Copenhagen Castle!

Author: Zoe Lawless | Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders | Semester: Summer 2023

My name is Zoe Lawless and this past summer I studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. My time spent in Denmark was a trip of a lifetime and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to go. I studied abroad with an external program called DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia. This program had options for students to take classes in Copenhagen, Denmark or Stockholm, Sweden. DIS had so many interesting classes that they offered in the summer and I ended up picking two that had a lot in common with my major and interests here at the University of Arkansas. My major is Communication Sciences and Disorders and my minor is Human Development and Family Sciences. Eventually I want to be a pediatric speech-language pathologist. DIS offered two classes called Children with Special Needs and Early Childhood: Nordic Education and Parenting that sparked my interest because of my passion about working with kids. These two classes and my experience living abroad really changed the way I think about working with children in the best way possible.

I chose to do DIS because of the variety of class options they had and because it gave me the opportunity to explore multiple Scandinavian countries which really excited me! My classes that I took abroad and professors that taught them were amazing. The classes were very different from the classes I have taken at the University of Arkansas. The biggest difference is that we had many field studies (field trips) where we went to different places in the city to see and learn first hand what our class was about. For example, I visited a school for children with special needs and a preschool center in Denmark. While both classes were amazing, my favorite class was Early Childhood: Nordic Education and Parenting where we got to compare the early childhood education systems of the United States to different Scandinavian countries. The specific age group I want to work with as a speech pathologist is birth to three years old which is classified as early childhood and is why this class was so interesting to me. During the class we took a trip to Helsinki, Finland which is the number one country in the world for early childhood education. It was so inspiring to see the standards and ideas that are in play in Scandinavian preschool settings that are not here in the United States. For example, risky play is a huge idea that is supported in early childhood settings in Scandinavia. I visited a preschool in Denmark where I saw a child climb completely on top of a plastic play structure and stand on top of it. The teachers that were present never told him to get off and only observed from afar trusting him and how he felt in that moment. I have learned a lot about risky play in my classes at the University of Arkansas, but I now know that true risky play would never be possible here because there is a big fear of children getting hurt or childcare centers getting sued. This class helped me widen my view of different early childhood education settings and know that there is no one right way to educate children. These classes have also advanced my career goals and made me want to work with the early childhood age group much more.

I also had several great experiences outside of class. I went on two weekend trips with my friends I made abroad to Berlin, Germany and Vienna, Austria. In Berlin I was able to visit the Berlin wall and Checkpoint Charlie. I learned about the cold war in school, but it was an entirely different experience to be able to see where everything happened in person. In Vienna I went to the Belvedere Palace and saw the painting The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. My parents had a print of The Kiss up in my childhood home so it was special to be able to see it in person. It felt surreal the entire time I was abroad to see and do things I had only heard of or seen in movies, but I am so grateful for the experience and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat

I would recommend DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia to anyone and everyone. The program has so many different classes that anyone could find something that interested them. I also loved Copenhagen so much and would give anything to go back and would love for others to experience the city like I did. One thing that I wish I would have known beforehand is that it is pretty chilly in Copenhagen even in the summertime. I knew it could get really cold and dark in the winter, but I was not prepared for how cold it was when I arrived in May. During the first week I had to go out and buy myself a jacket because I had not packed one big enough. Something else I wish I would have known is that it is okay not to know how to do everything right when you first get to your new city. One of the best parts of studying abroad is learning how to live completely differently than you have before. I miss my study abroad program everyday and I am so happy that I pushed myself to take a leap and spend my summer in Scandinavia