A Learning Experience Past Review
By Ainsley L (PSYCHOLOGY., Colorado College) - abroad from 01/20/2014 to 05/16/2014 with
DIS Copenhagen: Semester
I learned to be a planner as well as spontaneous, which sound contradictory. I learned how to plan trips and plan my time so that I was being efficient and doing all that I wanted to do. But if something came up that seemed better or if my friends decided to go to Sweden the next day I learned to do it and go with it. That was definitely the best thing about this experience was that it was mine and no one could tell me that I was doing it wrong. And I learned as I went I learned to wake up early when I didn't have to so that I could grab coffee with friends or go see a Danish castle or try a new pastry. Or get lost and stumble until I found my way.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
It was more intense than what my friends reported their study abroad experiences to be, but that being said I could still fully enjoy living in Denmark and traveling around Europe. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I lived with a host family and two other DIS students and I could not have had a better experience. We enjoyed long dinner discussions filled with religion, politics and other topics that are often considered taboo to talk about. I got to learn more about the ways that I think about the world and how others think about the world. It was fascinating to hear what my own peers had to say about America and what we were experiencing in Denmark. I was constantly challenged as to what is normal and what is possible in terms of politics but even just on a daily basis. |
| * Food: |
The best part of living with a host family were the delicious traditional Danish meals. I always regretted missing dinner because it was always the best part of my day. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
This varied on a day to day basis. I felt very integrated with my host family, but it was tricky to integrate with Danes. I usually saw Danes on the trains on my daily commute and Danes don't like making small talk and rarely will want to interact on public transportation. I definitely had to really get out of my comfort zone before I could interact with Danes and feel like that was the part that was missing the most from my study abroad experience. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Copenhagen is known as one of the safest cities in the world and I found this to be very true. Even so most of the time I would go out with a group at night and we would still let each other know that we had made it home safely. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* 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) |
My expenses were mostly traveling expenses and some were for going to bars on the weekends with my friends. I was lucky in that living with a host family all of my meals were paid for. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Probably about $100 but when I traveled I spent more. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Live in a host family if you're concerned about money. When you go out on weekends only bring a certain amount of money with you because that will limit how much you spend. When traveling find hostels with free breakfast and go to a grocery store to buy the essentials (bread, cheese, peanut butter and jelly) my friends and I also bought salmon and chicken at grocery stores so we could make dinner ourselves and it turned out to be really affordable instead of constantly eating out. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
I took a Danish class while I was studying abroad which really helped me engage with the culture and learn the history of Denmark. We were encouraged to use Danish when we were ordering food or with our host families but usually the Danes would have me speak in English because the pronunciation is quite difficult. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | None |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Practice with people in your Danish class or host family or other Danes that you meet. It will be frustrating at first because Danes will laugh at your pronunciation, but when you can pronounce the really difficult danish words you'll be so happy you put in the time. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | I wish that I would have known to use those first weeks better because even though it was cold and dark there were plenty of museums that could have been explored during those days instead of waiting until the nice weather. I also wish that I would have used the early weekends to explore my town or to explore Copenhagen. I wish that I could have seen where more of my friends lived because that would have been cool to see what other host families were like or other types of living communities. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Outright UrbaniteA social butterfly, you're happiest in bustling cities with hip people, and took advantage of all it had to offer. You enjoyed the nightlife, and had fun going out dancing, and socializing with friends. Fun-loving and dressed to the nines, you enjoyed discovering new restaurants, shops, cafes, and bars in your host country. |
