Comment: Friday = No work, for laid back Danes

Ankit Khandelwal is an Indian student currently pursuing his Master's in chemical and biochemical engineering. He wonders about the peculiar Danish Friday craze

by Ankit Khandelwal

Team meeting in the study room, Friday, 4:00 pm:

Team mate: »Let’s wrap up by 5:00 no matter what. Then we can look at it next week.«
Me: »But we can just spend slightly more time on it and finish it today…«
Team mate: »Come on… It’s Friday!«

So Friday is the fifth day of the week which comes after Thursday and before Saturday. But Friday, in Denmark, also means the official start of the weekend, a time to relax, fun, and chill out with friends.

This is clearly visible in offices, study groups, and many other places of work. As soon as the clock touches 3 pm or so, people start leaving for home.

Premature weekend

I have never experienced this Friday fever before. For me, Friday was the day where I looked forward to two days off from going to my work place but not a day off from work. In India, it also meant that I could travel to some other part of the city to see friends (cities in India are much bigger) but my perception has changed completely after coming to Denmark.

Friday means off from your work entirely (more or less) and spending time with your close ones, away from the day-to-day week life and gaining energy to start again on Monday.

As if this wasn't enough, the trend spills over into the weekend. For example, most shops close early Saturday and are entirely closed Sunday. Have you also wondered about the Friday fever? Is it a good or a bad thing?

This comment is a version of one of the posts on Ankit's own blog posts. Read his blog here.

uni-avis@adm.ku.dk

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