Advice – Page 76 – DU Abroad

Like many students, I had the unfortunate experience of getting sick while I was studying abroad. I think I actually ended up being sick on and off for a full two months out of my four month trip, and worse yet, it is impossible to find cough medicine anywhere in Denmark! Apparently they are a little less drug-happy than Americans, but man, I never thought I would miss NyQuil so much! Of course I did not let my illness stand in the way of having a fantastic trip, but needless to say, I eventually had to go to the doctor to figure out what was wrong. As it turns out, my very long cold had just turned into an infection, so the doctor simply gave me antibiotics and I was good to go. But getting to the doctor in the first place was the tricky part.

Despite studying in Copenhagen, I did not actually live in Copenhagen, but rather a smaller city that was a 45-minute train ride away. Therefore, I had to go to a doctor’s office within my own city, not in Copenhagen. This took some work to find. Thankfully I was able to talk to the front desk at my school to get some general directions, and then I used a Danish directions website to help find the exact place.

Thanks to the Danish welfare system, I actually did not need to pay anything for my appointment. The doctor’s office was near the train station, so I was able to find it fairly easily. Once I was inside, it was very chaotic, but I went and gave my residency card to the front desk, which basically put myself in line to talk to a doctor. (For whatever reason, getting a real doctor’s appointment in Denmark (or at least at my specific doctor’s office) must be planned weeks if not months in advance. Everyone else just comes in to the doctor’s office during two hours of walk-in hours that are held every weekday morning).

At my first visit to the doctor’s office, I did not adequately plan for the waiting period. I ended up waiting at least an hour for my appointment, but had brought no form of entertainment and could not read the Danish magazines they had out, so I simply people watched until my turn. Finally, my turn. And thankfully, the doctor spoke pretty fluent English. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics, which I picked up at the pharmacy (Apotek) on my way home. I came in again one week later to make sure that my throat infection was clearing up, and had the sense to bring a book with me (to this day, I still associate Franny and Zooey with the doctor’s office waiting room in Denmark.) Thankfully my cold finally cleared up and I was able to stay healthy for the remainder of my trip.

My recommendation to future students: if you get sick, go to the doctor. I wish I had gone sooner and maybe I wouldn’t have gotten so sick. But also see if your school has any advise about going to the doctor, and check in advance to see how much it will cost you. It is great that the Danish welfare system made it so that I did not need to pay a cent for my appointment (though I did pay for my medication), making sure that your body is healthy is usually worth the cost.

-Rosa Calabrese, DU Study Abroad Peer Advisor

The first thing that caught my eye on the program flyer for the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) was in the housing section of the flyer where it said one could live in a folkehojskole (or folk high school) “a distinctly Danish rural educational institution for young Danes.” To me, this sounded amazing. I investigated the program further, and eventually decided that this was the place for me (between the folk high school housing option and the opportunity to get a number of classes for my Sociology major including a class called Migration and Conflict which took a week long study tour to Istanbul and a class called Holocaust and Genocide that took a weekend trip to visit a concentration camp near Hamburg, as well as the opportunity to volunteer while abroad).

I was delighted to get accepted into the program, and as soon as DIS housing opened online, I applied to be put in one of the three folk high schools that were offered. This was in March, but I did not find out until the summer which housing option I actually got. I was told that I signed up early enough that it was likely that I got my first choice. In the meantime, I started researching all the different folk high schools that were offered: Grundtvigs and Krogerup (which are both Danish folk high schools) and The International People’s College (which is a folk high school for international students). I found the most information about Grundtvigs folk high school, which was supposed to have weekly costume parties with both Americans and Danes, and the building almost looked like a greenhouse. I even found one video from past Danes who had lived there, and even though it was all in Danish, the video and photos that were shown just made it look like such a blast!

In the summer before I left, I found out that I was going to live in Grundtvigs folk high school! I was worried that I had built it up too much in my mind and that the reality could not be as good, but I ended up having a fantastic time there! We did have themed parties each week, ranging from Pirate Party to Jersey Shore to Gangsters and Dinosaurs (the last of which was a little hard to dress for). I got to eat dinner with Danish people my own age each night, and see what kinds of things they were interested in doing with their free time. I also got to go to cultural events within the folk high school including concerts, talent shows, plays, and photo exhibits presented by the Danish students.

I later found out that many of the American students at my school were too intimidated by the sound of the folk high school housing option to choose it, and ended up settling for something less intimidating such as a dorm. While home stays and Danish roommates were two other housing options at DIS that were perhaps equally immersive as my folk high school option, I would definitely recommend to future students going abroad to choose an immersive housing option when it is available. It made my own experience so much more rewarding!

All of the photos are mine: showing the outside of my folk high school, the common area/lounge, and the main interior hallway.

Rosa Calabrese, DU Study Abroad Peer Advisor

Category: Advice

Getting Sick Abroad

Living in a Folk High School in Denmark