I recently realized I haven't really talked much here about the classes I'm in. This is a problem since the classes are really the main reason I'm allowed to be here, and thus should be my main focus. I apologize for the complete lack of pictures, but I think you'll agree that it'd be difficult to find/take pictures that really describe a class.
I'm in 5 classes:
Sustainable Development: Environmental, Political, and Social Issues.
Livability in the Modern City.
Political Rhetoric: Blogs, Speeches, and Spin.
Copenhagen: History and Contemporary Issues.
Environmental Policy in Practice.
The way that DIS, my program, does things is that one set of classes is on Monday/Thursday, and the other is Tuesday/Friday. There are also a few that meet once weekly. Wednesday is a day for small study excursions, where classes will go visit relevant, nearby locations. We have a small study tour, a long study tour, and a two-week travel break; the study tours are guided and with our 'core' class, and the travel break is whatever/wherever you want.
Down the list, shall we?
First is my core, Sustainable Development. I'm really quite excited for this one. We get to go on a week-long trip to England, to see the villages of Devon and Totnes, as well as London. We also get to go to western Denmark -- TOMORROW! We'll be visiting Aarhus and a few other places, and going hiking/kayaking! It's going to be awesome. Also, I like the professor; she seems like she's got the power to be piercingly sarcastic. And the subject should prove interesting, though for the most part, it's a review of things I've learned elsewhere.
Livability in the Modern City: Awesome class, awesome professors, awesome associations. It's team-taught by a guy who works at Gehl Architects, and a woman who works in a well-known non-profit. Gehl is a really famous firm, known for its innovative ideas and the way they engage the city around a project, rather than just a project itself. They're also responsible for the recent Times Square redesign, so that's awesome. I'm basically in love. Anyways, the course is largely about policies and practices behind making cities and spaces more livable -- it's going to be awesome.
Political Rhetoric: Taught by a campaign strategist for the second-largest party in Denmark (they've got 8 major parties), this class focuses on rhetorical campaign strategies, and is making great use of the election that was just called (it's on the 15th of September, they only give you 3 weeks to campaign). I'll probably be posting again about the election, some other time. The professor is pretty cool, though he gets distracted a lot and seems to kind of ramble sometimes -- that exact problem is why I should never be allowed to teach.
Copenhagen, History and Contemporary Issues: I love this professor. He's... I don't even know, but he's mostly retired and teaches 2 classes at DIS, for either fun or beer money -- it's usually that, with the Danes. Anyways, he's hilarious, old, has an awesome accent, and is incredibly knowledgeable about the history and formation of cities. We're learning right now about Copenhagen (originally Havn, and now it's København) from its foundation -- probably around 900, through about 1500. We're studying major actors and city structural development, rather than the 'people' history, though -- so it's actually incredibly replicatable across Europe. It's going to be really awesome to go to a city in France, or Italy, or Germany, and be able to discern the city core, the locations of the various stages of ramparts, and a bit about its founding history -- all from the physical form. I am a bit afraid of this class, because he is a very demanding professor; we need to memorize the physical locations and centuries of a large number of buildings in the city center, and be able to infer all sorts of things from that. We also need to memorize the city's neighborhoods -- and their boundaries. Which is scary.
The last one: Environmental Policy in Practice. This one's taught by a Danish member of the European Parliament, so he's a guy with good connections -- really good connections. We've had two really important speakers already, met the head of the European Environmental Agency, and have more things planned. So that's really exciting. This is a once-weekly class, so it's a 3 hour block at the end of Friday. That's a bit unfortunate, but I do get out in time to make it back for dinner, so it's actually almost perfect.
As you can probably tell, I'm quite excited about all my classes, and I haven't even fallen asleep yet (That's impressive, considering how little sleep I've been getting)!
Anyways, I need to start packing for my trip to Western Denmark tomorrow morning (leave here at about 6:05, hop the train at 6:15, and make it to Frue Plads by 6:55), and get to bed! It's past 10 here already, so that leaves about no time left.
I'll not be bringing my computer with me, so I'm going to be out of contact (parents, I'm looking at you) except by my phone. I'll probably post again on Sunday, with a whole bunch of pictures from the trip!
