It´s official, the semester is coming to an end. Yesterday we had the Sustainability in Europe Program´s end of the semester social. After a whole day of student presentations on Action Plans that we could implement back in our university, the department organized a little social so that we could laugh, smile, and enjoy ourselves over beers, hot dogs, and the memories that we have had together. It was nice to come back with my all my classmates just like how we had enjoyed our time during the Study Trip to Stockholm. Some of my classmates presented on exciting sustainability initiatives like increasing organic food options in their school cafeteria via design solutions , another in community garden projects to integrate whole communities, and my all-time favorite was my friend Isabella´s idea about making a "mourning the loss of the environment" party. Because if there is one thing that we should be mourning is should definitely and absolutely be that. Environmental History is relevant, and having a party about it is too! The definite highlights of the course as a whole was meeting people who not only challenged some insights of sustainable development, but provided new views like ethical responses to the sustainability movement.
Sometimes the class itself was a little disorganized and the topics very introductory, which can be understandable to an extent since we were about 20 students all from different backgrounds. And that is what made the class interesting. The teacher, who was a Life-cycle analyst for an enzyme company, was challenged everyday by some of us who had other considerations in mind other than corporate and economic benefits. And, at the same time, the teacher would challenge our ethical and social claims to further points and learning topics. Unlike my education at Carnegie Mellon where stress culture and rigorous course work are the norm, the informal and casual environment of Danish classrooms was refreshing and interesting. I was able to learn at my own pace, for my own interests, to my own pleasure. My favorite part of the course was the Field Study opportunities where we tried to make ties into what we have learned in our sustainability career to the real world. In Hamburg we had a nice tour of the city and in Stockholm we saw some cool municipal and private initiatives in sustainable development. I really liked that aspect of my program. It made it so memorable.
In retrospect perhaps I would´ve picked another program from DIS like Urban Studies, or Environmental Science´since I found myself delving into things I have never known of the most rewarding about my time in Copenhagen. And that´s definitely my tip here, try new things! But in the end, above you can see us at the social sharing an ice cream. It was nice sharing a classroom with these cool people I now can call friends.
But that´s not the only class that made my time here worth it. My European Urban Design Theories was pretty memorable. The teaching philosophy here seems to be 50% in-class and 50% outside of it. We made it to a lot of developments around the city, from new housing developments in the harbor to neighborhood walks along Vestebro. The teacher has even worked with one of my faves, Jan Gehl, and was so knowledgeable in the urban and architectural processes of the built environment that it made it very relevant to my education. You can check out his blog to get a sense of the architectural and urban planning perspectives of the European and Danish context. Take a look at some of the pictures he took of us every time we would go out to a site.
Sometimes the class itself was a little disorganized and the topics very introductory, which can be understandable to an extent since we were about 20 students all from different backgrounds. And that is what made the class interesting. The teacher, who was a Life-cycle analyst for an enzyme company, was challenged everyday by some of us who had other considerations in mind other than corporate and economic benefits. And, at the same time, the teacher would challenge our ethical and social claims to further points and learning topics. Unlike my education at Carnegie Mellon where stress culture and rigorous course work are the norm, the informal and casual environment of Danish classrooms was refreshing and interesting. I was able to learn at my own pace, for my own interests, to my own pleasure. My favorite part of the course was the Field Study opportunities where we tried to make ties into what we have learned in our sustainability career to the real world. In Hamburg we had a nice tour of the city and in Stockholm we saw some cool municipal and private initiatives in sustainable development. I really liked that aspect of my program. It made it so memorable.
In retrospect perhaps I would´ve picked another program from DIS like Urban Studies, or Environmental Science´since I found myself delving into things I have never known of the most rewarding about my time in Copenhagen. And that´s definitely my tip here, try new things! But in the end, above you can see us at the social sharing an ice cream. It was nice sharing a classroom with these cool people I now can call friends.
But that´s not the only class that made my time here worth it. My European Urban Design Theories was pretty memorable. The teaching philosophy here seems to be 50% in-class and 50% outside of it. We made it to a lot of developments around the city, from new housing developments in the harbor to neighborhood walks along Vestebro. The teacher has even worked with one of my faves, Jan Gehl, and was so knowledgeable in the urban and architectural processes of the built environment that it made it very relevant to my education. You can check out his blog to get a sense of the architectural and urban planning perspectives of the European and Danish context. Take a look at some of the pictures he took of us every time we would go out to a site.