Emily DiFonzo, DIS: Study Abroad in Scandinavia Summer 2023
I had a lot of interaction with locals during my time abroad because of my housing assignment. I was placed in a Kollegium, which is essentially an apartment complex for young adults and students studying in a certain area, but all from different schools and backgrounds. I was in an apartment with 4 bedrooms. I had one American roommate in the same program as me who I shared a room with, and we were placed in an apartment where three locals lived permanently. I had one apartment-mate from Lithuania, one from Germany, and one from Denmark (where I was studying). All of them were the same age as us and were all studying locally.
I was so grateful to have local roommates and would recommend living with locals to any student studying abroad, no matter where you plan to study. I became very close with my roommates and also became close with their local friends. It was an amazing experience to have a network of European friends because I learned so much about the culture in Denmark and in other parts of Europe, and I genuinely felt at home in my new city. They showed me the local hot spots around the city and were the best tour guides! I also loved forming connections in my host city because it gave me the opportunity to visit friends in the future. I have actually already been back to Copenhagen since leaving and was able to see my roommates again, which was such a heartwarming experience!
While I loved how frequently I had the opportunity to interact with locals, being an American in Europe is an eye-opening experience. I studied all over Scandinavia, which is an area of Europe known for its extremely progressive and green society, whereas comparatively, America is not seen to succeed in either of those areas. I oftentimes felt embarrassed to be an American because of the stereotypes that exist about our culture and what it means to live in America. So many people asked me if I owned a gun, and even more people asked me how much I loved Donald Trump. National pride was a major topic of conversation, and even though every Danish home was decked out in Danish flags, it was humiliating to admit to liking any aspect of American culture. I found that while everyone was excited to meet Americans, everyone who had not visited America before had very stereotypical views of what it meant to be from the United States, and people were confused when I did not fit those stereotypes. This really made me aware of my own biases because I learned what it felt like to be stereotyped, which I fortunately have not really experienced at home. I learned to not take these experiences to heart but to use them as a learning experience and an opportunity to teach others that American culture is not as homogeneous as it seems from afar. In the end, it was exciting to have the opportunity to teach others about American culture, which was not something I really expected to do before studying abroad.
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