The Danes are coming! The Danes are coming! 6/10

Today we met some Danes!

The whole situation was very cute. We got to meet two of Jonatan's former students, one of their friends, and Jonatan's cousin, all of which were native Danish people. The purpose of the class was, as one would guess, to learn about Danish culture and wellbeing from the perspective of actual Danes our age.

We got some good stuff today! My group met a nice beardy fellow named Niels, and we played Castaway together. I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the game was, but it helped reinforce the idea that Americans and Danes kind of have the same core values. We were given a list of survival materials and told we had to choose only five of them to have while we were stranded on a deserted island somewhere for a few years. We then had to talk about how the island would be governed, how to divvy up work, what kinds of gender-based issues would exist on the island, and more. Culture didn't seem to play a huge role; we all had the same basic ideas of how to govern our imaginary island.

We also had time to ask some questions, mostly to Anna, but also to Niels. We talked about alcohol culture, taxes, education, Distortion, and more. One of the most shocking things I learned is that Denmark has paid maternity leave for roughly a year, and when we told Anna we don't have paid maternity leave here at all, she was baffled. Denmark doesn't understand why the U.S. is so primitive when it comes to maternity leave, and I don't understand it either. We have so much in common.

Anyway, I don't have any good photos, so here's a drawing I did of Jonatan with metallic blue hair.

Okay, so here's the situation... 6/9

Situated learning!

(EDIT: apparently the whole post I typed up got deleted. I'll rewrite this as soon as I can. Urrrghhhhh!!)

Insert Creative Title about Culture Here 6/5

We saw the Queen!

Everything about this experience was strange to me. In the United States, if you're going to see the President speak, it's a huge deal. There are levels upon levels of security. Essentially everybody is a potential assassin. The place is full of noise and people. Nobody can get anywhere near the President. Here, we just showed up, they waved hand-held metal detectors somewhat near our bodies and gave us a thumbs up, and we walked in. We just stood there and watched the Queen talk. (I felt kind of weird looking at my phone, but I was trapped behind a tall woman and her puffy hair, and I couldn't understand a word the Queen said. I clapped when everyone else clapped, and that was it.)

That was really indicative of the trusting nature of the Danes. They can just trust that nobody's going to sneak in a liquid bomb in their water bottles or something. The U.S. can be very paranoid, worrying about every possible threat, but Denmark is more relaxed. Even the restaurants in Denmark show this; all the outdoor seating in Denmark has blankets or pillows on the chairs. In the U.S., they would get stolen.

Nudgesicle 6/4

Today we get to talk about... capitalism!!

(Not really.)

Psychology is essential to businesses. If you want to market a product, you need to know who your target is and how to make them want your product. Manipulating people into thinking or feeling a certain way is all about psychology.

We explored businesses in Denmark that we're used to seeing in the United States, like McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and KFC. We looked at similarities and differences, noting how the aspects of the business that we see in Denmark and not back home may reflect the Danish people's view of wellbeing, which may be different from ours.

My group looked at Burger King. I want to say it was mostly the same, but the biggest difference I saw was tragic: the fries were bad. It's possible they were cooked with less oil or less salt, which could reflect Danish wellbeing, since they may be healthier than we are. They also didn't have toys, which was interesting. Toys were listed on the menu (you can buy a separate toy for 15 kroner which is pretty cool) but there was no toy display. The employee told me "we do not have toys", but I couldn't tell if that meant they don't carry toys or if they were out. I was mostly interested in finding out if they have the unnecessarily gendered toys like we have in the United States. (Because, you know, only boys like cars and only girls like animals. I love traditional gender roles. Capitalism is good. The government is here to protect us. All hail the patriarchy.) Unfortunately, I didn't find anything. But I suspect Denmark is equally as obsessed with gender essentialist garbage as the U.S. is. But I digress.

Anyway, we also discussed nudging in terms of positive reinforcement. To "nudge" somebody to do something, you don't want to just tell them to do it. You want to gently push them to act. Positive reinforcement is a great way to do this; you train a dog by giving it a treat for doing a trick, so that it associates doing the trick with the taste of the treat. You train a human by giving it money for recycling a bottle in Denmark. Psychology is amazing.

Group Soup 6/3

Again, I'm out of puns, so the title is a bad rhyme.

Today we had our presentations!

I think everything went well. Our group definitely went over the time limit, but it really seemed like everybody enjoyed our presentation. The board game cafe is definitely unique and interesting as a topic, and our game was adorable.

We brainstormed some ideas for the next project, discussing our presentation and our group dynamic, looking at what we would like to cut out, continue, and add.

Our group dynamic was amazing. We got everything done efficiently and had a good time doing it. (This is great because in my last group project at Goucher, I ended up doing all the work, and I got a B in the class when I definitely deserved an A, But that's another story.)

We mainly discussed time management, hoping to start and end earlier, and save long lunch breaks toward the end of the project. Also, no more Chinese buffets. Maybe it was just that Beijing restaurant, but I'm just gonna say that Chinese buffets in Copenhagen are disgusting.

In the future we definitely want to do most of what we did this time. Having a unique topic and a fun, hands-on activity made our presentation really unique, and dividing up the work evenly and then making edits on a shared google doc made the project flow.

I hope everything goes well this time!

I Can't Think of a Pun about Resilience 6/1

This class was an incredibly unique experience. The class visited Cafe Exit, a program that aids prisoners and people recently released form prison in moving forward with their lives without crime.

I can't even begin to describe how moving this was to me. I admittedly don't know much about the prison system in Denmark, but I know that the prison system in the U.S. is undoubtedly broken. The exteremity of punishment for nonviolent crimes, the lack of adequate treatment for mentally ill offenders, and the mass-incarceration of people of color are a few issues that come to mind, but what about when people get out of prison? We live in a capitalist society that dictates that we must have jobs and an income to survive. Food, shelter, and healthcare are a privilege rather than a right. If ex-prisoners want to live safely, they must get a job. However, once they've been in prison, they're exponentially less hireable. In a job market that's already broken,  an ex-convict—especially a disabled convict or a convict of color—is not going to have much luck. Without support or money, without a plan or a job, and without food, healthcare, or a house, that ex-prisoner is going to return to a life of crime, get arrested, and end up in prison all over again. At least in prison, they have meals and a bed to sleep in.

The Cafe Exit program is amazing for eudemonic happiness. Like I said before, it can be nearly impossible for ex-convicts to make something with their lives once they've been released from prison. With a program like this, they have a support system. They have like-minded people there for them, actively trying to bring them strength and plan a future for them. Cafe Exit helps to bring them to their full potential and to discover their calling.

Gin and Eudemonic 5/29

Get it? Like gin and tonic? Yeah, this pun is... the worst.

In my last post I discussed hedonic happiness, which focuses more on in-the-moment happiness. Hedonic happiness exists more on the surface, while eudemonic goes deeper. Eudemonic focuses more on what gives life meaning, and what allows a person to reach full potential.

Eudemonic happiness is observed through several theories, one of which being the self-determination theory. This theory covers:
1. Autonomy: freely choosing one's own actions according to self
2. Competence: ability to affect one's environment and attain desired outcomes
3. Relatedness: connection and caring with group members

Another way to view eudemonic happiness is to look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The needs toward the bottom of the pyramid deal more with basic needs, safety and physiological needs, are more hedonic. The needs toward the top--love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization--are eudemonic.

We also looked at eudemonic and hedonic happiness in the real world!

We discussed quotes, songs, and movies that relate to hedonic or eudemonic happiness, and came up with ideas for summer camp activities and reality shows relating to each kind of happiness. We also came up with our group mascot, Moses the Monkey, which brought us some hedonic happiness.