The Danish Institute for Study Abroad is located in the center of Copenhagen. The campus occupies a few buildings on Vestergade (it’s harder to say than you think… Google it). Vestergade is home to DIS, but also to quite a few busy bars. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it Sixth Street, but it does have its share of “classy” bars.

When approaching the building where the library is, you see a mural of Steve Irwin insisting you head on down to the Australian Bar. Although the bar is packed on the weekend, I wouldn’t recommend doing what Irwin suggests.

Anyways, as I find myself relaxing on a Wednesday night, I figure it’s about time to write about the great aspects about my program.

Let’s start with Wednesday. On Wednesday we don’t have school at DIS. Doesn’t that sound so beautiful? When I have a full week of class at St. Edward’s, Wednesday becomes the day where I have lost hope in the thought of a weekend. Some people celebrate making into Hump Day, but I feel defeated when I think about having two more days of class and assignments.

However, at DIS, Wednesday is reserved for field studies. For example, my Scandinavian Moods in Cinema class met at a movie theater to watch and discuss Melancholia by Lars Von Trier. The field studies are fun, but some weeks you won’t have any field studies scheduled and fun means sleeping until noon…

I think it may already be clear that DIS prides itself on claiming Europe as a classroom. This brings me to what I want to explain next: Study Tours. Throughout the semester we have a total of 4 weeks off for travel purposes. The first week is called Core Course Week. I spent this week with my Cross Cultural Communication class in Copenhagen and Sweden. The class is widely focused on studying the interactions of Muslims and Danes.

One day in Copenhagen we met with Martin Henriksen, a member of the committee on Immigration and Integration Policy of the Danish People’s Party. His thoughts can be summed up by a phrase he mentioned multiple times, “one country, one culture.” We also took a trip to a private Muslim school and a mosque close by. In Sweden, we spent much more time gallivanting. On our second night we had dinner with a roller derby team, went on a night-walking tour of Malmö, and ended at a nightclub in which a DIS employee DJs. I’m realizing that maybe I should have written a post dedicated to that week because these are only the highlights. I’ll do a better job when my class travels next!

In October there are two Long Study Tours. You will go either week with your class to a specific country or countries and have the other week off for your own travel plans! I’m going to Belfast and Dublin at the end of October with my class. It should be a lot of fun considering my class is so close and our professor is not the best with directions, even in Copenhagen. Last, we have a final Travel Break in early November and then somehow the semester is already over.

Considering I have written way too much already, I will end with a list of assorted details about DIS.

• You can choose amongst 6 different housing options
• If you live in an accommodation where your meals aren’t provided, DIS gives you a $600 food stipend.
• DIS pays for your transportation pass.
• DIS basically does everything for you in terms of immigration services.
• If you choose to stay for a year, you get a huge discount on the second semester. Like the same price as in-state tuition huge.
• Anything else I forgot.

Hear more about my life in Denmark here.