Nick Holtum example essay topic

Interview with Nick Holtum When thinking of people I could possibly interview, and then deciding that most of them wouldn't be very interesting, I decided to interview a friend of mine. Nick Holtum. At first glance he seems like any other 15 year old but once you get to know him, you " ll soon realize that, that isn't the case. Firstly he's moved around and experienced more things then most people his age, even most people in general, and has developed a unique personality because of this. Nick was born in 1985, in Finland but moved shortly afterwards to England and then again moved after only a few years to Malawi in Africa.

The reason for them moving was that his father's job bored him. He basically grew up as an ex pat in Africa and even though Nick lived behind gates in a large house, he still had a sort of bond to the people. "The one thing that I'll never forget", Nick informs me of, "was the time when we had an armed robbery. There had been a gang of locals, running around the town we lived in, but being a bit na " ive, we never thought that they'd ever try and rob us."We were watching Formula 1 on TV and I suddenly heard the door burst open. Four armed men came charging in and the only thing my father could do was say 'Oh sh t'. They took everything of value, including the TV and I have to admit, I was dumbstruck".

He carries on to tell me about how they just came running in, waving their guns around, telling his family to lay down on the floor. The staff were helpless and had to lay down besides the Holtum. "Looking back, I remember we had these two guard dogs, except they were terrible at their job. The one dog actually ran up to one of the armed men wagging his tail, almost as if he wanted them to play with him", Nick laughs, "soon afterwards we moved to England realizing that we couldn't spend the rest of our lives in an environment like that".

Nick hated England. He was used to the warm climate of Malawi, and in a way, missed his old life. Seeing as both his mum and dad had to work, Nick was sent to a boarding school which he despised. "It was the worst time of my life, I simply did not like it", while shaking his head, but then he looks up and starts smiling, "I did have a few good times with some friends I had made there, like this one time we were playing softball and I whacked the ball into a window. We all blamed this one Irish guy that we all hated". He had a smirk on his face while he said that, but it wasn't always like that.

"One thing I do regret though, was that I was a push over. Looking back, I could " ve been a lot more assertive instead of taking the piss like I usually did back then". Fortunately, Nick isn't like that anymore. As I'm interviewing him, it's obvious he has a strong self-confidence. Once again, Nick moved with his parents but this time it was to Denmark. He's been living In Copenhagen for the past 5 years and says he enjoys the "freedom" he's never had.

"Growing up in places like Africa and then going to a boarding school in England, you were never allowed to just go into town when ever you wanted to. It was almost like being trapped in a prison."Have you ever felt the need to just get out and do what ever you wanted to do, except you couldn't because you weren't allowed to. That's what it was like to be in boarding school". I had to say that I didn't, although I could feel with him.

Another thing that he seemed to like about Denmark is that everything to so easy to access though he hates the weather. After a short break, I was curious to know what he thought of the Danish culture. "The Danish people can sometimes be a bit funny". He said with a grin on his face. "Hey, I know I can be a bit odd too, so it's all good."Though there are a few things that get on my nerves such as they (The Danes) can strike me as having a little too much nationalism. The majority have hardly ever been out of Denmark and believe that their little 'sm or huh' is the best place on earth and everything not Danish is a bad thing".

After living in the country for 5 years, and being half Danish himself, this struck me as a bit odd him saying that. I just had to ask him if he could ever consider himself a real "Dane."No, not at all. I mean I can understand it and live with it but I don't see myself as a Dane. I'm not saying they " re bad. I quite enjoy living in a country with such a low crime rate and being able to walk the streets at night without having to be worried that someone is going to jump you is a big plus".

Nick is a product of the Danish school system as well. Before he started on the IB, he went to a public Danish school before then, that's how we first met. "When I think of my schooling, there " re more negatives then pluses, though the pluses made it all worth it. One thing that I will always remember will be my school trip to the Czech Republic for my 9th grade year trip. Everyone on the trip got food poisoning except for me and a friend and it was awful. We couldn't sleep because of the smell.

Heh. Now when I think of it, it wasn't all that spectacular". The last thing he mentioned before we finished the interview was that even though he enjoyed living in Copenhagen, he could never live here for the rest of his life. "I don't want to end up like one of those people who just stay in one place all their life.

People who are born in a small town, stay in a small town and die in a small town without ever seeing the world annoy me. I don't know if this mentality is because I've moved around so much but it's just one of the things that makes up me". Written by Thomas Grove.