After 4 months, my time in Denmark is almost over. Before coming to Copenhagen, I really didn’t have many concerns or apprehensions – I was excited to study abroad, and the distance didn’t bother me. After all, I moved from across the country from California to attend Northeastern. However, my time here was much different and more difficult than expected. One obvious effect of moving to a completely new place is not knowing anyone and having to make new friends. This was a weird experience, because I’ve been used the same friends from Northeastern over my 3 years there. Thankfully, there was an introduction week where all of us exchange and master’s students could meet each other. I made a lot of new friends, but I had to push myself to be more outgoing than I usually am. Also, since everyone lived in different areas around Copenhagen and Lyngby (where the school’s campus is), we all had to make conscious efforts to actually see each other. Another unexpected fact of life in Denmark was biking – I’ve never biked so much in my life. The student housing I lived is located between Copenhagen and Lyngby. So to get to school, I would have to bike 20 km round trip, and to get to Copenhagen, I would also have to bike 20 km round trip. This still happened even in the rain and the cold. I would have to say that Denmark mostly changed me in terms of physical endurance while biking.
Academically, DTU was structured very differently from Northeastern. Most classes only meet once a week. Before coming to Denmark, this seemed like a huge plus because it gave me long weekends and more time to do work. However, the reality was somewhat different. With only 1 class a week, so much information was crammed into 1 day, and the rest of the week would just have that information leaving my memory. Another huge difference was the grading; many classes rely on the final exam for the entire grade. Instead of having regular graded assignments and labs and midterms, there’s just 1 test. With all of these factors, I found that it was more difficult for me to feel really involved in my classes.
The biggest surprise for me was that I missed Northeastern and Boston and the US. I suppose it really comes down to familiarity, which was obviously missing in a foreign country, That’s not to say that I didn’t like Denmark, but it was hard to feel at home there. It was a strange experience to sit in a bus or walk around the city surrounded by a different language. It was also different to witness cultural events and holidays that you’ve never seen before. Once again, these weren’t bad things, since I didn’t leave the country to experience sameness. Overall, I’d say that this experience really introduced me to a different life outside of the one I’ve built in Boston over the last couple of years.
Undoubtedly, the greatest benefit of studying abroad was the ability to travel throughout Europe easily. With budget airlines and buses, it was simple enough to just get up and go somewhere. My favorite experience was during a week-long break DTU had in October. With another friend who was on co-op in Germany, we traveled to London, Dublin, Rome, and Stockholm in a little over a week. It was incredible to be able to see so many different major cities with their different cultures, and landmarks, and food. Outside of that trip, I also traveled to Berlin, Barcelona, and Vienna during my time abroad.
So would I do it all again? No. Logistically it wouldn’t work because I have a spring co-op, and I’ll graduate next fall. And even if scheduling weren’t an issue, I still wouldn’t repeat this experience. The classes I have left for my electrical engineering major are all difficult technical electives. I think that this was the biggest challenge I faced during the last months – balancing hard classes with the desire to take advantage of social and travel opportunities while abroad. To anyone considering studying abroad, I would definitely say go for it – as long as you really consider all of the realities of starting fresh in a foreign place. After all, it’s pointless to study in a different place if you only focus on academics and don’t take advantage of exploring other cultures and places, while it’s equally pointless to completely disregard your classes while abroad (not to mention expensive – you could definitely plan a nice world-traveling vacation for less than Northeastern’s tuition). Despite differing from my idyllic expectations, my time abroad was an unforgettable experience, and I will never regret pushing myself to take this opportunity.
