Reflection on my Time at DTU

Hi! I’m Kelly and I’m studying abroad at Denmark Technical University (DTU) in Copenhagen. I study Materials Science and Engineering and I’m taking classes in renewable energy and sustainability.

Over the course of my study abroad, I have met so many different people from many different cultures. Traveling before and during my studies also exposed me to various different ways of life as well. Through this, I have gained invaluable insight into other cultures and I have been able to better reflect upon my own cultural norms because of it.

Just being in Denmark for a few days exposed me to prevalence of biking. Most people, especially in the city, use biking as their way to commute to work everyday. In the city, it wasn’t uncommon to see women cycling in kitten heels, skirts, or fancy boots. Especially at my university, where most students don’t own cars, biking was ever present, number of bikes parked outside classes each day were astounding! I quickly realized that this was the most efficient way of traveling and relied on only biking and public transit as my main modes of transportation.

It is widely known that biking in Philadelphia is not safe, as countless cyclists have been killed from collisions with cars in Philadelphia alone. Going from that norm, where biking isn’t necessarily safe nor protected, to a society where biking is so safe that people don’t feel the need to wear helmets was a shock to me. Instead of relying on my car, as I had at home, I reframed my mind in the scope of a bike. I asked myself questions such as: “How many groceries can I fit in my basket?” or: “How long will it take me to bike somewhere if there are hills?” Biking everywhere gave me an appreciation for my journey to class everyday, as I was able to cycle through nature and be present, instead of listen to music in my car as I usually would on my commute in the city. I also ended up buying less groceries, and planned my meals only a night or two ahead. This coupled with the quality of food items, as I found the produce and bread that I purchased would go bad much quicker than I was used to, so I couldn’t buy items in bulk and plan many nights ahead. I really enjoyed cycling everywhere, and often preferred it to taking the bus just because of how relaxing it was to be able to bike through neighborhoods and enjoy the greenness of spring.

In addition to my own experiences, I also learned a lot about cultures from just speaking to my friends, as our conversations often blossomed from curiosity about differences to our own norms. For example, I might share an anecdote about school growing up, and I explain the circumstances around it, and another one of my friends might recognize a complete difference to what she was used to growing up. This is evident in my friend’s life in then Netherlands. Growing up, she went to school, and often took standardized tests. These tests ended up having great importance, as when she was 12, kids were separated based on how they performed on the tests. They were sent to different middle and high schools, depending on the job track and level of university they appeared to be on. Then, because she performed well and completed the 6 years of “high school”, she was automatically admitted to her technical university. This completely shocked me. I was never aware of this schooling system and was intrigued as to how they separated kids based on intelligence from an early age. After a discussion, I more so understood the system and was impressed by how the system worked. It was completely different to the schooling system I grew up with, but I gave me a different perspective of how people gained their education, as the way I know might not be the universal experience.

There are countless examples of how small differences to what I am used to in the US, which made me adjust the way I thought about things. Instead of just assuming that what I knew to be true about how things worked, I realized that there are many different ways of doing something as small as a daily task, or as large as running a county and designing its educational system. Before studying abroad, all that I knew was from growing up in Maryland and going to university in Philadelphia. Obviously, there are regional differences within the US, but there are more stark differences to the norms of other countries. It is interesting to learn the many different and successful ways of doing something, and it reminds me that there is a much larger world outside my direct interactions and life at Drexel.