classwork, breweries and the beast

Before I talk about the last week or so, I have been thinking about some of the things that I have noticed about Denmark that are different than anywhere else I have lived. Here is a quick list:

• Everyone rides a bike. The city is completely flat and if you go to any public place (train station, school, bar, restaurant, etc.) you will always see numerous bikes all over the place
• Bathrooms are unisex. Yep. You walk into a bathroom (sans urinal) and there are usually 3 or 4 doors to stalls and it could be Bill or Lisa that walks out. No telling.
• Exits are not marked very well. I have apparantly gotten very used to large green exit signs (with a little guy running on them) and the lack of the obvious markers has thrown me for numerous loops. I have, while trying to leave a room, accidentally gone into bathrooms, closets, classrooms and one time a cinema. I miss the green signs. (current time is about 2 minutes after I just wrote this part, and I told my friend Shell how I think that exits are poorly marked, and she told me that they are marked extremely well, they are just in Danish. The word is Udgang. I am simple)
• When bar tenders poor a beer, they leave about 2 inches free at the top (a little for foam and just a little space so they don't spill I guess).

There are probably more, but none come to mind right now.

So last week I had off from school and one of my pals from Edinburgh, Evan Green, came to visit Copenhagen for a few days. He flew into town Tuesday and Shell and I met him out at the train station for a "welcome" beer at a sports bar called O' Leary's. Shell had to bid us farewell for the evening, so Evan and I ended up going to a very strange Mexican restaurant. We ordered some nachos as an appetizer and then a main meal. When the nachos came, there actually were 2 plates of nachos. When we asked the waiter about this, he said that he thought we looked hungry and that one nacho would not be enough for us. We thought that it was awfully nice of him to give us a free nacho, until we found out that we had to pay for it. After we found this out, Evan jumped up, tipped the table over and spilled everything on the couple sitting next to us as he yelled at the waiter. Actually, that last part did not happen, but I think it would have been funny. We ended up not paying for the extra nachos.

On Wednesday Evan and I went around the town and first off saw a huge demonstration that was focused on the government and how they were making education more expensive for students and how pensions would be decreased. Or something like this. We walked along the water and saw the new Opera house, Hans Christen Anderson's Little Mermaid statue, and a few other parts of town. The night was capped off by Shell making an authentic Chinese meal (hong shao rou = pork, rice, potato, cool spice). It was quite tasty.

Thursday was the day Evan, Shell and I toured the Carlsberg brewery. It was raining, and it is a brewery, so we thought why not? The brewery was pretty impressive, and the Danish have a long history in the suds. They also had some free samples at the end, and I will say, one of the coffe/chocolate flavored beers was quite good.

A seperate paragraph is needed for this part of Evan's visit. The subject: hot dogs. I have not put down how cool hot dogs are in Denmark, but let me try to paint a picture. Think of a pig in a blanket, make it about 3 times larger, and then instead of having the pig in the blanket, put it in a sleeping bag. A small, toasted sleeping bag of goodness. To make matters much, much better, there are hot dog vendors all over the place in the city. It did not take me long to figure out how great this was, and Evan was on board with hot dogs from the start. Lunch....hot dogs. A mid-day snack, how about a dog? After going to the bar, why not cap the night off with some processed meat in a bun? We could not get enough of them. To recap, I enjoy hot dogs. And so does Evan.

Thursday night was spent at a bar (located in the business school) called Nexus, then off to a bar called Out of Juice (where you get to roll dice on thursdays and if it comes up 6, your drinks are free) and then off to a club late. It was quite a good time. Evan was off on Friday early and I slept and then caught a matinee of The Da Vinci Code. Not my favorite all time movie, but it was entertaining in a lot of parts. It has been fairly well documented, but it is nonetheless true that Tom Hanks' hair was a distraction. Odd.

This week has seen me in my last 2 classes in Copenhagen (M & A and Business in Asia). Both have been really interesting, especially the M & A class. They have structured this class where different professionals will come in and talk about each process of a merger or acquisition, usually the process in which they are an expert.

Next up, tests and papers for these classes, more work on internships, figuring out my next few months, a bit of travel probably on the way and who knows. Pictures above.

pictures update

in front of a cathedral in lundt, sweden



















shell in a large park in copenhagen














beautiful spring day in copenhagen















sunset in the park















shell at the open air musem in lundt, sweden














FCK (white on the right) and Brøndby (dark on the left) at a Sunday football match















at the open air museum














me feeding danish ducks















snapping pictures in sweden


















at an outdoor cafe by the park, looking like i am trying to whistle

more of copenhagen

The last few weeks have been filled with group work, and lots of it. The second one-week class that I have been taking is Managing Communication and Political Processes. I do not know what that title means, but what the class talked about was how a company tells everyone (customers, investors, government, etc.) what they are all about. What methods they use, what mediums, etc. It also has to do with Corporate and Social Responsibility and how this aspect of business is now becoming important. It was a fairly interesting class, as I had very little prior knowledge on the subject. And speaking of no prior knowledge, my next two classes (starting on May 22nd) will be 1) Doing business in China and Japan and 2) Mergers and Acquisitions. They will be in the same, intensive format. I am particularly interested in the business in Asia class as that seems like it will be fairly relevant for the better part of my life.

So groupwork. In both classes I have had small groups (3 in one class, 5 in the other) and our grade is solely determined on group projects. That said, everyone is fairly keen on doing whatever they can to get a good grade. As I wrote in a prior email to my friend Beth, it seems to me that when otherwise normal people get put into small groups and are told to do a project, they all go completely crazy (me included). Discussing and laboring on about fairly small points, that will have no real impact on our grade, seems to be our particular specialty. If this were a club, sometimes I feel as if I would be the president. At times it is fairly comical, especially when there is a miscommunication. That said, everyone in my small groups are nice people and are bright and articulate, there is just something about small groups with people who have strong opinions that bring on situations that will be nothing if not memorable.

As a side note (and not a super relevant one at that), there is a phrase that I think about almost every day when we are meeting in our groups and have no intention of using, but can not help but think someone in some group somewhere should use.

In my little daydream scenario, after furiously driving home a point that is not liked by the other members of the group, but is obviously so good and profound that it must be used, the person simply breaks the following news to them while making intense eye contact:

"That's why it's not called showfriends, group,........... that is why it is called showbusiness."

Perhaps it is lapses in paying attention, just like this, that cause some of the miscommunications stated above.

On with more stuff I actually have been doing.

The weather has been really great the past 2 weeks and I have tried to take advantage of it and get out and see some of the city. I went to the National Museum in Copenhagen with my friend Shell and 3 of her friends to see some Danish artwork. Also, there was an exhibit by Rembrandt there which was cool only for the fact that he is an artist that I have heard of.

I also visited 2 museums on modern art (one in Louisiana, Denmark and one in Lundt, Sweden) and they were really very cool. I did not know what to expect from modern art as the only galleries I had ever been up to that point had fairly old paintings, sculptures, exhibits, etc. In them. I really found I liked them and had a good time in both. Denmark is known for its design, and this really was on display in almost everything in these museums (including the actual museum itself).

I also went to a local football match between two teams, FC København and Brøndby, that have a long history. I went to the stadium and bought a ticket outside and had a good time listening to the fans sing constantly for the entire time I was at the stadium. They were cheering and chanting and supporting their side, and I had no idea what they were talking about because it was all iDanishsh.

I have also spent a lot of time looking for internships, researching dissertation topics, planning a few trips and watching movies. I do not have a TV so movies have been a big source of my entertainment.

This next week sees one of my friends from Edinburgh, Evan, come into town for a few days and I will be getting ready for my upcoming classes. Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks. My computer is not working right now so I do not have access to a lot of the museum pics, but I will try to put up a couple of interesting ones when I get back up and going.

I also have a beard again.

copenhagen, swansea & london

I live in Denmark.

This has been the case for about 4 weeks now, and I am back and going again with school. Through my program at Edinburgh, I do an exchange with another business school (we have 8 from which to choose) and I chose to come to Copenhagen. I knew little about the city except for it was in Scandinavia, I heard it was clean, people were apparently good looking, and they had a well thought of business school. Most of those things have turned out to be true, and here are a few more things that I have learned since coming (in no particular order):

The city is beautiful. If I knew more about architecture, I wouldn't be reduced to describe it "the pretty building city", but alas.

People speak wonderful English here, but there is not much written English so this makes getting around more difficult than I thought.

Danish is (for me) a very difficult language to understand. And by understand, I do not mean that I am learning the language, I mean that I can not pronounce words or understand what people are saying. Analogy: Please : English as Vil du være så venlig at : Danish

It has gotten better, but a linguist I am not. As wild as it may seem, I am considered the one with the exotic accent.

They have amazing baked good here. I felt compelled to capture this on film.

pastries

More to come later, but those are a few.

So far my class has been nice as well. I will be here for approximately 3 months taking electives at Copenhagen Business School. My class size is a bit smaller (about 35) and the structure of the courses are different. They are intense one week classes that run from 9-5 for 5 days. Right now I am in Change Management and we will have 5 days of only Change Management and then will be tested on the subject matter. I have liked this so far because it allows me to only focus on one thing and put all of my energy into it. Being spread a little thin is a murmur you might hear from some students so this does help with that.

Here are a few pictures of the city.

downtown

colorful house close to christiana

the no cars shopping district

me at christiania - a place with literally no rules

As I had posted earlier, I played on a team from Scotland that had a tournament over the week of April 10th. It was a good time and was fairly cool for me to be flying into a city to play basketball. This, however, is where thextravagancece stopped. It was a lot of late nights in the dorm room / much cafeteria food / pints at the student pub / washing our own clothes type of atmosphere for the 4 days.

We played Northern Ireland in the first game and won by 15.

Secondly, we played against the host team from Wales and gave them a Scottiswallopingng of 36 points.

The last game (and, as many people told me, always the most important) was played against the English. Since its inception in 1993, the British University Games (what I was playing in) has always been won by England in Men's Basketball. Well I just have one thing to say to those English guys that thought they could waltz right and beat the boys from up north...

Good game.

We got 2nd place.

To chronicle this event as accurately as possible, I must disclose that yours truly was humbled a bit by his playing time. "A spark off the bench" is what I like to think of myself as. Unfortunately, sometimes the coach just thought of me as "that guy who looks in place on the bench." We had a good coach, by the name of Iain MaClean, that did get all of the guys very motivated. He is somewhat of a Scottish basketball legend.

Here are a few fairly poor pictures of my time there.

the team

the gym

me getting acupuncture on my (very curvey) foot

me and mike (the other american on the team) after a win over wales

callum stewart - our center, and possibly part of the tallest twin duo in scotland - six foot 8 - in a women's netball uniform.

I capped off my time back in the UK by visiting my friend Anthony in London. Anthony, his wife Maxine, two small daughters Mackenzie (2) and Emerson (1), and I enjoyed a couple of beautiful days in London going to few favorite pubs and restaurants of Anthony and Max (which included The Roundhouse in Covent Garden), seeing some sights, and watching a fair amount of a guy called Captain Feathersword from the Wiggles. I didn't know who this guy was, but here is a bit about him from the Wiggles website:

"Captain Feathersword is a friendly pirate who has a feather for a sword, which he uses to tickle everyone. He is a jovial character that loves to cook, dance and sing with his crew on his sailing ship "The Good Ship Feathersword."

Sounds like a heck of a guy

Well, if that doesn't make you never come back here again, I don't know what will.

Here are a few pictures from London.

sunny day in london

anthony, emerson (colorful beret) and mackenzie (with shades) at a market

london eye

fresh fruit and veg

a look at london from just south of the thames

captain feathersword

pics of edinburgh friends

Here, in no particular order, are some pictures of some of the friends I have made in Edinburgh. I wanted to get some of them up before I moved on to my Copenhagen post.

I will try to name names and specify countries. I can only guarantee on thing.....I will misspell names.

Hope you like them





jim (us) talking about football to anthony (canadian/irish/hong kong mut) and ian (scotland) at shadi's party










ian and shadi (uk via iran)




















ben (us) and ana (mexico)














brian (us) and anthony biking in the mud













me and my beard trying to make madhu (india) laugh













hamutal (israel) sidling up to the villager bar - one of our favorite haunts

















teambuilding exercise at a weekend in the highlands with trish (ireland) adrian the thunderfoot (ireland) anerban (india) annabell (germany) summit (india) shahed (bangladesh) matt (us) and me
















this is in the common room of my flat with pei (china), mei (china) and zoey (china)













a family friday dinner with merle and romy (both from south africa)













a party at ana and shalu's place with jay (canada) sporting an afro wig -- as you do -- and martin (england) wearing a cool hat....a reason for dance if ever there was one













more dancing led by summit













stretching before thursday football with justin (us) anthony and makis (greece) and an unknown leg













summit (india) and mariela (costa rica) surveying the scene at the opal lounge dance club












the finance guys trying to figure out something led by jay, jim (us) anthony and evan (canada)












anne (holland) dancing with rania (egypt) at the opal lounge on the last night in town












hiro (japan), shell (china and also in my exchange in copenhagen), annabell, saify (india), helga (iceland) and marc (spain) mugging at shadi's shindig












me and ian showing pearly whites


















nadia (barbados), aneela (trinidad), rania and brian somewhere doing something probably












anthony and laura (scotland) at one of shadi's many parties


















shadhed in the coolest t-shirt i have seen in a long time


















jay and marieke (holland) dancing at pivo bar


















justin and nick (england) drinking beer














machiko (japan), girgios and laura (us) all wearing red shirts









Hooray for friends!

flatmate night out

It has been a busy last couple of weeks for me. They have been filled with finals (the past two weeks I have had 4), doing things that are fun before you go (eating at favorite restaurants, going out with friends, parties, talks, pictures, etc.) and doing things that are not fun before you go (laundry, packing, getting things sorted in Copenhagen, changing addresses, etc.) but undoubtedly a highlight was the 10/6 Brighton Street Flatmate Night out.

10/6 Brighton Street is inhabited by Mei Wong (the room to my right), Hamutal Meridor (room to my left) and me. In my 7 months here, we have been talking about going out on the town together and never had gotten around to it, until the other day. Just a couple of quick points about the flat dynamics that might make you feel like you know how things run around here a little bit better:

• Mei feeds us (and by us, I mainly mean me....because I am usually quite hungry) a lot
• Hamutal provides the wonderful smell of fresh coffee in the morning
• I provide, what I think is witty banter....which is much of the time met with blank stares
• I like scaring Mei. A lot. I think it is funny
• Mei does not like me scaring her. At all. She thinks it is dumb
• Hamutal is my source for new music and good movies - many of which we see
• I am generally the source of odd smells and inappropriate comments...but they let me slide
• They both take care of me
• They never cease to brighten my day
• I enjoy coming back to my flat because of them
• I will miss them a lot

That said, here are a couple of pictures from our night out and our time together.

mei (left) and hamutal (right)

mei and me having a confusing drink

a pat on the chin from hamutal

a pose for chinese new year

out for a laugh

mei looks pretty and i look like a car thief

me, avishai (hamutal's brother) and hamutal at a jazz club