We Are Marquette!

In the end, it seems as if Bob Wild was too much for me to stay away for more than six months, so I am returning to Marquette University for my senior year. Syddansk Universitet had its perks (like not doing anything for the entire semester), but I do value my MU education.

One final trip, to Amsterdam, and I'll be home. Have I made the right decision to come back?

American English

I came across this little worksheet stuck in a bush in front of the elementary school right outside my flat. I guess this explains why all the Danes speak English so well... they learn it starting right in elementary school from this handy little "American English" work book. With only 5.5 million Danes, they are forced to be bilingual, which would be an understatement considering most of them also speak Swedish and/or German (which are not as similar as I was lent to believe.) In high school, they choose another language to take another four years of (mainly French or Spanish.) Danish, German, English, Spanish, French, Swedish, German... I don't know how they keep them all straight, but then again, I am a student of the American education system.

I'm Learnding

Nothing much to report here, as I have reported back to the school world. Back on the MU front, I have received notice of what credits I will get from being here: MANA181, ECON156, ENTP151, FINA181, BULA127. This leaves me with 24 credits left to take once/if I return to Marquette, which means I should be able to coast my way into the real world. I have really begun to value my American education, because the schooling is not nearly as grueling and rewarding in Denmark. It is painful to realize how much we really cover back home compared to the depth here. I can see why there are so many international students in the US, as the education received there really is better ($24,000 vs. free better... that is debatable). You do get what you pay for. That being said, one would be stupid not to take advantage of going abroad for a semester to learn about themselves and the rest of the world.

Teacher of the Month: February

The teacher of the Month for February: Esben Holstein. Not only is his accent hilarious, his mannerisms are priceless. Kind of like a lanky, jovial Mr. Bean, he manages to keep Finance and Investment somewhat interesting (considering I've already taken this at MU.) As a matter of luck, I also have Esben for EU Integration on the same day. He has done an excelent job in explaining the EU to an outsider of the Union, and as a side note, not many people actually understand the EU, citizens included.

One interesting and slightly annoying thing about the educational system here in Denmark, is the informal setting in the classroom. I never thought I would say this, but I prefer a professor to lecture and ask questions of the students, not the other way around. All of the Danish students address the professor by their first name, and interrupt them whenever they feel they have something to say (which seems to happen a lot.) It is impossible to establish any kind of flow when the students just start talking all the time with something they think is important. I guess the raise-your-hand-till-your-arm-goes-numb-
switching-arm-to-arm-leaning-on-desk-
shouting-pick-me-pick-me strategy really does work!

Post Script: The attached video is hilarious. All Facebook readers follow this link for the full effect of this post.

Setteling in...

So you have probably noticed that things have slowed down a bit... this is by no means an indicator of the level of fun/learning going on, just a little laziness on my part.
I just spoke to my adviser back at Marquette and have found out that I don't have to take two of the courses listed on my schedule, so I'm pretty excited about that. The course on Law has been very interesting, because a)I've never had a Law course before and b)it is interesting to learn about law outside of the sue-happy-states-of-america. The professor often makes little jokes about American law, and we're the only two that laugh. I also had to settle a class wide debate on the meaning of the word "indications," which I'm sure won't be the last time this happens. On the social front, we attended a high school party last night at "What about Bob's," and I'd say the future of Denmark is in good hands. I was wondering why every time I walked past the building labeled "gymnasium," there were bells ringing and beautiful girls everywhere with backpacks, but I learned that "gymnasium" means High School in Danish. Another Danish word I have learned is "Moin", which is in fact not Danish at all, but German. Since we are so close to the German border, people say "moin" when they meet, and "moin moin" when they part. These two words, plus "Skoal" and "Tak" will be a good base for my Danish language course which starts in a few weeks!

I'm from Holland. Isn't that vierd?

Today was the first Tuesday of classes, with a four hour block of Danish Law in the afternoon. The Prof is a Danish lawyer with a specialty in foreign corporate disputes, which are very interesting considering many countries in the EU have very different policies regarding trademarks and such. The professor singled me out a few times as the only native English speaker to help describe law terms in a better way, which was kinda vierd. Speaking of vierd, I met a chap from Holland while playing pool this afternoon, and boy did Mike Meyers nail the stereotype in "Austin Powers: Goldmember." Not only did he say "vierd," but he laughed and acted exactly like in the movie. It'll be nice to ask him questions about Amsterdam before I go for a weekend excursion to the land of Windmills.

International Everything

The good news is that 8:00 classes don't exist in Denmark. The bad news is that they have 8:15 classes. I start every week with Monday, 8:15 International Finance. The professor spent the first 30 minutes of class explaining why he uses an American text book and how he prefers the American style of writing textbooks. "American texts are much less booooring" (insert thick Danish.) I finish Mondays with a course entitled "Economics of International Integration," which is basically an European Union History/Law course. This course is going to be awesome, because in the US, we are taught absoutly nothing about the EU, so I am looking forward to learning more about trade and policy in this huge organization. Today's Lesson:

Year	History of European Union membership	No.
1957	Belgium France West Germany Italy Luxembourg Netherlands	6
1973	Denmark Ireland United Kingdom	9
1981	Greece	10
1986	Portugal Spain	12
1995	Austria Finland Sweden	15
2004	Cyprus Czech Republic Estonia Hungary Latvia Lithuania Malta Poland Slovakia Slovenia	25
2007	Bulgaria Romania	27

Yes, in the Library!

Orientation Day
New exchange students for this semester:
8 Spaniards
3 Frenchmen/women
4 Germans
2 Mexicans
1 me

Add to this the fact that there about a million other exchange full degree students here, and it makes for an awesome atmosphere. There are so many international students that I think they outnumber the Danes at the school. The interesting thing about it is that when speaking to each other, they speak in their native tongue, but English is the common language when there are two or more languages represented. My four years of high school Spanish are surprisingly helpful, and I'm sure in a few weeks I'll have "remastered" my Spanish.

The tour of the university ended at the library, at which time we were asked to enjoy a drink in the basement of the library. I assumed coffee... enough with the assumptions. No, there is a fully stocked bar in the basement of the library. The student cafe, is basically a discotek in the basement of the library open "from 12:00." No closing time, just from 12:00.

On that note, I have class tomorrow at 10:00, so I'd better go...

Class/Travel Schedule

Well... details are starting to trickle in from Denmark. Since I'm the first (and only) Marquette student to study in Denmark, nobody really knows what is going on. I've always loved an adventure, so this experience shouldn't disappoint.

My schedule came in, and I think I can work with it (see picture.) No classes on Friday! Jensen, Sibbernsen, Jessen, Larsen, Thaysen, Jensen... everything "sen"

When I return, call me Allensen.

A word from the "Intro Team"

A friendly note from the Intro Team in Sonderborg ^