My First Final Exam...

This morning I had my first final exam at Copenhagen Business School and it was an interesting experience. It was a four hour written, closed book exam for my International Mergers & Acquisitions class. The exam was pretty much what I had anticipated and I feel like I did very well, however, what I found interesting was the process.

It seems that in Denmark they are a little bit less trusting of the students than in the US. Take into consideration that this is a masters level graduate course and one would assume that the students were less likely to cheat at this level. CBS doesn't seem to think so, however, and during the process this morning, I laughed to myself several times because it was just so odd to me that they needed to go to such extremes.

Let me explain. First, we were directed to an off campus location, which I found annoying because I had to break out a map to find this place. I soon learned that it was in an alternative off campus location because the test was conducted in a gymnasium. The entire gym was filled with desks which were separated by about 15 feet on all sides. Before they would let us into the gym, we had to hand over our cell phones and any other electronic devices. Now, I have no cell phone or electronic devices, so they were a little skeptical of that right away and wanted to do a quick search of my bag. "????, no cell phone?" Nope, no cell phone. Laugh number 1.

Next, as I took a seat, I found an abundance of different materials on my desk and right away I was confused. I called over one of the proctors and asked, what is all of this? She explained that first, the slip of paper was for me to write my name, student number, Danish social residence ID number, exam date, and signature so they can record the desk that I sat in. I thought to myself, what, no blood or pluck of hair? Laugh number 2. Then she explained that the stack of white papers were what I was to use to write my answers to the exam. I took a look at them and each page was three pages deep. The top was for me to write on and the other two were carbon copies. She explained the top copy was to be sealed in the white folder and the pink was to be sealed in the pink folder and the third copy was for me. I thought, ok, complicated like everything else in Europe, but ok. Laugh number 3.

We then began the exam and I realized just how many people there were watching us. There were three or four people at the front of the room, one guarding the door, and about four or five others walking around the room. And they weren't just walking around leisurely. They would actually come by and stick their head right over your shoulder to see what you were writing. Laugh number 4, 5, and 6.

The last thing, and icing on the cake in my opinion, was the bathroom process. If someone had to use the restroom, they had to be accompanied by one of the proctors... yeah, not kidding. Big laugh number 7. Needless to say, I chose not to use the restroom during the test, but I watched several students go through the process as if it was normal.

In all of our exams during our first year of the MBA program at UW, there was not one time that we had to go through a process like this. I don't think I went through anything like this in undergraduate either. In fact most of the professors in the MBA program would hand out the exam and then leave the room for the following four hours as we completed the exam pretty much shoulder to shoulder. Heck, half of our exams were take home. Even the closed book exams were sometimes take home. I explained this to my other European roommates and they almost fell on the floor in disbelief. I told them that we just sign an honor code promising not to cheat and that was it. They couldn't believe it.

When I think about it, I am proud that we live in a culture where we can trust that students at such a level of education will not participate in cheating and don't need to be watched under heavy security during a testing process.

What an interesting cultural experience.

10 days, 3 counties...

Wow, what a trip. 10 days, 3 countries, all the sights, and a lot of fun.

I am now back from my trip to visit the fellow classmates and it is safe to say that we all had a blast. We all gave Nick a big hug for picking our meeting place in Dublin. It turned out to be one of the best places we had all visited in Europe so far. The majority of the population is under 25 and the economy has boomed over the last 10 years, so the whole city seems in high spirits.

One of the biggest impressions that Dublin had on us was that everyone was so nice.... I mean really nice. It was a little like the twilight zone.

There were at least three different occasions in which one of us was hugged and bought a pint for being American. The Irish love America. They would yell, "God bless the US Marines for WWII!" from across the bar or across the streets when they found out we were from the States. They would come over and shake our hands and buy us pints, it was unreal. They have not forgotten about the events of WWII and were quick to thank us at every turn.

It didn't stop there either. Walking down the street in downtown Dublin, Paul stopped and asked a local couple on the street for a light and the lady replied, "you mean you don't have a lighter???" At which point Paul said no, and she replied with, "oh, well then here, have mine." Ok???

Then at dinner one night I asked for soup to start and then the bowl of stew. The waitress then told me that the stew was pretty big and I probably didn't need the soup. I said ok, and took just the stew, which did turn out to be pretty big. However, for some reason, I burned through the stew and needed just a little more. When I called her over to order a little more she said, oh, I'm sorry don't worry about it and then proceeded to give me soup as well as a tray of bread at no charge. She insisted that she not charge us.

Needless to say, it was a great change from the American sediment that most of us have been experiencing in the rest of Europe.

Speaking of food, we were also all very very happy to get a change in food. No cheese, no cream, no tapas, just meat, potatos, and vegetables. I think we had stew two or three times. Of course the Guinness was great as well... it just seemed to taste better there.

Here are the pictures of Paris

And here are the pictures of Madrid and Dublin

Rainy Spain...

Well, I have now spent four days in Madrid and the weather has been less than cooperative. It has rained all week, but we have still been able to do some exploring. This is my second time in Madrid and it has been a great time.

Today we are heading out to Dublin for the weekend. We will be meeting up with the rest of our classmates from their respective areas. Joe in Turkey, Nick in France, Param in the UK, Paul in Spain, and myself from Denmark. It should be a nice reunion.

Exploring Paris...

On my last day in France, Nick, Jess, and my French roommate showed me around Paris. The weather was unseasonably warm, which was great, but Paris is so big that it was tough to try to tackle all the sights in one day. I think we did a good job though.

We started out at the Arc De Triomphe, which was built in 1806 by Napoleon to commemorate his imperial victories. The Arc sits in the middle of a busy Paris intersection and was one of the most impressive structures we saw during the day.

We next walked down the avenue des Champs-Élysées. This street is one of the most famous in Paris and is lined with all the most expensive shops from around the globe.

From there we battled the many Parisians to make it down toward the Louvre. On the way we stopped and ate crêpes from a street vendor and enjoyed the sun in the park. The Louve was probably my favorite sight of the day. It is an amazingly impressive structure.

After that we walked to Notre Dame and had a walk around the surrounding neighborhood. It was amazing to imagine the work that went into building such a impressive structure.

Then it was on the metro to take us to Montmartre. This is a hill in the north of Paris and from the top you get a nice view of the entire city. It also has the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit. This was a great area and we stopped for an hour or so to have a coffee, rest the stumps, and people watch.

From there I raced out to Versailles, which is located about 17 km outside of Paris. This an upscale neighborhood just outside of Paris and also marked the last capital of royalty in Paris. It has the world famous Château de Versailles, which was built by Louis XIV in the 1660s. It is an enourmous plot of land and palace that was very impressive to see, yet tiring on the feet.

From there I was invited over for dinner by my French roommate's parents. They live in Versailles and made a fantastic traditional French meal for us. It was great to get a chance to see French living and talk with her parents about French history.

Stephanie's mother is a doctor and her father is a controller for a large electric utility company in Paris. Her mother loves the US and tries to make a trip every year. Her last trip was through the Pacific Northwest and she loves Seattle.

Her Father is fonder of old US classic cars than travel to the US. He has a number of cars that he is currently working on and his garage is lined with old US license plates. He is also a huge fan of Route 66, so when I told him I grew up on Route 66 he was very excited.

Well, that marked the end of Paris. It was a great trip and I had a blast. Paris is a wonderful city and I know I will be back some day to visit again. Now it's on to Spain and then Dublin!

Back on Track...

After a long 24 hours, I was finally able to get my bag from British Airlines, which was a huge relief, and yesterday we rented a car and headed to the coast. First, we visited the D-Day Beaches at Normandy which was an amazing sight. It's about a 3 hour drive from Paris and the 80 km of beach line that marks the beginning of the allied invasion to regain France from the Nazis was very impressive. There is a lot of remains of the war still along the beaches and small towns that line the coast. The main sight is the American cemetery and war memorial which is shown above. It is right above Omaha beach which is one of the two American beaches taken in the early days of the war. It was a powerful sight to see.

Next we made our way south to Mont St. Michel which is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It is a medieval castle in the middle of nowhere. It has been built over centuries and has acted as many things over the years including a prison. Now it is a destination for travelers from all over the world. We were able to go inside and explore, and it's like a little city complete with residential houses below the main castle structure. It was like something out of a sci-fi novel. Just incredible!

Today we are going to explore the city of Paris and then tomorrow I am off to Madrid. When I get to Copenhagen I will update these posts with Pictures.

"Fuller'd in Paris..."

Well, yesterday's trip to Paris was less than smooth. Starting with my flight from Copenhangen to London, I was in a nice middle seat on the hottest plane in the world. I look over to my right and there is a nice woman with her new born in her lap. Ahhh, how cute.... nope! The new born cried... no wait, screamed for the entire 2 hours to London. Well, that is except for the 2 or 3 times that the women decided to get the crying to stop by breast feeding her young one right next to me.

So, I finally get off the hot plane in London... breast milk stains and all, and make my way to the next gate. The next flight leaves a little late but gets me to Paris. After arriving, I wait for my bag to come out and yep, you guessed it, Fuller'd. They lost my bag.

After talking my best Frenglish to the airport people, I realized I was not going to make any progress. They just took my temporary address and said they would let me know if anything turns up.

At this point it has been a number of hours since I arrived and I had to find my way to Nick's place (not close). Luckily I had my French roommate meet me at the airport so she could help me navigate the train system. After an hour and a half and 3 trains later, I finally made it to Nick's apartment... sans baggage.

Last night we went out and met up with another classmate of ours, Jasmine, and we worked hard to forget about my long day and focus on being in Paris. This worked wonders for me and I was able to convince myself that by today they would find my bag and everything would be back on track. Well, in reality, it's noon and they are still looking for my bag and Nick is in a rough state from last night's festivities.

So.... that was my first day in Paris, ugly but I made it. I will be here until Tuesday, and I have confidence that things will be on track by the end of today.

Paris, Madrid, and Dublin...

Well, half of the semester is now over and next week we have our mid-semester break. Everyone has the week off, so most of us are planning trips out of the country before we have to come back and prepare for finals. My plan is to take advantage of the time off to visit my other classmates who are scattered around Europe.

My first destination is Paris. I have never been to France, so I am excited to get a chance to do some exploring in their most famous city. Tomorrow morning is my last class of the week, so I hit the road tomorrow afternoon. While in Paris I will be staying with my good buddy Nick and his wife Jess who have been living in Paris for a couple of weeks now. I will spend about 4 days exploring Paris before making my way to the next destination, Madrid.

In Madrid, I'll be staying with Paul. I have been to Madrid once before but it has been over 10 years and I'm looking forward to getting back. Paul has been there for about 7 or 8 weeks now and has been having a blast. I'll be there for 4 days, so it should be a good time.

From there it is up to Dublin. We have decided to gather the majority of the UW MBA abroad gang and spend a weekend together in Dublin. Both Paul and I will be flying out of Madrid, Nick and Jess will come from Paris, Joe will fly in from Turkey, and Param will come over from the UK. We have rented an apartment that should hold us all, and we are all looking forward to sharing stories of our study experiences since arriving in Europe.

I will be out from Thursday until Sunday October 22nd, but will try to do some blogging from the road. Stay tuned and I should have a ton of pictures to post when I get home. Cheers!

Joe in Copenhagen...

Last weekend, my classmate Joe came up for a Copenhagen visit. He is doing his abroad studies in Turkey and it was great to catch up on his experiences thus far. During his time here we were fairly fortunate with the weather and were able to do a lot of exploring around the city.

It was also the weekend of the big Denmark vs. Northern Ireland soccer match. The city was completely invaded by Northern Ireland fans. These guys get all done up in Kilts, flags, green hair wigs, face paint.. .you name it, and run around town drinking and chanting throughout the entire weekend. Of course one of the days Joe and I joined in, grabbed a few beers and watched these guys do what they do best. Both of us learned a number of great Irish chants that we will surely pull out when we all meet in Dublin in two weeks.

Back from Berlin...

Wow, what a fantastic trip. This last weekend we made our way down to Berlin Germany and it was a fantastic experience. It took us about 6 hours to get from Copenhagen to Berlin. This included two legs by bus and a 90 minute ferry ride. We went 100% all weekend and were able to see and learn so much. We happened to be in town during the anniversary celebration of the reunification of Germany (October 3rd), so the town was full of people and festivities to mark the events.

Upon arriving, we did a little exploring on Friday, but the highlight of our trip was Saturday where we joined a tour that walked us around the entire city of Berlin. The tour was just over four hours and our tour guide was the best I have ever had. He was enthusiastic and very animated throughout the entire four hours. He was incredibly knowledgeable on the history of Berlin and had so many interesting stories to act out for us.

Berlin is an amazing place in Europe. Over the centuries it has been a focal point to so many events and changes in the European landscape. Even though over 90% of the city was destroyed during the bombings of WWII, there was so much to see.

We started in the Parises Platz or Paris Square, where so many events happened over the years. The Parises Platz contains the impressive Brandenburger Tor or Brandenburg Gate. This Romanesc gate was built in 1791 and was once the boundary between east and west Germany. One of the most famous to walk through that gate was Neapolitan during his conquest of Germany and one of the reasons why the square is named Paris square.

From there we saw the Reichstag, home to the German Empire and was the building that political parties fought over during the unstable period leading up to WWII. It is also the building where the reunification of Germany was announced in 1990 and now again hosts the German parliament.

Next we saw where the Berlin wall used to stand just outside of the Brandenburg Gate. There was almost an eerie feeling to know that 30 years ago, you would have been shot standing in that very spot.

From there we saw the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe." This is right in the middle of Berlin and is a very powerful sight.

We moved from there to see the field that is atop what is left of Hitler's secret bunker or Führerbunker. The bunker where he shot himself as the Russians were only a few blocks away.

Next was the building that used to be the headquarters of the German Air Force and one of the only buildings that survived the bombings of WWII.

From there we saw Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing point from east and west Berlin. In the buildings surrounding the checkpoint were secret headquarters of the CIA and KGB as well as the German secret police. It was a center spot during the cold war and many a spy found his way through that checkpoint.

Down the road from Checkpoint Charlie we saw the square where the Nazi book burning took place on May 10th, 1933. There were over 20,000 books burned that day and it marked the start of chaos in Berlin. There is a plaque in the square that marks the spot of the book burning and on the left side of the plaque there is a quote from a popular play that took place in 1820, over 100 years before the events of May 10th occurred. In an eerie foreshadowing, the quote said, "when you start by burning books, you end by burning people." This was very interesting to see.

We ended on Berlin's Museum Island, which has some of the most famous museums in Germany. It also marks the spot where the royal palace used to stand. In front of one of the museums there was an artistic bowl carved out of stone where you could still see the evidence of bomb and bullet shrapnel from WWII.

All in all it was an amazing and informative trip that I will never forget.

Click here to take a look at all of the wonderful pictures we took over the weekend.