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Student’s Name: Finbar Hurley
UL Course: International Business
Academic Year: 2016 / 2017
Semester: Autumn
Host University: Copenhagen Business School
Host University Code: DK KOBENHA05
Student experience
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I found my experience enjoyable but also very challenging in my host university CBS. I had just
come back from America for 3 months and I was off to CBS on Erasmus. I had no
accommodation sorted as there is an accommodation crisis in Copenhagen. I felt CBS didn’t help
facilitate with this issue and gave help in the form of unrealistic rental agreements that were
very far from the University. The first week I got to Copenhagen I stayed in a hostel with my
friend who was also on Erasmus. Here, we looked for accommodation every day. We were in
shock as to the high prices and lack of availability in Copenhagen. On the first week, the CBS
Erasmus coordinators organized a 6 day event of activities. If you wanted to avail of the week it
was 75 euro adding to the already high cost of living and settling in over there. Anyway I
proceeded to go to the events to try and meet new people and to settle in more. The first night
there was a comedy festival which was a good night and we really got to meet new people while
having a laugh, the second night was folk dancing which was also a fun experience where we
came to terms with Danish Culture. The third was a boat journey around the canals of
Copenhagen, the fourth night was the Buddy Dinner. Here I met my Danish buddy for the first
time his name was Alex and he was a local Masters student. Alex was a very nice guy who tried
to help me out as best as he could but there wasn’t much he could do to help me find
accommodation. I shared a couple of beers with Alex throughout the course of the semester
and he showed me some of the good local parts of the city. After the buddy dinner was the lake
party which was also a fun night. The fifth night was a movie night that my friends and I decided
to not go to. Instead we decided to see local parts of the city such as Nyavn and Paper Island.
The Saturday night was a formal dinner. Here, I made a few friends from Canada these became
my friends for the semester and I still keep in contact with them to this day. The local Language
in the college was Danish. However, the majority of people spoke English which made it easy to
communicate with others. The University subjects were also thought in English so all of the
students had high levels of English. I didn’t really have to brush up on my Danish as it wasn’t
really needed. I participated in the Rugby society in CBS and this was a lot of fun as I got to play
my local sport in a different country. I played in a couple of matches which were enjoyable. We
also had many enjoyable nights and I made quite a few friends from it. I liked it because I could
maintain my fitness and it was easy to get to training. I also played soccer with the masters in
finance and investments course. I did this because a fellow alumni was in this course and I also
lived with him. I would definitely recommend joining a club and society while on Erasmus. It is a
good way to meet new people and stay fit.
Institutional practices, support
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The CBS student support services are very poor. I don’t think anybody really works there. Any
time I would ring with an issue you would be pawned off to the next person who didn’t know
how to resolve the issue. They worked very few hours and overall I thought they were very poor
in facilitating Erasmus students. I went to Daglas Have on arrival where I registered for my
modules. One good thing about Copenhagen is the transport facilities. The metro and train
system is very good and you could access the college via the metro. Also, Copenhagen has a
great biking culture. There are practically more bikes than cars over there. You could travel
around all of Copenhagen on a bike and not be tired as the ground is so flat! The college itself
isn’t like UL as it is spread out. However if you have a bike however you are able to access all of
the building in 5 minutes from the main building Soljberg Plads.
In terms of the registration you are notified about all of the registration processes through your
emails in UL. It is essential that you keep your student email and password for Copenhagen as
they are used to login for the accommodation registration. In relation to accommodation I must
say it was one of the worst experiences I have had. It was very difficult to find a decent place to
live. I ended up having to pay 4000kr a month which is around 560 euro for a shared room with
no kitchen, sharing a bathroom with 16 other people. So I must say from the accommodation
front I had a bad experience. That isn’t to say that you will have one either. My advice would be
when you hear of the student accommodation being released to make sure to try your best to
be logged on ready to go for it as it is very hard to get. I would also say if you don’t get it on that
day, ring the place where you want to stay as one of my Canadian friends got a place to stay in
Katherine Kollegiet after the deadline because he rang them. Copenhagen is a very safe city in
my opinion the best places to live would be near fredericksberg as you would be close to the
college and the city. I lived in Noreport which I found to be a very safe place. Overall though I
found wherever you live in Copenhagen that it more than likely will be safe. So you shouldn’t
really have to worry about where you stay or places to go out in the city as the city is for the
most part very safe.
In terms of study, I couldn’t do the modules I had planned to do because most courses are in
high demand so make sure that you choose the module you want to do the first time around as
it is hard to change to a different module as most of the courses are full by then. In terms of
module choice I would highly recommend that you read the module description on the CBS site.
Make sure not to pick a course that is a follow on from a previous course. My friend and I made
this mistake and really struggled in the course Risk Management of Maratime studies and
Derivatives. We weren’t aware until sitting in the first lecture the difficulty of the course. It was
by far the most difficult module I have ever done and the main reason being was that we
weren’t in the previous modules and the lecturer presumed that everyone had done the
content. I found the lecturer very unhelpful and unapproachable for international students. So
my advice would be choose your modules wisely as the CBS standard is extremely high. Most of
the lectures are done in one big block, for example you may have Accounting from 10 till 1 and
then you don’t have accounting till the following week. There are no tutorials like UL so you
should attend the 3 hour block class for your module each week. I found this way of teaching
not as effective as the way modules are taught in UL. In CBS there is a major emphasis on using
your own initiative instead of teachers guiding you through the curriculum. As well, as this you
have very few hours and only have to pick four modules as they are worth 7.5 credits each. You
can also choose half semester modules so you can get a full module done by the middle of
October or March. In terms of exams, most of the exams are done on computer. However, there
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are a few exceptions such as Oral exams. I had an Oral exam in Management Accounting. The
oral exam was daunting but it ended up being my best result so as long as you know the
material it is designed to make sure you do well. I also had a 48 hour essay that was worth 100%
of my corporate governance module. This was 10 pages long and very demanding and stressful
but once you had it completed you were finished the module so it was good to get finished a full
module in two days. The Library isn’t as well equipped as the UL Library so I would advise you to
bring over copies and pens with you as it is very expensive. I would also definitely bring a
scientific calculator because they cost 70 euro in Copenhagen!
Cultural differences
There were a few cultural difference but not as many as you would think. The first
language of people was Danish. However the vast majority also spoke English so there
were no difficulties. Following, the lectures at CBS was easy as they were all through
English therefore there were no issues. There are a few problems when registering for a
CPR number in Copenhagen. For me the main issue was having a rental contract for
more than 3 months in order to access avail of this. Using your Passport is ok for the
registration. Two passport photos are enough for you to register.
My main advice would be the first thing that you do when you get settled is to buy a
bike. They are like 100 euro but you will not experience Danish culture until you are
riding around Copenhagen in a bike there is no better feeling. There are many nice
places to visit I would highly recommend going to Nyavn, Paper Island and the famous
Christiania. My friend and I also went to Porto vs Copenhagen in the Champions League
which was also a great experience. As well as this my friends and I went to these Ice
baths in Sweden and that was also a fantastic experience. Although there are great
places to go and see the cost of living is very high I estimate that it cost me 150 euro a
week to survive so if you are going make sure you have money saved.
Hints & Tips
My hints and tips for going to Copenhagen would be to embrace it really make the most
of the place because you are there for such a short time frame. My first piece of advice
would be to definitely go to the events at the start of the semester as this is where you
make all your friends. After this, it becomes harder to do so as people settle into groups.
My final piece of advice would be to the societies even if you are not a member of one
in UL they are a great way to get to meet people and they can show you some of the
local places to go.
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