in Australia (see the photos below) but the main aim of the park oS to ensure that people and nature can coexist in a way that does not harm the environment. It was lovely to walk along the dunes and beach with my brand new, very warm jacket! The group had a great time before packing Wenner and Hennig's cars and heading to Skive to meet our new host families.
Once in Skive (an hours drive south) we were fortunate enough to have lunch with the major! In true Danish tradition, we shared open sandwiches and spoke about the area of Skive. After lunch we were given a tour of two council buildings. They are very focussed in Skive on ensuring that their energy is obtained by renewable resources, and the council buildings are leading from the front with such technology.
After a short tour of the town (which we will explore further in the morning) we returned to my host families house for some beer, coffee and delicious cake. Tonight is a relaxing night with our host families, before our explorations of Skive start tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment