This past fall, Megan Yi ’27 and Imaan Jivraj ’27 completed a semester of study abroad at DIS Copenhagen, capturing a taste of Danish culture and traveling with newfound friends in Europe. The DIS Copenhagen program hosts 1600 students in total from various U.S. schools, and 15-20 Wellesley students join each semester.
Unlike a classic university study-abroad experience, DIS has no campus except for “one little street area” for all the classes, according to Yi. Students have the freedom to choose from different types of housing, ranging from apartments across the city to residing with a local host family. While Jivraj lived in a residential community, Yi chose to engage in a Culinary Living Learning Community.
Both double majoring in psychology and media arts and sciences, Jivraj and Yi partially decided to attend DIS Copenhagen because of how well the credits transferred to their majors. As the program’s academics focus on the core classes each student takes and two class trips, Jivraj and Yi both experienced unique adventures despite having the same majors. Jivraj took a graphic design studio course as her core class, but also dove into a Social Media AI and Influencers class and a criminology class that “compares the criminal system in Scandinavia and America.”
Yi took Cyber Psychology as a core class, but also took Digital Media and Marketing, Innovation through Design Thinking and Developmental Disorders.
Unlike at a traditional university with a dining hall, all DIS students receive a grocery card with about $600 to cook meals in their own apartments.
“I really loved being able to cook for myself, and I wish Wellesley had more, like, apartment-style options and differing meal plan options,” Jivraj commented.
Traveling is an important component of DIS Copenhagen’s immersive study abroad experience. Coincidentally, both Jivraj and Yi went to similar destinations for both trips. Jivraj’s class traveled to Amsterdam, The Hague and Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city. Yi’s first class trip was to Aarhus, and then the countryside of Amsterdam for the second trip.
“My roommate went to Prague, and I know people who went to Rome. I also had a friend who went to Serbia,” Jivraj added.
Studying abroad is one of the best ways for undergraduate students to explore a foreign country’s culture in a relatively short time. Jivraj’s small five-person class and relationships with professors brought her “the biggest taste of Danish culture,” she shared.
Similarly, Yi also found the “taste of Danish culture” through the education style of her classes, explaining how “they love collaborative teamwork and being paired with random people, which I know we sometimes have at Wellesley. But that was basically for every single one of my classes.” Though Wellesley has a strong emphasis on collaborative learning, Jivraj highlighted her experience “writing many collaborative [argumentative] papers with other people, which [she has] never [done] before here at Wellesley.”
While studying abroad requires students to “figure things out a little bit more on your own, [be] a little bit more independent,” according to Jivraj, both Jivraj and Yi affirm that “the situation [they] were put in wasn’t exactly daunting or scary.” For Jivraj, whose roommate went with a group of 20 best friends for the DIS program, “[not knowing] anyone was a ‘scarier’ factor.” However, after classes started, Jivraj recalled that “everything was more than fine.”
“It’s like freshman year, but on steroids,” Jivraj said. “Everyone is trying to plan these trips, and it’s only one semester. You don’t have four years to figure things out.”
Now back at Wellesley, both Jivraj and Yi miss the convenience of Copenhagen with its clean transportation and free healthcare. Still, just a few months ago, Wellesley was also a place they missed dearly.
“Although I loved Copenhagen, I was very excited to get back to Wellesley. I miss my friends here. The classes were also not very academically rigorous. While it’s early in the semester, I did miss learning and being in a room full of students who were also eager to learn,” Yi commented.
As for Jivraj, the close proximity to people Wellesley offers is what she missed the most.
“I just missed the feeling of being able to walk down the hall to your friend’s room, and if you’re feeling a little lazy, going to the dining hall without having to cook or buy a meal,” she shared.
Recalling all the experiences while abroad, Yi emphasizes that if she had to make her study abroad choice a second time, “[she] would pick Copenhagen again.” As for those considering DIS Copenhagen after reading this article, Yi offered a last piece of advice: “If you’re really eager to travel or want to meet other American students from other places, [then DIS] is a great [choice], because they have built-in travel for you.”
Jivraj and Yi seem to have had exciting, enriching, and adventurous time at DIS Copenhagen, and Wellesley students aspiring to go abroad can learn a lot from their experiences.
Contact the editors responsible for this story: Hira Khan, Chelsea Tarringer.