Studying abroad at Copenhagen University as a St Andrews Student
Nathaniel is a Social Anthropology and International Relations St Andrews student who studied abroad at the University of Copenhagen. Read all about what it is like to be an exchange student in Denmark below!
My experience studying International Relations and Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen has been an experience I will cherish. The classes I took, maturation I received, and people I met all make me incredibly grateful to have gone on this study abroad.
Academic Environment at Copenhagen University
Academically, I thoroughly enjoyed the greater creativity in assessment types at Copenhagen. For International Relations, I took a class on documentary filmmaking that involved not only watching and analysing films, but making my own 15 minute documentary on an international political issue relevant to Copenhagen. Although I had no prior experience with video editing, I had lots of fun and gained invaluable experience planning, filming, and screening a film about international students’ experience integrating into Danish culture during a cabin trip for people on exchange hosted by Danish political science students. I also took courses on Danish culture which involved field trips to sites around Copenhagen, as well as an anthropology class on the Middle East that involved fascinating ethnographic projects around the city.
The academic structure can take a bit of getting used to. Lectures typically last half a day and meet once a week, but I ended up enjoying this format. There are lots of breaks where you can meet fellow classmates while drinking affordable coffee from the canteen, and I ended up focusing much more when your lessons are condensed into one block. One word of advice I would give to new students is to ensure you complete all parts of the advising, as it involved more steps than I was used to at St Andrews and led to a brief period when I arrived where I wasn’t in any classes!
Life in Copenhagen and Trips
Copenhagen is a fun, easy to navigate, and exciting city to study abroad. Every weekend there seemed to be a museum open for free or cultural events happening at night. One of my favourite parts of my experience was going to the Cold Dip Club every Wednesday at 7:30 in the morning—it was such a welcoming group of people and I learned to face my fears head on by lowering myself into freezing cold water every morning! And I forgot to mention—there is free coffee afterwards! Outside of the city, there were lots of great hiking and nature spots, particularly Møns Klint, Jægersborg Dyrehave, and Gribskov Forest. If you’re into food, you have to try the pastries (my favourites were a flakey, poppy seed one called a tebirkes and the cardamom bun). I think I had at least one bakery item each day…
Accommodation and Meeting New People
The dorm I lived in was called BaseCamp City. It was located centrally and I made lots of friends who were studying abroad, many of them from Europe on their Erasmus exchange. I found that despite studying in a city, it was very easy to meet other exchange students (especially at the student bar Studenterhuset). I also met a number of Danish students through my Political Science classes. If you’re studying abroad for IR, I had mentioned earlier that there is a group of Danish students in the Political Science department who host a “mentoring group” for international students. This is a great way to meet Danes and get exposed to Danish culture—you can watch the video documentary I had described earlier here to get a sense of the experience. I made deep connections with the friends I made during my time at Copenhagen, and I have kept in touch with many. In fact, one friend came to visit me in St Andrews this past spring, and in September I reunited with a group of Erasmus friends.
If you want to hear more or ask me any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].