Why Denmark?
9:19 PM
To be honest, I really have no idea how I ended up choosing Denmark, but after lots of research, I'm confident I made the right decision. My top choice for a while had been studying at the prestigious St. Andrews in Scotland: mostly because the nerd in me was enthralled with the idea of being able to study at a university I normally wouldn't have gotten into.
Here was how my brain initially reacted as I scrolled through UMD's massive study abroad database and spotted Denmark: uhhh northern Europe, wooden shoes, happy people, windmills, socialism, Dutch people?
A few months later after I literally read every single student blog the Danish Institute for Study Abroad posted on their website (from 2016 back to 2014, probably about 50 blogs...which sounds very impressive but I'm a speed reader) I am now more informed.
Denmark is a Scandinavian country (along with Sweden and Norway). You can see that it's very fragmented. The left section is called Jutland, the small middle part is Funen and the portion on the right is Zealand. I will be studying in Copenhagen, the capitol, which basically borders Sweden. The people that live in Denmark are called Danes, not Dutch (the Dutch live in the Netherlands) and they speak Danish primarily, though most people know English. Despite being in the EU, they have opted to use the Danish Krone, which is worth .15 of the U.S. dollar. Despite this, everything in Denmark is pretty expensive, so I'll have to lay off the lattes. In my excitement for next semester, I wrote a paper about the consequences of economic globalization in Denmark for my international relations class, but I'll spare you the details.
Danish sounds like you are speaking half French and half German, except you're speaking with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. The result is very mumbly and muffled, but learning the language on an app called Duolingo has made me low-key love the language. Here's a Danish music video called Tidligt Op (which translates to "up early") that illustrates my point but is mostly an excuse to broadcast my newfound love of Danish music. P.S. if you're worried that Copenhagen is an 90s throwback kinda place where sad rappers walk around gesticulating after watching this video, don't worry, he's not actually in Denmark! (I have no idea where though). The actual country is wildly safe (which isn't very exciting for rappers I guess) and there's cute, European little buildings and bike lanes everywhere.
Okay now that you know the basics of Denmark, what about my program? I am studying at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (which I will refer to as DIS), which is a small school of about 2,500 American students taught by Danish professors. To offset the boring safety of studying with only Americans, I have decided to stay with a Danish host family, who will provide me with meals and hopefully hugs. DIS makes you chose a "core course", which is like a major for one semester. I chose European Politics since I am a Government major at UMD. Including in the program is a weeklong trip with my classmates in my core course to Brussels and the Hague in the Netherlands. We have every Wednesday off for field trips. I am also taking: ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Intelligence Analysis, Danish Language and Culture II, European Storytelling: From Homer to Harry Potter, and Law Practice from a European Perspective.
The thing that drew me to this program was the obvious focus on academics. I looked at the more "daring" programs in countries like Thailand and South Africa, but couldn't find anything that put studies as a priority. I don't think the program will be as rigorous as my classes at University of Maryland, but I am pretty positive I will learn more. DIS focuses on hands-on learning by using Europe as your classroom, which sounds all euphemistic and not fun, but in reality means that instead of sitting in a gigantic lecture hall trying to pay attention to slow professors who are teaching lessons I could have learned in fifteen minutes of scanning a textbook, I will be in small classrooms where professors know my name and will take my to see the Danish parliament or go to a courtroom to observe a trial.
After I finally won the debate within myself of whether or not to go that pitted ridiculously confident, dreamy Anna against the Anna that curls up in corners in a blanket castle and growls when bothered, the frenzy of planning began. If you are a UMD student reading this, it's going to suck. I feel the same amount of fondness for the advisors here that I do for Jar Jar Binks. Ever wonder how the incompetent Jar Jar became a senator for the entire planet of Naboo? Or managed to save the Gungans by impersonating Boss Lyonie convincingly in front of General Grevious? (Sorry, but I might as well put all those hours watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars to use) I have the same awe for how these advisors manage to get their own nice little offices only by learning the contents of one webpage of university policy. I'm considering putting in an application myself.
That nightmare of hopping from one department to another for weeks finally over, my smooth confidence in my choice slowly unraveled into mild panic at the realization that four months is not a vague concept, but an actual four months (120ish days). In conversations with some of my friends who have studied abroad before, they reveal that it was often lonely. People forget to call. Not everyone wants to be your friend. The stores don't sell peanut butter. Instagram is a cruel reminder that your friends inevitably make friends other than you.
But I'm going to trust that God is going to use this period of my life to grow me. So I'll learn to embrace the loneliness. But hopefully I'll be able to look out of my window each morning, walk down the cobblestone streets and take hundreds of blurry pictures of Danish castles with the realization of what a blessing it is that I even have this opportunity.
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