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Cabin Trip Throwback: The Volunteer Edition!

Fabian Potthoff is an international exchange student from Germany. He was one of the much treasured volunteers at the Spring semester 2015 Cabin Trip. Fabian and his fellow volunteers did an awesome job in preparing and executing the trip, and we simply could not have done it without them. Read about his experience here - who knows, maybe you want to help out at this semester’s Cabin Trip?

Fabin Potthoff

Friday, 6th March 2015 , the clock just turned 3 pm.

The sun flooded the communal room; outdoors you can just hear the sounds of nature — apart from the monotonous noise of the highway from afar. It should be those last quiet moments before a voice echoes through the whole Cabin: “The bus is coming! The bus is coming!” In a few minutes, around 60 people will inhabit this place and hopefully experience a memorable weekend …But this is actually not the beginning of this story …

 Months before, at a mentoring workshop.

I myself am an exchange student and I had a great team of mentors last semester which has warmheartedly welcomed me to Copenhagen. In one of our many meetings, my mentor told me how he had supported the last “Cabin Trip” and how much fun he had doing it. Since I now also became a mentor, I did not want to miss this experience and signed up as a volunteer.

Since the start of the Cabin Trip was not far away, meetings followed quickly. So two weeks later a motley crowd of volunteers and board members have met and distributed the field of duties. Everyone could decide where they wanted to help and also how much effort they wanted to put into it. This was one of the greatest strengths: Everyone just had to do as much as they could. Time-dependent problems were taken seriously and every time someone could quickly step in if needed.

At every meeting all the creature comforts of a student were present: Cola, beer, lots of coffee and cookies! In these brief and ever fun meetings we talked about accruing tasks and created schedules for the bar and the kitchen. There was once an extended meeting many participated at with a slight hangover from the Fridays’ bar tour the day before. Luckily there was pizza and coffee—some proper hangover killers!

 Now back to the beginning of this story.

It took exactly 90 seconds after the first “The bus is here”chant: a horde of people stormed into the communal room and rushed to the drinks and chips-laden table. Here it should be mentioned that a small group of fearless volunteers went to the cabin a day before, waited for the food supply and prepared everything.

But now that all arrived, we volunteers were in great demand: it finally got started! We presented ourselves as their counterparts and told them a bit about the stunning program awaiting them. Soon after, the participants moved to their rooms and we volunteers opened the bar and started preparing dinner.

Of course, as volunteers, we were not always roped in. We had enough free time and could enjoy the whole trip, participate in the activities and come into contact with people from many countries around the world. However, to support the others was oftentimes so much fun that you  helped each other anyway. Whether at the bar or in the kitchen.

During the trip, new friendships were obtained between us volunteers, and everyone discovered their strengths and weaknesses. Everyone is good at something. Cooking, photography, bartending or managing social activities. Perhaps there were one or two who realized that they’re more like “epicures” and not suited for organizing  or supporting others. That’s also fine and quite natural.

Thanks to our excellent preparation and strong but friendly company between all of us volunteers, it was a simple task to master this trip. We certainly have managed to make it, for the majority of participants, an unforgettable trip.

At the party Saturday night, the alcohol flowed freely and there was dancing and singing until after 4 am. Especially the midnight snack became increasingly popular and provided a refreshment, so everybody was able to continue dancing. 

On the last day, even during cleaning, all participants had fun. When they entered the bus to head home, one could only see happy and satisfied people.

For a volunteer, this is always the highest reward: The time one has invested has paid off and brought to many a great experience—including oneself!

It was an incredibly wonderful experience, all things considered. Volunteering was a lot of fun. I can only recommend to assist the QA Programme in something, ’cause as the recent proverb has it quite appropriately: “Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you’re part of a team!

Sounds like fun? You can sign up for this semester’s Cabin Trip here: http://qaprogramme.dk/event/qa-cabin-trip-autumn-2015/

...And if you want to volunteer at this semester’s Cabin Trip, drop us a line at [email protected]! 

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QA Cabin Trip Throwback: Harry Potter and his dementor lovers

In less than two months, the QA Programme will venture to a remote location on one of our epic Cabin Trips. To help you picture what you can expect from one of these trips, we have compiled a few experiences from last semester’s Cabin Trip for you. The first comes from mentee Lottie, who has maybe made the most aweome contribution in QA blog history - a prophecy-in-rhyme for the Movie Mash-Up.

Throwing a random group of people together is always an interesting social project. Dividing this random group in even more random groups and having them compete is even more so. Right before I left for the Cabin Trip, I saw a picture on Facebook, that I believe stated that 15 minutes of playing gets people to bond more than a long and deep conversation. And as much as I enjoy good conversations, I think The Internet has a good point there.

Admittedly, I was quite reserved at the start of the weekend. I didn’t know any of my teammates, and stubbornly wanted to just hang out with the people I had already met. Soon enough, however, I realised that feelings like these are often just products of misplaced self-consciousness. Not wanting to allow myself to be limited by this, I rapidly chose to let go and stop taking myself so seriously. A good decision that resulted in a great weekend with a lot of fun and silliness.

My team - composed of a Finn, a Japanese, an American, an Italian, a Dutchie and a girl from Hong Kong - soon proved to have a great dynamic, and the more activities we did, the more fun we started to have. Balancing on a tiny mat with a group of six people, or competing in a nightly cucumber race with your newly found arch enemy (you know who I’m talking about, red team) surely leads to hilarious situations, no matter how old you are or where you are from. Besides that, exaggerated fanaticism and animosity were often the basis for funny encounters with members of other teams, while during the nights the cheap bar and highly intellectual 90s and 00s music let us forget about our Hunger Games for a little bit. When you find youself mopping the floor on drum ‘n base at 4am because you don’t feel like going to bed, you know you’ve had a good night.

Lottie and other happy campers.

The crowning moments on every team’s work, and my personal favourite part of the weekend, were definitely the movie mash-up plays on Saturday night. The combination of minds from different backgrounds proved to be a great source of creative genius. Whomever knew that Harry Potter is in reality a Japanese schoolboy with dementor lovers, and whose parents have been eaten by a hungry Cyclops whom he shall defeat according to an ancient prophecy? Or that the great Wizard of Oz is in fact a heartless serial killer with a cocaine addiction? Moreover, the way in which everyone put themselves out there, showed that the group had grown quite comfortable with each other over the course of less than two days.

Lottie wrote a phrophecy-in-rhyme the above Movie Mash-Up story. It’s pretty amazing. Take a look:

I see your parents have tragically died Their killer survived and ran off to hide As it is only one, who can truly live free A journey to Greece is what I foresee.   Your destined goal is yet still far But along the way you’ll be told what you are Trials shall be met, and your fears you shall face So develop the skills in the right place.   Olympus School is where this is done best They will prepare you for your dangerous quest Fear not, though, rest your mind In the end, you shall be “the boy who survived”.

I think it is great to know that university students from all over the world still allow themselves to be silly and let go at times, and that doing so creates more common ground than one would initially think. It is things like this that will keep me going when I’m spending sunny days in the KUA library, struggling my way through Descartes and Hegel.

Sounds like fun, right? Sign-up for the next Cabin Trip is open - sign up now at www.qaprogramme.dk/event/qa-cabin-trip-autumn-2015

(Please note that the Cabin Trip is an exclusive event for current members of the QA Programme.)

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Build your talents in the QA (you might even get a job from it!)

Sanne Bergh was one of the founders of the QA Programme but has since graduated from university with a Master of Applied Cultural Analysis. She now works for Maersk, and guess what - she uses her QA skills every day. Here is her take on how you can use the skills you gain in the QA Programme to further your career after university.

Sanne Bergh, Michael Hockenhull (co-founder, former president, now vice president,) Rhina Lindhøj (co-founder and former vice president), and David Folting (co-founder and former treasurer) at the award ceremony where the QA Programme won the International Study Environment Award of 2014!

There are obvious reasons to be a Mentor for international students. It is fun, you meet lots of great people, and it might even increase your chances of getting a study abroad spot.

I am here to argue that it might also be a stepping-stone to build your talents for a future career and give you skills to highlight on you CV and in job applications.

Granted, being one of the founders of the QA Programme, I may be subject to a bit of favouritism when it comes to faculty of Humanities’ international Mentor association. However, I am also a so-called ‘professional’ that has entered the private job market and now is a project coordinator in Maersk. Therefore, I have been asked to share my thoughts on how being a Mentor will prepare you for the mighty job markets of the future, so here they are:

Intercultural skills. I am sure you are familiar with the concept and the context: the world is becoming smaller, we travel, we meet different people, we entangle, and we work across cultures and countries. More and more Danish companies and organisations have English as their working language and attract a variety of employees from all over the world.

We students from KUA are prepared for such a working environment. Right? We study the Human, and aspire to understand variations of relations between humans through theories of culture, history, languages, art and religion. We know about the pitfalls in cultural meetings, at least in theory, but is that the same as knowing how to work them?

When I began my studies in 2007, I do not recall seeing many signs in English on Campus, my classes were not in English, and I never once during my BA in Religion had to do group work or interact with students not raised in Denmark. Rarely in a university context, during classes or breaks, did I experience the cultural, misalignment that I since then have bumped into and have had to learn to manage during my time in QA, and which prepared me to work with Ukrainians, South Africans, Indians, Australians, Brits, Americans, Turks and other nationalities.

Being sensitive to cultural differences, able to express yourself in English in all sorts of situations and capable of working in a cross-cultural environment takes practise. It is not that difficult (though it can be) but it does require experience internalising the tacit routines that arise when you are confronted with different cultures of work, humours, meeting discipline and all the little things. Even when we do know the theory, we may not always have the ability to recognise and react to cultural misalignments in a professional situation unless we have actually tried it. And it is important, because if you can already work in an intercultural setting, you are better predisposed to do the task you are charged with in a job, faster, and ultimately be more successful in your work.

QA exposed me to an international working environment, and, looking back, was in other ways a stepping-stone for me.

We planned big projects for hundreds of people. That experience is useful as so many companies and NGOs these days build their organisations around projects and programmes. Especially when you get hired as a project coordinator it comes in handy. Each semester we in the board would discuss how to structure the association, the work groups and how to organise the up to 350 students we could have in a fall semester. Building the organisation from scratch, I learned some basic insights into organisation management and how to motivate my fellow students. I use these skills every day in my job to help organise the programme organisation I am part of, to build and simplify work processes and to understand some of the logics behind the very large Maersk organisation.

In QA, I was lucky enough to be a coordinator of the social platform. We had about 15 awesome Danish and foreign students whom we had to guide and support in planning their own events or projects for other volunteer students. It was tangible leadership experience and something that has prepared me for leading teams since.

All of the above are just bonuses you get from QA. First of all, you meet amazing people, you have fun and you build an international network.

We who has been in QA are actually so keen on staying connected and keeping alive a network of old QAs that we have started an international QA Alumni association. So if you have been a QA, you will be invited into a network of professionals spread across the world!

Did I by the way mention it was a contact in QA that got me the student job that eventually led to me being hired in a full time position? However, that is another story.

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My experience as a mentor (Tom Fletcher)

Tom is one of our more experienced mentors. For a while now he has actively participated in the Academic Platform, where he has been a part of creating many interesting and popular events. This is a little insight in how a mentor can use their skills.

Tom and his team on the Cabin Trop of Spring 2015.

 This spring term I have been a mentor for the QA Programme.  My job has involved providing support to eight International Students. We have met up for dinner and participated in events organised by QA. I have enjoyed seeing students  enjoy their time on exchange.

My other responsibilities include working on the Academic Platform. It is a team of mentors and mentees who plan events for students along academic lines. We organised a Culture symposium (debate) with the question: motion "Can you be a citizen of the globe while maintaining a national identity?"  This process has improved my networking and organisational skills which are very useful to gain for your CV. As a group we had fun discussing ideas and seeing our event come together.

I would recommend becoming a mentor and joining a platform as it is a great way to make friends and develop new skills.  The process for applying to become a mentor is now open and the following link provides more information.

http://qaprogramme.dk/signup/

 I have reapplied to become a mentor again for next term and cannot wait to meet new students and continue having fun within the QA Programme.

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From a few hours of free time into a life time of experiences

Jacob A. Johansen is a mentor turned board member. In his daily QA life, he is one of the coordinators of the Language Exchange platform. He has also been a big part of planning this semester’s Cabin Trip. This is his QA story

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  For me my initiation into the QA was quite coincidental and I remember it quite vividly since it happened on my birthday two years ago. After a day of studying, I found myself with a few hours to kill before meeting some friends for a drink. As I was heading out of the main building, I saw a speed friending event going on, and decided to check it out.

The event was arranged, not surprisingly, by the QA-Programme and I was soon chatting away with a bunch of international students. For me this was a brand new experience, since I never had any contact with the International students at university even though I knew there were plenty. And at that time I never heard about the program at all.

A few weeks later, an acquaintance of mine introduced me to some of his mentees from Japan. Intrigued by the social interaction and cultural differences that I saw between them I decided to check it out for myself. Mainly because I wanted to improve my social and language skills.

Therefore, I signed up with the program. And, what a ride it have been since then. The first semester in the program were mostly fun and games with little to no work for my part. I socialized with my mentees and those from other groups alike, volunteered for the cabin trip and had two mentees living on my couch when they were homeless.

I never felt overwhelmed, the gratitude from the mentees and the fun we had together easily outweighed any inconvenience or expense I had. That was when I realized that I was hooked and joined the board and started seeing how much of a difference the mentors actually do. 

After joining, the board the amount of time I spend on the program have only increased. I now plan events, man the office and hold endless meetings but still all good fun since I am lucky to do it with my fantastic fellow board members.  

It is strange to think how my motivation and my involvement in the program changed so much over such a short period. I joined on a whim but now I cannot imagine not being a part of it.

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Blue suits, singing and beer: The first Copenhagen Cantus

Willem Beks, one of our mentors in the QA Programme, is a Dutchman studying in Copenhagen. Some time ago, he approached us with a dream he had: to share a traditional event from his home country with Danes and internationals in Copenhagen. His hard work and skilled coordination payed off, because the first Copenhagen Cantus sold out early and turned out to be a huge success. This is an account of the event in his words. With rumours of a repeat event, perhaps a new tradition is born, one not to miss.

The first ever Copenhagen Cantus took place a little more than a month ago. The sweet taste of beer, the voices joining in harmony, and a wonderful memory have not left my mind since.

I can still remember how the idea was received with cheers during one of the Social Platform meetings. And from that moment onwards, the cantus was set in motion. The organization was eased by my committee of random students - including other mentors in the Social Platform, and after pushing and pulling, months of meetings and beers, the cantus was ready to take Copenhagen by storm.

On the big day, together with my friends who had flown in from the Netherlands,  we went over the songs once more. After preparing the Main Hall at Studenterhuset, we rewarded ourselves with a quick bite at McDonalds. As the crowd shuffled in, I sent out the last tasks for the committee members, straightened my tie and broke the ice for the evening with a final shot of Schrobbeler.

Hosting a traditional event in a foreign country, having friends and friends-to-be standing shoulder to shoulder, and seeing a plan come together made this an experience that went way beyond my imagination. Not in a lifetime could I have dreamt of the first Copenhagen Cantus being such a success and the morning after, despite the hangover, I woke up the happiest man alive.

Finally, I would like to thank the committee for their contributions, Studenterhuset for hosting us, the I*ESN’ers that found their way to Copenhagen for their enthusiasm and last but not least the QA Programme, for helping me make my dream come true.

Now if you were so unfortunate that you could not participate yourself, or if you just want to relive the memory of that crazy night, then I hope this aftermovie of the cantus will quench your thirst! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvK3KwZQBKg&feature=youtu.be