Bursting Out of the Bowdoin Bubble: From Brunswick to Copenhagen

There is definitely a rhythm of familiarity every Bowdoin student falls into during his or her four years at our tiny liberal arts school.

To name a few:
• the purposeful hour-early arrival for the ridiculously packed acapella performances
• knowing how to handle the awkward and hung over encounters at Big Top
• strategically parking your car when it snows to beat the system during the Brunswick Parking Bans
• having a “regular” with the late night Poppa John’s delivery guy
• making appropriate small talk with professors in line at Hannafords while your shopping cart is overflowing with beer and microwave popcorn. 

These repeated experiences on the Bowdoin campus help to create a consistent and comfortable environment, and leaving the bubble may be difficult for some people. However, I think it is important to learn this sobering fact quickly: in the Real World, Randy can’t always be there to save the day. For example, if you lose your key to your apartment in the Real World, there is no omniscient being who can be conveniently summoned to let you in at four in the morning.

Studying abroad is a very valuable way to discover that life is usually not like Bowdoin life (a.k.a. catered to your every need and desire). Life is also usually not like living in rural Maine, and outside of the United States quite a few things about life are not done in the “American” way. I had a little dose of this culture shock when I left for my semester in Copenhagen, Denmark.

To name a few:
• seeing unattended baby carriages outside cafes and supermarkets
• going to a traditional Danish “open” prison (on a class field trip) and being taken on a tour by a convicted murderer - who was actually quite friendly - and seeing the fenceless grounds, weaponless security officers, and prisoners cooking their own lunches unsupervised with giant knives
• after being injured at the gym I was taken to a Danish hospital where I was treated for FREE just like any other Danish citizen • not having any peanut butter
• having an “honor” public transportation system where everybody just assumes you have a bus, metro, or train ticket and you do not need to show any proof to board
• inserting a coin into a machine to play pool at a bar and then GETTING IT BACK at the end of the game – what a concept!

Besides the terrible absence of peanut butter, life in Copenhagen is pretty damn good. In Denmark, there is a sense of community trust that is completely nonexistent in America. Many of the female American students on my program had trouble getting used to the law that makes it illegal to carry pepper spray (or any form of weapon).

And Danish people definitely have trouble getting used to the American way of life when they travel to the States. A Danish woman was arrested in New York City for leaving her baby in a carriage outside a restaurant – welcome to New York!

Leaving the highly secure Bowdoin campus (where Randy is always at my beckon call) and moving to such a naturally safe and carefree place is truly exciting, and I am loving every minute of it. So yes, college life does exist outside of the Bowdoin bubble, and it is definitely quite different. Embark on your study abroad journeys with an open mind and I promise you will have the time of your life. I also promise the Poppa John’s guy will still remember your “regular” by the time you get back.