Study Tour with CMM (Communication and Mass Media). Thursday through Saturday.
Thursday: Up at 5:00. Out the door by 6:09. On the bus at Frue Plads by 7:20. Depart for Arhus, the second biggest city in Denmark and located in Central/Northern Jutland (the mainland of Denmark). Make friends on bus. Arrive Arhus 11:30. Lecture at Danish School of Journalism. Professor looks like a Ken doll but is actually quite interesting besides. Good overview of Danish media and how it works (most journalists are not actually educated in journalism at all. Who knew?). Head to lunch at F-A-N-C-Y restaurant. Delicious fish with lemon, potatoes, fresh bread, and cucumber salad. Go to Midjuske Media, small local paper in Arhus. Meet editor. Find out for the 1385176 time that day that papers are dying and online media is growing. Depressed, feel like media was possibly a poor choice of profession in the midst of an economic downturn. Whoops. Arrive at Danhostel Arhus. IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST. Decent hostel, but oh-so-scary location. Quick shower and wardrobe change. Head downtown for dinner. Bus drives in circles, about 4 times. Walk through pedestrian shopping area (SO cute) with friends to find restaurant. Eat delicious meal at Corner Café on a (surprise!) corner by the water. Observe snowfall. Walk through said snow to Irish pub. WAY too crowded. Go to “Sherlock Holmes” pub. Realize it’s called that because figuring out why you’re there in the first place is a complete mystery. Head back into snow to find new pub. Go BACK to Corner Café to ask cute waiter Tore where to go in this town. Take directions to Bridegewater—GREAT idea! Order a beer (in Danish) and hang out with new friends from DIS and two more new friends from South Africa and Niger. “Where are you going tonight?...I’ll come visit you in US. On holiday!” Help Meg politely decline and get the heck out of there. Navigate public transportation back to forest. Walk through dark, rainy, foggy forest…kinda sketch. Go to bed.
Friday: Hej hej Arhus. Hej Kolding. Hej rain. Picture perfect town in southern/central Jutland. Like a postcard. Tour Kolding castle—not anything like Fredricksburg castle. SO old and crumbly. Walk to top of tower, can’t see a thing because we’re in a cloud (!). Walk downtown. Find a store with hundreds of boots. ALL DIS girls go crazy. Jesse returns with a hot spot for lunch. Enter Afghan restaurant with pizza slices bigger than your head. Eat excellent lunch for crazy low price. Walk back to bus. Arrive Odense, second biggest city in Denmark and located on Funnen, the middle island. Tour TV2. TV2!!!! The most watched channel in Denmark and the channel that broke media monopoly in 1988. SWEET. Talk with a producer for a while, check out some sets and meet director. Tour main news desk. Stay and watch 4:00 news, IN the newsroom. Wave, on camera. ON CAMERA. LIVE. So cool. Take more pictures. Hej hej, TV2. Hej, Danhostel Odense. Great location and nice rooms. Well done! Chill out, shower, go to dinner. Eat wonderful Danish food at The Ugly Duckling. Walk around. Realize nothing is going on in Odense and we are oh-so-sleepy. Return to hotel, hang out with friends, go to bed. Wake up to roommates coming back and bird calls…? Jury’s still out on that one.
Saturday: Wake up. Breakfast in hotel. Still addicted to Pickwick strawberry tea. Take walking tour of Odense. Neglected to mention earlier this is the birthplace/hometown of Hans Christian Anderson (The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Emperors New Clothes, The Princess and the Pea…). The influence is everywhere from park benches to shops to cobblestones. See whole new side to Odense. Fall in love. THIS is what you think of when you think Denmark. Holy shit. SO adorable. Take 2736836 pictures. Take note of rain (again). Doesn’t matter, still in love. Love? Tour guide notes that this is a very popular place to get married? Love? What? Take yet another picture to document said spot. Any takers?? ; ) Tour Danish media museum, made even more riveting by the fact that we can’t read Danish. Duck out with Claire and head to local art shop. Purchase ahhddoorrraaablllleee artistic interpretations of HC Anderson fairy tales on small square postcards; plan to frame when home. Eat lunch at Mona Lisa—foccacia sandwiches. Realize I am really becoming Danish when I immediately crave a small piece of chocolate after a meal. Damnit. Get back on bus. Sleep. Arrive home. CPH, home! Walk, train, bus, walk, home. So happy. So tired. Wine, dinner, bed.
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