The utter joy of wearing a cap

My sister just took her A-levels and along with that comes a host of both ceremony and champagne. I remember it as one of the happiest summers when I finished high school 11 years ago. And it looks like it’ll be the same for her – just look at these photos taken today when the Frederiksberg Gymnasium formally said good bye to their students.

This is my sister and two of her best friends. In Denmark you get a cap when you finish high school – a tradition dating back to the 19th Century. There are lots of rules surrounding that cap: your classmates write greetings inside it; for every sunrise you see after a party you cut a piece off the sweatband; if you drink too much and get sick the brim will be cut off etc., etc.

After the graduation ceremony the classes drive around in decorated lorries to visit all their homes. On their way they sing, scream, drink, laugh, wave. Today the sound of Copenhagen was the sound of klaxons greeting these lorries and the screaming of all these happy people.

At my parents’ place the class was served pancakes and Cosmopolitans. Wonderful combo I’m sure.

And yes – you can squint a water gun while managing a cocktail.

At some point the lorry will go to one of the main squares in Copenhagen: Kongens Nytorv, where the students will dance around the equestrian statue while singing and screaming some more. This is my sister’s class this night at 10 PM – still going strong after ten hours on the road.

I wish them all the best of luck with their lives – but first of all a wonderful time under the light skies of perhaps the best summer of their lives.

/anna