Freedom trail

Sightseeing in Boston is amazing, and here are a few photos.

Great dinner with James Ihedigbo's brother

First night in Boston demanded some good food. My parents, Paul, Kritte, Michael, and I went out and got some great food. K, M, and I all got a nice big steak.

The waiter was NFL player James Ihedigbo's brother, whom gave us excellent service. It was a rather fancy place where food was served with nice silver cover things to keep it all warm until everyone had their food served.

Testing the beds!

The beds looked so good that we decided to test them. Below is there a picture of our different styles. It is not hard to see that Michael is the most elegant of the three of us, however, Kritte appears to have a better "hang time" score.

Kritte and Michael is here

Kritte and Michael arrived in Boston today (6th aug).

MIT and Harvard

I went out to take a look at the MIT and Harvard campuses. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was a little bit disappointed especially the Harvard campus was nothing special. The MIT campus was old, but did have some very interesting labs, and I got information that I could take classes there, which I will have to look more into later.

Here I'm in front of the MIT main building:

Here I'm in the Harvard Yard in front a chapel.

In Boston

Came in to Boston on the 6th of August. Took a walk a long the waterfront and got a good view of the city.

at Webster Lake in NH

I'm now with my family in Webster Lake - finally got to meet the American side of my family.

On the way up here we got some clear evidence that we were heading into farmers land!

I went running in the morning and had to stop to say good morning to some squirrels.

Later I went canoeing with Greylin and Paul

On the other side of the lake we found a small family of bald-eagles - too bad I didn't have my dad with us and his cameras to take some better photos.

As you can see from the photos there was no sun yesterday, but this morning it looks great, so more pictures will follow.

First picture, SMART car, end of first leg

We finally got in to the center of DC. We stopped in front of Capital Hill and took a quick photo. The reason for my rather funny pose is due to my inability to count to 10, which is the amount of seconds I have from when I push the self-timer!!!!

Jim and Paul hosted a small dinner/cocktail party where some of their friends came over. Jim had made a nice dinner, and we all had a great time.

Paul also came home today with his new car - a Smart car. It is so nice, I will post a picture of it tomorrow before we leave for Boston.

Tomorrow will be the end of the first leg, and we will continue on to Boston where we will meet some of our American family, some of which I have never met.

Kritte and Michael are coming in on Thursday to Boston - I'm expecting a lot of posts after their arrival and the remaining weeks of August.

Thursday morning in DC

I'm now adapted to the time difference, and is just enjoying being here. Did a little bit of shopping yesterday, but nothing big like in the past where the trunk of Jim's cars has been packed.

I am still spending time on planning the next few weeks and other practical stuff to make sure that the next few weeks will rock.

Marc

But who is going to mow the lawn when I'm not home??

Well, don't worry. My parents are not going to call any of you out there to ask you to do it, they have a robot. They don't have to think about, the lawn is always mowed and is looking great.

Here is a picture of the robot it is docking station.

Last night out with the boys in DK

So, last Friday I met with some friends from way back, and it was nice to be able to say goodbye to them. In the picture below it is from left to right: Kritte, me, Bernhard, Lasse, and Mikkel.

Thank you guys for a fun night.

I'm in DC

I arrived safely yesterday and is trying to adopt to the time difference. Not much has happened since my arrival, but I did go to Pentagon City and to Ballston to do some shopping, but didn't get anything special, only a travel organizer, some socks, and the latest business week issue.

More news, and more fun news will hopefully follow soon.

24 hours!!!

Better get those things packed, so that I can watch the Formula 1 race today. I really hope Masse will be fine, but it is hard to know as mixed information is given depending on the source. Some say his conditions still are life threatening and other says he is fine!

Yesterday's stage in the tour de france was a total anticlimax compared to the previous mountain stages where the Schleck brothers has thrilled the cycling world with eminent tactics and abilities. It would almost have been too good to be true if they could have pulled another one of yesterday, but not as unreal as Contador's time trial a few days ago. Contador is for sure doped, but maybe he is using a new supplement that is hard to trace or maybe the tour organization just wants to have a "clean" tour - I think it is rubbish, as everyone knows that Contador is not clean, and the tour is loosing integrity since it can't take down the ones that cheats.

Hamstring injury!!

I finally feel as a real football player as I have been put on injured reserve for the remaining part of the season with a hamstring injury!! Some might argue that it is more of a political statement, since the real reason for me not to play anymore for Koalas this season is because of my overseas activities in USA and Canada. I do have a hamstring injury, but I hope to get rid of it in a few weeks and be able to compete in Canada when the Flag football league starts up.

Got a Danish flag today - here we go Denmark, I'm ready to cheer for the danish athletes at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Car ready! 4 days..... but so much to do.

There is only 4 days until I leave and it is getting close. Today I made the reservation for our car in San Francisco - road trip - yeah!

Got up at 6AM this morning to interview some of the Novozymes employees in Australia and will do the same tomorrow, there are simply no reasons for not loving to your master thesis project!!

It is going to be some fully packed days the next three ones before I leave on Monday, but tomorrow evening it is all about take it easy with the buys and just having fun.

Have to get some sleep - ciao.

Saying goodbye to the family and catching up..

The day of my departure is getting close - 5 days and I am on my way!! Therefore we had a small family get together thing at my parents house for some snacks to say goodbye. At the same time we did some catching up, which includes the news on Stina being #21 in a Danish model contest to feature on the cover of M. M is a mens magazine like FHM, which some of you might know. Below is a picture of her, and judging from that I don't think her good result came as a surprise.

(73 Stina-Barbara Forsidejagten 2009)

I really enjoy spending time with my family and will for sure miss them when being away for 7 months. However, I am expecting it to be easier if I can catch them on skype and see their happy faces.

Have to get up at 5.30AM to interview some researchers in Australia, so I better get some sleep.

Remember to come back for news as the frequency of posts will increase as I start my journey.

Ohh, and remember to follow the Tour de France - that is some good television.

Marc

Meeting Elin, Louise, Alex, and Dave in Malmö

So, last night I went to Malmö to visit Elin and Alex to say goodbye before leaving for Canada, and to give them a small present and greeting from Manuel and I, who unfortunately cannot make it to their wedding. The great thing was that Dave was in town visiting Louise, so they joined us and we had a great night.

I'm loosing my touch for kodak moments, but I hope to regain it whit in the next week before leaving Denmark. But without the Kodak touch last night I didn't came to think about photos before after Dave and Louise left, so I only got a photo of Elin, Alex and I, but what a nice one. The picture is taken at Cuba Cafe in Folkets Park.

We went to TG Fridays or something, not a bad place, but the steak I got was not good, and nothing compared to the steaks you get in the US.

I might already leave next Sunday, so I have a lot of things to do before then, so I better get back to my master thesis.

Marc

15 days.... Boston and Vegas hotel booked!

15 days until I leave Denmark for 7 months in North America.

Yesterday I met up with Kritte and Micheal, whom are going to join me for three weeks in America. We have booked hotels in Boston (Omni Park Hotel) and in Vegas (Caesar Palace). We were suppose to book the rental car also, but when the option of having a Camaro for a few days become evident, we couldn't decide what to do. There isn't much time before i leave, so I expect us to take a decision soon, I'm kind of hoping for a full size car like the Chevy Impala, but how much bigger than a Pontiac G6 is the Impala??

Anyway, got to get back to work only three days more and than I will leave Nonoba, which I'm sure that Oliver, Chris and Gustaf will make a success.

17 days and off we go...

Ok, I will admit that it was my initial idea to write something each day for the countdown towards my departure from Denmark, but lets be honest, with most of my time being spend on working and my master thesis I don't think that I can keep your interested on a daily basis. So, I will just try to post as often as possible.

Got my business cards from moo.com - perfect concept. Just go to their web page and design your cards and they will ship it. I did take the express delivery since I needed them now (was about €30), and I got them Friday, having ordered them Tuesday evening. The cards are printed nice and feels good and they come in a convenient box made out of 100% recycled paper. I chose to have the cards also to be environmental friendly so they are also made of 100% recycled paper. Below is a picture of the card and the box. (I apologize for the poor quality)

For those of you who are still wondering what it takes to make a great business card take a look at the movie below - I know that I still have a long way to go to get to his point!

19 days and I'm gone....

I have 19 days left before I leave Denmark for 7 months in Canada (and USA). 19 days is not a lot, so I'm really excited, also because I will start out my 7 months with 5 weeks in America. However, before I can get 100% excited and ready I still need to finish some projects at work and work a lot on my master thesis. My master thesis is not suppose to be done this summer, my writing buddy and I just need to have completed 35 interviews with Novozymes before the end of September!!

Anyway, went shopping today with Oliver and got a pair of shoes for DKK 100. (Thats about USD 19). Here is a picture of them.

Have to hit the showers before my cousin will be here to cut my hair. I have just been out for a run where my parents joined me on their bikes.

Cleer Creak Ranch, Zion, Utah

No I am not in Utah now, but just found some old clips from when Elin, Manuel and I visited George in at his ranch with Jordan and Mike. What a great time. Just have a look at the video, and then you will just get a small idea of what we did there.



The music isn't working that well, should have taken something else.

I'm a mac!

Yes, I have converted. I am now a mac user and I love it. I have bought the MacBook Air, and what a sleek thing.

Everything is just working perfect, long battery, and it weights nothing. The previous movie from Park City was made on the air, and so will future movies. THe bad picture quality is due to it being recorded on digital cameras and not a video camera.

Snowboard boots with Alpine skis

I just found some old clips from Park City 2008, where we tried to switch between snowboard and alpine skis. And, yes I know that it says skies and not skis in the movie, I'm sorry. A few crashes in 48 seconds..... enjoy!

This is what I am studying - Innovation

For all of you who are interested in innovation and the automotive industry - here is a great article that you should read: http://wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-06/nep_auto

But it is also an article that explains what it is that I am studying as terms as open innovation and modularity is explained very briefly. So, if you want to know what Cand.merc. MIB (Management of Innovation and Business Development) is about, well some of it is explained here in a simple way.

Course selection for UBC - done!

I have now chosen the 8 courses that I wish to take at UBC during my semester there in the fall. I am unfortunately not sure of getting those classes, but hopefully I will get my first priorities. Here are the classes that I have wished for:

• Two-party negotiations
• Managing Diversity
• Brand Management
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Managing Business Information Technology Projects
• Business Intelligence for Management
• New Product Development
• Database Marketing and Data Mining

See you in class fellow UBC MBAs in September.

Transformers – wow

I went to Imperial Movie Theater yesterday with Kritte to watch the new Transformer movie. I loved the first one, so my expectations were high. Transformers 2 is an awesome movie where the storyline does not become too complicated or too predictable.

A movie that I can’t wait to see again because of its several unique scenes that takes the audience from laughing to cheering. I can perfectly understand why some might hate this movie, but for me it is pure entertainment. One reasons is probably that inside me is still an 8 year old kid who loves machines and action. (To the MIB students out there – this is why I am a bit of a geek when it comes to technical matters!!)

Michael Jackson concert in Copenhagen

I'm really having a hard time expressing my feelings about his death, I guess it is partly becomes I have become used to ignoring all the negative things being said about him in the media and because it is so many years since he was at his peak. Some have tried to compare this with when Diana died, but it is not the same, because she died while peaking.

Yesterday a memorial concert was made at Rådhuspladsen (Town Hall square) in Denmark to celebrate the king of pop and the king of music. His music will for sure always be a part of me, and I feel will very fortunate for having seen a live performance by him when his history tour was in Copenhagen. Thank you mom and dad, who got me the tickets. I know that my mom took an additional lunch break, since the line was so big, so a big thanks to the girls at the SAS office for covering for her.

As soon as I have some pictures I will upload them here, including a small video from when thousands of people was sitting down on the town hall square for two minutes of silence to show our gratitude for all the great music MJ has given us, and to make sure that we will never forget him.

The concert became even more special as my good friend Vincent from Belgium was in town. I haven't seen him since January, so it was nice to see him again, and when I in the future will be looking back at time when MJ past away I will remember that I shared it with Vinny at the concert.

MJ - you will always be the king, and no one will ever get close to what you have accomplished. I will miss you and hope that you are somewhere better now with no pain.

Best regards,

Marc 

The official Nyeland tour ’09

The official Nyeland tour ’09 has been released, so let me know if you are close bye at some of the stops.

• 28th Jul – 1st Aug: Washington DC
• 1st Aug– 6th Aug: Webster Lake
• 6th Aug – 10th Aug: Boston
• 10th Aug – 15th Aug: San Francisco
• 15th Aug – 20th Aug: Lake Thao, Yosemite, Death Valley, LA
• 20th Aug – 24th Aug: Las Vegas
• 24th Aug – 1st Sep: Utah

1st of September I will be in Vancouver and then it is all about UBC……. GO Thunderbirds!!

The blog is alive again.....

YEAH - The blog is now alive again as I'm done with the exams and my first year of graduate school, the toughest year so far, but also the most rewarding.

I’m still waiting for the result of my written exam in Strategic Market Development, but got a 12 in Management Control and Finance, and 10 in my semester project on biogas, which was written in collaboration with Novozymes. The project was written in groups, so well done Tina and Chris, who were my partners. (For those unfamiliar with the Danish grading system; 12 is the highest grade and 10 second, the lowest is -3!!)

There is currently 5½ weeks until I'm leaving for my second time of exchange. This time I'm heading to University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Yeah, let’s go UBC Thunderbirds!!!

Before arriving at UBC I will be touring in the US. As some of you might have seen on Facebook a few weeks ago, is that I have released the Official Tour of Nyeland '09. I will describe it in a later post.

My parrents got some highflying small guests the other day

Keep coming back to the blog - the posts, pics and videos will now be dropping in regularly, and get ready for it to increase when I hit American soil, because there will be plenty to report about, especially when Kritte and Michael joins me for 3 weeks of fun and soleil... "10 miles from Vegas......." will be played several times when being on the road.

I will be back soon - keep it real :-)

Marc

Testing new Panoramic tool

I am testing this new tool to make panoramic pictures - very much needed for my traveling!

Exams for another 5 weeks

I am currently working on my 2nd year project together with my group. As all other projects that I have done on my master it has Novozymes as the case company. We have to hand it in on the 20th of May, then there is a written exam on the 2nd of June, an oral exam on the 11th, and then on the 16th we will defend the project individually at an oral exam.

So, I am done with school about midway through June. The rest of the Summer before leaving for Vancouver will be spend on working to save up some money and hopefully have same days off hanging out with friends in the sun.

Tillykke med fødselsdagen Mor

Today it is my mother's Birthday, and most of the family is invited for a nice lunch at my parent's house. The weather is absolutely beautiful, and I am sure that we will have a wunderful day in the garden.

Easter is here, which means a few days off from work and several social arrangements - with the Danish tradition of "Påske Frokost" (Easter Lunch).

With a few days off I hope to be able to catch up on some readings and apply for some more grants for my stay at University of British Columbia - Vancouver.

Best regards Marc

Manuel and Elin were here!

Manuel and Elin - well you should all know who they are from previous posts here on the blog, came to visit me. In case you are new comer, please read the entire blog!! (After posting this blog many have complained about not having the information on Manuel and Elin right here, so I can just inform the few that does not know who they are that we all three studied at University of Utah and had a great time together with a lot of traveling)

Manuel is back in Germany after staying in Utah for more than a year, so it was easy for him to visit Copenhagen after visiting his sister in Berlin. Elin lives in Lund, so she should have biked here instead of taking the train!!

We went to see the little Mermaid.
We went to Kronborg, where Hamlet is suppose to take place.

We did some jumping at the beach next to Kronborg.

We went to Malmø - where we saw the Turning Torso.

The Turning Torso is build in a very nice neighborhood, with cool apartments.

This picture is with Øresund in the back. We have a similar picture with the Pacific Ocean in the back. (See previous posts)

Manuel can fly....

Manuel is sitting on the Turning Torso.

Not sure what it is that I am trying, but it was fun.

Coming to America

Well, it is not in the sense that I will come to America for the first time again, but I am going there with a friend that I have never travelled with in the US. My roommate Kritte and I will be exploring America in August before I will head for Vancouver and UBC.

We will start out by visiting some of my family on the north east coast, before heading to Washington D.C. After exploring the capital we will aim for California and Vegas, taking a road trip from San Francisco through Lake Tao, Yosemite, Death Valley, and end up in Las Vegas, where we will take a one day trip to Grand Canyon.

After sending Kritte home, would love for him to stay, I will head for Salt Lake to meet up with some of my wonderful friends, and maybe I will be able to meet Sarah (see previous post).

Dates and routes are far from planned, so if you have some input or suggestions, just contact me.

Another Dane is coming to Utah

I have recently just met Sarah, whom will go on exchange this coming fall to Salt Lake City and attend University of Utah. Sarah is very eager to get to Utah and have a great time, and I am trying to give her as many good points as possible about all the cool things she should do. So to all my Utah friends, please welcome Sarah in Salt Lake whenever you meet her.

Skiing in Tignes

I was in Tignes last week with Kritte, Michael, Casper, and Christian. We had a great time and Casper took some great pictures. We had a great time together and we are already talking about all of them coming to Vancouver to visit me and go skiing.

I GOT IT!! I am going to UBC - Vancouver

As I earlier posted on the blog I had University of British Colombia as my number one priority - and I got it!!! BRING IT ON CANADA - let’s have a great time!

I can't wait, it is going to be such a cool experience and I will do everything to make it just as good as my wonderful time in Utah.

I will be studying during the fall semester from September to December. I hope to be able to stay for January and February, and hopefully work as a volunteer during the winter Olympic Games of 2010.

I still need to do a lot of paper work and apply for grants to make the exchange experience happen, but with hard work and determination I should be able to succeed.

Stay ready Canada - the crazy Dane is coming.

Happy New Year

It is time to end the year of 2008. What a great year, so many nice memories including sky diving, end of undergraduate program, skiing in Utah, begining of graduate program, and many other things. I am still studying for my exams in January, but when done with them I will write about the year 2008, and what I expect for the year of 2009.

Take care all of you and Happy New Year.

Love Marc

Christmas time

There are still a few things that I want to post on my blog, but for now I will write about the present time being celebrating Christmas with my family. One might think that my family is my two roommates Lasse and Kritte, but Christmas is for my parents and I.
I am looking forward to spending a few days with them, and getting ready to study hard for the exams.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and I know that people are following the blog from Australia, Korea, Europe, and America. Take care of each other and enjoy the holidays.

Best regards Marc

Working with Novozymes for my exam projects

In the two courses, Innovation & Knowledge and Product Management & Product Development, my group and I had to write our projects in collaboration with an innovative company. We were lucky to get a contract with Novozymes (thanks Svend), and were granted permission to write about their CellPrime products. It was extremely interesting to write about, out could easily see myself seeking for work at Novozymes. (http://novozymes.com)

The two projects were handed in on the 18th of December, and I will have to defend them at two oral exams on the 6th and 14th of January

Website for CBS Case Competition

Our new website for CBS's (Copenhagen Business School) case competition is now up an running. CHeck it out at http://casecompetition.com
Here is a direct link to me http://www.casecompetition.com/organisation/schoolcontact

It will all take place in week 9 of 2008.

This is the participating schools:
* Tsinghua University (China)
* Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil)
* National University of Singapore Business school (Singapore)
* Thammasat University (Thailand)
* Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)
* University of Southern California (USA)
* University of California, Berkeley (USA)
* University of Florida (USA)
* McGill University (Canada)
* University of Auckland (New Zealand)
* University of Navarra (Spain)
* The University of Manchester (England)

Going abroad to Canada

Well noting is sure, but I have applied to go on exchange in the fall of 2009. Since I was unable to apply for exchange in the US, I went for Canada. I am really excited about going to Canada, but will not know until January where I will end up. Here are my priorities:
1. University of British Colombia, Vancouver
2. McGill Montreal
3. York, Toronto
4. Ryerson, Toronto

Since there are only one and two spots at Vancouver and McGill, I think I will end up at York.

Anyway - we will see in January.

Flag football: MVP and National League

The seasons has now been over for a while. We won our last game and secured the third place in the second best division. A third place that later resulted in an advancement to the national league due to another team dropping out. This means that we will next year be playing in the best league in Denmark - FNL (Flag National League) I am so exited about it, but we have to work very hard to be able to win a game or two, to stay in the best division.

A week ago (Yes this is actualy new news) I was voted MVP for the season by the other players.

I hope that my parents will be able to attend more games next year, and that my Dad will be able to take some fantastic photos.

Here is one of me on defence:

Trip to Oslo (september)

I was persuaded to go on a small cruise with a group of the exchange students that is studying at CBS and participating in the DIS program. The cruise was only from Friday to Sunday, and most of the time was on the boat. Check out some of the photos below.Pete in the hut top.
The boys at the back of the ship enjoying the sun set.

CBS Case competition (September)

As I have written before, here on the blog, I am head of school contact for Copenhagen Business School’s Case Competition 2009. It takes place in week nine in February and is one of the biggest case competitions in the world. What makes it very special is that it is organized only by students, who are doing it on a voluntary basis. No money and no faculty advisors; only a group of young bright students.

To kick off the planning of the CC, we went on a kick-off weekend to get to know each other and work on the theme and outline of week nine. As typical Danes, we had a lot of social activities at night, which included a mini version of the Olympic Games, which is the reason for my rather different clothing style.Since the mini OG did’t provide one-on-one games, and because the judges were being bribed; Jacob and I played our own game of Ping Pong. The game lasted for hours and tuned in to a historical match. It was the kind of match, which could have made anyone a fan of Ping Pong if they had watched it. The game had everything, with duels with unimaginable shoots being made, big leads being thrown away, comebacks, nerves, and at the end only one winner despite it took two plays to make this wonderful game. The crowd loved the game, and the commentators compared the game to the rivalry between Federera and Nadal!!
Jacob and I after the epic game!