vesterdanmark

Okay, so I know that the date says it is the 21st, but let us rewind back to the 12th of September, when I wrote most of this entry, after a 3-day excursion to western Denmark.

Before I start, let me explain to you real quick the concept of the core course and the study tours. At my program, the only academic requirement (apart from number of hours) is that you enroll in a core course, determining your academic program – my core course is Psychology of Happiness and therefore, I am in the psychology program. Each program goes on a short study tour of 3 days and a longer study tour of 7 days, exploring sites that relate to our class, using Europe as our playground. From September 10-12, everyone had a short study tour to attend! If these three days could be broken down to a theme of one or a few words, “exploring happiness” would do, but in practice, it was more like “embrace your inner child.” I LOVED it.

Don’t think that I spent my whole trip exploring and bonding with fellow classmates, because we did attend a couple of lectures to supplement the fun. It was fine, of course, and arguably essential in tying everything together. So what was little kid activity number one? Painting with acrylic, something I haven’t done in years. We were asked to paint what happiness means to us, and then our whole class put their paintings together to create a mural (see previous entry on happiness for photo documentation). Accounts of the rest of the weekend’s childlike experiences are sprinkled throughout my entry.

Danish countryside
Reflecting on happiness
Be simple, be free

I would now like to outline the 3 main sites we visited, and share with you my thoughts:

1) “Kaos Pilots” – focusing on character strengths to run a business school

Our first day at KaosPilots, an innovative business school, was incredibly neat. It made me think a lot about my future and whether or not I can see myself living here. A certain part of me will always live in this area of the world, and it is so delightful when those deep childhood moments rush to me; sometimes the homey feelings are evoked by nature, picnics and summertime, or something totally out of the blue. (This trip falls into the rando category.) All I know is that I certainly want to have some connections and/or excuses to come up to Sweden/Scandinavia for the rest of my life. (Husband maybe? ;) At the very least I will have my extended family!)

What I appreciated about the school were all the things that, at least on the surface, go against what American schools and culture push – rushing through, making money, climbing to the top, and putting work first. The school really focused on their students as individual persons who need to explore themselves, go with the flow, take risks, be creative, and make significant change (significant not only to others, but also to themselves). In the US, KaosPilots would be seen as very liberal, hippy, and even hokey. Not that there aren’t skeptics who live here as well.

I liked their holistic take on leadership, too – not only are there many types of leaders, but a person is a leader on many different levels – first and foremost, for themselves, at their work, and on higher levels – for their country or for the rest of the world. The idea is that you start small and simply, recognizing what it is inside you that makes you tick, makes you glow, makes you angry, and makes you alive. That energy lives inside everyone and can be channeled to create social changes in a community, a government, or anywhere in the world. The students, for either six months or a year, are required to spend time in another country working on projects in another cultural context. Other things the school stress from the beginning are experiential learning and hands-on, real-world projects. Not saying that this school would be for me or right now, but I certainly agree with a lot of the philosophies. I could see some people I know and love really flourishing there, and it will be interesting if the school arrives again in my future. (It’s taught in English, btw.)

If you are interested in reading more about the school: www.kaospilots.dk

Here are a couple of pictures that I feel really captured my visit there:



The colorful faces of all students, past and present



“I love error” written on the graffitied building of the school

2) Danfoss Universe – where learning is fun!

The visit to Danfoss Universe, an “experience” park, was also fantastic. I rode a Segway for the first time! It reminded me very much of a larger, mostly outdoor Science Spectrum…Lubbock, anyone? There was a building that allowed people to explore their different intelligences or strengths, based on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences – the psychological tie. Some categories include musical, visuo-spatial, intrapersonal, logical, etc. Loved it.

I found it interesting to learn that the park had been founded by the owner of a science and technology company in hopes of evoking math and science interest in young Danes. Without the opportunity to take apart a clock, for example, and put it back together, children growing up today can figure out how things work and get excited about science at said venue. At least this is the idea; it’s only been open since 2005.

There were also trampolines, centers teaching physics principles, bikes that are powered by a water motor to life you off of the ground, a real life glacier you could walk through, a life-sized geyser, Bob-the-Builder trucks and machines, and more. The target audience was probably ten years old, but naturally there was something for everyone.

http://uk.danfossuniverse.com/


Danfoss from the outside!


Cool science contraptions

Playing "mind games" in the room of intelligences

3) HCA-town (yo)

Thirdly, and least psychologically related, my class visited the town of Odense, where Hans Christian Anderson was born. We visited an art museum first, which had some lovely photography, mass media, and painting displays. Of course we had to visit the house where HCA was born, the accompanying museum about his life, and the Fyrtøjet, whose target audience was probably 7 years old.

At Fyrtøjet, my class saw a puppet show of the fairytale “Clumsy Hans”, a Cinderella-esque story about a princess who wants to find her husband. She invites all the young men in the land to meet her, and only Hans, with his less than classy appearance and lighthearted spirit, can win the princess’s heart through his creativity and wit. The most epic part though, was when we had the opportunity to dress up as HCA characters and to act out or create stories in life-sized houses. No boys chose to participate (way to cool for that), but they wouldn’t have been welcome anyway. Haha, just keeding.

A joyful HCA character

Elegant costumes from the museum

Joanna and I at Fyrtøjet

All decked out in our costumes - so awkward but so fun

In addition to visiting these main attractions, we had free time out in the towns, meals, and on one night, a campfire to enjoy. Both of the hostels we stayed in were incredibly clean and friendly, which was an added bonus. Summary – I had a good time!

Loves,
Kristina