We left bright and early for a bank called Middelfart Sparkassen. This place has won countless awards and has been dubbed "The Happiest Place to Work in Denmark." And, because Denmark has been called the happiest place in the world, does this make this bank the happiest place to work in the whole world? They are housed in this brand-new building that has already won tons of architectural awards and a lot of it is based on completely open space and glass so that everyone can always see everyone. We were told that the bank was designed with maximum communication in mind, because the company believes communication is totally crucial to success. The employees all eat together in an organic dining room for lunch and dinner at the same time and there are no closed off private offices or rooms that belong to anyone. Except there is one office for the CEO, but he only uses it for meetings. Otherwise the CEO is working out in the open with the other employees. They try to downplay hierarchy. Which I thought was a bit ironic considering the fact that their whole building design was based on triangles.
They are all about self regulation and believe that people preform at their best if they have to regulate themselves, and this only works if people are in jobs that are vell well suited for them. Because of this, everyone who applies has to take a specific personality test to see if they are the right type of person who would fit in with the working environment here.
Some other interesting things were that if you don't seem to working well in a specific position, instead of just firing you, they look into other positions at the bank that you might fit into better, and if that does not work they help train you and give you more experience so that you can get a good job when you get out. I want to work here pleaseee!
This is the main lobby...also used for concert and presentation spaces so the stairs are also used as seats.
The meditation room/library
CEO's office
This is the whole building from the top down inside
Next stop...Koldinghus Castle! It's one of the oldest castles in Denmark and a lot of the royals used it as a summer home. Some form of residence has been here since the 1200s but the actual castle that resembles what I saw was built in the 1600s. SO OLD. It's so weird to think about how old stuff is here compared to America. Also this spot is home of the first Protestant church built in Denmark! The castle was really cool because it's burnt down a few times and been re-done so it was a mix of really really old as well as some newer architecture that has been added on.
Little lake village in the distance...
Inside courtyard
This is the ceiling of the first Protestant church in Denmark...so beautiful!
Me on the top of a tower after climbing about 900 steps in a spiral staircase. Definitely worth the view though!
Another view off the tower
The next morning after some bowling (weird...I know) and a stay in a hostel in Fredericia we made it to Århus, the second largest city in Denmark with 300,000 people. It was BEAUTIFUL and the weather was absolutely perfect and Arhus is home to an incredible art museum, the ARoS museum. The same architect, Olafur Eliasson, that designed the bank we visited before designed an installation dealing with colors and prisms. The most notable part was called the Rainbow Panorama.
Little canal with shops and food and things along the water
Muesum! The rainbow panorama is on top!
Some views from up there....
Meeeee! haha.
We did & visited a lot of cool things but I feel like I'm writing wayyy too much so I won't go into too much detail. At the muesum we met with my teacher's friends Rasums Jacobson. He started his own company and mainly mentally coaches athletes to help them stay in the zone and don't let any mental distractions get in the way of their performance. He claims to rely strongly on hypnotism and helps them get in touch with their emotional awareness and create positive identities that they can tap into when they are playing sports. He has worked with some awesome soccer players and one biker that is the Dane predicted to do the best in the upcoming Tour de France. I know a lot of it sounds a little bit like crap, but he explained everything really well and seems to have some great results from his work. Either way, I think there is definitely something to be said for being in the right mindset when setting goals and attempting to achieve them and staying positive during that process can be beneficial no matter what!
The last place we visited was an alternative school called Kaos Pilots. Rasmus was actually a graduate of the three year program. Its a very small school with only 35 people per year, or "team," as they call it. They focus on social entrepreneurship and as their senior project everyone has to make a company. My favorite part was that their companies all have to have a "win win win" concept. Not only do the company and whoever they provide a service for benefit, but some outside third party has to benefit as well. They focus a lot on playing to your strengths and passions, and like the bank, strongly believe that if you are working on something that you believe in that it will be successful and that it is extremely important to be actually wanting to do what you do. The woman who presented to us started a company that helps kids who have to travel & move to different countries a lot a lot because of their parents' jobs understand different cultures and attempt to wrap their mind around the different ways that people live so that they are not completely shocked every time they move. But, she realized after a year or two that she did not feel as strongly about it and she felt she had accomplished the goal. After she realized this she knew she could not run the company the best way it could be run, so she sold it and decided to go after a new dream that she could again feel passionate about.
Overall it was an extremely eye opening trip and I learned a lot about different applications of positive psychology. Even though nobody directly worked with positive psychology we learned the ways that it could be intertwined with other jobs and parts of life and it defintely gave me a lot more to consider when I think about what I actually want to do with my life...which is still a mystery. It was cool seeing all of this stuff coming straight out of the business minor program, though. I like seeing ways that psych & business can be combined and the idea of using psychology in a more uplifting setting than therapy or social work.
Today and Sunday have been pretty normal days....I went to church again yesterday and did a lot of homework. I have 3 tests coming up on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. AND I'm taking a night ferry to Oslo this weekend, so I have a lot to do! It's so weird how fast everything is going! After Oslo, I'm spending the next weekend in Paris visiting Alexandra and Elizabeth! YAY and THEN I go to Madrid for a week with the same group for my Positive Psych study tour. And THEN Billy comes to visit! I can't believe how busy things are getting already!
Love & miss everyone tonsss!
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