Renee – Copenhagen Business School – Denmark
Semester 2, 2022
Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Laws (Honours)
Hi, my name is Renee, and I did a semester abroad at Copenhagen Business School in Copenhagen, Denmark. Enrolling in a semester abroad was truly the best decision I have ever made, and it is an experience I would highly recommend to anyone considering undertaking such an amazing and exciting journey.
Life in Copenhagen
I arrived at Copenhagen in August, so the weather was amazing and warm with the most magical sunsets I had ever seen in my life. In the warmer months, the Danes would swim in the rivers, soak up the sun in outdoor food markets, have picnics in the park and explore the canals on a kayak or small boats. While the day times in Copenhagen were relaxing and calm, the Copenhagen nightlife is a lot of fun and not an experience to miss out on. After arriving to Copenhagen, I was very quickly introduced to the Danish drinking culture (Danes love their beer) and social aspect of their drinking games.
During summer, I would highly recommend renting a bike as your mode of transport. It is easy and so much fun to ride your bike along the Copenhagen streets and is the best way to see the city with your friends. Food, drinks, and transport can be quite expensive in Copenhagen and the cost of living can add up very quickly! However, the Danish food and pastries is 100% worth the damage to the bank account and it is definitely worth trying the café and bakery scene in Copenhagen.
As the days got colder, the Danish concept of ‘hygee’ was adopted to overcome the negative degree temperatures. The hygee lifestyle encourages coziness, warmth, candles, blankets, hugs, and everything that is associated with feelings of contentment and wellness. So, in winter a lot of restaurants, cafes and bars would offer blankets and have candles out which made winter in Copenhagen feel very cozy and warm.
I was lucky enough to get to experience snow and frozen lakes in Copenhagen which, although made cycling difficult, was an amazing experience and completely different to the weather I was used to in Australia. The metro system in Copenhagen was excellent and very easy to navigate so when it did get super cold, I started catching buses and using the metro instead of bike riding.
University Life and Accommodation
Before leaving for my semester abroad in Copenhagen, the university offered very limited spots for university housing. There are so many exchange students that arrive to Copenhagen each semester so getting student housing can be difficult. I was lucky enough to be able to get CBS student housing at Kathrine Kollegiet. I would highly recommend living in one of the CBS student housing buildings that they offer because this is where I made most of my friends, had the most social activities, and most of the buildings are quite central and very close to CBS campuses. The social aspect of living in student housing is invaluable and was a major reason of why I enjoyed my exchange semester so much. The friends I made at Kathrine Kollegiet are friends that I will have for life, and I am so grateful to have got to share the exchange experience with them.
The lecturers at CBS were extremely helpful and very interesting to listen to and made going to uni very enjoyable and something that I looked forward to. I found the assessment level of difficulty to be very similar to QUT, so the workload was not a shock and was very manageable. CBS offers unique and interesting electives and most of the classes encouraged student input and discussion. The classes at CBS are very small so it is easy to make friends with other students and feel confident engaging with the lecturer and sharing ideas and answering questions. One of my favourite subjects that I did was Scandinavian Sustainability because the lecturer would discuss thought-provoking topics that I had never had access to learning about before.
Travel During the Semester
During the semester I travelled with friends I met on exchange and visited Aarhus, Berlin, Budapest, Malmö, Kraków, Prague, London, Paris, and Amsterdam. If you get the opportunity to travel on your semester abroad, say YES! Travelling with new friends who were all my own age and had the same outlook on having as much fun as possible and making the most of every moment was truly unforgettable and the best experience I have had in my life.
Find out how you can apply for exchange via the QUT Student Exchange website.
