This is Ngoc Huynh, Class of ?23, and a Management-HRM Major with a Minor in Psychology. I am writing this about halfway through my Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark (DK). I am attending Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and taking 12 credit hours over here. I believe I have finally made it over the honeymoon period because I am finally experiencing some homesickness. I am not really missing my family?luckily, my mom calls me every other night, my sibling group chat is still going hard, and my friends are staying in contact. Because there is a 7-hour gap, my mom calls while she is picking up the kids (3:00 PM) while I am preparing for bed (10:00 PM). In general, I love telling everyone that I am keeping in contact with that ?I am in the future.? The one thing I am really missing is food. I miss my mom?s kitchen and the vastness of the American grocery store. I find it hilarious that Denmark?s grocery stores have aisles for ?Tex-Mex? (their idea of what Tex-Mex is) and Asian food. Everything else is pretty Danish. Sadly, this wiki link perfectly explains why the grocery and food options are the way they are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_cuisine. I only say ?sadly? because you should not really be able to fit a majority of one?s cultural food in 1 Wikipedia page. Other than that, I am still having fun.
A large factor in this is the fact that I have taken 2/4 of my exams! Honestly, the 2 examination periods were interesting. Because your grade at CBS depends on your exam grade, you do not get homework, projects, reports, or anything. You just have your lectures, readings, and supplement materials. Though that does give you more time, personally, I hate that. I hate that my entire semester is based on 1 thing. Luckily, I knew that before coming, but still. I would rather have 2-3 exams along with homework and participation grades than just 1 exam. I am not a gambler or an information regurgitator so that just made me a little sad. Anyways, I had a 72-hour take-home exam and an oral exam based on a written report. The take-home exam was honestly very reminiscent of a final project. I had all my notes, textbooks, videos, etc. to reference, so it was not too crazy. It was stressful, but not impossible. The oral exam, however, was different. This was literally an ?if-you-know-you-know? type of thing, so that was nerve-racking. Either way, for May Business School (I am not going to speak for Texas A&M overall), you just need a 4 (basically a D) for the credit to be transferable. HOWEVER, there is a weird gap. For some reason, for CBS, a 02 (basically an E) is the lowest passing grade, so if you get that, you are not eligible for their retake exam and that credit is not transferable. The only thing you can do is submit a grade complaint to make it lowered to a 00 and do the retake. But, per usual, retakes are usually more insane than the original, so try to avoid that?I know I am. It would also be annoying if your retake date is after the Exchange because that means you would have to be very conscious of the time and date since you will be taking it based on Denmark time in the United States. Also, CBS is very kind, so you have a whole portal dedicated to your exams.
(Literally, the exam portal. It is very easy to use, so don?t worry.)
On a lighter note, I have more time for myself. To celebrate my freedom, I went on a trip to Malm?, Sweden with my roommate (Tiffany) and her friends. Denmark and Sweden are so close to each other that it just takes 30 minutes to get there by train. Also, I would recommend going because it is very common for Danes to take trips there and it is less expensive than Copenhagen. All of this is within walking distance, so you do not have to deal with transportation other than going on the train to and back from Malmo. Overall, we all had a great time. Here is the itinerary; Tiffany literally found a blog and we based our trip on that:
- 09:25 Arrival
- 09:30 Breakfast: Lilla Kafferosteriet
- 10:30 St. Peter?s Church (Free)
- 11:00 City Hall (Free)
- 11:15 Form Design Museum (Free)
- 12:30 Moderna Museet Malm? (Free)
- 13:00 Disgusting Food Museum (160 SEK)
- 14:30 Lunch: Jensen’s B?fhus
- 15:45 City Library (Free)
- 16:45 Malm? Castle (20 SEK)
- 18:15 Turning Torso (Uhhh, you can only look at it and not enter. This is a residential area, but Free)
- 18:45 Skatepark (Free)
- 19:15 Dinner: Max Burger
- 20:30 Departure
We did not visit turning Torso and the Skatepark, but it is something that is possible. We got really tired and hungry after the Malm? Castle?which is not just a castle. It is essentially a museum with multiple exhibitions within a castle.
(Me on a train in Copenhagen Central Station/K?benhavn H waiting to depart.)
(Random place we found when we were walking on a bridge in Malm?, Sweden)
(Me in St. Peter?s Church in the children?s area.)
Anyways, by now, I only have about 2 months and 2 exams left of this Exchange. Time has gone by quickly, but it was kind of anticlimactic. I was expecting to be like Selena Gomez in her movie, Monte Carlo?somehow find a cute guy, fall in love, dramatically leave each other, and then unite. However, in all fairness, I have literally been trying to go for the past 2 years and I live humbly in comparison to my peers. Hopefully, I will be exploring more of Denmark in the next blog, so I am looking forward to that.