Monday, February 7, 2011

EXCITEMENT on this side of the ocean

HERE YE, HERE YE, Kimberly Ivany has enrolled in a Danish language course.

OH YES, by the time June rolls around, (and with it, the time of my return home), it's my goal to have reached the bottom of Modul 2 in the 6-Modul staircase that is Danish lessons!!! A few of my friends here at Skjoldhoj rode the bus into town tonight to attend an information session. Turns out, lessons for 5 months are FREE. The only price I will have to pay is to do my Danish grammar homework. (Which will probably be much like the times in grade 9 French.)

BUT! Speaking of homework, this brings about MORE exciting news!!!

Today was the first day that my class met our actual teacher. She was in Australia this past week, so the first 2 days of school were spent working with Hans, the TV technician, on shooting and editing.

So today we got the COMPLETE overview of the semester, including what assignments we will be given and due dates and all that wonderfully academic information.

Ok. Before I let you in on my semester in Aarhus, let's first take a look at my last semester at Ryerson:

  • TV Broadcast
  • Radio Broadcast
  • Ethics and Law in the Practise of Journalism
  • TV Production Techniques
  • Elizabethan England

And now, what THIS semester at DSMJ looks like:

  • TV Broadcast

...and that is all. HA!!!!

School is very different here in Dane Land. Instead of having 5 differnet classes at the same time, Danish students have the luxury of focussing on ONE class at at time. Therefore, there's never a point where a student would have to juggle a history essay, a radio mini-documentary and a TV production exam all at the same time...(in simple terms, we call that November at Ryerson.)

Now now, I know you're saying, "Seriously Kimberly?? How can you possibly say you're "STUDYING" in Denmark??" (...or maybe that's just my Father's voice being heard across the ocean.)

BUT...(Dad)...BELIEVE ME! The TV program I'm enrolled in is still a full course load. I will certainly be busy with assignments and workshops and lectures. There will be plenty of group work, lots of interviews, and even a final exam.

...but even still, it seems that these next 5 months are going to be WAY less intense than my semesters back in Toronto. At Ryerson, every Friday my classmates and I would come into class at 9:00 in the morning, then have a full half-hour newscast produced at precisely 3:00 that same day. Here in Aarhus, the focus seems to be more on methodology of TV journalism, and taking time to understand the theoretical side. Mind you, they do advertise to be very hands-on and a "learning-by-doing" school, which they are! But you don't know hands-on until you've met Mark Bulgutch.

But not being in a constant state of stress isn't the only perk of Aarhus journalism.

In the middle of March, for our third assignment, our class will be taking a little field trip. To Oslo.

....AHA!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, I'm just flying to Norway to shoot a story for school, NO BIG DEAL!

In addition to THAT, my cousin Joel will be in Oslo during that time directing opera!!! AND - (I can't say 100% that this is the final plan, or it will actually go through) - BUT WE'RE PLANNING A BACKSTAGE TOUR EXTRAVAGANZA OF THE PRODUCTION OF RIGOLETTO FOR MY STORY!!!!!

OHHHHHHHHHHH man, I'm actually squealing a bit out loud. Norway is definitely in the future!!!

As is Berlin.

...oh wait, did I not tell you? Lauren, Marieke, Kristine and I are taking the train there, not this weekend, but the next.

AHA. Life is grand, people.

Go outside and take a big breath of air and be glad for it :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbVaJ5kl7s

1 comment:

  1. Seriously Kimberly?? You deserve a break on intense course work. Ya gotta just breathe in all you can of Denmark and foreign friends and... well...life!! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. (Just make sure you study just a wee bit too!)

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