Academic experience
I studied four English courses during my exchange. One taught a range of graph theories and algorithms; one looked into the statistics and R programming; one was the human-computer interaction design course, where we learnt to apply TUI and speculative concept in our project, and the last one was the marketing management, involving a series of marketing concept.
The timetable arrangement was quite different from UQ. All the courses had certain time (E1B, F2B…), thus, there might be timetable clashes. All the courses were 4-hours per week.
The atmosphere of all the courses were free, and the relationship between the professors and students was close. Take Interactive Design course for example, the teaching system in Denmark was more interactive and diverse. There was around 10 students in the class, thus the professor would be able to interact with every students. During the course, we were asked to read articles, develop our concept into a prototype and present to class. Students will not be bounded by any limits and this gave us the ability to exchange ideas and think out of the frame.
Enrolment process: After logging into DTU inside, under the Toolbox tag, there was a study planner link. On the right hand side of the page, there is a ‘Basket’ section, add courses inside and drag the course to the left hand side of the page and click enrol.
Personal experience
I stepped out of my comfort zone to meet new people and experience the cultural differences. I get to have a change to made life-long friendships with people all over the world. I became more open-minded, being able to reach out to people actively and make connections with them.
During exchange, I got to have a chance to explore more places in Europe. Especially in the Easter Holiday, I visited Iceland, which was a great experience travelling there, I experienced glacier hiking tour and the sceneries were different and beautiful, this was a unique memory for me.
Accommodation
DTU have an accommodation office, which will took good care of the housing for the exchange student if the student submitted the application form on time. However, the students might not be able to live in their first priority of accommodation. (You will be asked to fill in the priority choice among all accommodation)
I lived in an on-campus new-built studio and had my own space, private bathroom and kitchen, and all the equipments were new and well-equipped. This accommodation was more expensive compare to the others and the students would be asked to pay the excess usage of the bills at the end of the rental agreement (if had).
Costs
My rent was 4225 DKK per month including all the bills, (have to pay excess usage) the rent was more expensive compare to the other accommodation (campus village 3200DKK, Nærm 4200DKK). The food cost around 350 DKK per week and the transportation fee was about 150 DKK, however the transportation fee depends on the campus allocation.
Challenge
My biggest challenge during my exchange was to step out of my comfort zone. This was actually the first time to travel on my own, without anyone around. I had to carry my own baggages in the snow, find the way to campus from airport, to well-organised my life, to make friends actively and to overcome the cultural differences.
During exchange, I had to balance my time between housework, social life, study and my personal time. At first, it was quite hard, since I haven't find the balance point and all the things were new for me (people, accom, traffic, campus, teaching style). However, I managed to schedule in advanced about what I need to accomplish, and it helped a lot.
I love myself being independent, have my own life style (like the feeling of having my own time).
Professional Development
I encountered difficulties while exchanging abroad, including flight cancellation, arriving without internet, ect, where those problem improved my problem solving skills especially when emergency happens. During exchange, I reach out to people actively and improved my relationship developing skills, such as being able communicate confidently.
The benefits of solo living is having the ability to organise my daily life, and being able to balance my time. (study, food, social) In leisure time, I planned trips in advanced to ensure my travel is well-organised and gave myself a greater chance to explore more places.
Highlight
The highlight of the exchange is that I signed up the ESN event to Lapland in Sweden with one of my friends. We got to have a chance to explore Lapland and the scenery was amazing. That was the first time for me travelling to such northern area and it was so lucky of us that we saw the aurora. The trip was definitely the most impressive memory during traveling, since I had many new experiences such as transporting for more than 24 hours in a bus.
Top tips
• Definitely rent a bicycle, it'll make your life a lot easier
• Participate in the Introduction week, and you’ll meet lots of good friends
• Submit application for accommodation form on time