It’s been an ongoing joke in my time in Youth With A Mission that my students have to learn a lot about the little, fairly insignificant Scandinavian kingdom of Denmark. Of course I have to educate my students about the wonders of the fairy tale nation, and so I have with stories, quizzes, songs and different lovely food. Now that I’m soon leaving YWAM Kyiv and my role as the director of Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) here, I thought it was appropriate to make sure that the leaders who will follow in my shoes will continue to share important facts about Denmark with future students. So I made a little list with the 16 most important facts that anybody should know about Denmark. And here it is for you, dear blog reader, so you can be educated about the important things of life as well 
1. Denmark is the oldest existing kingdom in the world
2. Denmark has the oldest existing flag in the world (June 15, 1219)
3. Denmark is ruled by a queen (Queen Margrethe II), and her husband is a prince not a king!
4. Denmark has the happiest people in the world
5. Søren Kierkegaard was a very intelligent Dane who said clever things such as : “Now, with God’s help, I shall become myself” and “Purity of heart is to will one thing”
6. “Rødgrød med fløde” (approximately strawberry porridge with cream) is really hard to say if you’re not a Dane
7. LEGO is the greatest Danish invention ever
8. …but Skype comes pretty close..!
9. Norway is not the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen (København) is!
10. Hans Christian Andersen, the world’s greatest fairy tale writer, was born in Odense, Denmark
11. Denmark’s highest point is only 170 meters (557 feet) – in your face, Mount Everest!!
12. Denmark is made up of 444 islands of which 76 are inhabited
13. Clicking on www.fck.dk will take you to the website of Scandinavia’s best football club
14. Denmark has, without much competition, the greatest food in the world (just look right here 
)
15. Danes like to draw and print cartoons, also when they probably shouldn’t…
16. Denmark’s language is called Danish, not Dutch…!!!
That won’t be too hard to remember, right?!!
Torben
Not forget mentioning that Danmark is, has always been and will always be the slighty less civilized sister of The Kingdom of Sweden…
Hmmm….Erik…that’s interesting coming from a Swede. Do you guys even have electricity and running water in the whole country or is that still only available in Stockholm and Gothenburg?
BEst Food In the World?? I doubt it…
Portugal rules!!!
I think young Filipe should come to Denmark and try for himself
! And what’s up with Portugal losing to mediocre Germany?
Hi. well I come from Georgia, and I’m staying in denmark for a year, so far I like everithing, the languige is a little bit hard but i get on with it. I just would like to compare some of the things listed above with Georgia:
1. Georgia has about 16 centuries of history.
2. I dont know about the flag, buut we have 3
year old national flag.
3.we have one of the poorest people in here.
4.We had lots of great writers who wrote pretty beauteful poems which had a lot of scense in them.
5. we have our own languige which is pretty old, and pretty different fron any other existing. we even have some labels that are realy hard to pronaunce.
6. we also have an ovsome nature, I think you can meet nearly any kind of natural zone, like mountains, alpic zones around 4500 meters, lots of kinds of forests, swamps, desert, even some tropical forests, seaside, and mani more.
7. We have worlds worst football team even if one georgian is playing in milan. But we have a great rugby team.
8. well about food so far I like what I’m given here, but georgian traditional food is also grea and tasty, filled with loads of georgian cheese.
well that would be all i think, we normaly dont have much electrical things at house because we are used to sitting without electrisity, well t hat’s how it was some years ago. Also I must admit that I know loads of peaple having skype and I like Lego too.
Hey George!
I did spent a lovely week in Tbilisi in February this year. I really enjoyed the historical sites, the beautiful nature and most of the food, even though I will never be a big fan of cow brain…
Hope you’ll continue to enjoy your time in Denmark!
Torben
A few additional items to make your list reach 20….
17. Denmark is not the capital in Sweden. Denmark is a country.
18. In Denmark we know Santa doesn’t live on the North pole, cuz he lives in Greenland.
19. It’s very common for people in Denmark to dance around the christmas tree on christmas eve singing holiday songs before we unwrap our presents.
20. Denmark has some pretty great international actors and actresses: Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale and The Lord of The Rings), Connie Nielsen (The Gladiator), Thure Lindhart (Angels and Demons and Into the Wild), Iben Hjejle (Defiance and High Fidelity), Jesper Christensen (Casino Royale).
Sara,
May I add one to the list to make it 21. “Denmark is the heart center of the Vikings Civilization and that the Danes are the descendants.”
Maybe it would be a good idea if we all contribute facts about Denmark to the list. Then after a year we will consolidate what we have gathered. Of course we’ll post it here for greater insights about the country.
How does it sound?
Sara: I would like to point out that Mads Mikkelsen is not in Lord of the Rings… However, Viggo Mortensen is. He looks a bit like Mads Mikkelsen, and is half Danish.
So he should also be on that list.
You are completely right… I was thinking of King Arthur… Just remember he rode a horse around looking rugged.. Real Danes don’t really consider Viggo Mortensen Danish. That would be like thinking of Scarlett Johansson as Danish (she has a Danish father). Viggo Mortensen, while an ok actor, is also not as good as Mads Mikkelsen.
Nuje, a compiled list sounds as an awesome idea.
Hi, fun post you have here, and great responses. My wife and I are anticipating a move to Copenhagen this coming summer (if I get ‘the job’), and have been gathering resources so we do not show up as silly Americans…however that may happen regardless. Anyway, nice post!
Hey Joseph!
Glad you like the post! And welcome to Denmark if it works out for you guys to go there! And I’m glad I could provide a little extra knowledge about the little kingdom.
Blessings, Torben
am online searching for a big resturant in denmark
Viggo Mortensen is a way better actor than Mads Mikkelsen! And extremely handsome <3
I’m from Denmark, I talk danish, not dutch
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I love the humor, but it is true, what you say. We do have the greatest food and we do beat Mount Everest
I am told that we are the happiest people too. But we are also fighting to get a good life and educate ourselves.
Listening to someone say “Rødgrød med fløde” is the funniest, when they’re not from Denmark.
You say the greatest team is FCK. Well I’m sure someone gets pissed. Someone think that Brøndby is the best. Personally I don’t care.
Right now we have a queen, but soon enough we will have a king again. Kronprins Frederik. He’s married to Mary, so we’ll have a queen AND a king. Wee.
thanks alot this has helped me so muched with my school project. immmm so gonna win. thanx