Did you participate in Denmark Today or did you receive any other kind of help to get settled in Aarhus?
Yes, I participated in Denmark today and I had a mentor from Aarhus University who showed me around when I arrived.

How did you experience your first month here?
First month was DK Today, which meant going to language class in the morning and some kind of activity in the afternoon – it was a pretty tight program and therefore kind of a lot to digest in the beginning. But the good thing was you met a lot of people right from the start and I stayed in touch with a lot of them until they (or I) left, with some of them I am still in regular contact. So that was definitely good.

The whole cpr-number issue was kind of annoying, cause without it you can’t do anything – meaning no bank account, no library cards, nothing. I was pretty lucky, but I know a lot of people who had a lot of trouble with that and for example didn’t get their cpr-number until a month later and only after a series of requests, people at the municipality refused to talk to them in English and they therefore didn’t know what to do and stuff like that.

How and where did you find accommodation?
The International Secretariat found the place.

How would you characterise the Danish? Has it been easy for you to meet local Danes?
Hmm… They are very friendly in general, but they keep a distance (physically as well as emotionally). And they strictly comply with the rules. It is very hard to actually get to know them, because the friendliness usually stays at a superficial level. Also, I think that if I hadn’t been in International Studies but attended regular exchange-student-courses, I wouldn’t have had that much contact with Danes (as I can see from other exchange students, which a lot of the time stayed among themselves).

I think that if you live in student residences with a lot of Danes – as you spend quite some time there – it is easier to get through to them and hang out with them, but of course that depends on the individual personality.

Is there something/somewhere that you would recommend newcomers to experience?
• Friday bar!!! That really is a nice occasion to see the Danes at their best!!
• There is also the international theatre down at the harbour where you can get free tickets with a non-Danish passport – and everything is in English.
• Anette’s sandwich, delicious!
• Uni-Bar, of course!
• And that fabulous cocktail bar down at Aaboulevarden…what was the name again – Herr Bartels?
• For a cheap brunch there is Globen down by the river, and they have delicious bagels, too. And around Jægergårdsgade there are a lot of nice cafés.
• And a general thing is Moesgaard beach (strand), which is really nice any time of the year to hang out or go for a walk or whatever.
• And I would recommend going to Bazaar Vest at least once!
• And ‘Danmarks største fredagsbar’ (the ‘biggest Friday bar in Denmark’) – that was hilarious.
• Lots of international students go to Social Club for the free beer, I think.