Study Abroad in Ireland or Denmark?

The short version of the question: Has anyone been to either Dublin, Ireland, or Copenhagen, Denmark or both before? Which is a better study abroad destination???

Long version of the question: I’m lucky enough to be able to study abroad next fall (fall 2017) but I’m having the hardest time deciding where to go. Orginially, I had no idea where I wanted to go, and one of my closest friends suggest that I go to Ireland (Dublin Business School) and I was excited to go. There are also now 3 other people she is friends with that are going and I think we would all hang out and it would be super fun. However, I’m a public health major and I’ve now found out that Denmark (DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia) is excellent for public health, while obviously a business school isn’t. I could just go to Ireland to have a chill semester and guaranteed good time with my friend and fulfill some of the core cirriculum classes I need in Dublin. Or, I could go for something different and go to Copenhagen. The culture and program entices me a lot more, and it’s a very popular destination for people from my school, so there’s a possibility that I’ll know someone. I’m just concerned with Copenhagen because I’m not good at making friends and I’m really worried that I’ll just be chilling by myself in a foreign country for 4 mounths. Any suggestions?

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Unless you speak Danish you are unlikely to really be able to immerse yourself in Danish culture, so I’d lean towards Dublin. That said, if the public health program really is good, academics should be your priority.

Pretty much all Danes speak excellent english, however they have a reputation for being a more standoffish than the Irish. Either way, I think you’ll have a great experience. I know young people who have loved studying in both spots. Choose the program that fits you better. You can always travel extensively once in Europe from either country.

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My son is currently studying abroad in Copenhagen with DIS (not public health). Copenhagen is a nice city and very easy to manage. Everyone speaks English. My husband and I visited my son there and found it was easy to get around and the people were friendly and helpful. My son is enjoying the classes and has found the professors to be very good. He also likes that the program includes built in travel with your core course. Overall, it has been a great experience.

My one caveat is your concern about making friends. This was harder than my son thought it would be. There are many housing choices. My son ended up with his second choice, which was what they call the Kollegium, a dorm with mostly Danish students, plus a few Americans. All the rooms there are singles, with their own bathroom and kitchenette, so there is no easy socializing in the dorm. DIS had some activities for the 25 American students who live there, but my son found that either the students weren’t too friendly, or had friends from their home universities and didn’t want to make new friends. I think my son just had bad luck, because he found students in other Kollegiums were much more friendly. He had to work hard to make friends through his classes, and though that has been okay, its not perfect as students live all over the city. If he could do it again, I think he would have chosen to have a roommate or a situation with a communal kitchen. He also told me that some students who had a homestay with a family were unhappy with the length of their commutes.

If you go, I would recommend you sign up for several of the optional activities that DIS offers. They have trips for the students’ week off and also a few weekend trips. These are great ways to meet people and to make sure you have something to do in your free time. Also, if you don’t do a homestay, you can sign up to be matched with a Danish family. My son did this and his family is wonderful. We got to meet them when we visited and it was so nice to get to know an average Danish family.

My son also spent a month over the summer in Dublin with a program through his college and had a great time there.

Good luck to you wherever you choose!

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It sort of boils down to whether you want to challenge yourself and experience something really different and possibly a bit more difficult (Copenhagen) or have an experience more likely to be guaranteed to be… a blast (Dublin.)

I tend to encourage myself, and others, to go for the road less traveled.

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Thank you very much for all the replies, especially the extensive reply, it’s very helpful! @NorthernCaliMom

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My daughter is a public health major and is studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh. She also looked into DIS as well as CIEE in Amsterdam. She decided that she already had taken many of her public health electives and didn’t want a program so focused on public health. She’s very happy with her choice of Edinburgh and is taking one global health class and one environmental class both of which are areas of interest to her but not necessarily major credit courses. She ruled out Denmark early on and then chose Edinburgh over Amsterdam partly because she felt being a directly enrolled student at Edinburgh would be better in the long run and partly because she heard Edinburgh was a really great place to study.

She likes her living situation also. She shares a flat with four others some of whom are freshers and some of whom are studying abroad. She’s found a mixed group of friends (she knew one person going over there) and is enjoying her time there. Lots to do in Edinburgh and trips sponsored by the international office there. The flats for students are spread out around the city but she got her first choice location and is 10-15 minutes from her classes and a short walk to the Royal Mile and Arthur’s Seat. She couldn’t be happier and may even consider going back for her MPH degree there. We’ll see! Good luck to you!

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Trinity College Dublin is gorgeous, affordable and focuses on undergraduate education. We visited it and were extremely impressed. And it’s location in the middle of Dublin couldn’t be better. You walk through the gates and you could be in Cambridge.

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My son did the DIS program and absolutely loved it. It’s actually what got him interested in Public Health as a career. When he was there he took classes in Epidemiology, Bioinformatics and Psychopharnacology. He also connected with his Epidemiology professor who was then able to get him a summer internship at the Statens Serum Institut and DIS helped him with housing for the summer. So overall, a very positive experience - so positive in fact that he is now in grad school for Epidemiology.

My son was in a dorm for housing which was amazing. It wasn’t like an American dorm, but more like a small building with maybe 25 or so American students in it. There was a shared kitchen and the students cooked meals together and many ended up vacationing together also. DIS is set up with no classes on Fridays and several travel breaks as they really want you to take advantage of their location in Europe.

He did take Danish for the semester, but it is quite easy to get along there and not know any Danish. We visited him and had no trouble at all, anywhere we went.

Copenhagen is a great city - very easy to get around. My son rented a bike and basically biked to most places. Probably the only negative is that the weather in January when he started is kind of dark and gloomy. And it never really warmed up over the summer - I think high 60’s was as warm as it got.

Please let me know if you have any further questions about DIS. It really was an amazing program.

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If you really want to make Danish friends, you’ll need to speak their language. They may all speak English, but everyone prefers to socialize and have close friendships in their own language. My daughter spent last year in France, and although many people in Aix spoke English, her intimate friendships with French people were conducted in French. If you really want the full immersion study abroad experience, where you get to know the people and culture, and not just as a source of adventure, then you will have to speak their language.

Of course, this isn’t the only way to study abroad. Many of my daughter’s friends went more down the adventure path (traveling at every break, and having mostly American and English friends) and still had a great time.

Both experiences are good.

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My D took part in the DIS program. Language is not an issue if that is your concern. The classes are all in English (most students are American) and people everywhere speak English. We visited and had no problem reading signs or communicating with others.

As already mentioned, DIS offers several living arrangements. D’s living arrangements were in a “Living and Learning Community”. She was disappointed by the lack of interest by her roommates in the “learning” part, but this arrangement did allow her to be right in the middle of the city and close to all her classes. It also has shared bedrooms, and communal living spaces to meet people. Classes in DIS are spread throughout the city and are old store fronts etc. There isn’t really a “campus”. She had friends who did homestays…some loved it some had issues. But in either case they did have to commute into the city for classes. For those that are not doing homestays there is an opportunity to be matched up with a Danish family. My D really enjoyed these visits and we had the pleasure of meeting the family as well—wonderful people.

The program had 3 weeklong breaks in their schedule to allow for travel (one of which is part of your core program mentioned above). My D was able to take advantage of these opportunities and see other countries in Europe. We visited during one of these breaks and that allowed her to stay with us and enjoy some sight seeing within Denmark as well. She did love the opportunity to travel.

Academically, my D found it to be less challenging than her home school. Socially it was more challenging. Since there is no defined campus and everyone is spread out throughout the city and surrounding areas, it makes it more difficult. Of course, she comes from a very small LAC where nearly 100% of the students live on campus so that was a vast difference. But, of course, you meet people in class and you can meet up with people. You just have to make more of an effort.

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“My daughter spent last year in France, and although many people in Aix spoke English, her intimate friendships with French people were conducted in French.”

There’s a difference in character and attitude towards foreigners between the French (especially ones living around Aix) and the Danes/Dutch. I say this as someone who lived in both areas.

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My D1 did a semester in Cork. She had no problem making friends and there were so many American students there that she was housed completely with them (which was a bit of a disappointment). She had a great time and travelled on quick trips to many other European cities on cheap student rates, as well as exploring most of Ireland.

One problem she had is that the semester starts later than most American colleges and doesn’t truly finish until early January. She managed to finish up most of her classes, but had a paper due for one that was due after her spring semester started in the US (granted, her school starts pretty early in January). Denmark may have the same calendar, I’m not sure.

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Yes, we found Denmark more in line (just a week or two off) with our semester system. But it’s easy enough for the OP to look up dates.

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@exlibris97, you are right that TCD is gorgeous & in a great location- but the OP is looking at Dublin Business College, which is a completely different (and much less academic) institution, scattered across 5 buildings in city centre. There is no ‘campus’ per se.

OP, the hard fact of the matter is that being a short-term student requires you to either come with a group or reach out to people.

If your objective is to have an easy semester dossing (Irish slang for slacking off) and feel as if you have done something international, by all means choose Dublin (a city I know and love). If you are genuinely interested in your subject, and intend to work in it, go to Copenhagen (a city I have worked in and enjoyed) and work at getting to know your classmates: they are your future colleagues and peers, and believe it or not you may know some of them for decades, meeting at conferences, working on joint projects, etc.

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