Ikea in Denmark

Ikea is big here. All the furniture in our apartment is from Ikea and that's pretty standard. There are three Ikeas in the Copenhagen area. They are all located on the edge of the city, but they're still pretty accessible. The picture below shows some of the bike racks. Although there was parking, it was nothing like the huge lots at the American Ikeas. There were lots of people who had ridden bikes: it was hard to find a spot!

On Saturday, Ziyu and I were biking home and happened to be going by Ikea. Since we didn't have anything else planned, we decided to stop.
Overall, it was pretty similar to Ikea here. The biggest difference was that they sold appliances!

Ikea is supposed to have cargo bikes and bike trailers that you can borrow to take things home. I didn't see any on Saturday, but there are pictures here. There was a lot more space dedicated van/truck rentals than at an American Ikea, which makes sense considering how few Copenhageners own cars.

We did end our Ikea trip as any good trip to Ikea ends: with soft serve ice cream after check out. The ice cream was only 5 kroner (about 90 cents), which is way cheaper than anything you can buy here. 

Deer Park (Dyrehavn)

On Saturday, I did some exploring north of Copenhagen. One of the places we visited was the deer park, an 11 square kilometer forest populated with several thousand deer. The park was established about 350 years ago by one of the Danish kings. Originally, it was used for hunting. Now it's a big park with many features including a small amusement park and a golf course. It was a beautiful sunny day and many people were out having picnics, walking, and riding bikes and horses. 

The park has some really impressive old oak trees and we saw some herds of several hundred deer. Once it gets a little warmer and there are leaves on the trees, I want to go back to run and have a picnic.

Locking your bike in Denmark

In the US, we're always told to make sure you lock your bike to something. Bike racks are designed so that you can lock through the frame of your bike. Here, it's totally different: everyone just locks their bike to itself. The bike racks where you can lock through the frame take up a lot of space, so they aren't as realistic when there are so many bikes. This is a typical Danish bike rack:

Also, people park their bikes everywhere: there often isn't an actual rack to use.

The bike pictured above is like most Danish bikes and has a built in lock on the rear wheel. You use a key to lock and unlock it. The lock keeps the back wheel from moving which in turn prevents someone from riding away on your bike. However, you can still move the bike if you pick up the rear and walk with it, wheeling it from the front. There's also nothing to stop someone from picking up your bike.

There are some problems with people going down the street and loading bikes into a van. However, it also seems like there's a lot of less malicious bike theft: there is an attitude that if someone hasn't locked their bike and you need to get somewhere, you can "borrow" their bike. The problem is that those "borrowed" bikes then get left somewhere that the owner doesn't know and it ends up sitting and being abandoned.

Great Prayer Day

Tomorrow (Friday) is Great Prayer Day in Denmark, a national holiday. It is the fourth Friday after Easter and has been an official holiday since 1686. Historically, people would go to church, but now it's a three day weekend and a lot of people take advantage of it to go to their summer house or do some travelling.

The biggest tradition that remains for Great Prayer Day is eating hveder (pron. vel-uh), the buns pictured above. They're fluffy wheat rolls with cardamom. Historically, everything was closed for the holiday (now most stores are closed, but not everything), so bakers sold these on Thursday for people to heat up at home on Friday. However, I'm not sure why these were better for eating the next day than normal bread. Today, hveder are sold only during the week of Great Prayer Day. Although people eat them all week while they're available, the tradition is to eat them the night before Great Prayer Day (today) and also on Friday.

Danish Exams

Grades in Denmark are determined only by your exam. In theory, you could never come to class, never do other assignments, and cram all the reading in the days before the exam, and still get a top grade. Realistically, that wouldn't happen though. First, grades in Denmark are viewed in a fundamentally different way than Americans see them. We tend to think of grading as everyone starts with an A and they they go down from there. We think of grades as how far you are from the top. In Denmark, grades are seen more as working from the bottom up. Everyone starts with nothing and you achieve as much as you can. In the Danish system then, people are happier with lower scores than Americans because it shows how much you advanced, not how deficient you were from perfect.

I've mentioned the Danish grading scale before, but here's a refresher. The passing scores are 12, 10, 7, 4, and 2. Failing grades are 0 and -3. If you don't pass, you can take the exam again. If you don't think you'll do well, you can drop the course and take the exam in the next term. There are no consequences for this.

There are many types of exams. So far, I've had a six day take home and an oral exam. My third class will be a 72 hour take home. The oral exam was yesterday. Each student was scheduled for 20 minutes. I was supposed to give a five minute presentation and then they asked me questions for 10 minutes. I left the room and they the examiners called me back to give me my grade.

It's an interesting system because you end up talking to the people who went before and after you. You hear stories about how other students did earlier in the day and once you finish everyone wants to know what grade you got and which questions you were asked.

Also, they try to make the exam hygge, or cozy (I need to write a post just about hygge). To do this, the exam table always has a green table cloth and there are often candles at the exam. I didn't have candles yesterday, but there was a green table cloth. I can't say it felt particularly cozy, but it's a good idea any way.

Bike Drink Holder

There's a Swedish chain of stores, Tiger, which are sort of like Ikea meets a dollar store. They have a lot of cheap stuff with cool design. The inventory changes pretty regularly, so I like to look at what they have every few weeks. I was in a couple days ago and saw that they had bike-mounted drink holders for sale. I was in central Copenhagen and spotted someone who had installed one of them on their bike.

Train Ticket By Text Message

Last week when I went to Coloplast I didn't want to allow extra time to buy a train ticket, so I took advantage of an online ticket ordering system that the Danish trains have. You can buy your ticket online and get it texted to you. You just show your phone when they check for your ticket. It's a pretty cool idea and it was especially handy since I don't have a printer at home. I also appreciated that you didn't need an app or internet connection to use it.

A Day of Corporate Cases

Tuesday was an unusual day. It started with a trip into the Danish countryside north of Copenhagen to visit the headquarters of Coloplast, a Danish medical device company. In one of my courses, we have been working since February on a case from Coloplast. Representatives from the company came to our class to talk about the company and the case we should solve. We then worked in teams to come up with our best solution to the case. On several occasions, Coloplast employees came to our class to answer our questions and check on our progress.

On Monday this week we turned in our final papers and on Tuesday we presented our ideas to Coloplast employees at their headquarters. Unfortunately I had to leave right after our presentation because I had a special case activity in another class (more on that below). However, we got some very positive feedback on our idea. They thought it was very new and different, but in a good way and that we had identified some interesting aspects of the problem and come up with a way to change how people view their products. I was only there for about half an hour, but I'm still glad that I went and could present our plan.

I had to get back to Copenhagen because we had a case event in another class! Last week my third class at CBS, Leadership and Communication, began. Tuesday we had a "case conference" about leadership and communication. Representatives (many in high positions) from five different companies came and shared with us about issues of leadership and communication in their companies. The information they shared was interesting because it ranged from internal branding to recruit new employees to public relations in response to protests and political action. They had this case conference at the start of the course so that we can refer to these five examples as we learn leadership theory. I think this is a great pedagogical idea and I'm glad I can be at CBS where they can bring in such experienced and interesting guest speakers!

Signs of (very marginal) Spring in Copenhagen

Spring is here in Copenhagen! However, spring is a relative concept... I actually really appreciate the optimism here. Once it hit 40 degrees, people started spending more time outside, the ice cream shops opened  and more cafés put out their outside seating. People take advantage of any weather that isn't overcast and wet.

Danes like to spend time outside, even if it means hanging out in some odd places. The bridge pictured below is a favorite hangout. It's just a bridge over artificial lakes in the center of town. There isn't anything on the bridge other than some benches, but people sit on the bridge and hang out when the weather is nice. Yesterday, there were a lot of people enjoying the 45 degree weather.

In addition, Tivoli, the amusement park in downtown Copenhagen, opened this week. It's hard to see from the picture, but when I biked by and took a picture through the fence there were lots of people out walking around and riding the rides.

And then finally, there are more conventional signs of spring. The ice has melted and there are flowers out. The trees are still bare, but hopefully that will change soon!

Finally, I bought a new, lighter coat over the weekend. That seems like another sign of spring.

Tietgenkollegiet

Copenhagen has an interesting mix of old and new architecture. Tietgenkollegiet is a famous dorm with distinctive architechture. On Sunday night, I got to visit Tietgen to have dinner and participate in a focus group for a friend's class project. 

It's a round building on the southern side of Copenhagen. There is a large round courtyard in the middle. The top picture shows the outside and the bottom picture shows the view into the courtyard from the 5th floor. It was distinctive outside and inside. However, it still seemed livable  The common kitchens and living rooms were big and light from the windows and it seems to be well designed. I wish  I could have lived in a dorm like this at Wheaton...

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Shortly after I arrived in Copenhagen, I made a list of the things I wanted to do while I am here. A number of the items on my list include the note: "Wait for good weather."
Although the weather is getting better, I'm not sure I can call it "good weather." Still, my list of good weather activities is too long to wait much longer to get started on, so I decided to go to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art on Saturday.
The reason the museum is a "good weather" activity is because of its location on the sea and it's outdoor sculpture garden. The museum is in a beautiful setting and beautifully combines the indoors and outdoors. I've never been to a museum before that had so many doors that you could go in and out of. The building itself was beautiful and blended well with the setting.

My favorite exhibit at the museum was a display of Tara Donovan's work. She makes sculptures out of unusual, unanticipated materials. The works have organic, natural looks, but are made out of mundane objects. For example, what looks like coral or some kind of rock formation, is actually hundreds of identical buttons glued together:

My favorite work was this one. From a distance, it looks like a wall with some texture to it. When you get close to it, you realize that it is clear plastic straws:

I also had a great lunch at the museum. One thing I like here is that museums take their cafés seriously. Rather than taking advantage of a captive audience, they try to serve really good food. I think the pea soup I had with my lunch was the best pea soup I've ever had!

Stockholm

After my time in northern Sweden, I took the train back south to spend a few days in Stockholm. Stockholm is a beautiful city and I'm hoping to make another trip there once the weather is warmer. It is located on an archipelago  so the city itself is spread across several islands. This means that there is water everywhere. Several of the islands also have hills, so from the top you can get a good view of the city. I went to a lot of museums and sites while I was in Stockholm, but I also really enjoyed some runs and walks along the water. If I can go back in the summer when it's warm, and there are leaves on the trees, and the nights are long, I think it will be especially magical.

Stockholm highlights:

• went on a (free) walking tour of the downtown
• visited the palace (I've been visiting a lot of Scandinavian palaces and this one was really interesting because it still gets used for a lot of functions, so in a lot of the rooms they had pictures of how the rooms look when they're being used today)
• visited the city hall. This is a major attraction in Stockholm for a reason. The architecture and design are beautiful. This is where the Nobel Prize banquet is held: 

• went to the Nobel museum. It was really interesting, the focus was on creativity and what drives innovation.
• made a night visit to Fotografiska. Oddly enough, this was a museum open until 11 pm (that's really unusual here where you're lucky if a museum is open past 4). The museum was amazing. It had a great location and a great variety of exhibits  The photography was really thought provoking and beautiful.
• Skansen: the oldest outdoor museum. Essentially, this is a living history museum all about Sweden. It's huge and features buildings from all over Sweden and all eras of Swedish history. It also had a zoo of Scandinavian animals:

I also had some great meals and enjoyed just being out along the water walking and running. 

Danish Language Video

This week someone showed me this video. It was made by one of the Norwegian TV stations, making fun of the Danish language. When they speak "Danish" in the video, it's pretty much made up, it just sounds Danish-ish. Everyone here finds this pretty funny, especially people from other countries or trying to learn Danish. I'll be interested to hear if it's funny to anyone else...

Reindeer

While in northern Sweden, I also got to feed some reindeer. Reindeer are on the small side. This guy looks big, but he is smaller than an average horse. The reindeer were very friendly, especially when they found out that I had a bag of moss to feed them.

Some fun facts about reindeer:

-both males and females have horns

-reindeer = caribou

-there are no more wild reindeer in Scandinavia, but they are herded by the Sámi, the native people of the Arctic

-the Sámi semi-domesticated reindeer hundreds of years ago and their migration patterns were primarily dependent on reindeer grazing patterns

-reindeer meat is still popular in Scandinavia

Ice Hotel

My trip to Sweden started with a desire to travel way north. In Copenhagen, I'm about 14 degrees further north than Chicago is, so it's easier to get there. I've always wanted to see the northern lights and I wanted to go to the Arctic Circle. So, I started looking for something to do either in northern Sweden or Finland. When a Swedish student in one of my classes here mentioned the Ice Hotel (actually ICEHOTEL), I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

The main entrance to the hotel.

I've heard about the Ice Hotel for a long time and been fascinated by it, so as soon as I was reminded about it, going to the Ice Hotel seemed like the perfect destination. (Note: there are multiple ice hotels in different countries, but the one in Sweden is the largest and the original). Ice Hotel is located in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, about 125 miles north of the arctic circle.

The Torne River, where the ice is harvested.

Every March, they harvest large blocks of ice from the Torne River. The hotel is located on the banks of the river. The ice is then stored until the following November when they start building the hotel. Every year the hotel is different. They bring in artists to design special rooms. Guests can stay in the hotel from December to April. After it closes for the season, the hotel melts back into the river. By July, it's gone. The hotel is built from blocks of ice as well as what they call "snice" which are blocks made of snow and ice compressed together. The snice has the advantage of insulating, which means the temperature is fairly constant inside the hotel, about 17 to 23 degrees Fahrenheit.

The main entrance.

Main hallway.

Seating area in hallway.

The hotel has 60 some rooms. There are also "warm accommodations," which are cabins on the property. If you're staying multiple nights, they recommend alternating between warm and cold rooms. Next to the actual ice hotel was a building with lockers, showers, and a sitting area. In the evening before bed, a lot of people just hung out there, because there wasn't much else to do. I kept going outside to see if I could see the northern lights and it paid off! I got to see them and it was amazing. Right before you go to bed, you get a warm sleeping bag. The actual beds are made out of ice with reindeer skins on top. Then, you sleep on top in the sleeping bag.

The bed in my room with the sleeping bag.

They recommend wearing one layer of long underwear, warm socks, and a hat. The sleeping bag was really warm, so this was the right temperature. I fell asleep pretty quickly and overall slept pretty well. In the morning, an employee comes to wake you up and they give you a cup of hot lingonberry juice in bed. Staying at the ice hotel was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm so glad I could go!

Easter Break Trip to Sweden

In Scandinavia, Easter is a major holiday. However, it is less a religious holiday and more a time to travel or go on vacation. Most people have Maundy Thursday through Easter Monday off work and many take the whole Easter week off. I had class on Tuesday morning, but was otherwise free, so I took the week to travel. Over the next few days I will post more about my trip, but here's a preview:

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