A Year in Copenhagen June 05, 2025
By A student (Political Science and Psychology, Wellesley College) - abroad from 08/16/2024 to 05/09/2025 with
DIS Copenhagen: Semester
What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I gained a lot more confidence in doing things alone and a lot more independence from my time abroad. I would definitely say it was worthwhile!
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. |
My DIS classes were definitely not of the same caliber of typical Wellesley Classes. I really enjoyed the subject matter and thought the course offerings were interesting, but there was not the same amount of out-of-class work given. I have heard this varies by the classes you take, though. This was at least true for my Political Science and Psychology classes. |
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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 in BaseCamp South and I had my own single apartment. This is exactly what I wanted and I loved having my own space! I think the biggest downsides were that is was somewhat hard to make friends when living on your own and you are a 10 minute walk from the metro, but I thought the positives overwhelmingly outweighed the negatives. |
| * Food: |
I cooked for myself for every meal and I thought the grocery stores near me had great options and all of my kitchen appliances worked great in my apartment. Groceries were also of comparable price for me where I live in the US (southern california) and I was able to make my $600 grocery card last me almost the whole semester. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Because I did not live with Danish people, it did not feel like there were any opportunities to feel more integrated with the local culture. Every friend I had was an American studying abroad and I did so many "touristy" things during my semester. Before going abroad I did not think this would be a big deal for me, but I would have loved more opportunities to meet Danish people and do more local Danish things while in Copenhagen. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
I luckily did not have to deal with health issues/going to a doctor while abroad, so I have nothing to contribute here. I brought a lot of medicines from America with me just because getting things like Delysum or Sudafed or Mucinex is hard while abroad, and that was all I ended up needing when I got sick. |
| * Safety: |
I felt very safe here! I would often be returning to my apartment late at night while alone and I never felt unsafe or concerned or scared. I think this is a factor I did not consider a lot when deciding where to go abroad, but it makes a big difference if you feel safe/comfortable doing things on your own and/or late at night. It gives you a lot more independence and allows you to take advantage of more opportunities while abroad. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
I really enjoyed the class options and element of travel embedded in class that DIS offered. I also liked my living situation and thought Copenhagen was an amazing city. There were days were I felt a little "bored" and where I wished I was getting to live in a different city, but I think those feelings are prevalent regardless of where you go abroad. |
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) |
Copenhagen was definitely an expensive city, but I think it is easier to manage costs if you cook for all/most of your meals. I don't think grocery prices are outrageous, but it definitely costs quite a bit to eat out/get drinks. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | ~$150 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | I think budgeting is a useful tool to ensure you are spending a sustainable amount of money. It for sure helped me be more mindful of my spending and keep my costs down. I kept track of my expenses on an excel sheet and I broke down my costs by category (groceries, eating out, items for the apartment, travel, etc). First, I started by determining my goal for how much I would spend for the semester, then I split that large some into the categories of food/living costs and travel costs. With my food/living costs, I divided that amount by how many weeks were in the program to give me my weekly budget - which I found was more helpful to have as a guide rather than just one larger number to stay under. With my travel costs, I divided that by my goal of trips I wanted to take during the semester so that I knew around how much money I had to spend on each trip (I would say $500 per trip is about accurate, fluctuating depending on how early you book your flights, your activities, where you'll stay, etc). |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
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| 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? |
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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? | Everyone else in the program is also looking to make friends, so don't be afraid to reach out and make new connections. I also found it helpful to make a list throughout the semester of things you want to do in your city before you leave. Whenever I had free time, I could just pull up this list and go check off a new experience. I didn't start doing this until the last month of my time abroad though, so I had many afternoons where I didn't know what to do and I would just sit in my apartment. |
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. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Positive Psychology C |
| Course Department: | Psychology |
| Instructor: | Gitte Vonsild |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | I thought the subject matter was interesting, but it definitely felt "obvious" at times. I also was not the biggest fan of the instructor -- her voice was monotone and classes were lecture heavy, so it was hard to stay fully engaged during the class. But, overall, I thought our class activities were really fun and it was a great, more relaxed class. I also really enjoyed our study tour to Bologna and Vienna! |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
Cognitive Psychology of Decision Making Lab |
| Course Department: | Psychology |
| Instructor: | Nicole Hueng |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This was a great class! Every class there was some sort of activity to break up the lectures, and we were given a decently long break in the middle of class as well. Nikki was an amazing professor as well. There were quite a few group projects, but Nikki was always sensitive to group dynamics and would give a lot of grace to you as an individual if you were doing more work than the rest of your group. Something to note is that you do have to design, execute, and present the results of a study, but perfection is not expected. |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
Conspiracy Theories and Historical Controversies A |
| Course Department: | History, International Relations, Political Science |
| Instructor: | Miłosz Jeromin Cordes |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | I do not recommend taking this class with this professor. The class itself had interesting content, but the way it was taught felt very elementary. Part of the course content was reading the Crucible and comparing it to McCarthyism in the U.S., which is a great comparison, but one I am sure many students are already familiar with and have already discussed. In addition, the final project was making a board game. It has the makings to be a very simple and relaxed class, but Miłosz was an incredibly harsh grader for seemingly no reason. I was absent one day from class, and this happened to be a day where we did a group project. I completed this project on my own from home and submitted it, but I received a 0 because I did not follow the directions of it being a "group project"... not sure what more I could have done in this situation and Miłosz actively avoided having a conversation with me about it. Avoid this professor if you can! I am sure the class is better with the other instructor in the other section! |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
Cyberwarfare |
| Course Department: | Human Rights, International Relations, Political Science |
| Instructor: | Mikkel Storm Jensen & Ulrik Graff |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Very interesting subject matter! I enjoyed getting to learn about this niche aspect of political science/international law, but I felt like the classes were a bit disjointed and not completely beginner friendly. The class has 2 professors: 1 with a military background and one with an international law background. The class would switch back and forth between who was teaching and what lens we were approaching a topic from (military v.s. international law). This is a very interesting concept, but I do not think it was executed that well. Also, there are a lot of dense readings that you need to do in order to keep up with the complicated class concepts. I think the content could have been better taught in class to break down these complicated terms and ideas more. Overall, I thought it was interesting and I would take the class again. |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
Women, Art, and Identity |
| Course Department: | Art History, Gender Studies, Visual Arts |
| Instructor: | Andrea Homann |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This is my favorite class I took while abroad! I really enjoy learning about art history, and this was a unique opportunity to explore Scandanavian, female artists that I had not been previously introduced to. I loved how our class sessions included going to museums/local galleries and Andrea is so knowledgeable! Andres is also one of the kindest people, which made being in her class even more enjoyable. There were a few papers, but they were all relatively short and (in my opinion) not too difficult to write. I wish I could go back and take this class again! |
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Cyberpsychology |
| Course Department: | Psychology |
| Instructor: | Veronika Leonova |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This is the only 8:30 class I've ever taken in my life, but it was absolutely worth it! My favorite class during my year abroad! The subject matter was so incredibly interesting and relevant, and the structure of our classes was very engaging and not just lecture-based. The out-of-class work was very interesting and relevant to the material but did not take long to accomplish. I also really enjoyed our long study tour to Amsterdam and our short study tour to Aarhus. I could not recommend this class and Veronika as a professor enough! |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Analysis |
| Course Department: | Legal Studies, International Relations, Political Science |
| Instructor: | Søren Hove & Nis Mathiesen |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Another incredibly interesting course! We spoke a lot about the fundamentals of intelligence analysis, what counter-terrorism practices are, and we did a lot of case studies/simulations with modern day examples. Although it was a 3 hour class, there were so many activities and breaks sprinkled throughout the class that it did not feel that long. There was a lot of group work, but most of this work was not graded + I thought it was very beneficial to bounce ideas off of group members in these smaller activities. Beware that the grading is a tad harsh, but you can do well if you pay attention and participate in class. |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
Danish Politics & Society |
| Course Department: | Political science, International Relations, Sociology |
| Instructor: | Brendan Sweeney |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Good class! Firstly, Brendan is such a gem and I 100% recommend taking a class with him! I think he is a great professor and the class is structured so that there is barely any "pure lecture" time. He is very understanding with grading and any assignments he assigns. The content itself was very relevant and interesting to learn about while being in Denmark. I opted not to take a Danish class, but I thought this was a great class because I still got to learn a lot about Danish history/culture. |
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Enemy Within: Spies and Espionage in the Cold War |
| Course Department: | History, International Relations, Political Science |
| Instructor: | Martin Cleemann Rasmussen |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Such a fun class! Martin is so incredibly knowledgable, and he incorporates his knowledge into every class through games/simulations/group work. Not very lecture-based at all, which I really appreciated! I would say the course is a bit of false advertising and leans heavily into cold war/Russian history rather than espionage, but I still thought it was very interesting and I loved the class! Every major project was a group presentation, but you worked with the same groups for the entire semester (sit at the same table, do all group work together, work on presentations, etc), so it was easy to hold everyone accountable for doing their work. If you are at all interested, please take this class! |
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Gender Perspectives on Human Rights |
| Course Department: | Gender Studies, Human Rights, Legal Studies |
| Instructor: | Campbell Munro |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This was a very difficult course for me. I have never taken a WGST, Gender Theory, Queer Theory, etc. type of class before, and I would say this is NOT a beginner friendly course. I think there should be a WGST prerequisite for the course in its current form. Every reading we did was riddled with theoretical jargon I had never heard of before, and these terms were never broken down during class time. It felt like it was expected that you already had familiarity in this realm and, if you didn't, there was not much help for you. I felt like the class leaned HEAVILY into theory when I was expecting it to be more international relations and policy focused. This was also the most work intensive class I took while abroad. There were at least 3 readings per class, and it was required to do a discussion post before each class writing about the readings. This was a very taxing process for me because reading one 20 page reading alone took me about 2 hours with all of the googling I had to do. Campbell was incredibly kind and would try to help as much as he could, but he also is just so intellectual that his answers to your questions use even more jargon and complex academic concepts, so I left feeling more confused. If you are familiar with Gender theory and Queer theory, I think this would be an interesting class for you and Campbell is a very kind and knowledgable professor. But, as someone with 0 experience in those worlds, it absolutely did not work for me. |
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