D20 is having a great experience! She’s enjoying living with her homestay family who are kind and fun while also giving her a lot of personal freedom/privacy.
Also, for independent traveling, in the fall D20 did a couple weekends traveling with people she met in her cohort, some traveling/visiting with friends from her home school who were in different countries and a couple weekends traveling solo. That all was in addition to the planned travel in her specific program.
This spring D20 has already planned a solo trip she wanted to take in the fall but didn’t have the time for (she found a cheap flight and great lodging so just booked it). If she finds someone to go with - great!, if not she is a confident traveler and likes to explore solo just as much as she likes to go with others.
I would recommend looking at flights/lodging asap when your D21 gets her program calendar if D21 has specific places she wants to visit…cheap tickets on flights/trains/buses sell out fairly quickly if she is planning on making her own travel arrangements. If she is open to where she wants to travel…there are plenty of options for the spontaneous, adventurous traveler!
Happy to answer more questions if she moves forward. You can message me. Her twin sister has DIS as her 2nd choice program for her jr year semester abroad (soph now) and her LAC never said it would be an issue to get accepted - she does not have a 4.0 - but strong grades and very involved at her small LAC. Her LAC does assign which semester for housing issues - but if you have a good excuse (as class for major, activity etc only avail on your home campus a certain semester - that seems to work to get your preferred semester.) Her twin sister did DIS for the summer, as she could only study abroad over the summer due to being a college athlete. She is at an Ivy and all credits transferred. They made is sound like just put in the app on time. She met kids from all over from Brown to F&M, Northwestern, Wesleyan and Ohio State plus Boulder (not multiple from each school)- liked her random assigned roommates (had her own bedroom) in a apartment, biked everywhere, did the daily dip in the harbor, travelled a bit and just loved everything about Copenhagen. She is a foodie and thrift kid and was in heaven on this end too! She felt everyone was up to meeting people and she met other groups through her classes - as lots of projects to do outside of class with others (at least for her courses). She hangs out 100% with the athletes (across sports) at her school - and not a kid that jumps quickly out of her comfort zone - this programs seemed to make it seamless. She would recommend the Fall term vs Spring - as the Spring term would be a lot of winter It seems kid love it either way. She very much experienced living in Copenhagen. We have a friend’s son that went to Florence (I am sure it is different for all kids) with his school (so 20+ kids from his college) and their favorite hangout was an Irish bar - they joke that he probably had zero interactions with Italians the entire semester Exciting times and hope you can visit her wherever she lands!
It seems kid love it either way. She very much experienced living in Copenhagen. We have a friend’s son that went to Florence (I am sure it is different for all kids) with his school (so 20+ kids from his college) and their favorite hangout was an Irish bar - they joke that he probably had zero interactions with Italians the entire semester 