Field Studies and Danish Family

Since returning to Copenhagen from Germany I have been swamped with midterms, field studies, projects, and case studies. At DIS they incorporate classroom learning with out-of-class 'field studies.' I'm taking a course called Creative Industries- which looks into Business, Innovation, Politics & Culture (hands down my most interesting and favorite class). The professor is very connected in the creative industries as he has been with Roskilde Festival (large European Music festival) since 1994, the Senior Consultant in Ramboll Management's Centre for Experience Economy and with VEGA House of Music since 2001. Which leads me to the field study we had this past Thursday October 2nd at VEGA House of Music. Since Rasmus (our professor) is on the board of directors, he got us all into the Concert Hall/Night Club because we are studying the experience economy. That night at VEGA, a band from Belgium,Deus, was performing in VEGA's large concert hall. We arrived early and got a behind the scenes tour of the concert hall/night club and had a presentation by their marketing manager about their current strategy (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). I definitely learned a lot about how the night club/concert business works. After the presentation we were escorted into the concert and got to 'experience' a Belgium rock band. It wasn't my type of music, but I still had a great time, as did the whole class. To make the evening even better, DIS bought us drinks in order for us to truly 'experience' VEGA house of music.

 

Vega: Belgium Band Deus

Vega: Balcony - notice the nice Mahogany

This past Sunday, I spent the whole day with my Danish Family. Their names are Jette, Steen, Christoffer and Rebecca. They live about 20 minutes north of the city in a small suburb of Copenhagen. This was my fourth meeting with the family. This past Sunday we had traditional Danish open-faced sandwiches for lunch at their house. We then went to Steen's handball match (see pictures) after lunch and cheered him on (his team won!). We were going to do some sight-seeing but unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs! So, we headed back to their house and watched a few episodes of Friends (this family loves Friends! - I think that the children have watched all 10 seasons about 5 or 6 times!). After watching Friends, the sun came out and Christoffer and Rebecca taught me how to do a front-flip on their trampoline. After jumping around we headed in for a fantastic roast dinner! Having this family to hangout with and learn Danish culture from has truly been essential to my time spent here in Copenhagen.

Steen's Handball Match

Steen's Handball Match

I had another field study yesterday (Wednesday) for my International Finance class. We visited the Danish National Bank for a presentation on Danish Monetary Policy and how they are dealing with their very own 'Mortgage Crisis'. It was great getting first hand information from a central banker and we were even allowed to pick up a real gold bar!

Outside of the bank (beautiful granite)

Inside (so sexy)

Well, I just finished my last midterm today (Thursday 10/9) and I leave for London/Brussels on Sunday. London/Brussels is a week-long study tour with my European Business Strategy class where we will be visiting numerous institutions including: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Actics.com, Clownfish Marketing, Transportation for London, Belgacom, EU Parliament and Brewers of Europe. As well as visits to London's East End, Spamalot at the Palace Theater, The Tate Modern, and other sight seeing. We return to Copenhagen on the 18th of October and then I leave on the 19th of October for a week long trip to Russia. We will be visiting the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Moscow we will be paired up with Russian students to cook dinner and discuss current Russian issues with. I will be arriving back in Copenhagen on the 25th of October where Matt (my brother) will be waiting in the airport and our Eastern European Adventure will commence! We will be traveling to Berlin, Prague & Vienna. So, as you can see the next month of my life will be very BUSY! It is weird that I won't be back in class until November 3rd! I will do my best to keep blog updates throughout the next 3 weeks, but no promises! If you need to get in contact with me, email is your best bet, as I will check it periodically.

Recap:

Oct 12-18: London/Brussels

Oct 19-25: Russia

Oct 25- Nov 2: Berlin/Prague/Vienna with Matt

Oh and one more thing -- I did my civic duty today and VOTED! you should do it too!

*The 2 pictures from the Danish National Bank are taken from their website: http://www.nationalbanken.dk