My experience as a full-time student in Aalborg

Firstly, I need to mention that I'm a full-time Masters student here but I arrived only 9 months ago, so I believe my impression is relevant also for exchange students.

Even though, Aalborg is Denmark's fourth biggest city, it is still small compared to other metropolies or to the city that I'm coming from. My main fear was that it would be very boring and that I woudn't be able to find anything to do here. Additionally, for the whole first semester all the international students were complaining about the weather and never-ending rainng. We simply missed the sun, warmth, and we started to understand why Scandinavian people get depressed.

But when May begun and sun started to shine, the wind became our friend, and we could fully enjoy hanging out in parks or walking through city center. While in winter it seems to be dead and only place full of people is Jomfru Ane Gade in the evenings, during sunshine everyone goes out to get some tan. Cafes are full, people sit in every square by the fjord or on the grass (some people sunbath even in front of offices, which was weird for me at the beginning), and parks are getting filled with youngsters drinking beers.

The nice thing for students is that you can drink alcohol in public places, so you don't need to spend money on overpriced drinks in pubs. About Danish prices - yes, everything is very expensive and probably costs more than in your home country. You probably would choose cooking or fast food over eating out and reconsider buying a beer in the city center.

On the bright side, I think Aalborg is very pretty, it doesn't have any skyscrapers and it's full of green, peaceful areas. Sometimes you can even feel like at countryside, without even leaving the city. It also has good location and connection to other places, you can go for a daytrip to Legoland, Aarhus or to the seaside. There are buses, trains, and small airport. But even in Aalborg you can find nice street art, a few museums or other activities, especially during summer. When the weather is good you can just chill at Fjordpark with your friends, playing volleyball or jumping into the water.

If you're more of a party animal, there's a street full of clubs and pubs, and most of them don't have any admission fees, so you can just walk from one to another for the whole night. And most importantly, Karneval is a must if you want to have fun.

Probably it is not the most exciting city and cannot be compared to any European capital but I think it's nice and very welcoming to internationals, as basically every Dane speaks English (they just look antisocial, if you ask someone to help you, they definitely would)