Meet Styrmir K\u00e1rason, who moved to Kolding from Iceland to pursue a creative education as a design student<\/strong><\/p> Kolding has a lively international student environment, where there are lots of opportunities to be creative and develop your skills. <\/p> Campus Kolding has interviewed Styrmir, who is studying a bachelor in Industrial Design at Design Kolding School of Design. Styrmir shares his experiences as an international student, as well as how he stays creative in Kolding.<\/p> See the interview and read the full article below.<\/p>","quote":"Being a design student in Kolding is actually a bit of a privilege.","sticker":{"type":"planet","color":"pink","position":"top\/right"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockTextImage","internalName":"Styrmir: video","colorTheme":"pink","layout":"Text\/Image","outputType":"Image reel rounded","image":4084,"text":" I\u2019m from Iceland \u2013 well Iceland and Canada and Barbados, so it\u2019s a little bit of a mix of a lot of stuff. I moved to Kolding in 2022 to study at Kolding School of Design. I choose Kolding very much because of the school, as I enjoy the feel of the school. Kolding\u2019s community also played a big part, I enjoyed how it seemed to function. I\u2019m from a small town myself, so Kolding is a big town compared. <\/p> The best part of Kolding is the sheer amount of knowledge in and outside of school, and the people who have gone a similar path in life, who are very willing to help.<\/p> It\u2019s very likely that I\u2019ll stay in Kolding after my studies. I\u2019m doing the bachelor right now, and there is of course a very decent master\u2019s here. So it\u2019s a big question of staying, and I would like to. But it is still at the \u201cthought phase\u201d of trying to figure it out, but it\u2019s one of those places that\u2019s very comfortable to stay in. So it\u2019s a definite possibility. <\/p>","sticker":{"type":false,"color":false,"position":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockTextQuote","internalName":"Styrmir: Kolding som international studerende","colorTheme":"white","text":" I didn\u2019t know just how much was happening with Campus Kolding events, but the city feels quite alive. I\u2019ve been able to build up a reasonable community, so I\u2019m very much pleased with my stay here. I would definitely recommend Kolding to other international students. <\/p> There is always stuff going on. It\u2019s this kind of interconnected web of things that are just happening all over. You get deeper into the local scene, because you\u2019re not just at events and doing things, but you are participating and helping out. It feels like a very kind of healthy evolution or a way for a person to be a part of a community.<\/p> It\u2019s a fun web, where you know one person and that leads you to another person, and you kind of end up entangled with a lot of things. Lots of touchpoints. <\/p> I came here for the bachelor meaning that I have to at least understand Danish and be able to communicate to a certain extent. I can\u2019t say that I felt ostracized, but it can be a bit harder being in situations with a lot of other people talking. It hasn\u2019t really been an issue for the events and festivals I\u2019ve attended. <\/p> I haven\u2019t experienced any big cultural changes, it\u2019s just the small things. Like the going out culture, because people in Kolding tend to be closer to where things are happening. However, I was quite upset when I learned there are no free coffee refills in the caf\u00e9s here. It\u2019s a weirdly big thing in Icelandic culture. <\/p>","quote":"It\u2019s this kind of interconnected web of things that are just happening all over.","sticker":{"type":"globe","color":"black","position":"top\/right"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockTextImage","internalName":"Styrmir: fritid","colorTheme":"green","layout":"Image\/Text","outputType":"Default","image":4082,"text":" I do a lot of stuff surrounding studying, such as using the different workshops that Nicolai has to offer. It\u2019s both to study and further my own personal career.<\/p> Kolding isn\u2019t too big, so you end up knowing a lot of people from different places. I try to go to many local events and stuff that people I know are hosting. There tends to be a good amount of stuff to do. I go to the international quiz at Knuds. I work at the Arcade, so I tend to go there a good amount. Picnics and Kongespil in the summer.<\/p> I\u2019ve been trying to do more community driven stuff. I\u2019ve helped out at Food Reformers, and it\u2019s almost completely international students, a lot of which have stayed in Kolding. I definitely want to do more of that, it\u2019s just a question of how much time one can fit in a day.<\/p>","sticker":{"type":false,"color":false,"position":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockText","internalName":"Styrmir: Nicolai","colorTheme":"white","text":" I like staying creative and a big part of that is the public culture house Nicolai (also known as Bygning 5). It\u2019s great having access to community driven workshops, and I enjoy being able to have hands on experience with tools such as laser cutting, woodworking stuff, and 3D printing. It kind of allows you access to so many different creative opportunities.<\/p> I obviously want to be making stuff that\u2019s cool and people will look at and think is just great. But I think more importantly, a lot of students have that kind of mindset or goal that they want to be creating towards a change. There is this kind of general design culture, which I very much enjoy.<\/p> So I\u2019d say that being a design student in Kolding is actually a bit of a privilege. I just appreciate that it\u2019s a nice place to be as a design student. <\/p>","sticker":{"type":"lightning","color":"green","position":"top\/left"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockTextImage","internalName":"Styrmir: r\u00e5d til andre","colorTheme":"yellow","layout":"Text\/Image","outputType":"Default","image":4083,"text":" I\u2019ve heard from other people who were exchange students in Kolding that they seemed to believe there was nothing going on. That felt very odd to hear, but I don\u2019t know if they were just afraid to explore, because there is a good amount of stuff going on. I know there is an entire website for Kolding events.<\/p> They shouldn\u2019t be afraid to check out different places. I\u2019ve met a lot of different students at the Friday bar. Through that I learned about other stuff such as the movie nights at SDU organized by Sonic. So talk to other students, see what\u2019s going on and what other people recommend. Don\u2019t be afraid of Danish students, they are mostly harmless. It\u2019s a nice student community. <\/p>","sticker":{"type":false,"color":false,"position":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockGallery","internalName":"Styrmir: galleri","gallery":[4105,1304,1299]}],"seo":{"title":"How to stay creative in Kolding","ogImage":"","metaDescription":"Kolding has a lively international student environment with lots of creativity. Campus Kolding has interviewed Styrmir from Kolding School of Design. "}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7854,"href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7752\/revisions\/7854"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"hashtag","href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag\/33"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"hashtag","href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag\/34"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"hashtag","href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag\/39"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"hashtag","href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag\/15"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"hashtag","href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag\/10"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"hashtag","href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag\/9"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"hashtag","href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag\/7"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"hashtag","href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag\/6"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/campuskolding.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=7752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How did you end up in Kolding?<\/strong><\/h6>
Do you see yourself staying in Kolding?<\/strong><\/h6>
How has your experience been as an international student?<\/strong><\/h6>
Has there been any cultural differences?<\/strong><\/h6>
What do you do in your free time?<\/strong><\/h6>
Now you mentioned Nicolai \u2013 tell me more about that<\/strong><\/h6>
Do you have any advice for other international students?<\/strong><\/h6>