Studies at KU

It's been nearly a month now since I first came to Copenhagen. Things here have become familiar to me: both life and studies. :)

In the University of Copenhagen ('Københavns Universitet' in Danish =KU), one intresting thing is that the course here has very few contact hours and a great proportion of self-study. We meet the teacher 2 hours a week in class, and a whole semester consists of 12 weeks, which means all in all 12 lectures to attend, but we have two read at least 300 pages of novels, articles, textbooks, etc. per week to get ourselves prepared for the lectures. Therefore, self-discipline becomes extremely important in studying in KU, which is a very new situation for me because it is quite different from that of ZU.

My class schedule at KU is as following:

Cousre 1: Yoga, Meditation And Healing In India
Course 2: Film And Society In Postwar Britain
Course 3: Twentieth Century African American Women’s Fiction
Course 4: Grammar and Perspectives on Language
Course 5: Danish Culture and Society

Because these are all courses in the humanities, we spend a lot of time in class discussions and off-class readings. I think for students of science or engineering, things must be very different.

This week I happened to have done two presentations in class. One is for 'Film And Society In Postwar Britain' about the 1958 British film 'Room at the Top' in its historical and social context, together with a Danish classmate; the other is for 'Grammar and Perspectives on Language' about the 'Cooperative Principle' in Pragmatics proposed by language philosopher Paul Grice, together with a Chinese classmate.

Both presentations seem to have been quite successful and got positive feedback. My teachers liked them, and some classmates also praised me afterwards. :) An elderly student in the film class (he is at the age of my grandfather, but I'm not sure if he is studying for a degree or simply auditing this course) knew that I'm from China and told me after class that my presentation was great. He also asked me for how long I have been studying English; I answered ten years. Then he said, "For ten years" - a pause and a complex facial expression as if in deep thought- "Your English is very good."

I said "thank you" to him and was very pleased. But I tried to understand what that pause and that thinking expression meant. I don't know if this "your English is very good" means "As a Chinese your English is surpringly good, I never expect a Chinese student to speak such fluent English" or does it simply mean "your English is very good, by any standard." But I guess possible implicatons do not matter much in this situation. It is nice to be appreciated anyway.

Another dialogue that I found interesting happened between a shop owner and I a few days ago. I was trying to top up for my mobile phone and the shop owner was very nice and friendly; he helped me because I could not understand the top-up instructions in Danish.

"Your cell phone is really nice. I've never seen one like this before. :)"
"Oh really? Thank you. :)"
"....Are you from Japan? :)"
"No, I'm from China...The cell phone is of a Korean brand, but I bought it in China. :)"

It just reminds me of the time when we were traveling in Paris before the JF Orientation Meeting last September. We were having dinner at a Frech restaurant and Zhen liked the food there very much, so he decided to give 5 euro tip to the waiter.

The waiter was delighted and asked "Are you from Japan? :)"
"No, we are from China. :)"

Sometimes I simply find these dialogues very interesting, though I don't know how to interpret these dialogues properly. After all I think the recognition and identification between different cultures is a very intersting topic to explore.

Danish Fastelavn and Chinese New Year!

"Fastelavn is the name for Carnival in Denmark. This holiday occurs seven weeks before Easter Sunday and is sometimes described as a Nordic Halloween, with children dressing up in costumes and gathering treats for the Fastelavn feast. The holiday is generally considered to be a time for children's fun and family games." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_in_Denmark
Though Fastelavn was at first introduced to me by my landlady as a holiday for little kids, I discovered later that the students of University of Copenhagen actually celebrated this festival with tremendous enthusiam. Various parties were held for celebration and fun, and later on I learned that it simply became a very fun occasion for families and friends, young and old. I went to a costume party in normal clothes and to my surprise, most people at the party did dress up in fancy clothing (9 out of 10 I think... XD). It's the coolest party I've ever been and had a lot of fun (the following photos are taken by my friends because I did not bring a camera with me :p)

February 13th is the first time I have ever celebrated the Chinese New Year abroad and not being side by side with my dearest family members. Fortunately, we are a big group and some Danish students also joined us in our celebration. We cooked food so it was a nice New Year after all. Wish everyone a prosperous and happy "Tiger Year" ! :)

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is located 35km north of Copenhagen beside the sea. One needs to take a regional train to get there. The train takes about 45 minutes and the round-trip fare is 86 DKK (=16 USD). It has several good exhibitions on show at the same time. The most impressive one for me is a photo exhibition called "Faith, Hope and Love- Jacob Holdt's America", which exhibits photos taken by Jacob, a Dane travelling around the U.S. and taking photos about American people from 1970s till now. His photos often tell a sad story...about his American friends who have been living under rather bad social circumstances...about poverty, shootings, racist violence...as well as changes that have taken place during these 30 years or so. The stories behind his photos do not necessarily stand for THE America, maybe simply HIS America. So I try not to take it too seriously and hope to remain an independent view. To be frank his photos are sort of compelling.

Some other basic information: the admission fee of the museum is 95 DKK (=17 USD) and 85 DKK if one has a student ID card. Children under 18 get free admission. The membership card for youth between 18 and 25 is 125 DKK a year, which includes free admission for the entire year and 10% discount at the museum shop and cafe. It is a nice price indeed, because for adults above 25 the membership card costs 450 DKK per person.

I strongly recommend this museum to those who have a keen interest for modern art and architecture. Except for the good exhibitions, the musuem building, together with its parks and the sea beside, is itself a piece of brilliant architecture. :-)

Copenhagen in snow

It is said to be the coldest winter for Copenhagen in 23 years. The city is lovely with snow covering. The lovely lake in the middle of the town has not been frozen as such for a very long time. So people, especially kids, have a great time strolling, crawling, sledding on the lake.

The University of Copenhagen also arranged for all the international students a 3-hour bus tour aound the city, which showed us the Opera House, the castles of the royal family and the Little Mermaid.
Me (on the left) and my friend Nelly besiede the Opera of Copenhagen (I guess it's time to introduce to you who is writing the blog in case we have not met before. lol.)

The little snowman beside the street looks quite unhappy. Maybe because he is also cold...:p

I'm starting my courses and also some other activities at the university. So next time I may come up with something about the university life and "hygge": an essential part of the Danish culture, which I just learned from some Danish students. Stay in tune~! :)