First Month in Copenhagen

By: Sasha Sabsowitz, Foster Undergraduate

After a month here in Copenhagen, I am still in awe of how much I love this city. Between the stress of finding an apartment at the last minute, going out almost every night with friends for the first two weeks, and suffering through a cold that lasted 3 weeks, I thought Copenhagen might be trying to kill me… But after a few days here, you just learn to go with the flow. I would highly suggest paying for the social packages that the school offers. For the introduction week, each day was planned out for us with fun nights out in the city of Copenhagen, Danish folk dancing, canal tours, and a beautiful welcome dinner at the end of the week. I met so many great people during this time. Another plus was that there weren’t that many Americans, so I’ve had the opportunity to get to know such amazing people from so many countries: Hungary, Norway, Germany, Azerbaijan, France, Belgium, and Holland. But those are just the countries my “close” friends here are from 🙂

 

I thought I might miss driving here, but getting around is so easy! They have a metro system that ould make people from Seattle so jealous. The metro runs through the south, central, and west parts of the city every 1-2 minutes during rush hour and every 3-4 minutes during other times in the day. If the metro doesn’t go where you need it to – keep in mind you can take it from the city centerall the way to the airport – then you can take one of their many super-efficient bus lines. But of course if you want to do like the Danes do, you must invest in a bike. Everyone here bikes! I feel like Seattle thinks it’s a bike-friendly city, but they could learn so much from Copenhagen’s biking infrastructure. Most bike lanes around the city are raised from where the parked and driving cars are. You bike in between the sidewalk (which is also raised from the bike lane) and parked cars on the street. It’s surprisingly fast, but people can be very aggressive!

 

Eating out for dinner as frequently as I do in Seattle is pretty impossible for anyone on a budget in Copenhagen. Your average burger with fries or pasta dinner here will cost you about 25-27 USD. Eating out for lunch can be much more reasonable, but I’ve found just grocery shopping and cooking to be the most fun. My friends and I do a lot of dinners at each other’s houses. I suggest joining the Copenhagen Business School students Facebook page if you’re going to study here and meeting up with students from there during the first couple of weeks, it’s such a great way to meet people.

As far as the classes at CBS are concerned, they alone would be enough to convince me to come back to study here. The teachers are mostly Danish but speak English. All of my teachers have had really interesting work experience in their pasts ranging from working in the finance department of the Danish government, to working as traders in Toronto, to working at the Pentagon. The teaching style is obviously quite different here. Don’t expect as many tests, if any, during the semester. Instead, all of your knowledge will be tested at the end of the semester in either a 4 hour open/closed book exam, a 25 minute oral exam, or a 48 hour intensive essay writing period. My classes and teachers here have really sparked my interest in international finance and inspired me to aim even higher with my career goals.

I have planned a few trips around Denmark, to Germany, and maybe to Holland. More updates to follow after my return 🙂