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ParentNet—A slice of student life abroad written by a Michigan Tech student
October 11–17, 2006, Number 415—http://www.mtu.edu/current/parentnet/
ParentNET: A Student Abroad—A slice of student life abroad written by a Michigan Tech student
August 29–September 4, 2007, Number 158

Engineering in Copenhagen

Me in front of my new homeI'm standing in front of my new home in Copenhagen, Denmark. I chose to stay with a host family. (Click on photo for larger image.)

Hello all. My name is Beau Anderson, and I will be sharing my experiences as a student abroad in Copenhagen Denmark for the next four months. Before we get started I would like to take this time to let you get to know me a little bit, so here goes

I grew up in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) in a town called Norway. I am currently a senior mechanical engineering major at Michigan Technological University. I will be studying at the Engineering College of Copenhagen in Denmark. As a senior in the engineering program at Michigan Tech, I am required to do a senior design project. This basically consists of the University teaming up with a company in industry or a professor to solve a problem for them. We are given a budget and are required to solve the problem and present our findings in a formal presentation. This is usually a yearlong project saved for your senior year. Interesting things about Denmark

  • It is common for the husband and wife to keep their own last names.
  • They wear their wedding band on different hands.
  • Computer keyboards have å, æ, ø keys.
  • All cars are small.
  • Privacy is sacred.
  • Mullets are cool.
I am involved with an exchange program called EPS (engineering project semester) that basically substitutes for my senior design credits. The beauty of this program is that I can take general education credits and senior design credits. Also, instead of taking a whole year to get the senior design credits I need it only takes one semester, and the best part is it's in a different country. I will be working with a five-student team made up of me and four other students from around the world. I will fill you in on the exact project details as the semester continues.

I start the school year tomorrow on Monday, August 27, and am just getting settled into my new home. Part of the excitement of going abroad is actually getting abroad. There is a lot of preparation that goes into getting ready to study abroad. Applications, passports, visas, money, accommodations, plane tickets, and packing just to name a few. It is pretty safe to say that there will be glitches and roughness throughout the process; my best advice is to stay calm and remember that there is a solution to every problem. The challenge is to not let the difficulty of finding the solution hinder the excitement involved with an experience like this. I have tried to think of these challenges as part of the adventure. Each obstacle you or I will come to, whether it be lost paper work, misplaced luggage, language barriers, credit card troubles, or the fact that you accidentally bought yogurt instead of milk today at the super market, because you don't speak read or understand a lick of Danish, is just part of the great story that will be able to be shared with friends and family when your time abroad is finished.

Traveling across Europe to my destination in Copenhagen

My journey started in Appleton, Wisconsin. As soon as I got there I was informed that my flight was changed, and instead of having two hours to go through check in and say good-bye to my family and new fiancé, I had just enough time to use the restroom, go through check-in, and get directly on the plane. I am not sure if this made the experience better or worse, but I do know that studying abroad can make for some emotional good-byes. From Appleton I flew to Chicago, then on to Frankfurt, Germany, then finally up to Copenhagen, Denmark. From the airport I navigated the train systems (public transportation in Europe is much better than here in the states) to Skovlunde, Denmark, where my new family met me. I chose to purchase a plane ticket with multiple stops to save some money, and it seemed to work out just fine.

When I finally arrived at my new home, there was a warm meal and a glass of wine waiting for me, skål (cheers). My host family consists of a husband and wife and two children. There's a ten-year-old boy who is very active and very excited that there is a young man around to play table tennis and football (soccer) with him. He speaks a little English, but we are helping each other understand our native languages. There is also a thirteen-year-old girl who has the amazing ability to listen to the same pop music song many times in a row without ceasing. Luckily for me our rooms are separated by a thin wall. She speaks English fairly well and is helpful in translating for her brother. I am living with a Danish family by choice. A cool thing about the program I am in is that I could choose if I wanted to live in the dorms with other foreign students or with a Danish family. I am excited to absorb the culture that exists within this family.

I think that will wrap it up for week one of a student abroad in Denmark. I hope you enjoyed this look inside this exciting life, and I look forward to sharing my adventures with you all from here on out.

    tak und farvel (thanks and good-bye)  
  • Beau signature