I have been in Copenhagen, Denmark for two weeks now, and the most accurate thing I have heard to sum up my experience was “You can take a picture from anywhere in Copenhagen, and it will look like a postcard.” Every building has an excuse to look at it, the architecture here is beautiful, interesting, and quaint. The colorful buildings perfectly contrast the cloudy weather, and ultimately, makes you forget all about it. There is always a sight to see in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is a very sustainable city with excellent infrastructure, everything down to how they do construction is interesting. There are numerous methods of public transportation including buses, S-trains, and Metros which makes intercity travel that much easier. They also have something called “Pant” with any plastic or canned drinks, and it allows you to return them to a machine for money that was built into the price of the drink. Furthermore, when people cannot collect the pant themselves, they leave it on top of a trash can instead of throwing it away, so someone who might actually need the pant can collect it for themselves, which is a really interesting way to help the less fortunate.
There are a few things here that take some getting used to. First would be the recycling system. Denmark has a very well maintained recycling system and sorts their trash into 10 different categories including: Metal, Cardboard, Paper, Plastic, etc. Another thing would be the school system. There are a lot of differences in the school system between Denmark and the US. Exams are graded on a 7-point scale and you can get scores of -3, 0, 2, 4, 7, 10, or 12. Classes can be semester long or quarter long. Quarter long classes go for 7 weeks of the semester but have twice as many classes. Exams are structured very differently and your entire grade is based on the final exam.
While a lot of those things seem concerning to a prospective tourist or student, there are some things here that I find rather comforting. A majority of people here speak English very well, I have yet to encounter someone who does not. Walking around the city and exploring new places or trying a random restaurant you come across is very easy and you can find places just by walking around.
Through this opportunity, I have been able to meet people from all over the world, and ask them about how things work where they are from, so not only am I getting to experience what life is like in Denmark, but from all over the world for a truly global perspective.