Dan Elder Journal Reflections The flight to from Cedar Rapids to Chicago took me back to the many times I have flown from cedar rapids to embark on my many vacations I have had with my family. But it was different because I was not going with my parents I was going with a few friends and tons of new people I had not met yet. When I got to Chicago I got a better chance of meeting everyone and I knew I was going to be making some new friends right away. The flight to London was like nothing I have never done before because I have never had to fly for that long before and since I could not fall asleep it was a very long flight indeed. The in-flight dinners were a lot better than I thought they would be I was expecting something way worse and they actually were not bad at all to eat I was pleasantly surprised. The airport at Heathrow was really big and it was a surprise to me that we were driving on the left side of the road even though I knew they did that in England it still came as a surprise to actually see it in action. The second flight went by very quickly for me because I was so excited to get to Denmark. Some of the first things that I noticed when I got Denmark that was different were all the biking and walking everyone does. Also the fact that everything is more expensive in Europe as compared to the United States it came as a real shock to me but I should have realized that with all the taxes they have that it has to be. The McDonalds in Europe was also a surprise the food was less greasy to say the least and since I hate greasy fast food I actually thought it wasn’t half bad compared to the food in America. But also the price again shocked me. But overall it was a great beginning to the trip. Day 2 Orientation to the program went by very fast for me because I was so excited to get the trip on the road I was also a little tired from the trip. But I had high expectations walking down to the train I never expected it to be so far. I am not what you would call a lazy person but it shocked me how much walking and biking people in Denmark actually do as compared to people in the United States. It makes you realize just how dependent we are on are cars to get us everywhere. In Denmark you don’t need a car since you can get anywhere just by walking to the train station or the bus station and it will take you were you want. Carlsberg was founded in 1847 by J.C. Jacobson the company quickly grew and started exporting beer around the world. The company kept growing until there was a fight between the father and son and they split up and formed two different companies. The two companies came back together in 1970 and became one of the world’s largest breweries. It is today the 4thlargest brewery in the world and is primarily in Europe and in Asia it does very little trade into America. Carlsberg has to market different in some ways to every place it sells its beers because of the wide range of cultures and languages it must adapt to in order to sell it product effectively. Carlsberg also isn’t as cocky as most beer companies in the United States are since they don’t boast that they are the best in the worlds they just calmly say probably the best beer in the world. Carlsberg also in some ways seems to be set in their ways since they refuse pretty much to try and get into the American market since they deem it to be practically impossible to break into the market. The brewery was a lot of fun to walk around in and I learned a lot while walking around about the company and also how the beer is made. It was also very fun to get to try out the beer at the end of the tour since it was a well needed refreshment. Day 3 The Danish design study was a very good time I was very surprised by their hospitality and how many refreshments they gave us the strawberries were just amazing to say the least. The host herself was the owner of the company and what really surprised me was the fact that she went to Harvard and yet she didn’t seem the type I am not saying she wasn’t smart but the fact that she didn’t boast about it are anything like that that a normal American would do. What the design company basically did was to take a companies product and basically design around that product and to make it better and more marketable. They were proud of how they did and that worked with such companies as royal Copenhagen and Pepsi . The main thing which I came to see was the fact of how they had to market differently in Europe because basically they had to at pretty much all times keep the product in front of their consumer. Because they need to make the customer feel like the company cared and wanted to be there to help them out. That’s why everywhere you look in Denmark there is advertisements for all kinds of products everywhere you look. The time spent at the Danish design study was certainly eye opening into how much they really are very humble compared to everyone in America it is differently more of a we culture then a me culture then it is in America. The Danish design museum was a little bit of a disappoint for me but I have never really been that interested in the design of chairs I must say and I learned more about chairs then I will ever need to know. What was fun and exciting to see was the royal palace which was very beautiful to see and was just amazing for the sheer size of it. It was overall a great day in which I learned many things about different cultures and different ways of looking at things from another cultures view. It makes me realize how much there is to learn in this world and how much more there is for me to learn in order to make myself a better person. Day 4 It was very interesting to learn how the rock festival was able to manage the 25,000 volunteers they use to run the event. Because that truly is a huge amount of people to have to manage for an 8 day event every year considering the fact that you can’t be sure about all of them and whether they will actually show and do the work. Also the fact that there are only 25 full time employs that run the event all year long and that they have 400 volunteer managers is just crazy that they can pull of what they do because 400 people to manage 25,000 people that does not seem to be enough but the fact is that it is and they get it done. It was also interesting to learn how the festival has grown through the years and also learn how the money goes to a good cause. Ikea markets products that are well made and well designed at low prices and they market to everyone around the worlds making a world a brand that is known around the world. They try to make products that help improve the everyday life of their customers and make there shopping experience an all day event. Tivoli was a entirely different amusement park then what I am use to in America yes it had all the rides like roller coaster and things like that but it just seemed to be more sophtiscated then the new amusement parks in America. It also at the same time looked to be a lot more fun than the amusement park in America since they have a thing for every age group in the park it caters to everyone. There Friday night concert drew in thousands and it looked like an amazing idea I think they could maybe expand on it by offering more of a variety because looking at the lineup it didn’t seem like they had much of one. Also the fact that your price of admission doesn’t include the rides seemed really weird to me since if you go to an amusement park in America if you pay to get in you get to ride the rides are included. I think that Tavoli has pretty much everything they could want the only thing I could see them adding would be something on the lines of a water ride which would be perfect for hot days but since they don’t have much space I cant seem them doing it.