Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Copenhagen: Best City in the World Past Review

By (Biology And Psychology, Tufts University) for

DIS Copenhagen: Semester

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
Best experience of my life.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 1 month - 6 months

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

My teachers there were a mixed bag. DIS prides itself on the fact that it hires professionals to teach the courses so they are experts in their field rather than regular teachers. However, this can sometimes mean they have no clue how to teach a class. The grading system was fair--mostly papers and group work. Participation often made up a big chunk of the grade in each class. I did not come away from the academic part of DIS feeling like I learned a whole lot, but I enjoyed my classes for the most part.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

The administrative aspect of DIS is great. They're highly, highly organized. I liked my housing, but I know people who wanted to switch housing had enormous issues with the housing department, particularly with them being really unfriendly and unaccommodating. I wasn't a huge fan of the academics at DIS, but I know people who enjoyed their classes more than the batch I happened to pick. The best part of DIS is the travel they build into the academics. They also give you a 2 week break to travel, which is fantastic. Most programs do not do that.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

* Food:

Food is good, but expensive!

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The study tours are THE BEST.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

* Safety:

Really safe. I never felt concerned for my safety.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Budget your money. Copenhagen is really expensive.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes
How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? None
Language acquisition improvement?

DIS offers Danish class, which is a lot of fun. It's half Danish language and half Danish culture. I would definitely recommend taking it. You don't learn a whole lot of Danish, but it helps with reading signs and things like that. If you try to speak Danish to a Dane, they will be able to detect immediately that you're an English speaker and will respond in English. It's definitely worth at least attempting to speak a bit of Danish though!

If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition?

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Dorm
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
  • Americans
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • study tours
  • visiting family
* What could be improved?
  • academics/teachers

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Danish Language and Culture
Course Department:
Instructor:
Instruction Language:
Comments:
Credit Transfer Issues: Fun class. The field trips were interesting. I only learned a bit of Danish, but the culture aspect was really useful.
Course Name/Rating:

History of Epidemic Disease
Course Department:
Instructor: Peter Christensen
Instruction Language:
Comments: Different than I was expecting. Rather than a history of various diseases, it was more about how history and disease played off each other, which was interesting. The teacher could be disorganized in his lecturing at times, but he was entertaining and really knew what he was talking about.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

The Copenhagen Collections: Ancient Art and Archaeology
Course Department:
Instructor: Thyge Bro
Instruction Language:
Comments: I really hated this class. It was cool in theory because every class was held at one of various museums around Copenhagen. The teacher was terrible though. He expected people to have background knowledge on Greek/Roman mythology and a pretty strong art history foundation too. I didn't have either of these things, and I felt disadvantaged as a result. The teacher asked ridiculous questions of students during class that they couldn't possibly know the answer to. Even the kids who were art history majors did not enjoy the class. Definitely would not recommend this one.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Hans Christian Andersen
Course Department:
Instructor:
Instruction Language:
Comments: The class was kind of boring, I don't feel like I learned much. The teacher wanted us to read a lot more into Hans Christian Andersen's stories than I think was actually present. The homework was fun because it was just reading his fairy tales. The class discussions were usually pretty boring though.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Human Health and Disease
Course Department:
Instructor:
Instruction Language:
Comments: I really enjoyed this class. It was a long time slot (2 hours, twice a week), but it was fun. We learned how to suture with actual suture kits, practiced CPR on dummies, and got to interview actual hospital patients and diagnose them. We also learned a lot of various diseases affecting each of the many body systems. Definitely worth it for a pre-med student.
Credit Transfer Issues: