Core Course Week

This past week was dedicated to core courses, so my focus was on European Sustainable Development.  Unfortunately, I was sick with a head/throat cold Sunday-Wednesday, then got a stomach bug Wednesday night (not fun) that lingered throughout my trip to Sweden a little bit, but this week was still so much fun and the people in my class are awesome.

Monday, September 2:

8:30-9:50: Regular class time

10:00-12:30: Energinet System Planner speaker Asger Andersen

2:00-5:00: Walking tour of Vesterbro with Deborah 

Tuesday, September 3:

I tried to find a yoga class early this morning, but no luck.  I ended up signing up for a gym membership and hopefully I can take some cool classes there throughout the semester.  

9:15-12:30: Movie screening of Expedition to the End of the World, and discussion with the producer Michael Haslund

1:00-3:00: Group lunch at RizRaz

Wednesday, September 4:

Nothing planned today, so I went on a run through King's Garden and then my friend Wallis and I went on a bike ride through Nørrebro and Fælledparken.  I eventually packed for our class trip to...

SOUTHERN SWEDEN!!

Thursday, September 5:

A Mercedes Benz coach bus (!!) picked up our class at Frue Plads at 7:30 am, which is literally a 2 minute walk from my house.  We drove over the Øresund Bridge and at 9:30 we arrived at our first stop in Lund at a place called St. Hansgården, a youth after school program the aims to foster an environment in which children experience sustainability, ecology, biodiversity, and permaculture first hand.  There is an animal house with a green roof, solar panels, a wind mill, a garden, and so many other projects.  The children baked us scones the day before that we ate before our tour around the grounds.  I would have loved to be a kid in Scandinavia.  We ate our pack lunch in the garden area and then headed to our next destination.

Carl Dalhammar presented to our class at Lund University about the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), then we toured the Lund Cathedral right next door.  The Lund University campus was absolutely beautiful.  

Outside Lund Cathedral

Inside Lund Cathedral

We then drove to Malmö to check into our hostel, had time to walk around the city a bit, then had a group dinner at Brogatan which was delicious!  A huge salad to start with this crazy dressing, then a main dish of salmon, peas, and potatoes.  The rest of the night we spent walking around the area and hanging out/getting to know each other.  

Picture in hostel

Friday, September 6:

Breakfast at the hostel was at 7 am, then we got to the Augustenborg Green Roof Institute at 9, which was really cool to see a sustainable neighborhood initiative and Eco City.  The botanical roof garden spans several buildings and is connected by foot bridges.  The garden is 9500 square meters and opened in 2001.

Green Roof

The Western Harbor Tour was one of my favorite parts of the trip because the neighborhood there was stunning and unreal.  It almost seemed like I was walking through a Dr. Seuss book, but better because it was real life and all the houses are sustainable.  There is a really cool area where each country from the EU designed a house.  We ate our pack lunch by the water.  Again we lucked out with the weather on this trip.  It was 72 and sunny every single day.  Perfect. 

Houses designed by different countires

The Twisted Torso

At 1, we visited the City of Malmö's Environment Department and heard about how they converted the city from industrial to completely sustainable.  Sysav South Scania Waste Company was our next stop, where we heard about their waste to energy technology and then got a tour of the factory.  The place where the incinerated waste is held can hold 6,000 elephants!  Crazy.  It's so cool that much of the country's energy comes from the heat emitted after incineration.  Win-win situation.  

We got the the hostel Söderåsens Vandrehjem in Röstånga around 5:30.  This was no regular hostel though.  It was a beautiful countryside cottage/house within the Söderåsens National Park with trails to a beautiful secluded lake.  Dinner was at a restaurant right next door, where we had deer (yes deer) caught in the National Park with potatoes in mushroom sauce and roasted vegetables.  For dessert there was a chocolate cake with coconut on top.  It was again a delicious dinner.  The rest of the night we played cards and DIS/Denmark trivia, family feud style which was a lot of fun. 

Söderåsens Vandrehjem

Saturday, September 7:

Again, we had breakfast at the hostel.  We left for a 3 hour guided hike around Söderåsen National Park which was a gorgeous 4015-acre park established in 2001.  After the hike, we looked around the museum and then had lunch there.  I got to know our Class Assistant Laura, who was a student at DIS in the same class in Spring 2011.  She's from Portland but went to Cornell, so we had a lot to talk about because I love both Portland and Ithaca (thanks to Shona.)

Söderåsen National Park

The whole afternoon we canoed down the Swedish countryside, passing beautiful rolling hills, farmland, and yellow cottages for a few hours.  Unreal.  

We left for Copenhagen and got home around 6 pm, enough time to do some laundry and rest.  We had to pack our own sheets for the hostels.  As a trained light packer, I only brought my little school backpack for the 3 days.  Most people brought bigger suitcases and were really impressed I fit everything in that one bag.  I guess it's a Craig family thing.