September 12–18, 2007, Number 159
People are People are People
I’m standing in front of the Danish Stock Exchange. Click on the photo to view the building design. Danish architecture is beautiful. It’s evident on the buildings and in the parks. No Danish park or building is complete without a statue.
I am finding out that this statement is true no matter where in the world you come from. Let me explain. The program that I am taking part of here in Denmark is called EPS (European Project Semester) and incorporates 62 students from around the globe. These students will each be a part of a four-to-five person team. Their mission is to solve industry problems. Most of the students come from Germany, France, Poland, and Spain. Yet others come from as far away as Brazil, Japan, and myself as the lonely student from the U.S. We all have something in common, and that is that we are different. We look different, we dress different, we talk different, and we communicate different, or do we? Although we all speak different mother tongues, there is still an effective “human nature” way to communicate.
This magical language is the one of the body. Facial expressions, tones, hand gestures, are all understood from one group of people to another. If you eat something and scrunch up your face, people understand it tastes bad. If you smile and wave, people understand you are excited to see them. Never before has it been so obvious to me that as humans we are engrained with the same things. Age has no effect on this phenomenon. I can communicate nonverbally as effective with my fellow students as I can with my host little brother who speaks little English.
After one week in Copenhagen I have observed many things, but this has been the most interesting. I realize that I have not discovered an amazing new communication concept, but rather this is one thing that my wool laden eyes have been opened up to. Ultimately I am very excited to see these new things. This is exactly why I desired to study abroad. To learn things in a way that I can’t learn by reading a book, or listening to what other people have to say about it. I want to learn things by actually living them. It is my belief that you will understand ideas, and teachings with much greater capacity by actually doing them, as opposed to just studying them. This is one of the biggest reasons that I am now a full fledged supporter of studying abroad. OK, now that my psychological mind dump is over, time to share some of the great experiences I have been living here in Copenhagen.
Denmark loves football. This photo was taken at the F.C. Kobenhavn football match.
Football (soccer) is king! Everybody plays football, everybody watches football, everybody likes football, and all this hype breeds a very exciting football atmosphere. This week I have been to three football fights (games). My host little brother, Lasse, (pronounced lasa) had a match in the 10-year-old league on Tuesday. The town where I live, Skovlunde, has an adult team that played on Saturday. The league level that they play in is similar to that of Triple-A Baseball in the U.S.
Denmark Trivia
Then today I attended my first professional football match, F.C. Kobenhavn (Football Club Copenhagen). Each level of play provided a successively greater entertainment value. The excitement and passion that the fans bring to the games is amazing, and is almost greater to watch than the actual game itself.
Biking is also king! Everybody bikes. This is strongly encouraged by the 300 percent tax that is paid to purchase an automobile. I have to do some learning in the category of biking etiquette. You need lights, hand signals, bells, and mud flaps. Biking for necessity is mentally much different than biking for fun in the U.S.
The food in Denmark, although different, is very good. They use much the same ingredients as in the U.S. There are no harshly different meat types or spices used either. In the end my body is still able to produce solids, so that has to count for something. I have worked it out with my host family to eat dinner with them each night. I am excited about this because 1) I don’t have to cook, and 2) it provides an intimate look into the culture of a Danish family. I am finding out that Danish family culture is not all that different from the U.S. Danish families value many of the same things that my family values, including togetherness, involvement in extra-curricular activities, education and new experiences. New experiences include new languages, which universally mean speaking English. This has made me quite the hot commodity with my family, community, and classmates. I have already proofread some of the neighborhood kids English papers, as well as landed a job tutoring a family friend’s high school aged son. At school I am automatically given any speaking job that has to be done, and also have been nominated to write the 150-page paper that needs to be handed in at the end of the semester to obtain credit for this semester. The attention is appreciated in a world where I sometimes feel left out. Even though my fellow schoolmates, and many of the Danes speak English, there is a never-ending barrage of noise that I do not understand going on around me at all times. It is so nice to communicate with my loved ones in the U.S. to whom I can speak freely of my language barrier frustrations. Communication with them has been fairly easy since I found out about a communication program known as Skype. I would greatly encourage you to look into this efficient way of communication. It allows the use of webcams, and microphones to basically hold a video conversation with anyone, anywhere in the world for FREE! It has proven very effective thus far.
These photos are from my school. Don’t worry about trying to read or say the name above the door. I can’t pronounce it yet! Clockwise, the next photo is of an “ice breaker” exercise we did in class. Below is the school library with an impressive rotunda.
As far as school actually goes, we have been doing a series of “ice breakers” and group building exercises all week. We have also received a brief introduction to our project, which involves a vehicle that can drive in two modes. The vehicle can drive on a regular road surface and on a track, like a train, to help with traffic congestion problems. Here is a link to the website if you are interested in more information www.ruf.dk. We have only had one short meeting with our advisor about the project. I am sure that as the semester gets going, I will be able to write more about the actual project that I will be working on.
Welp, I think that will about do it for this week’s rendition of a Michigan Tech student abroad. I hope you will tune in next week for another exciting installment of my life. But before I conclude I would like to teach and share with you a popular Danish phrase I am getting some use out of. “Tok fer mel mua,” translated means “Thanks for dinner, mom.”
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From Denmark with Love,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885