The sixth day in The United States

Thursday: 

Epic:

UW Hospital - American Center tour:

After the visit on Epic, which sells medical systems and software, we visited the UW Health hospital in Madison.

The hospital looked similar to hospitals in Denmark, it was very modern and beautiful.

We got divided into four groups and got a guided tour. The group Emilie was in, got an educater that educates new nurses. She was very interested in us, what we wanted to see.

We told her, we were business students, who were very interested in marketing, which she found very helpful to give us the best experience on the guided tour.

 

We saw their extraordinary facilities as a basketball track and football track. She told that people who primarely used the hospital were non-emergency surgeries (they are sent to the hospital downtosn in Madison). It was primarely people with a sports injure.

It looked like a very good place to be treated when you get an injure, but she told us that they had difficulties with their marketing and branding of their hospital, many in the area do not know the hospital, which we founded quite weird, because hospitals in Denmark do not brand themselves or feel the need to draw attention on the hospital.

The tour was great because we saw the hospital with a business and marketing perspective and it was very interesting to see how the american politics is difficult on health etc.

115th Fighter Wing:

Fighter Wing was our last company to see today. When we arrived at noon to the military base where there was served sandwiches for us and some chips. While we were eating we saw the first jet plane took off and everyone ran outside to see the 6 others who was about to take off. When the planes were long gone, we met a pilot who told us about the life as a pilot and about the education if you wished to be a pilot.

Last but not least we had a guided tour around in the base, which was really exciting and a huge experience. Some things we were really surprised about is that there were unbelievable many women who was employees there, and some of the employees in the base workt on a part time which means that they have another job besides the job in the military airforce base.

The fire engine at the United States Air Force base. 

Some of the girls in front of the fire engine. 

Mentor night - Departure Dinner with Mentors:
So today was our last day with our mentors. Sadly Signes, Cecilies and Tanyas mentor did not show up Again.We all meet at a bowlingally, where we ate, we got burgers(it was just a bun and meat) and pasta. To dessert we had a cookie.

Emilie's experience:

Sarah showed up as one of the first mentors at the departure dinner. Our group had so much fun with her, and we really enjoyed being together with her.

She had lot of things and knowledge to offer. I did not think americans would understand our humour with sarcasm and irony, but sarah was understood it and thought we were fun.

After we were finished with eating at the departure dinner, we drove to a walmart. We wanted to see the supermarket that are so popular on the social medias. It was a very big supermarket(we thought), they had everything and it was in so big packages. You will never see so big packages in Denmark.

Sarah said that we had to see a Costco supermarket then, if we thought Walmart was a big supermarket. She was right, Walmart was nothing compared to the Costco supermarket. Everything was big even the shelves that the products were kept on were big. Even if it was in big packages, it was so cheap. And beyound that, they had so many flavours and brands in substitute products, so it gave us a feeling that there are a lot more competition on the food-market in the US than in Denmark.

We saw parfumes from Marc Jacobs with 125 ml. to 50 $, which is nothing compared to danish prices.

We are not used to these "super" supermarkets in Denmark, mostly supermarkets in Denmark are small and local, and we figured out that the cost of living in the United States are much cheaper than in Denmark.

After we had looked around in Costco, we headed back to our hotel. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Sarah, but we agreed to find eachother on Facebook to keep in touch.

Futhermore we saw something that were worth thinking about. In America they fight obesity everywhere, but in the supermarket you could take a scooter trolley, where people who gets to tired to go shopping in Walmart, can take the one you will see in video down under this.

The sixth day in The United States

Thursday: 

Epic:

UW Hospital - American Center tour:

After the visit on Epic, which sells medical systems and software, we visited the UW Health hospital in Madison.

The hospital looked similar to hospitals in Denmark, it was very modern and beautiful.

We got divided into four groups and got a guided tour. The group Emilie was in, got an educater that educates new nurses. She was very interested in us, what we wanted to see.

We told her, we were business students, who were very interested in marketing, which she found very helpful to give us the best experience on the guided tour.

 

We saw their extraordinary facilities as a basketball track and football track. She told that people who primarely used the hospital were non-emergency surgeries (they are sent to the hospital downtosn in Madison). It was primarely people with a sports injure.

It looked like a very good place to be treated when you get an injure, but she told us that they had difficulties with their marketing and branding of their hospital, many in the area do not know the hospital, which we founded quite weird, because hospitals in Denmark do not brand themselves or feel the need to draw attention on the hospital.

The tour was great because we saw the hospital with a business and marketing perspective and it was very interesting to see how the american politics is difficult on health etc.

115th Fighter Wing:

Fighter Wing was our last company to see today. When we arrived at noon to the military base where there was served sandwiches for us and some chips. While we were eating we saw the first jet plane took off and everyone ran outside to see the 6 others who was about to take off. When the planes were long gone, we met a pilot who told us about the life as a pilot and about the education if you wished to be a pilot.

Last but not least we had a guided tour around in the base, which was really exciting and a huge experience. Some things we were really surprised about is that there were unbelievable many women who was employees there, and some of the employees in the base workt on a part time which means that they have another job besides the job in the military airforce base.

The fire engine at the United States Air Force base. 

Some of the girls in front of the fire engine. 

Mentor night - Departure Dinner with Mentors:
So today was our last day with our mentors. Sadly Signes, Cecilies and Tanyas mentor did not show up Again.We all meet at a bowlingally, where we ate, we got burgers(it was just a bun and meat) and pasta. To dessert we had a cookie.

Emilie's experience:

Sarah showed up as one of the first mentors at the departure dinner. Our group had so much fun with her, and we really enjoyed being together with her.

She had lot of things and knowledge to offer. I did not think americans would understand our humour with sarcasm and irony, but sarah was understood it and thought we were fun.

After we were finished with eating at the departure dinner, we drove to a walmart. We wanted to see the supermarket that are so popular on the social medias. It was a very big supermarket(we thought), they had everything and it was in so big packages. You will never see so big packages in Denmark.

Sarah said that we had to see a Costco supermarket then, if we thought Walmart was a big supermarket. She was right, Walmart was nothing compared to the Costco supermarket. Everything was big even the shelves that the products were kept on were big. Even if it was in big packages, it was so cheap. And beyound that, they had so many flavours and brands in substitute products, so it gave us a feeling that there are a lot more competition on the food-market in the US than in Denmark.

We saw parfumes from Marc Jacobs with 125 ml. to 50 $, which is nothing compared to danish prices.

We are not used to these "super" supermarkets in Denmark, mostly supermarkets in Denmark are small and local, and we figured out that the cost of living in the United States are much cheaper than in Denmark.

After we had looked around in Costco, we headed back to our hotel. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Sarah, but we agreed to find eachother on Facebook to keep in touch.

Futhermore we saw something that were worth thinking about. In America they fight obesity everywhere, but in the supermarket you could take a scooter trolley, where people who gets to tired to go shopping in Walmart, can take the one you will see in video down under this.

The fifth day in The United States

Wednesday:

Happy birthday Signe!

Today, it is Signe’s birthday, and may all her wishes come true!

We started the day with singing for Signe, we brought her cake, Danish flags and presents.

After, we went downstairs and ate breakfast before we headed our way to trek, which is a bicycle manufacturer. We have rent our “own” bus for the entire day, so we took the bus to Waterloo, where Trek’s headquarters is. The bus was a “real American school bus” just like those in movies, so even the bus ride was an experience.

"Our bus" - a yellow American school bus. 

Trek Bicycle:

Trek’s headquarters is and has always been in Waterloo, Wisconsin. At Trek we had a guide tour which was a great experience - we learn a lot and saw the production of a Trek bicycle from the very beginning to the final results. First we went through a little museum of Trek, where the guide told us about Trek’s history and about the development, which has been huge. We did also see some different kind of bikes, but old and new bikes. Afterwards we walked through the entire manufactory and we saw the production of the bicycles. First we heard something about the different models that they got and they have four different frames, which he showed us. After that he showed us the places where they collect the different pieces to a frame or to a wheel. When the frame is complete, it come to the “painting room” where both people and a robot are painting the frame in many different colours and patterns. The robot was very smart and incredibly effective, but also “the hand-made” work was excellent, most of the employees in the painting section have an art education, so they do want they are doing. After getting paint the frame comes to a “control room” where some employees are checking the frame for scratches and other defects before they polish the frame and send it further to the collect section, where some people collect the entire bicycle.

"Trek's motto."

Even thought the manufactory in Waterloo is Trek’s headquarter is not here where most of their bicycles are produced. The manufactory in Waterloo is primarily producing very expensive and customized bikes to private consumers and bikes to their professionals cycling teams. So most our production is customized to the individual consumer which explains the many different colours and patterns. They do both produce mountain bikes, racer, city bikes and children bicycles. Trek do also have a “teaching room” where both employees and their retailers can get new knowledge from experts, so they can give the customer the best possible experience, when they are buying a Trek bicycle.

"The Trek museum."

Unfortunately we were allowed to take pictures in the manufactory except from in the museum area. But we have some pictures from the museum area.

Harley-Davidson museum:

As you can see further down in the blog, there is an assignment about Harley Davidson, well there is a reason for that because today we went to the Harley Davidson Museum, where we got a guided tour around the museum, where got we divided into two groups.

"The museum entrance"

The tour was quite interesting it started out with an explanation about how there motors work and have developed through time. We also got and explanation to how and why they are so noisy, which some may think. After that, we heard about who the company survived through the world wars and the great depression, and to why they almost went bankrupt. The guide was especially interested in telling about world war II and the soldiers and the time after the war. Which we understand, because it was that way that the soldiers who were trained on the motorcycles got their bikes whit them home after the war, and many of them began to decorate them, like what bikers do today. For it was the soldiers who started the biker culture which we see today.
We also got a chance to see some celebrities bikes here was Elvis Presley's bike included.
After the tour has the museum made an exhibit where you can sit on some of their bikes, which were very fun, and only made us want a bike or to ride one even more than we did before.
After the museum visit, we ate at the motor museum, which is a cafe at the Harley museum. The food were good and especially the fries were excellent (I do not think I have had any better ones before), but sadæy it came a little late.

"Harley exhibits a  new bike every year"

"Elvis Presley's bike"

"Tanya on one of their bikes"

Johnson Creek Outlet Mall:

After the museum visit we vent to the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall, which is placed outside. The Mall is filled with cheap clothes  from brands like Nike, Addidas, Calvin Klein, Mac and Tommy Hilfinger.
We got about two and a half hour to shop, which is deffently not enough for us girls, but still we got to spend a lot of Money anyway.

The fourth day in the United States

Tuesday:

Today have been a long and tiring day.

We started early with a little trip to Dream Bank, which is a place where you can take different courses or get help to fulfill your dreams. It is free of charge and the place is there to inspire us to pursue our dreams. It is owned by the American insurance company, who sees themselves as dream protectors. It is used around by 6000 locals the month.

We got the opportunities to make a dreamboard, which we took with us home. It was surprisingly fun to make the dreams boards.

We eat lunch at the madison college, where we got five different pastas.

Later on that day we went to a team building and rope course exercise. The first three hours, we were together with some american students from the colleges, together we went through different team building exercises. It was really fun and one of the teams brooke the campus record by 4 seconds (the old records was 30 sec.) the point of the game was to touch all the numbers in a circle but only one person could be in it.

Later on we all (or most of us) went rope climbing.

In the afternoon we had mentor night and that is why we weren’t together.

Maja’s mentor experience:  

Our mentor Diane picked us up at Madison College at 4.30 pm. Or that was at least what we had planned. As I told you, she is a busy woman so she showed up at 5.15 pm.

The plan was to go to her place, meet her dogs, get some food and just relax and have a nice conversation. On the way to her house, she drove quite a lot different ways to show us some of Madison. We saw the West side of Madison and the UW Arboretum.

When we came to her house, we were greeted by her three dogs. Afterwards we got a housetour. She made tea for us, which was delicious.

Dinner was homemade Chicken Stew with crackers and bread. It was so delicious and we were all happy to get some homemade food. We ate together with her and Declan who is a friend of Diane’s daughter. We had a really good time and had a lot of fun talking about different stuff.

The clock went 19.45 pm and we were ready to go home. She drove us back but when we hit the highway, something terrible happened. In the middle of nowhere one of the tires punctured. We had to drive to the nearest gas station so that we could get the tire changed. Unfortunately, we did not have the jack so we were helpless. Diane had to call one of her friends who came to pick us up and drove us back to the hotel. Diane herself stayed at the gas station and waited for a tire truck to come and help her. However, christina tried to help fixing the car and for that reason Diane promised to name her first grandchild after her.  

I do not have pictures from the night except from the one’s of the dogs.

PS. the dogs were lovely.

Emilie’s mentor experience:

Sarah picked us up at the hotel 5.45 pm.

Unfortunately her brother and her sister in law were not home, so we could not visit a “real American house”, instead we went to a real American diner. It was a local diner in a city nearby, Sarah thought it was a small city, but we found out the city had a population of 30.000 people, which we think are not a small city in Denmark.

It was great a great night, we laugh and talked the entire time we were together.

Unfortunately the waiter messed up in our order, so luckily for us, we got free dessert because of the inconvenience. We had to try the apple pie, which was very delicious.

On our way home from the diner we saw a Harley Davidson motorcycle, which we had to take pictures with. The driver showed us the speakers in the vehicle, it sounded like being in a diskotek outside, it was so crazy!

Signe, Cecilie and Tanyas mentor experience:

Tuesday evening we got picked up by our mentor at 6 pm. This was the first time we going to meet her and her husband. Before meeting them we had  emailed a little back and forth with her. She wanted us to go see where she lived because she lived in a rebuilt barn, which was pretty cool and cosy. 

We drove from our hotel to see her house and got a little chit-chat. We picked up her husband up and drove to a mexican local restaurant, which was a cool experience, Our mentor had not planned anything besides the restaurant, so she was asking us what we wanted to do. At that time it was pretty late so we decided to drive around a little and experience the capitol, University of Wisconsin and Madison downtown in the evening. It was so pretty. We were really surprised to see how pretty and modern the houses the students lived in was, compared to Denmark. We were also surprised to see how many people who are using the university in the evening as a place to do all homework and assignments.

The third day in the United States

 Monday:

Monday morning we went to Madison College where we  started and spend the most of the day. The day started off with some general information about the day and our program.  After the information, we got an hour to prepare ourselves to present about Denmark to students from Madison College who were interested in Denmark. After the preparation, the presentations started, and we all did pretty well. The madison students were very interested in our country, some were interested in politics and some were interested in the youth and Denmark´s drinking culture. There are some cultural differences between the US and Denmark, that we especially noticed.

Pictures of Madison College.

One of the differences between Denmark and the US is that many Americans are afraid of the police and are actually kind of working against them. Where we in Denmark sees the police as our friend and someone we always can ask for help. We have also noticed that the American population is much more open minded and very friendly to people like us, who are from a foreign country. People on the street on the colleges and even in the bus is stopping up and asking where we come from and what we are doing in The United States.

                                                                          Picture of Madison College.

After the presentations, we did Q & A, where a lot of interesting question both from the Danish and the American students came up.The American students came up with some really relevant questions and they were not shy to ask.

At noon we all got hungry and there were served mexican food, which we all liked.

Madison College

After lunch, we had a guided tour at Madison College, where we got a lot of exciting information. It was a huge campus and it was funny to see the different kinds of education possibilities and facilities at the school. For us, from Denmark, it was really exciting to experience an American college because we all had some expectations with us from home. When our “school day” ended we went shopping in East Towne Mall and ate dinner  at Doolittles, which we can recommend to everyone it was a really good restaurant.

The second day in the United States

Sunday

Our day started with breakfast at the hotel, we had a lot of time this morning which was very nice after we did not get enough sleep saturday. We went out for some shopping at the forenoon in local shopping centre, called “East towne Mall”.

At noon we walked to Reindahl Park, where we were going to meet with our mentors. We found it awkward in the beginning,  when we all were sitting in the shelter and we did not know who our mentors were. However the atmosphere got better in the shelter and we found our mentors except from Signe, Tanya and Cecilie.

The park where we meet our mentors. 

Mentor experience:

Emilie’s mentor experience:

My mentor was very friendly, I am in a group of three students and one mentor, we got along quite well, she understands our danish humour and was very excited to learn about our danish traditions, mentality and values.

We had a great time talking to each other, we asked a lot of questions and joked with each other. Afterwards the welcome lunch in the shelter, our mentor (Sarah) asked us if wanted to go somewhere. We decides together to go to the farm, sassy cow, which is located on the countryside, 20 minutes from madison. The farm was very exciting to see, and their ice-cream was even better.

We talked with few of their animals they have on the farm. This experience on the farm made the relationship with Sarah great.

"The sassy cow farm"

"Birgit smiling at a sheep"

Signe, Cecilie and Tanyas’ mentor experience:

Signe, Cecilie and Tanya have the same mentor which is why they are writing our mentor experience together.The mentor we were supposed to have did not show up because of some personal things. So in the beginning we did not have a mentor, but after a short time a very sweet teacher from Madison College and her sweet daughter started a conversation with us. We were with these two lovely persons the rest of the afternoon and we had so much fun. They told us so many things about America and their culture and values, and we told them about Denmark and Europe. As an example they told us about the american tradition “Homecoming” which is a huge thing in the american high school. We are exactly going to see a homecoming football game on Friday. They were so open-minded and friendly and we really couldn’t ask for more. We already know that we will see them again when they are coming on a visit in Denmark with some other people from Madison College which we are looking very much forward to.

"From the left to right Cecilie, Brenna, Signe and Tanya"

Maja's mentor experience:

Afternoon/evening

At the evening we went out to eat and some of us girls ate at a good restaurant called Friday’s, where we got real American food. Afterwards we went on a little shopping in the East Towne Mall. And as perfect end of the day we have some relax time in the pool before we went to bed.

"Real American food"



The first day in the United States

Saturday

We arrived very late in the night in Madison due to a delayed flight, so we were very tired on saturday. After breakfast we went to Madison downtown by bus, where we started out with some general information from one of the american teachers. Afterwards we went to The Farmers Market which is a local market where local farmers sell their commodities like pumpkins, radishes, flowers and cheese. The Farmers Market is a tradition in Madison and one of the biggest farmers market in The United States. We all think it was very nice and it was nice to experience a local tradition. In the afternoon we had a guided tour at the capitol of Wisconsin. The capitol was very beautiful and old and at the same time full of history. The capitol's architecture was especially beautiful. The capitol is a public place and there were many people. While we were there we attended multiple wedding photoshoots.

The capitol building seen inside from nearly the top of the building 

It was quite sad to see so many homeless people downtown

Maja in front of the capitol building

The last thing we did in Madison downtown was to get guided tour again, but this time at the University of Wisconsin. It was a student who showed us around and we saw many of buildings which was a part of the campus. During the tour the guide told us about how life is as a student at the university and in Madison.  

Picture of the Wisconsin school of business

Afterwards we took the bus back to our area, which is in the east part of Madison. We went to the mall to eat dinner and do some shopping. We figured out there was plenty of places to eat, but none of the places in the mall did not sell fast food.

In the evening we went back to our hotel and went to sleep. Best Western East Towne Suites which is our hotel is actually a really good standard, there is delicious breakfast, a gym and a pool area.