Submitted by Margaret McCaughey on the 2015 spring semester DIS (Denmark’s International Study Program) program in Copenhagen, Denmark…
The past 10 days I’ve faced the unending problem of too much to do and too little time. The first full week of classes did not mean any less excitement. On Monday and Tuesday, my earliest classes were cancelled, which means that they were rescheduled for another day at night. It’s a whole new view on education. Instead of rejoicing when a professor is sick and has to cancel class, I felt like I should be disappointed that I wouldn’t be getting the scheduled class time that I signed up for.
Tuesday after class, Alexandra, Lauren, and Mackenzie (2 girls from UD in my Human Trafficking class) and I went to check out the Royal (Black Diamond) Library and stumbled upon some sweet trampolines right along the side walk.
At DIS, we have no classes on Wednesdays. They are reserved for class trips, but since I don’t have any scheduled for two weeks, I have a wonderful day off right in the middle of the week. Nicole and I went into a 9th grade class at a local public school. There were more DIS students than Danish students, but it worked out perfectly because we were able to sit and talk in small groups for an hour and a half and surprisingly, we didn’t run out of topics. We covered differences between Danish and American school systems, family life, sports, transportation, foods, social settings, expectations and so much more. Most surprising for me was the fact that we were able to walk right into the school without being stopped by anyone asking our names or purpose. There was no sign of any form of security; very different from schools in America.