Time really flies when you’re on exchange I must say; just under 2 months left and my semester here in Copenhagen will be over. I must say, it’s been a great experience through meeting so many new people and learning in a very different environment to what I’m used to. One of my initial (and probably too ambitious) goals from the beginning was to learn Danish to a point where I can easily converse with a Dane. I quickly realised that this isn’t going to be possible; however, I can order food easily which is the most important thing in my opinion. I’ve also made many good friends from all over the world while I’ve been here and I’m sure we’ll stay in touch going forward. I also wanted to put myself further out of my comfort zone while I’ve been here and I’ve don’t that by volunteering as a stage hand at the KU spring festival and bartending at the science Friday Bar when the international students ran it. I’ll also be bartending at Distortion at the beginning of June which I am extremely excited for as I’ll meet more people and maybe some outside the university.
I spent 2 weeks of April travelling through Western Europe which was great fun and I met many people in hostels, a large majority of which were from Australia believe it or not. But all fun must come to an end and I’m back at uni now for the last 5 weeks before I return.
To any prospective exchange students thinking of coming to Copenhagen, this is a great choice. The city is clean, efficient and everyone is really nice once you break the ice a little. One thing you’ll have to get used to though, is the wind: it never stops and is always changing direction so if you plan on riding your bike everywhere, you might have headwinds all the time. Also the weather in general is very different as I’m told it’s spring right now but it’s 13 degrees outside and it will stay like this until Denmark’s 2 weeks of summer arrive (hopefully it’s soon).
All in all, I think I’ve made a great decision to come on exchange as it has helped me grow, not only personally, but also academically and I hope to take these skills I learnt with my into my future career path.
Alex Gheorghiu, Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Nanotechnology)/Bachelor of Letters student, Semester 1 2017 exchange at University of Copenhagen, Denmark