office at IND

the institute of science education otherwise known as IND, or Instititute for Naturfagenes DidaktiK:

my office (desk space) is located in the "special student" room on the second (danish 1st) floor of the old observatory by rosenborg botanical gardens.  for those of you unfamiliar with copenhagen, rosenborg is the castle, and home of the queen's guard, and pretty dead central to the city.  the gardens are lovely, and on nice days, our picnic tables at the institute look out over the far side of the gardens.  not a bad place to be.

back to the special student room--it's not really what you would think of in english.  masters' students in denmark have a thesis or project to complete in the same way that many masters candidates in the US would.  the project is titled a "special" project, which is why my office has that name.  really, i am simply located in the masters' room.  masters study level in dk is known as candidatus...i'm a candidate for something--not sure what yet ;)

The offices are typically shared, and mine has the 8 desks arranged in pairs facing one another. This is where my selfish use of 2 desks comes in. The room has an "A-frame" roofline, and two bright skylights that look up to the telescope observatory tower. Quite a nice space, but my perch under the skylight (or at any other desk) left me sitting near enough to the wall that whenever I stood, I hit my head on the slope of the ceiling. After 2 days, I broke the collegial tradiation of this room, and turn a desk to face the wall, and now have a corner style desk set up with the two. If another Master's student comes perhaps I will change, but for the time being my skull appreciates this new desk design! :)


It is a very social place--which I can't say is normal in Denmark, as I have heard stories from both sides of that coin. But, for me, I will just be thankful that it is such a collegial atmosphere. We have lunch together each day, outside if the weather is nice, and sometimes have work breaks or family day/parties throughout the year. These would involve a Julfest (Christmas party), dinners, or other celebrations. Also, there is a ping pong table and cozy breakroom on the bottom floor. Fridays seem to be pingpong day--those of us in the office late that day (not so many considering the Danish penchant for reasonable work hours and time with family--37 hours standard) go down and play a "round" ping pong tournament.