What am I actually doing here?

Alright. So there was a request from my home institution for an entry on what in the actual what I'm doing in Denmark as far as academics go. So you're reading this. If you don't want to know what I'm doing here then stop doing that. I already have your page view and I'm superficial so that's all that really matters to me.



Okay, we're alone now. We got rid of all those pretenders. Now lean in, I'm going to share something with you that Miami doesn't want you to hear:

Now you're probably all like, "No grades what" but then I'd tell you, "Yes grades but Miami doesn't count them toward your GPA and doesn't even list them next to the course so you're golden so long as you pass and punctuation is for suckers".

One may assume, based on this information, that I am not really trying to hard over here, and instead just living it up in Europe. Well I'll have you know: You're right. But not how you think. See: not having to worry about grades takes much of the stress out of academics, and I feel like, for the first time, I'm going to class not with an objective of getting an "A", but simply just to take in as much information as I can. Those hippie-dippie-"we don't give grades, just experiences"-schools make a lot more sense to me now.

Thank you for reading this far, by the way. This post is already long, so let's keep the rest of my points to 19 words each.


Let me highlight for you my classes and how they relate back to my Environmental-Political... Envirolitical... Individualized Studies major. (19)

DANISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
Okay, bad example, this class doesn't relate to my major, but it's hella-interesting. NOTE: I'm terrible at Danish. (19)


DANISH POLITICS AND SOCIETY
I'm a political science minor, this is getting me credit. Denmark has eight parties, not three like the U.S. (19)


RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS
I'm learning all about implementation of wind, solar, biomass, etc. This is me hugging a wind turbine last week (19):

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
Implementation of sustainability into society via politics and economics. Sustainable Development is too complex to explain in nineteen words. (19)




Thank you, as always, for viewing this. It means more to me than you know. Hopefully it was enjoyable. (19)



Dictated, not read,

Tyler Elliott

Danishes in Denmark.

By now you've come to expect matters of pertinent substance from my posts, and continuing that tradition is of utmost importance to me and my blog. Now look at these pictures of the pastries I've consumed since arriving in Denmark:

That is all, thank you for your time.

Sweden.

My past three days (Feb. 9-11) were spent roaming the southernmost regions of Sweden with my Sustainable Development class of 21 students. I'll keep this short. Here's a breakdown:

Thursday, February 9, 2012:

Thursday we went to Malmö, oft considered Copenhagen's sister city. They're connected by a giant bridge. It wasn't a very picturesque city like I've come to expect from pretty much every single place on this continent; it more reminded me of Cleveland. Did you know I love Cleveland? Yeah, I'm pretty sure my whole first post was on that.

In Malmö we saw the Scandinavian Green Roof Institute, which was actually a white roof institute because we decided to go in February when it was -8ºC and snowy. I'd post pictures, but you'd actually just be looking at a photo of a roof with snow on it, so I won't.

Next we ate lunch at a restaurant called Salt & Brygga. It was voted the most organic dining location in the world. Don't ask me by who, I'm just really trusting that the owner was not lying to us.

Later in the day we toured the region on our bus and observed the 2nd largest photovoltaic cell in the country, located on top of a maternity hospital. I will show you a picture of that. Here is a picture of that:

It's kind of like a visor for the building. Like what your Dad would wear when you visited Disney Land in 1997. Visors are in this season.

Friday, February 10, 2012:

Friday we visited an after school center for preschool kids that was focused on perma-culture, sustainable farming, and pretty much everything else that I'd want in a place that I'd want to send my children to. They recently installed a station to practice blacksmithery. That's a word, don't look it up.


They had lots of cats. This is a picture of me petting two cats:

So far my favorite European cats. I tried to implore to them what a distinct honor this title was. They seemed to get it.

Later we visited a biogas plant where we learned the town of Kristianstad only puts 1.5% of their waste into landfill, the rest going to biofertilizer and biofuel for cars and heating. The guy was super biased since he worked there, and more than anything he left me curious as to the negatives of the practice. There's gotta be some, I'm just sayin'. I won't bother with a picture of that. If you want illustrations then go read a Maurice Sendak story. Christ. (I recommend Where the Wild Things Are).


That night we visited Bäckaskog Slott, a castle, where we went on a ghost tour and had dinner. Here is a picture of my dessert. Yeah, I know, the Maurice Sendak thing from literally three lines up, but it was really delicious, okay?:

But seriously, Maurice Sendak is great.

Saturday, February 11, 2012:

Today we stood out in the -10ºC cold for a while and learned about how the city of Kristianstad was at the bottom of a lake basin because humans decided they needed more agricultural land to make vodka.

Then we went curling. This is me curling:

THAT IS ALL.

A Traveler's Guide to Copenhagen, As Interpreted By Someone Who'd Never Been Out of the U.S. till 13 Days Ago.

Alright. So, you're traveling to Denmark but you don't know a thing about the Danes. I'm here to help. Call me an expert, an authority, a specialist, whatever, but I know what I'm talking about. See: I've been not in the United States for nearly two weeks, so I'm pretty much what you'd regard as an aficionado on this kind of stuff. So, without further ado, I present to you:

The Danes

The Danes are kind people. They will give you one of their spare guitars if you engage them in conversation about being sad that you don't have a guitar for an entire semester abroad.

Danish people literally give you guitars.

Literally all of them smoke cigarettes. If you don't also, you're not going to fit in here. Note: I don't fit in here. Also, about 40% of them bike everyday. Like me at Miami. Like everyday. And everywhere. Everything is pretty much flatter than something really flat, making it easy to get around. They also smoke cigarettes while they bike.

This is typical on many streets, and it's also February.

Alcohol is pretty much part of every social function and/or meal after 4pm. Carlsberg Brewery, the 4th largest brewery in the world, is headquartered here. That's their joint.

So modest.

They are punctual people. Be on time or be scrutinized privately because they're too nice to scrutinize you publicly. One of the only rules I have with my host family (aside from water the plant in my room once a week and keep the window open five minutes a day) is "be home at 6pm for dinner, or tell us the day before if you won't be home for dinner the next day."

This is a picture of a clock symbolizing the importance of being on time.

Socially, the Danes don't interact. If someone is sitting you in on the bus, you don't say, "Pardon me, friend, but I need to get off here, would you excuse me." You instead rustle your bags as to passive-aggressively alert them that they need to vacate their seat so you can get up. My kind of people.

Also, you don't acknowledge strangers as you pass them on the sidewalks. Just keep looking forward.

Furthermore, there isn't a Danish word for please, and their word for "excuse me" is rarely used. I feel awkward when I accidentally let either phrase slip in English. Pretty much everyone speaks English, by the way. Except for bus drivers who usually just get angry if you approach them with questions regarding being lost/finding your way to anything familiar or recognizable.

Don't you dare say please to this man.

Well, there you have it. You're pretty much a Dane yourself now. Or at least you would be, like me, if you visited Denmark for almost a half of a month. Man, I'm so cultured. You're welcomed.

Till next time,

Tyler

Pretty much Danish

Copenhagen, Denmark Expert