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High Taxes, Perfect Society - Denmark
DIS - Danish Institute for Study Abroad: Copenhagen - Various Programs
Program Information
Copenhagen as your home, Europe as your classroom
Enhance your major, engage and immerse, broaden your horizons, and acquire valuable cross-cultural skills with other motivated, curious, and energetic students from American universities.
Academically Challenging Courses Taught in English
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| Provider: | DIS - Danish Institute for Study Abroad |
| Location(s): | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Year Founded: | |
| Website | Take me there! |
Review By:
Melissa B. (Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin) on August 30, 2011
Overall Rating
Personal Information
| * Start Date: | 2011-05-23 |
| * End Date: | 2011-07-01 |
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | None |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The two courses I took were worlds apart: One was a design + Society class taught by an amazing professor and absolutely changed my educational outlook. The classroom was very intimate and my peers were absolutely amazing and taught me a lot. My second class was Human Trafficking and Prostitution and was taught by a lawyer who taught for extra money and you could tell - she didn't have any interest in the class and taught us her opinions, and the quality of my peers was entirely different. Most people had no interest in the class and simply studied abroad to go out and party every night. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Absolutely loved the program, great location, great facilities, awesome staff. I am surprised the program is not much more prestigious than I an aware of, it was amazing! |
| * Housing: |
I lived in a Kollegium, with my own room/bathroom and a shared kitchen. It was very hard meeting people since the only common area was the kitchen and since it was summer the people on my floor seemed to come and go. But cookware, silverware, towels, etc. were all nice and it was only a 10 minute bike ride from the city center! |
| * Food: |
The food is very expensive, like everything else in Copenhagen, but there were tons of healthy, cheapish places around DIS and tons of little grocery stores and markets. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
I never once worried about my safety in the city, even throughout the night. It was shockingly safe feeling, and very friendly. |
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* Home Institution Advising:
How well did The University of Texas at Austin prepare and support you for your time abroad? |
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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) |
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Language
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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A Look Back
| * If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same program? | Yes |
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Any kind of design student, Sociology students, or childcare students would benefit greatly from the program - students who do not value typical American ideals such as materialism and social status, because these things are nonexistent in Denmark. |
| * What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile? | YES! I know some kind of travels to Denmark or some part of Scandinavia are in the future with all the connections I made while abroad. and that is the most rewarding feeling, after falling in love with the country! |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Human Trafficking and Prostitution in Europe |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Anne Brandt-Christensen |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This course was much more like a typical American college course - lots of disinterested students, a slightly removed professor, and a powerpoint + take notes format. There was no discussion on the topics until the last two days. The material was interesting and the book we were assigned was amazing, but the class itself was very boring and lacked any kind of passion on the topic. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Design and Society |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Courtney Coyne-Jensen |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | The course was one of the most valuable courses to me in my entire college career. Courtney was beyond amazing and definitely broke all teacher-student barriers, making the class very open and intimate. Not to mention the daily guest speakers, from spheres ranging from architecture to politics, and all very prestigious. Even as a sociology major, this class was beyond extremely valuable to me. The class was very hands-on and completely opposite of those boring, take notes, listen all day classes. The class was structured for everyone to participate - very democratic, and very Danish system of learning. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |