HC Abroad: Tips for Settling In

After weeks and weeks of nervous anticipation about spending the next four months in Copenhagen, Denmark, I finally arrived this past Sunday bright and early (7:30 a.m!), ready to begin my semester abroad. I’ve only been here for three days, but I feel like I’ve seen and done enough to be qualified to present my very own guide: The Do’s and Don’t’s Of Settling In To Your Study Abroad Program!
 
DO introduce yourself to as many people as you can.
 
I’m pretty shy at first around people I don’t know, so it takes a lot for me to go up to a stranger and strike up a conversation. Luckily, many of the other people at DIS don’t have that problem. From the airport to the bus to my dorm, I’ve met some really friendly people that have instantly put me at ease. As one of my friends aptly put it, the first week or two of study abroad is exactly like freshman year. It’s completely acceptable to walk up to a group of people you don’t know and ask if they’re grabbing lunch, and it’s assumed that your roommates or dormmates will all go out together the first few nights. Everyone is trying to get the hang of living in a new country, so do make an effort to reach out to your fellow students and form some early bonds.
 

I know I’m alone in the picture, but I swear I have friends!
 
DON’T panic if, for example, your luggage doesn’t arrive when you do…
 
Of course this happened to me. Two of my three bags did make it on to my flight so I had some clothing to wear, but my third bag with more clothes and all of my toiletries never appeared on the carousel due to “weight issues on the plane” (obviously my three suitcases had NOTHING to do with this). DIS staff members were waiting by baggage claim and told us unlucky students what information to give to the airline so we could get our bags delivered to our housing. Scandinavian Airlines was surprisingly efficient and dropped off my bag that night! Even though I spent the day thinking about what I’d do if my bag were lost forever, I stayed calm in the moment and didn’t alienate my fellow study abroaders by throwing a hissy fit at the airport. Unless you have seven layovers on the way to your study abroad destination, trust that your luggage will eventually wind up where it should be. I’m not even the best example of keeping calm: another one of my friends has been wearing the same outfit for three days because NONE of her bags have arrived. We’re all hoping she gets her luggage soon.
 

This is Gronjords, my “kollegium” or dorm. There are 20 other American students; the rest are Danish or international.
 
DO ignore people telling you to fight through the jet lag: take a nap the first day if you need it.
 
No matter where I travel to, I always seem to get there in the morning of that country and must spend the rest of the day sightseeing, walking around, and trying to stay awake. I really can’t sleep on planes, so I sometimes won’t sleep for 36 hours! After dealing with the luggage fiasco at the airport, waiting almost two hours for a DIS-provided bus to take me to my dorm, and walking around Copenhagen for an hour, I knew I really couldn’t function for the rest of my first day if I didn’t take a nap. So I slept for two hours, woke up wishing I could sleep for 20 more, and spent the night meeting the rest of my dorm, taking a tour of the neighborhood, and unpacking. If I had tried to stay awake to “adjust to jet lag”, I probably would have made zero friends because I would have looked and acted like a crazy person. Seek out people’s advice on how to best adjust to your abroad country’s time zone, but base your final decision on how you feel once you get there.
 

If I hadn’t napped, I wouldn’t have had enough energy to walk all the way to see the Copenhagen Opera House peeking out behind this fountain.
 
DON’T feel pressured into going out the first night you’re abroad.   
 
After reading the above tip, it should be obvious that I was in no state to go out in Copenhagen on my first night. I knew I’d be much better off organizing my room and getting a good night’s sleep, especially since it was Sunday and I didn’t think there would be a lot of nightlife happening anyway. Some of my friends did go out to explore a few bars and were fine the next day, but others missed a full day of orientation because they were too hungover to leave their rooms. If you’re feeling up to it then by all means go out your first night, but you shouldn’t feel like you have to just because you’re in a foreign country and legal to drink.
 

 One of Copenhagen’s many lakes.
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DO bring your own decorations, sheets, and a pillow (if it fits in your luggage).
 
This tip depends on what your program provides, but even though mine provided a bed, pillow, comforter, and sheets, I brought my own sheets and duvet cover to make my room seem cozier. I wanted to be able to look at my bed and recognize it as my own instead of having the same exact program-provided bedding as everyone else. Unfortunately, I did not bring my own pillow, and I’m seriously considering buying one because the one I was given is incredibly lumpy. Decorations are a must: it’s so easy to fit a stack of pictures in your suitcase, and seeing familiar faces from home and college will be comforting. I tried to get creative by taping my scarves to the blank walls of my room in order to add some color. I will have to take the scarves down when I want to wear them, but so far I think it’s a great amalgamation of storage and wall art.
 

My dorm room in Gronjordskollegiet.  
 
DON’T think you’re too cool to use a map.
 
No one wants to look like a tourist, and pulling out a map to figure out where you are is so American. But what’s worse: taking 30 seconds to check if you’re going in the right direction or spending 30 minutes wandering the streets trying to figure out where the metro stop is? Thankfully, the latter situation hasn’t happened to me. Mostly because I’m an expert navigator thanks to the New York City subway system, but also because I’ve been willing to take a quick glance at a map to plan out my walking route. Copenhagen is a surprisingly small city, as I learned today when I walked from one end to the other in about half an hour, but the street names are confusing and I still don’t totally know my way around yet. I’ll probably still be referencing maps until my last day, so save yourself some headache and double check your directions before you start walking.
 

Without a map, we wouldn’t have made it to the Danish royal family’s palace in Copenhagen in time for the changing of the guard.
 
DO stick with the familiar at first if it makes you more comfortable.
 
Study abroad is all about immersing yourself in another culture, but you don’t have to be doing that by day three. In fact, I think it’s better to hang out with people from your dorm, home college, or high school for the first few days so you can get used to the unfamiliar aspects of the city and stay safe. Copenhagen is a very safe city, but I’m not yet comfortable going out or coming back at night without people from my dorm. I like knowing that my friends and I are looking out for each other when we take the metro back at night. This tip also applies to another one of my main concerns: food. There’s no DIS dining hall, so my meal choices are either eating out for every meal (REALLY expensive) or cooking for myself. Did I try to make a gourmet meal for my first home-cooked dinner? No. I made noodles with cheese, which, as my friends from Bowdoin can tell you, I am obsessed with. Even though you’ll be living a new and independent life, you don’t have to have the most impressive culinary skills by the end of the first week.
 

This is what’s across the street from our kollegium. We love our “lake” and “mountains”. The buildings are cool though. 
 
And finally, an overall piece of advice for studying abroad: DO take things at your own pace when settling in.
 
If you don’t want to spend a night on the town until you feel fully comfortable in the city you’re in, don’t! If you don’t want to have all of your luggage unpacked by day two, leave it in your suitcase! You’re in charge of what you make of your experience while you study abroad, so take as much time as you need to get used to your new country, living situation, and program-mates. 

Do you have any advice for how I can acclimate to my study abroad program during my first weeks here? Leave me a comment to let me know! 

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