Danmarks Tekniske Universit, Denmark

Having spent less than a week in Denmark, it’s impossible to properly describe Danmarks Tekniske Universit (DTU) or give justice to Copenhagen as the diverse city that it is. I’m sure I’ll look back at this post in a month or so with plenty of asterixis and caveats to add.

I’ll start with the basics; DTU is a technical university with a heavy focus on Engineering and offers a much wider array of engineering specialities than UTS – think transport engineering, resource engineering, photonics engineering, DTU has a huge selection of subjects. As someone who has no electives in their course, this was essentially the determining factor for picking DTU. I want to stress that it is still feasible to do an exchange with no electives. I thought for a while that it would be too difficult but it’s just a matter of spending lots of time trawling through the partner uni’s course base!

DTU is located in the gorgeous, leafy fringe suburb of Copenhagen of Lyngby (still working on the pronunciation, it’s something like “Lung-bu” and said in a deep, gruff voice). I’ve spent 90% of my time in and around campus which conveniently has its own supermarket and running trail that skirts the forest.

I’m living at William Demant College which is right on campus at DTU. I’m the only international student living in this all Danish college which gives me a unique opportunity to become immersed in Danish culture but also make friends with local students. While this sounds cliché, it can be notoriously difficult to solidify a friendship with local students if not living together or making chocolate buns together as we did on my first night. The college culture centres around the communal kitchen, with a ‘dinner club’ planned for every Wednesday and Sunday nights where we each take turns cooking for the rest of the kitchen. Given how competitive securing accommodation can be, I feel incredibly lucky to even have a room, let alone one in such a beautiful spot.

The introduction week has been a blast. The 400 exchange students were split into groups of 15ish students with a local buddy. The week has been crammed full of everything you need to know about the campus, Danish cultural do’s and don’t, pub crawls, a huge tour of Copenhagen, afternoon beers and a ‘pot luck’ group brunch! As a group we’re already throwing around ideas for weekends away – Sweden, Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Norway, Lapland are all on the table.

Please reach out if you have any questions at all, I’d be more than happy to help! Stephanie.C.Palmer@student.uts.edu.au

Stephanie Palmer
Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Danmarks Tekniske Universit (DTU)
Denmark

For more information about the UTS Global Exchange program please visit: www.global-exchange.uts.edu.au