Hello! My name is Michaela, and I have roughly spent 2 weeks here in Copenhagen.
First impressions:
Coming from the suburbs in the UK, the actual city seemed quite similar to back home; mixed broadleaf trees lining the streets, paved roads, similar housing landscape, with numerous green spaces dotted around.
But man, it's so clean. And arriving just in time to see the Summer days meant I could experience the Park life that the Danish love; drinking a beer or two, huddled in a small group, soaking up the beautiful rays.
However, the weather is very changeable (something I am also all too familiar with); you see the clear skies through your window, so you dress in just a t-shirt and jeans, then once you step out of the house, the heavens decide to open and you are completely drenched in the rain.
Most of the Danish people I have met are extremely patient. Riding a bike in the city is a fairly new experience for me, and admittedly, I have messed up a few times. However, rather than shout rude remarks and calling me bad names, most of them just initially give a displeased look, but then smile as they probably know that I am not too familiar with the whole cycling culture.
People in shops and students around campus are more than happy to help, so don't be afraid to ask!
Copenhagen is a beautiful city, with so many activities and events happening. I can't wait to start exploring once I get the time!
Tips:
-Get a bike, with a good lock and lights: there are loads of second hand bikes around, and before you leave, you can just sell it! It is sooo much cheaper than taking the bus or train.
-Sort accommodation out wayyyyy before hand: Copenhagen has experienced a student housing shortage where some students are on a 5 month waiting list. And area is really good, but do research before hand on which campus you will be studying on, and what sort of neighbourhood you want to live in. I currently live in Norrebro, which is very multicultural, and very vibrant.
-Sort out your residence permit and CPR asap: your CPR-code is vital if you want to do pretty much anything in Copenhagen, like opening a bank for example.
-Recycle your plastic bottles and cans! Most supermarkets (e.g. Netto) has a place where you can give you your used bottles, and give you some money in return! It's a little, but a little does go a long long way.
-Flea markets: They are everywhere, especially at the start of the academic year. You can get all sorts of things: Furniture, clothes, shoes, kitchenware, you name it. Plus you are doing your little part for the environment :)
That is all I can really think of for the time being, but I shall be back to discuss the actual university and the course.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
2nd year in Copenhagen
Academics
Having the SUTROFOR experience in any
of the consortium seems to offer some variations of excitements. What is
peculiar to them all, is that the experiences are worthwhile. Experiences that
would stick around for a long while....
Depending on individual preferences,
academics is blissful in Copenhagen. Haha! You will get to learn stuffs related
to the socio-economic part of forestry in the developing countries. A little in
forest politics, rural livelihood studies and research planning (there are
others of course!) and the teachers are up to the tasks.
We (the students in Copenhagen) are
all afforded a substantial level of freedom to engage in your academic
activities at your own pace, like class attendance is not a must even though
you are obliged to partake in all assessment activities to pass a module. Yeah,
you may be morally inclined to inform a teacher that you would be away from a
class but at the same time, you don’t have to get bored to death in a class
because you must attend (Just saying ;))
Living and
moving around
If you are coming to Copenhagen, get
a bike!
Finding your way in Copenhagen, as a
newcomer is the easiest in the world! (I wished!) I strongly advice, you have a
device with a friendly map. This could save you some hours of cycling in
circles! This may be a reason why the city is flooded with I-phone human
drones. Housing may be an issue. At one time or the other, you will wish you
could teleport a whole building from your home country because of the housing
situation which is plagued by high renting costs and unavailability. You are
coming to Copenhagen? Make housing your first worry, apply for housing early
enough and maybe you would have better days than those who would, by
circumstances, be forced to move from one house to the other in search of
better offers. To summarize housing situations in Copenhagen, ‘time and chances
happen to them all!’
The faculty of science where you
would have most of your lectures is located in a spot which will LIKELY require
you to bike for 10-15 minutes to classes. Except for the very few who live
closer to the faculty. This selected lucky few would have done either of these;
pay high or start house scouting early.
The city is beautiful. Copenhageners
are friendly. You don’t have to struggle with getting lost on few occasions. You
will always get help! An average Copenhagener speaks English, so when you are
stuck in front of a Danish-inclined ATM machine, the fella adjacent to you will
help with a broad smile!
If you have some free time (I
earnestly wish you good luck with that!), there are lots of attractions you
would love to see, and Sweden may just be 15minutes away by Train.
As I struggle to restrain myself from
writing more, I will just tell you this: Coming to Copenhagen promises to be
SUTROFOR-ful! If you are going to be a second year student, you sure know what
I’m talking about already ;). If you are coming for your first year, well,
there is only one way of finding out for sure..COME!
If you have specific questions, feel
free to shoot an email
Yemi Adeyeye.
My life in Padua… by Spartak
Hello everybody, hope your
studies are going well so far and you are enjoying.
Well, there are many things
that I can say about my experience here in Padua, but I will try to be as
concise as possible by mentioning some of the key elements that I think are
important to be taken into account for those who want to come here for their
second year.
The University, in terms of
quality of education it is very good and if I am not wrong it is one of the
most known in Italy. The campus it is really nice, and all the people are kind
and will try to help you for everything you need. Our studies have been going
for five months so far, starting on October until the middle of January we have
been having classes and after that the exams. Regarding the courses, I would
suggest having a look on the SUTROFOR website http://sutrofor.eu/universities/padova/second_year/ ,
here you will find more detailed information for all you need. So you will have
an idea in advance what you are going to do.
Currently here in Padua we
are only two SUTROFOR students and more or less it used to be the same number
also in the previous years (small classes). However, this year the Department
has find a solution to this issue, and all the five courses have been done
together with other students from other programs (MEDFOR, SUFONAMA and FES).
Another issue that I would
like to mention is related to the possible thesis topics, there are plenty of possibilities
and during the classes all professors are going to present many thesis topics,
and you will have time to think and to discuss with them. There are many
opportunities for desk- based topics and also for going for field work in different
developing tropical countries, it is up to you to decide in the end, and this
related also to you aim and background.
In the end I would like to
say that life in Padua it is very nice. The city it is very nice, people are
very kind and social, many nice things to see and visit in the city, and also
from here you have the chances to go and visit other cities that are near to
Padua like Venice. In addition, I am sure that all of you have heard about
Italian food, I can say only came and taste it. In general, I like to be
here and I would recommend the others too. In case someone needs more detailed
information about everything what happen here, please contact me.
One last thing, I would like
also to apologize for the inconvenience with my previews post. It has a long
story behind and still I am not so clear how that post ended there, my
apologies.
Cheers,
Spartak
Dresden... By Maria
The
Technical University of Dresden is well-known for its contribution to forest management
science. The SUTROFOR specialization in the second year was for me very basic
and general. Many lectures were not really focus in the tropics (but I think
this is problem in all the universities) and the content and teaching methodology
of the class was rather old. However, it should be considered, that I’m a forestry
bachelor, maybe someone with other background could find the topics not so
basics.
In
relationship to the thesis, the university has many contacts with professionals
around the world. But currently, they only have the “Welcome to Africa” project
in Ethiopia, Sudan and others. Anyone interested can do their thesis in the
framework of this project, but unfortunately there is not funding available. The
university also has good connections with universities of Bolivia and Peru.
The
city of Dresden and Tharant (where the forestry faculty is located) are both beautiful
places. Dresden is good for social life; the transportation system is very efficient;
the city is a mixture of old and new architecture. In regards to the language,
it’d be very useful to learn basic German, just to get around in the city.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Coucou - another opinion on AgroParisTech Montpellier
This year we are 6 SUTROFORs studying in Montpellier - which is
the most they have ever had so a lot of varying experiences :) It's nice to be so many because we show a lot of solidarity towards one another and can band together if we want something to happen!
Anyway... after much thought, I have come up with the following plus and minuses of AgroParisTech in my own humble opinion...
Plus:
- Montpellier is really a very nice little student town - pleasant and full of life. The climate is quite nice - I mean it gets cold but rarely goes below 5C.
- The AgroParisTech campus is surrounded by olive groves and is around all sorts of research centers...
- GEEFT students and Sutrofor students all take the same classes in the same classroom - so you really get to know your fellow classmates.
- French and African students are easy to get along with and friendly... get ready for a lot of parties :)
- The classes are taught by professors here as well as a variety of researchers from different research centers such as CIRAD, IRSTEA, IRD and various NGOs (WWF, Greenpeace, Rainforest Alliance, etc)... so that allows you to build a nice network, especially when you are later looking for an internship!
- There's a lot of focus on social sciences - sociologie de l'action, negociation, politique de la nature, economie et politique forestiere, economie de l'agroforesterie but it's also nice for students that are relatively new to forestry as there are nice introductory classes on GIS (very hands-on), R software, dendometry, inventory, sylviculture, forest management...
- Staff are friendly and willing to help but they are quite busy...
- Your class schedule is quite flexible and so is the staff.... Some of the exams/papers can be written in English/Spanish... and the professors are often happy to translate things during class if foreign students do not understand.
- Internships are paid in France - about 400 euros per month :)
Con:
- Sutrofor students were quite confused at the beginning of the year as to what classes to take... It depends on which school the students attended in the first year - you thus get a personalized schedule... but you need to ask for it...
- For students from Dresden - they had almost a month off in December because they had already taken classes in Dresden on the various subject matters... so a lot of overlap overall with 1st year institutions...
- AgroParisTech in Montpellier is quite small - it's a couple of buildings located quite far from the town center - about 35-45 minutes with tram and bus from the center which includes a 10 minute walk to the school...
- Because it is so small, their "library" is quite small with limited opening hours. However the librarian is likely to buy a book for students if it's not available.
- Just like in high school, you will spend all day from 9am to 5pm in a classroom being taught at with the same 30 students all year long. Most students are 20-22 year old with a few more mature African students. You are also basically treated as if you are still in high school and not as an adult, which can be a bit disconcerting for more mature students. For instance, the rules state that you must ask for permission if you would like to miss a day and present a proper doctor's note if you are ill...!
- We are told about exams a couple of days before they take place and do not get any time off to study for them...And just like high school, the exams consist of spewing back definitions and course material that you have to learn BY HEART... There are some exceptions of course...like the Sociologie de l'action class (with fieldwork which includes interviews all around the area) and the ecology course which is more team-oriented.
- Classes only last from 1 week to 2 weeks can be a bit superficial.
- Schedules for classes are often not available until the week before so it does not make planning easy. Two students missed classes because the schedule got changed at the last minute and they had already book their plane tickets for christmas...
Anyway... after much thought, I have come up with the following plus and minuses of AgroParisTech in my own humble opinion...
Plus:
- Montpellier is really a very nice little student town - pleasant and full of life. The climate is quite nice - I mean it gets cold but rarely goes below 5C.
- The AgroParisTech campus is surrounded by olive groves and is around all sorts of research centers...
- GEEFT students and Sutrofor students all take the same classes in the same classroom - so you really get to know your fellow classmates.
- French and African students are easy to get along with and friendly... get ready for a lot of parties :)
- The classes are taught by professors here as well as a variety of researchers from different research centers such as CIRAD, IRSTEA, IRD and various NGOs (WWF, Greenpeace, Rainforest Alliance, etc)... so that allows you to build a nice network, especially when you are later looking for an internship!
- There's a lot of focus on social sciences - sociologie de l'action, negociation, politique de la nature, economie et politique forestiere, economie de l'agroforesterie but it's also nice for students that are relatively new to forestry as there are nice introductory classes on GIS (very hands-on), R software, dendometry, inventory, sylviculture, forest management...
- Staff are friendly and willing to help but they are quite busy...
- Your class schedule is quite flexible and so is the staff.... Some of the exams/papers can be written in English/Spanish... and the professors are often happy to translate things during class if foreign students do not understand.
- Internships are paid in France - about 400 euros per month :)
Con:
- Sutrofor students were quite confused at the beginning of the year as to what classes to take... It depends on which school the students attended in the first year - you thus get a personalized schedule... but you need to ask for it...
- For students from Dresden - they had almost a month off in December because they had already taken classes in Dresden on the various subject matters... so a lot of overlap overall with 1st year institutions...
- AgroParisTech in Montpellier is quite small - it's a couple of buildings located quite far from the town center - about 35-45 minutes with tram and bus from the center which includes a 10 minute walk to the school...
- Because it is so small, their "library" is quite small with limited opening hours. However the librarian is likely to buy a book for students if it's not available.
- Just like in high school, you will spend all day from 9am to 5pm in a classroom being taught at with the same 30 students all year long. Most students are 20-22 year old with a few more mature African students. You are also basically treated as if you are still in high school and not as an adult, which can be a bit disconcerting for more mature students. For instance, the rules state that you must ask for permission if you would like to miss a day and present a proper doctor's note if you are ill...!
- We are told about exams a couple of days before they take place and do not get any time off to study for them...And just like high school, the exams consist of spewing back definitions and course material that you have to learn BY HEART... There are some exceptions of course...like the Sociologie de l'action class (with fieldwork which includes interviews all around the area) and the ecology course which is more team-oriented.
- Classes only last from 1 week to 2 weeks can be a bit superficial.
- Schedules for classes are often not available until the week before so it does not make planning easy. Two students missed classes because the schedule got changed at the last minute and they had already book their plane tickets for christmas...
 |
| Jose |
 |
| Felipe |
 |
| Our classroom |
 |
| In front of the APT sign |
 |
| Mali and Jose enjoying class |
 |
| Field trip for agroforestry |
 |
| Sunset at the campus... |
 |
| View around the area of Pic Saint Loup where we got to drive around and interview farmers, hunters, etc. as part of Sociologie de l'action |
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
WCA 2014
Trees for Life: Accelerating the Impacts of Agroforestry
The 3rd World Congress on Agroforestry will be held in Delhi, India, 10 – 14 February 2014, co-hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. It will shape the next steps in the field of integrative science, transformative change in landscapes, tree improvement, innovative tree-based value chains, debates on global and local sustainability, reform of land and tree tenure and holistic education.
(Taken from the website)
Mussie in Bangor
Life in Bangor by Mussie Kebreab:
I am in Bangor and preparing for research field work in Uganda.
Life
in BANGOR is generally good. The city is relatively small city but
students can find the basic necessities as much as possible. And it
is near to Liverpool and Manchester cities for further shopping and
recreation to students.
Just a quick comment: Related to these recents posts, be sure to also check November and December 2012 posts and other parts of the blog for student impressions of partner institutions and their experiences.
Cheers,
Alan H. Sutrofor 2011-13
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