Great opportunities here, as long as you get away from the Americans. Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Classes were of appropriate academic quality, interesting and educational, and not overly stressful. Suitable for balancing with other activities while abroad.

On-site administration of your program

No serious complaints. A bit of confusion about when I would be able to work for work study, but that was resolved in the end.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Had great experience with host family, got to see more of Denmark with them, had many interesting conversations. Also was located close enough to the city to travel everywhere by bike.

Being vegan in Copenhagen is very possible, but you wouldn't know it from most of what you hear from the program. Prepare to make your own way forward to some degree. However, in my own situation, my host family was very helpful with accommodating this, and DIS did pretty good job of finding vegan meals on every study tour and other optional trip. Also, be warned; if you're not living with a host family (or folkehøjskole, I guess), you have to buy your own food with your own money; the subsidy they give isn't intended to cover the whole semester. (If you're looking for a cheap vegan meal, come to a folkekøkken at BumZen, Bolsjefabrikken, or Folkets Hus. They have them at meetings and movie screenings, sometimes)

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Living with a host family, and taking the initiative to seek out and get involved in local leftist political circles helped me personally become much more socially integrated. However, this won't happen as well if you stay within the confines of the institution of DIS and among other American students all the time. You gotta be proactive about this.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I did not have any health issues during the program luckily, but I was covered by the Danish national health system for the time that I was there (except for the first few weeks before my documents were fully processed, my understanding is that DIS has an insurance policy that covers you for that time period). Dental isn't covered though, don't go to the dentist in Denmark.

I did not personally ever feel unsafe, but I'm also a cis white man. And apparently, shouting "no racists in our streets" to counterprotest a permitted far-right protest is illegal, and can get you quickly nabbed by undercover police. (Didn't happen to me, but I witnessed it. Please keep in mind.) But overall, this place is probably much safer than the USA, mass shootings aren't really a thing, and the police are much less likely to kill anyone.

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

Living with a host family, I did not need to buy food. I ate breakfast at home, packed a lunch from home, and ate dinner either at home or I skipped it to go to an event (and had leftovers afterwards). I occasionally bought food out of the house, but seldomly. IF YOU DON'T LIVE WITH A HOST FAMILY, THIS WILL BE DIFFERENT. YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY YOUR OWN FOOD. With public transportation, they give you a pass that covers your commute for the semester. I traded mine in back to them for a bit under $300 because I ended up biking almost everywhere anyway. (This worked well until the last week when I got a flat tire that wouldn't get fixed, I think the bike might have been damaged somehow). So most of my own expenses were: the two optional trips that I paid for, a bit on souvenirs, once for a train ticket to Sweden, once for a bus ticket to Paris at the very end... Wasn't to difficult for me to save money, but it was largely because I was with a host family.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

OK, yes there was a Danish Language & Culture class. This was the only institutional encouragement we got to speak Danish, the rest of the program was in English entirely. The Danish Language & Culture Class (twice a week) was taught in English, and a significant portion of it was learning about culture (which was kinda interesting a lot, but in English). We had a few rudimentary speaking exercises in class, but not significant.

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Americans
• International Students

• Geographic proximity to leftist groups in Copenhagen.
• Study tours & optional trips (they're kinda expensive, but a food opportunity to travel).
• Great placing with host family.

• Linguistic & cultural immersion.
• Confusion about work study.
• Opportunities activist engagement..