The weekend of February 5th to 7th (a thursday through saturday) we went on our short study tour. I am in the International Business & Economics program.
For our short study tour we visited western Denmark.
My class actually began our business company visits on Wednesday, February 4th. Here at DIS no one has class on Wednesday to allow time for all kinds of field trips. For our first visit we went to Genzyme. It is an American pharmaceutical company that has a major office here in Copenhagen. What was interesting about this company was that their CEO is Dutch, so they have a very globally focused business plan. We were given a presentation on the inner workings of the business, some of their business strategies, their HR policies, and they even went into some of the science of their pharmaceuticals and the new treatments they are developing such as growing cartilage to use in major knee injuries. It was all very interesting. They also provided us with lunch. After lunch we were taken to one of their production facilities to see where they manufacture their products.
The next morning we all had to meet at Frue Plads, a square near the DIS building, at 7 am. This was still early in the season so it was still totally dark when we left our dorm. And to make things even less fun that morning, it was snowing. Oh well, it is all a part of the experience I guess. Anyway, we got on our bus around 7:30. The bus was great because we had a large Greyhound type bus and only about 30 people so we each had a row to ourselves.
We drove straight to our next company visit, Industrial Symbiosis, in Kalunborg. This is actually a group of businesses including a water treatment plant, a power plant, a recycling plant, and a pharmaceutical company that are in cooperation with each other. Their goal is to use wastes products of one company as another company's raw materials. This was a really interesting concept but unfortunately their presentations were almost entirely science based and they mentioned very little about their business strategies. After the presentations, we were given tours of the insulin production plant an the waste water treatment plant.
After the company visit we continued on to visit a gymnasium. Now this isn't a gym like you are picturing. In Denmark, a gymnasium is kind of like high school. The Danish school system is actually very confusing to me and I haven't totally grasped it yet. School is only mandatory through 9th grade. 10th grade is optional. Then you can continue onto either a gymnasium or an efterschool (after school). There is a lot more choice and less clear structure to this system.
Anyway, we met with some of the students, did some ice breakers and they took us on a tour of the town of Kalunborg. When we got back to the school after our tours, some of the students in the theatre program performed 2 songs from Rent for us. They were staging Rent the following week and wanted to practice in front of an audience. That was really cool for me because number 1 I love theatre and have done it and number 2 they sang the songs in Danish so that was a fun and different experience.
Then we went to our hostel, got settled in and had dinner.
That night we all went to a pub that some of the students suggested to us and several of them actually joined us which was a lot of fun.
Friday morning after breakfast we got back on the bus and drove about an hour to the ferry which we took to Århus, the second largest city in Denmark. Århus is located on Jutland, the mainland part of Denmark. The freey was amazing. We had a buffet lunch and it was delicious. There was so many types of salads, bread, cheese, hot dishes, soup and dessert that we didn't know where to begin and we wanted to keep eating even after we were full. The ferry took about an hour so it was just the right amount of time to sit, relax and have a nice lunch.
When we got off the ferry we drove another hour to our final company visit, Pressalit. Pressalit is a toilet seat manufacturer. Now I know this sounds weird and slightly ridiculous but this visit was actually the most fun. The presenters were clear, concise and to the point and really explained how their business works. They also gave us fabulous coffee table books of all of their designer toilet seats. Every year they have an art exhibit of toilet seats that are eye catching but mostly not functional. This is meant to get the brand name out there. A few years ago they actually designed a toilet seat for Madonna. One of her dressing room requests when she plays a show is that she has a brand new toilet seat, at every venue so when she played in Denmark, Pressalit designed a disco ball toilet seat. She actually liked it so much that she took it home with her!
After the presentations we were given a tour of the factory. It was so interesting. A lot of the production had been automated and they actually use robotic arms to sand and test the edges of the toilet seats. I have never seen so many toilet seats in one place in my entire life and probably never will.
Pressalit also manufactures specialized bathrooms for the elderly and handicapped.
We had Friday night free in Århus. I went to an italian restaurant with my friend Alessandra and 2 boys from our class. It was delicious! And the best part was that the handicapped bathroom was Pressalit brand! Who knew I would get so excited about bathrooms.
After dinner we found a fun bar. Then we went to a club down the street that was free admission for students all night. That was a lot of fun.
Saturday morning after breakfast we visited the ARoS museum. This was actually what I was most looking forward to seeing on this trip. It is a contemporary art museum and is home to the famous sculpture "Boy". This sculpture is of a young boy, about 10 years old, but it is I believe 10x the scale. The amazing part is that it is entirely anatomically correct, down to veins in his feet and wrinkles on his elbow. It was amazing.
There was also an installation of 300 blinking light bulbs. We learned that these light bulbs we connected to a set of metal handles. When you grip the handles it registers your pulse and the first light bulb blinks at that rate. When the next person does it their pulse is in light bulb 1 and your pulse moves to lightbulb 2. It was beautiful. The message was about how we think we are different but really we are all just pulsing heartbeats, the same on the inside.
After the museum we had a fantastic lunch at a restaurant called Globben Flakket.
Then we did a DISorientation scavenger hunt throughout the city. We were all tired and not really excited about this but once we recieved the instructions we perked up and actually got really into it. The scavenger hunt required us to navigate the city, looking for landmarks, taking pictures of typically Danish things from a list we were given and asking Danes cultural questions. It was actually a lot of fun. When we were finished we all met at a cafe for some hot chocolate.
Then we got back on the bus for our 4 hour drive back to Copenhagen. Most of us slept during the first half of the bus rife. Then our teacher put on a Danish movie. It was called After the Wedding. It was so good but I don't know how it ends because we got back before it was over. I am now on a hunt for the movie so I can see the end.
One funny thing was that when we got back to copenhagen we all felt like we were home. That was a great feeling.
No comments:
Post a Comment