Mitchell – Copenhagen Business School – Denmark
Semester 2, 2022
Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Laws (Honours)
My time in Copenhagen as an exchange student at CBS was the most unforgettable semester of my life. To anyone reading this who is also considering the opportunity to go an exchange, I can’t encourage it enough; and as for host cities, I can’t imagine there are too many which top Copenhagen.
Upon arriving there in late August after spending 7 weeks travelling around Europe, I was excited to finally plant my feet in one destination, and to return a life which didn’t involve living out of a suitcase. In this sense, I absolutely won the lottery having Copenhagen as my new home. Not only is the city incredibly rich and cultured, but it also boasts a standard of living which could not have been more desirable for a young Aussie taking on the world for the first time on his own. Copenhagen well and truly punches above its weight in so many areas: be it business, fashion, food, sports, or history.
My experience in this sense was reinforced by how accessible everything is. Copenhagen is quite densely packed into a relatively small area compared to the sprawling cities we are used to in Australia. This means that nothing was ever too far away. Even a quick trip to Sweden is only 20 minutes away via a train from Copenhagen’s central station! There is also a a 24-hour metro system (with services arriving every 3 minutes), and dedicated bike lanes along pretty much every road. This meant that transport was always efficient, and expensive Ubers or cars were never needed, no matter what time of day! On this note, I can’t recommend enough getting a bike during your time there. Not only is cycling an easy an affordable way to get around the city (definitely a big positive in a country which is renowned for being expensive), but it is also a quintessentially Danish experience which will only add to your exchange.
Further, Denmark’s central location in Europe made the city an ideal launching pad to travel. You will struggle to find a country which can’t be accessed within a convenient 2-hour flight of Copenhagen Airport. For an Australian who is used to 2+ hours for interstate travel, this was kind of mind-boggling.
In relation to CBS itself, if you are fortunate enough to be accepted to their exchange programme, know that you will be participating in one of the most revered Business Schools in all of Europe. It astounded me the weight that CBS’ name carries throughout Europe when people from all over would ask me why I’m living in Copenhagen. Thankfully too, I also found it to be a fairly easy adjustment as a QUT student. The curriculum and class formats are very much entrenched in the same, contemporary ‘real world approaches’ we see at QUT.
If you do choose to enrol on exchange at CBS, I cannot recommend enough signing up to their buddy programme. It was an absolute game changer for me. Not only did it afford me an accessible, local network to help my immersion into Danish life, but I was also fortunate to make a lifelong friend in the process.
Find out how you can apply for exchange via the QUT Student Exchange website.
