Overwhelming first day for new students

For international students their first day was overwhelming. New friends, the Danish language ... and the bureaucracy

by Johanne Wenstrup

Copenhagen is a good place to be, say international students.

The Danish language, and the new university procedures are overwhelming. But most Danes speak English, and this helps things along.

International students had got together Thursday, some for their very first Danish language course, some for the University's orientation. It was a chance for newly arrived international students to meet the university, other exchange students and to learn something about the country where they’ll be spending the next few months.

See if you can find yourself on the pictures we took here.

Nice people, buildings

After the first session of Danish, the new international students took the opportunity to get to know each other better over lunch.

Lucie from Austria wanted to study in a Scandinavian country and likes the courses offered at the University of Copenhagen.

»People are nice and the designs of the buildings in this city are great,« says Lucie, who is going to study technology.

Rosie entangled in red tape

The language course is a challenging start, according to another new international, Jenna from Germany, who is a little overwhelmed by the first Danish-lesson: »It is a lot of Danish in one day – but I will try out the numbers we’ve learned next time I’m ordering coffee,«

As usual, the new body of international students is comprised of people from near and far. »I picked Denmark, because I wanted to experience living in a country that is very different from my own,« explains Ana from Brazil.

German Friederika is going to study economics, but that is not all she came here to learn: »I knew I wanted to stay in Europe, and I wanted to go to Scandinavia to improve my English,«

For some it is not just the language that makes for a rough start in Denmark: »I picked University of Copenhagen because it seemed organised… but it hasn’t been. Apparently I can’t take the courses I want for full credit, because they are not on the right level. It is hard to make sense of, and everyone I need to talk to here is on vacation,« says Rosie from Scotland.

johanne.wenstrup@adm.ku.dk

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