This week was Core Course Week at DIS! This meant that I had none of my other classes, instead we got to travel with our core course (mine is strategic communications)! My class was off to Western Denmark Monday-Wednesday which was super exciting because I haven’t been outside of Copenhagen yet and was able to explore the next island over, Jutland! I really loved this week and everything I was able to experience, and by the end it was also really great coming home to my apartment and bed in Cope!
Monday:
We all loaded up on a bus for the 3 hour drive to Aarhus where we went straight to Arla, the fourth largest dairy company in the world (first being dairy farmers of america). We got to eat some of Arla’s products as the head of PR for the company ran us through a presentation. He was very informative and could really tell you anything and everything you would want to know about the business. Arla is actually owned by the farmers in their dairy cooperative and they really do a lot to make sure that their products are pure for the consumer (why milk here in denmark goes bad in practically two days). It was a very applicable visit to learn about the changing media landscape which is exactly what we are learning and discussing in our core course. Also, the office building at Arla was so beautiful and just plain cool looking.
After our visit we headed to our hostel and had some time to explore the area before we headed to dinner at an Italian restaurant, got some ice cream, and had our night event at the Escape Factory! We were split into three groups and each put into a room, and my lucky group got the hardest one ‘Enigma’ and started with handcuffs on. We definitley had to ask for a lot of hints and took over an hour to get the code to leave the room, but 10/10 would recommend an escape room in whatever country you are in!
Tuesday:
Both hostels that we stayed in on our short trip had breakfast for us which was awesome because I got to experience what apparently is a true danish ‘must have’ at breakfast: thin chocolate. When I saw a plate of chocolate next to the bread I was definitley confused, but then saw everyone toasting their bread and placing it on top, and I think this alone is a reason to love Denmark.
Our first stop of the day was to ARoS Museum, which is best known for its sculpture ‘boy’ which as the name suggests, is a very very very large sculpture of a boy. We had a tour guide for the whole museum which was great because you always just get so much more out of art when you have someone explaining the meaning behind it. The museum is also known for ‘your rainbow panorama’ which is a permanent colorful glass art structure on top of the museum that challenges your senses and is also a great spot for pictures!
After the museum we went to Dokk1, aka the most amazing library ever. There really is just so much to say about this place from the design of the building inside and out, the events held there, the fact that a news station is moving in there soon, and they have a self parking car garage, and just so much more. We had a presentation about the library and how it came to be and how they used communication affectively to make the library the most useful it could be for the area, and then we went on a tour of it! I highly suggest translating the website to english and looking into it because it really is just such a cool and interesting place.
After the visit we had some free time to get lunch before we headed back on the bus to go to Odense! When we were exploring the area on Monday we saw a street food place and decided that that’s where we would all go! I ended up eating a duck burger and it was SO GOOD but what may just top it was the creme brulee donut I had afterward! Perfect combo to sleep all the way to the next city!
Wednesday:
We were supposed to have an early morning visit to P4 a radio station, but it was cancelled because our presenter had to take his child to the doctors (this just speaks to the amazing work/life balance and also gender equality that is so so present here in denmark). So, instead we got to sleep in a little bit longer and head to a museum close by called Brandts. Here we got to explore the different exhibits by ourselves which was a bit challenging since everything was in Danish, BUT I did venture to a back room where retired people volunteer their time to help out at the museum. One very sweet older woman was making paper which was amazing to see and she even gave me a piece to take home which when held to the light has the outline of Hans Christian Anderson! She didn’t speak english to well, so I don’t know all that was in the mixture, but I do know that it was made out of 98% water! There also was a whole exhibit dedicated to ‘past media’ and there were cassette tapes and cd players in there which I found just so funny that stuff that I listened to when I was younger is now old, how odd.
From here we went to Egeskov Castle, which is the only castle on water in Europe! It was super cold and super rainy on this day so we had to modify the tour a bit and stay inside a lot. To be honest, the inside was okay, kind of just your average old rooms with fancy things, but the outside of it was the real ‘wow’ of it. We also saw rooms filled with old cars and motorcycles, and also the back to the future car (so they say). Since Denmark is a monarchy, back in the day they had appointed nobleman, which is how the castle came to be. Today, the count named Michael lives here. As our teacher put it, this guy gets paid to live in this castle, be called a count, and not get another job. YEAH ME TOO. After the tour we had to move our picnic inside due to the downpour happening outside, then got back on the bus and headed home to Cope!
Thursday:
Our core course class met to go over things for our semester long project, where we were out on the town to get interviews for it. The whole process was very simple as far as questions went, but thinking back on it now I just think about how cool it was that the three people we spoke with were people that I would never ever get to interview back home on campus. My ‘campus’ here in Copenhagen allows me to be amongst so many other students from all over, so on Thursday we interviewed people from Lithuania, Italy, and Greece! Afterwards my group and I were hungry for lunch and so I FINALLY got a Danish hotdog. Well sort of, I didn’t actually order the ‘classic’ dog with all the works on it, but I will get there soon I’m sure of it!
Friday:
When we were given the itinerary for our core course week I was already so excited for Friday because we were going to Conditori La Glace, the oldest and best confectionary in Denmark. But before that we had another visit, this time to Geelmuyden-Kiese, a media agency. One of the partners of the company and a junior associate presented to us about communications, their company, and different cases that they have worked on. This was another incredible opportunity to have as someone who might one day work for a place like this, and also just in general to be able to learn about the differences between agencies here in Denmark and back home.
We had a break to do some group work and then it was off to meet at La Glace! Talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity, we were in a private room upstairs, where we had endless hot chocolate (delicious), ‘birthday bun’ with butter, our choice of any cake (I got the HC Hat which had caramel infused with citrus and was GREAT), and then trays of other little pretty sweet treats! I had a crazy sugar rush afterward and really couldn’t think of a better way to end the week!
Weekend Fun!
Saturday I got up and was super happy to find my bike parked right where I had left it, so I rode to the beach, got drenched as it spontaneously down poured, and went for a much needed run as the weather cleared up to blue skies!
Then, a group of us decided to rent a Go Boat which is where you rent a boat, bring some snacks, and sail around the canals! I was so excited to do this because the weather will only be getting colder and everyone’s travel plans only busier! So, we all headed to Netto, got some snacks, and sailed around on a beautifully sunny day! May or may not have crashed a couple of times on the journey, but still a successful sailing trip by us all!
Sunday was dedicated to homework, and this weeks coffee shop pick was The Living Room! On my walk there I was greeted with loud thunder and bursts of lightening, the first I have heard since being in Cope! I was able to get some work done and get a good start on my work for my other classes this week!
