The Danish have really cute money. I like it a lot, it has hearts and crowns on it. Of course I have long seen through that this is only a trick from the Danish government to make people happier in the interaction with this money and to ensure that spending it does not hurt that much.
In Denmark and specifically in Copenhagen people spend a lot of money, so they better have a positive feeling every time they hand it over to another person at a shop. The quality of life here clearly has its price, as we noticed some girls, especially during nightlife, can't even afford pants anymore. So I try not to spend too much money, because I'd like to keep my pants. Still, this is quite hard, especially because being a summer student I don't want to sit at home all the time. And going out always involves spending money somehow. Basically everything is more expensive here than it is in the rest of Europe (excluding Scandinavia and other European capitals), with some exceptions: Haägen Dasz and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and Martini. Probably also other stuff, but I haven't noticed that yet. It's not that these things are cheap, but they are just as expensive as they are in Germany or in The Netherlands. So, as I learned somewhere in my Summer Courses, my opportunity cost of buying Ben & Jerry's is lower in Denmark than it is back home, because I can buy less stuff for the money that I spend on it. Logical conclusion is: If you buy Ice-Cream, buy that-one. Especially because it's very tasty and sometimes has Chocolate Animals in it. Too bad these things work on girls like me.
Which brings me directly to my next concern. I learned a lot of good things in my courses until now (hehe including the opportunity cost thingy), but I was completely flabbergasted when I read a chapter in my book on Consumer Behaviour (I was sick during that class, too bad, but it will be revised tomorrow). According to my book and apparently this is the economic opinion on the matter, consumers act according to curves, one curve shows the opportunities they have to spend their budget on different products, another curve shows the utility value they get from buying the products and the point where these products meet indicates what they buy.
My dear Economists: IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE. Of course it is convenient to assume that, but it's just not the case. I can give you some nice books on the subject so you know what you're really getting yourself into. Still I am happy I got to know this perspective, it will probably be very useful to me in the future.
Apart from studying I haven't done many spectacular things. I rediscovered my housewife-skills cooking for Elise and Mirna, we watched The Devil's Advocate together (now I have to watch a lot of Ally to restore my romantic view of the life of a lawyer) and today I went to the beach. It was really nice, just a bit cold when the sun was covered by clouds. I haven't really been out this weekend, still not fully recovered from my flu, so I am very relaxed for next week's classes.
Oh and the AIESECers among you might find this interesting: http://www.myaiesec.net/content/viewforum.do?
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