An Amazing Experience in a Fantastic CIty Past Review

By A student (Middlebury College) - abroad from 01/14/2018 to 05/11/2018 with

DIS Copenhagen: Semester

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

I learned a lot about Danish culture, and ended up developing a real affinity for it. Great place, great people. I also learned about areas of neuroscience that aren't typically taught at the undergraduate level in the U.S., making it a really unique experience.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program?	6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	DIS was great, really professional. Hours for mail collection weren't amazing though.
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	I had a really amazing location, but I was in a crowded triple, and my RA was very ineffective at keeping people in line and keeping the house clean. DIS also resorts to punishment as a response to any sort of housing related issue, which is frustrating.
* Food:	Expensive but amazing.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	Mainly hung out with other americans abroad, but joined a rugby team.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?
* Safety:
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	Yes Loved Copenhagen, and DIS is the best program that my school would let me do there. I would think about taking a course at CBS, even if my school wouldn't give me credit.

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)	$200 bucks a week would probably be a relatively light week. Copenhagen is ridiculously expensive.
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week?	200 bucks
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants?	Don't lose your stipend card, buy and cook meals in groups to get discounts on larger purchases.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component?	Yes
How much did the program encourage you to use the language? 0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language	They encouraged us to use the language, but ultimately having no background in Danish and such a little time to learn such a difficult language we didn't really ever use it.
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?	I took Chinese 0301, unrelated to Danish though
How many hours per day did you use the language?	0
Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants?	It's really difficult. Everyone speaks English fluently, and wants to speak English.

Other Program Information

* Where did you live? Select all that apply	Apartment
* Who did you live with? Select all that apply	Americans
* Who did you take classes with? Select all that apply	Americans
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with?	0

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?	Unique courses The location The people I met
* What could be improved?	Rigidity of the program Housing (people) Cost of food
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program?	The way Danish professors are used to teaching is very different from the way professors teach in the U.S. It takes some getting used to.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:	Neuroscience of Fear
Course Department:	Neuroimagine
Instructor:	Bettina Hornboll
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	Neuroscience of fear was a frustrating course. It was definitely significantly harder than the rest of the neuroscience offerings, and Bettina had high expectations of her students and was inflexible in her willingness to work with students around conflicts. That being said, she did an excellent job of condensing a broad and nebulous field of neuroscience into defined systems that gave me a much better understanding of the human brain.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	Neuroimaging of the Disordered Brain
Course Department:	Neuroscience
Instructor:	Julian Macoveanu
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	Really interesting course on a subject matter that is not taught at the undergraduate level in the U.S.. A large portion of the second half of the semester was student presentations though, which were interesting but not quite as intense as the first portion of the semester.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	Danish I
Course Department:	Danish
Instructor:	Jacob Cold
Instruction Language:	English and Danish
Comments:	Jacob was an amazing professor. He was really good at relating the Danish we were learning to our lives in Denmark, and also really gave me a good feel for Danish culture. A required course, but ultimately a great course to have taken.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	Psychopharmacology: Substances and the Brain
Course Department:	Neuroscience
Instructor:	Jesper Andreasen
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	Jesper is an expert in his field, and he provides amazing insight and understanding in the pharmacology of the brain. For any neuroscience major interested in medicine, this course is a must take. It may be more difficult than some of the other DIS offerings, but it is well worth it.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	Exercise Physiology
Course Department:	Sciences
Instructor:	Martin Prasse
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	Martin was a good instructor, but very unfamiliar with how American students are used to learning. The course was an interesting mix of physiology and exercise science, and the content was really useful for better understanding exercise and athletic participation. Guidelines for some of the assessments were a little unclear though.
Credit Transfer Issues: