"But these are the news..."

The title of this post is meant to be a bridge between what I am writing here (about my trip to the Danish Radio corporation) and what I will be writing about next time I blog (my upcoming trip to France). The quote ("but these are the news") was my Mom's favorite line from our trip to France when I was in 8th grade, spoken by the mother of one of my best friends, Marianne, who we were visiting. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I will head to CPH airport and take off for Paris and I could not be more excited. After 8 years, I will be reunited with Marianne and her family! BUT before I get to that, let me talk a little bit about my final field study for Positive Psychology.

Walking up to the 2 builds that make
up the massive complex

On Wednesday our class met at DR center (the Danish Radio, which is not actually only radio), the major news corporation in Denmark. Danes pay a small monthly tax of sorts, which goes to fund a public news media corporation, DR. While the government has absolutely no role in anything that is reported on, they do ensure that all Danes help to make the news media possible. The really great thing about it is that on most DR stations there are absolutely no commercials since everything is already paid for. It makes watching TV a lot more enjoyable.

Inside, on one of the main hallways 

The actual complex was AMAZING, very innovative and super architecturally appealing (as is most of Copenhagen). We first heard a talk from a DR employee about positive psychology in the news media and their recent push to have "constructive news reporting," whereby constructive dialogues instead of destructive "debates" become the norm and where opportunities for activism are encouraged during times of crisis. They argue that our generation has become one of apathy, something that I can sympathize with (although not identify with), which they postulate may be in response to the incredibly depressing nature of all reporting. They don't advocate for censoring reporting in any way, only for including constructive pieces in broadcasts as well. After all, they reason, "news" need not inherently be depressing. The idea of "news" is that it is something out of the ordinary and there are certainly positive news-worthy things that happen every day... we just rarely hear about them.
Then we got to go on a tour of the complex. We saw the very place that the X Factor (the show I watched every Friday with my host family) was filmed. The coolest part was somewhere I was not allowed to take pictures: their editing rooms (both for newspapers and the TV news) are these HUGE open work spaces that are simply fantastic. We got to go and quietly observe for a bit, and it seemed like such an awesome place to work. Other highlights of the tour included:

The conversation garden... which was a funny place because our guide described it as BOTH a place to go and have meetings with people from other parts of the building and a place to go when you need somewhere quiet to work... 

By far my favorite place was the sound studio, where Helen, Julian and I had trouble keeping it together. Aparently it is where radio theatre shows were (and are still) produced. Our guide (who was "the quietest tour guide ever") opened the cupboards to reveal TONS of plates, bowls, cups, and pairs of shoes, each making a different sound. There was also a full size bath tub, which led us all to wonder why you couldn't just use a small bucket/section of a bathtub if all you're doing is running water for a radio production 

The other room attached to the sound studio had two types of gravel to walk in (which she demonstrated) and then boards that could be lifted and released to make "creaky floor/door noises" (that was when Julian and I just lost it). 

We also looked around the various filming studios, including the one where the X Factor was filmed. I have to say it was a lot less impressive in size (meaning it was significantly smaller than I would have expected), but at the same time, that represents that it does its job well and can be transformed to look many different sizes, shapes, etc. 

They are breaking down the set from the X Factor and building something for the next show

Our trip to the room where the editors and various technical people sit during a live taping of a show helped me to check another box of the list of Jobs That Would Be Far Too Stressful For Me To Ever Have. Seriously.... I was getting stressed out just learning about the process and how many things you have to be monitoring at once.

Each of those massive screens is divided into 36 smaller frames, each with different camera shots/angles, which the editor must select from constantly during the show

We left the visit in good spirits, though aware that it was our last time meeting as a class. We have an end of year psychology celebration sometime in May, but Positive Psychology A is officially done meeting independently. It's a strange feeling to be done with a class this early in the semester. We do have another paper to write, but still, it will be different not going to class on Monday. It will be nice to have the extra time to do other work, but I'll miss our class discussions/activities, and of course, it signals the not-so-distant end of the semester. :(

Helen and I are enjoying our last field study together

On the way home I took a picture of this sign:

An ad from DIS for Danish families trying to recruit host families for the next semester's students

Somehow, it made me incredibly sad. I want to be one of those students! But as I said in my last post, I'm not going to worry about it now. After a productive afternoon at DIS and some time with Becca, I took my time walking home that evening. I turned the corner and came across a scene that struck me as so beautiful that I had to take a picture. It's not profound by any means, but I love that I turn the corner in this city and find scenes like this.

On my evening stroll back to the train station 

Alright, I am now EXHAUSTED! I leave tomorrow at 5:30am... SO SO SO excited to see Marianne and her family. I need to get some sleep now (I'm not counting on resting on the plane). My hope is to blog while I'm there, but after the experience I had in London, I'm not sure I'll have time in Paris either. Rest be assured that when I return on Tuesday afternoon I will have plenty to share. So for now, vi ses (Danish) or shall I say, à plus tard (French)!