Halfway Through Semester, Review of Classes

So, I’ve gotten some responses that you guys are interested in knowing a bit more about the classes I’m taking. It makes sense, since I am here primarily to take a semester of university! As tomorrow starts Easter break, and I’m more than halfway through the semester here, I can now give a good impression of what each class is about.

I am taking 4 classes here at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU): Innovation in Product Development, Introduction to Statistics, Energy Systems: Analysis, Design and Optimization, and Knowledge and Innovation in Networks. For those of you from RPI, these classes count as Studio 6, MAU, TF II, and 3 credits of an advanced humanities class, respectively.

Innovation in Product Development is a project based class, where each project is centered around an invention that a DTU student or employee has created. The class has been split into groups of three, with each group concentrating on a different innovation. Each of the groups of students is paired with a group of three students from Copenhagen Business School (CBS). Together, we are expected to improve the original idea, make a business plan, entice investors, and ideally, bring the product to market.

My team has been assigned to work on a hospital bed ventilation unit. One of my team members made a basic website for it, which is here. The project consists of a couple of fan and filter units which would blow air across a patient in a hospital bed, filtering any airborne pathogens. It also includes air curtains on the sides of the bed, which would protect doctors if the patient were to cough facing up, as well as prevent any cross infection from patient to patient.

We meet twice a week for four hours each time. At the first meeting of the week, it is only the DTU students. For the first 6 weeks of the class, we had lectures about different technologies and information we need to know to complete the project successfully. For example, we had classes about 3D printing, Arduinos, and patent law. For the rest of the semester we are meeting in another building on campus called the Innovatorium. It is an inventor’s dream. It has a cozy lounge with vending machines, machine tools and free materials, a 3D printer, and plenty of desk space and computers available. We can use the time in the Innovatorium to build prototypes of our design.

Introduction to Statistics meets once a week. It consists of a two hour lecture followed by two hours of problem work, with a TA available to help us. The lecture is in Danish this year, so those of us who do not speak Danish can watch last year’s lectures online in English. I find that reading the textbook is normally enough, since the lecture is simply the teacher going over what is in the textbook. The class is extremely similar to Statistics AP, a class I took in high school. It kind of upsets me that I couldn’t get the credit for this class with my AP credit, but it is not a big deal to take it again. The problem work time is normally fun; I sit with a bunch of other exchange students from the US and we figure things out together. This is the only class I have with a final exam. My whole grade depends on just one test!

Energy Systems: Analysis, Design, and Optimization is my hardest course here. We are learning about applied heat transfer, entropy, exergy, and other similar things, including turbines and power plants. The grade in the class is based on 6 group projects, each due every 2-3 weeks. My group is made of of myself and three other exchange students: two from Sweden and one from Germany. They are lots of fun. At the beginning of the semester, I dreaded this class, because it lasts from 8AM to 5PM with only an hour break for lunch. However, now I look forward to it, because I enjoy the company of my group, and most of the class consists of group work, not lectures. I feel like I am learning a lot from this class. Not just the content of the lectures, but more how to write scientific reports. In fact, I don’t know how much of the actual content I will remember. Because of the structure of the course, after the project is over you don’t have to remember anything from that subject material. There is no final cumulative exam or paper. Even though I may not remember all the specifics of what I have learned, I still feel that I am learning a lot. We are applying the subject to real examples of engineering problems, and writing technical reports about them. One complaint I (and almost every other student ever) have had in my engineering course work is that I don’t understand how what I’m learning applies to anything. So sure, I can learn these equations that you throw at me, but I will never know when I should be using them. In this class, it’s the other way around, where we are given a problem and we have to figure out how to solve it.

Knowledge and Innovation in Networks is a management engineering class focused on the various methods that are utilized to innovate new products. These can include what people and/or companies get involved in the process, how these individuals and firms communicate, how the product evolves, and other things that influence the end product. The whole grade in this class depends on one, 2000 word, individual paper. Talk about pressure! We recently had a group assignment due which was a prerequisite for this final paper. It was a similar, more general paper. My group wrote about the RepRap, an open source 3D printer. The paper was about how the RepRap evolved and why it developed the way it did. Now each of our final papers has to be on a specific aspect of the innovation process leading to where the RepRap is today. The RepRap is actually a really interesting product, and if you’re interested in 3D printing at all I would suggest looking into it!

Some central themes I’ve noticed in all my classes are wind power and 3D printing. I wonder if these are both as popular back in the US? Let me know, I’m curious! I’m on Easter break now, so when it’s over you should expect new stories and adventures!

St. Paddy’s Day in Denmark

After writing my last post, I was worried I would not have much new and exciting to write about this week. The novelty of my situation has worn off, and I am getting into a routine here at DTU. I am not complaining about this; it makes me feel at ease in my not-so-new environment. However, the recent Irish drinking holiday provided fresh fodder for my travel blog.

The excitement started a bit early, on Thursday, as this is the day that the Kampsax bar is open. (For those of you who have not followed my previous posts, Kampsax is the kollegiet, or dormitory in which I live). As I was eating lunch in my kitchen, one of my neighbors asked if I would be interested in being a bartender at the bar that night. I did not think he was serious at first; I know nothing about bar tending, and I can’t even drink legally in the States! When I realized he meant what he asked, I said yes. I have decided to say yes to as many experiences as possible, as long as I don’t have a worthy reason not to. I hope that this new stance will lead to a more exhilarating and  intriguing life. I’m really doing this for my blog readers, of course. Nothing blog-worthy happens when I spend everyday alone in your dorm room doing homework!

After my yoga class that evening, I ate dinner and changed into a green shirt. I needed to wear something green for the St. Paddy’s day party! Then, around 8:30, I headed to the bar. It’s only about a 2 minute walk from my room.  The bar opens at 9 every Thursday. I helped hang up some green and orange streamers, then learned the prices for the various drinks available that evening. We were serving Guinness and Kilkenny beers from the can, and Tuborg Classic and Green on tap. I also got a funny Guinness hat to wear for the evening.

While I was a bit nervous when the bar first opened, I quickly got into the swing of things. I learned how to pour a beer from tap properly, so you don’t get only foam. I learned how to make White Russians and Jägerbombs. I also drank a bit too much while I was doing this. I was not paid for my efforts, but I got unlimited free drinks. Customers bought me shots, (even though I could have them for free), and the other bartenders offered me several mixed shots as well.

I got a different perspective of the party by being on the other side of the bar. I saw some things I wish I had not seen, I met new people, and I saw some delightful sights. I got to see a strange guy doing some very complicated moves on the dance floor and watched as others joined him. It was eye-opening. I was supposed to stay until 4 or 5 in the morning, but was fading by midnight. I am not a night owl, I prefer to sleep and start my day early. I finally left around 1:30 in the morning, and fell asleep immediately. I felt bad to leave early, because that left one less person to clean the bar after the party. I was asleep on my feet though, and would not have been of much help. I would love to do it again, but I know that I will not be able to stay up as late as I should.

Friday night I abstained from social events as I did not want to put my body through more abuse from alcohol. I have started working out recently, and my whole body was exhausted on Friday from yoga, brisk walks, squats, crunches and push-ups. I got some much-needed sleep, and slept late the next morning. Saturday night I was fresh and ready to go again. But not really. I got tired early and while I wanted to try to do something fun that night, I was losing hope that I would find something to do. At around 8 I was ready to give up, change into my pajama pants, and watch a movie in bed. Cozy, but boring.

Thankfully I was saved from a warm night in by a downstairs neighbor. He invited me to go hang out with some exchange students in their dorm on the outskirts of Copenhagen. My new philosophy of saying “yes” to new adventures had me scrambling to get ready in 10 minutes. From the dorm we took the bus to the middle of the city and went to Kulørbar, the same club I went to during intro week. Absurdly, I had to use another girl’s ID to get into the club, because apparently their Fridays and Saturdays are 21+. I felt ridiculous coming all the way to Denmark and still getting ID’d! I don’t think the bouncer cared that much as it is not law that I couldn’t be in the club, just a rule. Also, the girl whose ID I “borrowed” went in only 2 people before I did. I had a lot of fun at the bar, dancing the night away (until 3AM)!

I finally got home at 4 AM, but only slept until 10. I am not used to sleeping late and my inner clock wouldn’t let me. I had to get up soon anyway to prepare an American brunch for my international introduction week group. I made “French Toast Stackers” a favorite meal of mine from Manory’s – great breakfast and lunch place in Troy, NY. It’s basically a breakfast sandwich (eggs, bacon, and cheese) on French toast, and drizzled with maple syrup. So delicious!

I can’t wait to go back and get one from their place. I think what I miss the most about Troy are all the quirky breakfast and coffee places scattered around. There’s nowhere for me to get brunch within walking distance of my room here, and if there was, I’m sure I couldn’t afford it anyway!

French Toast Stacker!

I was exhausted after cooking, and still in my pajamas when I heard a knock on my door. “Are you fresh?” asks one of my Danish neighbors. He wanted to know if I was up to going into Copenhagen for the St. Patrick’s Day festival and parade. “Yes, of course” I said, and once again had to rush to get dressed and ready in 15 minutes. We drove into Copenhagen; my neighbor has a car. It was nice to not have to deal with the hassle of public transportation.

The square with Tivoli in the background

We walked to the Centrum, or the central area of Copenhagen, near the Copenhagen Central Station and the Strøget, the main walking street in the city. There was a tent set up in the square. Inside, there were people selling Guinnesses, Kilkennys, and Irish coffee. I couldn’t resist getting an Irish coffee. We all ordered one, and the other three got free Guinness hats while I got a free “Irish True”  Tullamore Dew t-shirt. (I already had a hat from Thursday.) There was live music in the tent as well. It was very pleasant to stand and drink our warm coffees and listen for a while.

The musicians

After a bit, we headed down Strøget to see what was happening in the bars for St. Paddy’s day. We went in one Irish bar for about 10 minutes and enjoyed some more live music and rowdy drinkers. Drink prices were exorbitant, however, so we headed back out into the cold. We stopped for a while outside a toy store so I could drool over the new Furby. I was really excited when the new ones came out, and if I have some extra money this summer I’m definitely going to get one!

A cart full of rambunctious St. Patrick’s day partiers!

We ambled back to the tent after stopping for some delicious churros, and found that there was a performance going on outside on the small stage. There was a man dressed up in a gaudy green shag jacket and a pope’s hat emceeing the performance. We dubbed him Irish pope. He was rather funny, always dancing along with the Irish dancers or pretending to play an instrument for them. There were several performances of Irish dancing. It was quite lively and at one point even the birds seemed to be dancing along.

Dancers

It was a lovely day, but by 5pm, when the parade started, we were all frozen. We stayed to see the beginning, but then drove back home.

Malene and me with our Irish coffees!

Cheers! or should I say Sláinte! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend as well 🙂

Malmö for the weekend

Hello all!

I hope you didn’t miss me too much last weekend. I went to Malmö, and I didn’t have a chance to write about it because I was busy having a great time!

I actually didn’t do much sightseeing because I was visiting family (almost). I was invited by my boyfriend’s uncle to visit him and his wife and son at his home in Malmö. How crazy is that! My boyfriend was super jealous that I get to visit his uncle before he did! It was refreshing to hang out with Americans (well, his wife is Brazilian, but that’s still South American!).

I took the train from straight from Copenhagen to Malmö. It took about a half an hour. It was a great trip. The train goes over the Øresund Bridge, which is actually a dual tunnel-bridge. The tunnel is on the Copenhagen side, and goes for about 2 and half miles to an artificial island. Then it goes the remaining 4 miles as a bridge. It’s a great view. It was sunny on Friday (as it had been for the past week and half!) and the sea looked great. There are some huge wind mills in the strait, and it was quite impressive to see them as the train passed. You can also see them as you’re flying in or out of Copenhagen, because the airport is nearby.

Here’s a map of the trip that I made on Illustrator. It’s not the best map, but it should give you an idea of how close Denmark and Sweden are. If you click on the picture it will get bigger so you can actually see the bright yellow line that represents the train trip from Copenhagen to Malmö. If you are interested in geography, I would suggest looking at a real map, of course.

I arrived at Triangeln station, a new train station in  Malmö. It was very modern looking, with beautiful big chandeliers and shiny metal walls. I wish I had taken some pictures, but I was too busy getting lost. After about 10 minutes I found my host and his son, and we walked to his apartment. It is quite close to the train station, about 5 minutes away. It had one of those old elevators that you can still find in some buildings in New York City (the kind in West Hall, for those of you reading from RPI), with the gate you have to close before the elevator moves. He lives in the attic apartment. It’s very big with a spacious kitchen!

It was decided that we would have take-out for dinner because the little boy might not be able to behave during a dinner out. He is a great kid, but he probably would have run around the restaurant! He has so much energy. We had Chinese take-out. It was great. Apparently eating out for two can cost upwards of 100 dollars. Sweden is even more expensive than Denmark!

After dinner we watched Flight, a movie about an alcoholic airline pilot. It made me very nervous, knowing I would be getting on a plane in a few months to go home. I hope that my pilot is not inebriated. Watching the movie was great though, because they had put up a projector in their living room, so we were watching on a really big screen. We also had fresh popcorn.

The next morning we had fresh fruit with yogurt and granola for breakfast. I liked it so much, I’ve been having something similar for breakfast ever since I’ve gotten back to Denmark. (Expect a post about food soon). We also had a poached egg on toast. The bread in Scandinavia is so good. It’s thick and grainy and nutty. It gives a new meaning to whole grain – you can see whole pieces of different grains in the Danish Rye. I’ll have to find a recipe for it so I can have it when I get home. I’m pretty sure it’s healthy as well, although not as much when you put a big pat of butter on it like I do.

After breakfast we went out for a walk in surrounding Malmö. It was a grey day, unfortunately, but it wasn’t too cold. First we went to the American Store. It was awesome. They had ShopRite brand chocolate chips. I almost started crying when I saw them. My boyfriend’s uncle was very generous and bought me them, as well as some good ol’ American peanut butter, and baked beans.  I was sad to leave the store, I felt like I had been transported home for a while. There were Elvis posters everywhere and lots of American candies, including Skittles. Apparently Skittles are very hard to find here. Good thing I’m not a Skittles addict.

American Store Malmö

Next we headed to a nearby mall. It was rather small, and it seemed very fancy. We went to the liquor store there, for some wine for dinner. It was explained to me that there is only one liquor store in all of Sweden. It’s called System Bolaget, which literally translates to “the System Company.” It is a government run alcohol monopoly. They have some very odd rules about how things can be sold; for instance, no product can be favored over the others, so they can’t refrigerate any of the beers because that would mean they would have to refrigerate all the beers. That would simply be too expensive. In addition, all the wines have been tasted and chosen to be sold in Sweden. They have extensive labels on the shelves explaining where the wine is from, what flavors are in it, and what it goes with. They don’t leave much up to chance.

Frog

We continued our walk around Malmö, stopping briefly at a small design museum. There were so many adorable old buildings everywhere. That is something that reminds me I am in Europe. Surprisingly, it can be easy to forget that I’m so far away from home because people are still people, no matter where you are, and where I am living, there are so many cultural similarities to the States. However, it just isn’t possible for there to be so many old buildings in the United States because the continent hadn’t been colonized when many of these buildings were built . I was speaking with a Dane the other day and he joked that it was funny going to the United States and seeing plaques stating that cities were founded in the 1800s. That’s so recent in terms of European history!

Design Center

We decided to go to the newly renovated train station for lunch. It reminded me a bit of that food hall in Quincy Market in Boston, just much smaller. After trying to go first to a Boston inspired Sports Bar, and second to the Swedish version of Starbucks called Espresso House, we ended up in Starbucks. It was quite similar to the Starbucks we all know, although apparently Starbucks is a fairly new (~5 years) addition to Sweden. There was a funny 24 hour analog  clock, which I tried to take a picture of. I think this clock must have been a remnant of the old train station, before the recent renovations.

24 Hour Clock

When we finished lunch, (mine was a blueberry muffin and a hazelnut hot chocolate), we walked to the harbor. This is where the ships to Copenhagen used to leave from, before the Øresund Bridge was built. There were lots of old maritime factories there. One, which used to be a submarine factory, has been updated to instead produce the tubes for the bases of windmills.

Harbor

Old Maritime Factory

One of the most famous landmarks in Malmö, the Turning Torso, can be seen in the background of the above image.

Turning Torso

This building was designed by a Spanish architect and was opened in 2005. It is the tallest building in the Nordic countries. It’s actually a residential building. Although it is quite interesting to look at, and quite a status symbol to have an apartment in the Torso, I don’t think I’d like to live there. Due to the angles in the windows, people get a bit confused as to what is vertical. You can’t open the windows either!

Old Pharmacy Building

After our walk back, we headed to a grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner. It was quite a big grocery store, the biggest I’ve seen since coming to Scandinavia. We had steak, mashed potatoes, and peas for dinner, and homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. It was a great taste of home.

The next morning we had pancakes for breakfast, along with the fruit and yogurt. I definitely ate a lot over the weekend, but it was all so good! And it was nice to not cook for myself.

I was sad to go back to my dorm, back to college life, because I felt so comfortable hanging out in Malmö. But, an hour and half after I left Triangeln station in Sweden, I was back at my room, ready to get to some neglected homework.