Why Denmark?

Welcome to my travel blog.  This is the first post ever, which is pretty exciting!  Just over three weeks ago, I arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, for my semester abroad.  I’ve always loved to travel and experience new cultures, and in college I decided that studying abroad was something I really wanted to do and that I would really benefit from it.  So last summer I did some planning, looked at different programs, considered the options, and decided that my best bet would be to study abroad my sophomore spring at DIS, the Danish Institute for Study Abroad.  A few months later, and amazingly enough I am here, living and studying in the great nation of Denmark.

Two quintessentially Danish things - a bike and a canal.

I decided to start this blog both to keep my friends and family back home updated about what I am up to and to share my experiences with others, as well as for a more selfish reason; so that after my semester was over, I would have a digital record of what I did and thought during my time here.  Human memory can be so spotty, but as many people have had to learn the hard way, the internet never forgets.  So let’s hope I don’t fuck up and post something too embarrassing or incriminating that will screw me over in a few years when I’m trying to get a job.  Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

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When telling people I was going to study abroad in Denmark, the most common response I got, after “That’s awesome!” was “Why Denmark?”  At first glance, I will grant that it does seem like an incredibly random place.  After all, what could a tiny nation of 5 million people have to offer to an outsider?  The answer, it turns out (at least in my opinion), is a lot!  First off, there’s the city of Copenhagen, where I live and attend class.  I had been to Copenhagen for one or two days a few years ago on a family vacation, and while I don’t remember much, I do remember it being awesome – especially the bike culture – and I mentally marked it as one of the places to come back to when I had more time.  Furthermore, Copenhagen is consistently rated one of the best cities in the world to live in, with the highest quality of life (for example here - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/2098269/Copenhagen-named-worlds-best-city-for-quality-of-life-by-Monocle-magazine.html).

Secondly, Denmark is objectively one of the happiest countries in the world and has consistently been near the top of quality of life, happiness, and well-being rankings for years.  (for example, http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/01/09/the-worlds-happiest-and-saddest-countries-2/).
I’m studying psychology, and I have been interested in positive psychology for a while, so I was really curious to find out just exactly why the Danes are so damn happy.  It certainly isn’t the weather (more about that later though).  I knew it had something to do with the wealth of the nation and the security provided by the social welfare state, but I wanted to investigate this issue further, firsthand.  And one of the classes I’m taking here is positive psychology, which is basically the study of well-being and what makes people’s lives worth living, a class which could not be taking place in a more relevant setting.

Which gets me to the program I’m a part of, DIS.  When looking at the classes offered at different study abroad sites, the selection at DIS had by far the most interesting classes and the largest variety of classes.  And DIS places an emphasis on learning through travel, which I think is a great idea – I’ll never turn down the chance to see somewhere new.  I’m traveling to Scotland and to Western Denmark with one of my classes, and many of the classes also include “field studies” to different places and cultural sites around the city.  It’s like we’re in elementary school again, going on field trips!  I always thought that high school would have been better if we had had more trips.  A lot of these field studies actually seem pretty informative though.  In addition to that, we have 2 weeks of break throughout the semester during which we can travel on our own (which I will most definitely be doing).  DIS is also pretty good about housing options.  I wanted to live with a host family, and they were able to place me in one.  Finally, the other main place I was considering was Spain, but since I spent a lot of time in Spain last summer, I figured I’d go somewhere else this semester and learn about a completely foreign culture.

A typical city square in Copenhagen

In summary, I had a lot of reasons for going to Denmark, and so far I’m 100% satisfied with the decision.  It’s an awesome country that I feel privileged to live in, and I’m enjoying learning more and more about the culture and the language and the people of Denmark every single day.  I hope you will follow along with my Danish adventure.  It’s gonna be a blast!

A city worker who brought his dog to work for some reason.
This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken here so far although I can't explain why.