Erasmus Experience in Odense, Denmark by Aitor

Why did you choose to go to Odense, Denmark?

When I was told to choose my destination for Erasmus+, they allowed us to choose a maximum of 7 countries. My first choice among others was Denmark! In the podium there also were Finland and Sweden. I'm not sure why I chose Denmark, perhaps because it's located in the north part of Europe. It is well-known that Scandinavian education system is pretty good and the way of doing things tend to be very reasonable, healthy and equal to everyone.

Apart from that, I also made a little research for each country I was interested in. You never know how the university is going to be, nor the culture, nor the atmosphere around the city. Denmark has always been an unknown country for me. The country itself is not very big, they speak perfect English, the winter might not be that hard because it is not located so far in the North. Therefore, I thought that Denmark would be an excellent place to spend my first semester. I also wanted to go to a non-English mother tongue country because otherwise it would be way easier to live there. I prefer going to a country where the official language is different than English.

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

The scholarship depends on your home country, on your home university and the place where you are actually living (region etc. ). It depends on many things that it would be a mess to start talking about it. Nevertheless, in my case, I must say that thanks to the Spain government I received a generous scholarship which covered mainly every rent for every month.

Anyone seeking to come to Odense, Denmark should know that the rent (depending on the location, whether it contains modern technology... ) fluctuate between 1900DKK (254€) and 3800DKK (400€) more or less. You should expect to pay all that per month in case you want to stay in Odense. That's a fix cost so to say, on the other hand you have the living costs such as: food & drinks, general shopping, bike rental, house stuff... Let's say that in general Odense is not a cheap place to live, but you can get by if you are given a scholarship at least.

What is the student lifestyle like in Odense?

There is something I noticed the very first time I was partying in Odense. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the music, the atmosphere, the dancing and so on. There were not absolutely any fighting moments or disgusting situations. You could feel like being in a very friendly environment. No harm at all, everything joyful. All this has to do with the culture, of course. Every country has its own culture and everyone is different. Odense is a very secure, funny and entertaining place to hang out with friends.

However, being an student doesn't imply always go partying. You, as a student, have your responsibilities. I really liked having the opportunity in the university (SDU, Odense) to go to a 24/7 room as much as I wanted. You have free access to the university thanks to a student card. This is great because you will always have a silent place to study, no matter what time the library closes or how much noise your flatmates make.

The university itself (SDU), as one foreign student told me, is built for functionality not for the beauty. That's for sure. It's not the most wonderful university, not from outside not from inside. It's not cozy at all. Instead it's quite big and it takes at least a couple of minutes if you want to go from one side to the other side at normal pace. You can even see students with some kind of skate going through the main aisle. The janitors, actually, use some kind of motorized mini-trolley or something like that, to go from one point to another.

Being a student also means going for a walk or having some warm chocolate or coffee at the bars in downtown. There are really very cozy and comfortable places to go in Odense downtown to enjoy a nice hamburger or the typical Danish Christmas dinner and dessert.

I also enjoyed the cinemas. The movies are completely in original version with Danish subtitles. For me it was perfect because I really enjoy watching movies in English. You end up not realizing about the subtitles, you enjoy the movie at the same level. It is very expensive, though.

Would you recommend the city and the University of Odense to other students?

In short: yes! And the long answer would be: It depends on how much time you will spend in Odense. It depends also if your are an international exchange student or you just go there to do some volunteers course or something like that. It also depends whether you are a "town-person" or a "city-person", which one do you like most? Where do you feel more comfortable: in a city where you have all the amenities and services or in a rather small city/town?

Odense has everything a city needs. The bike lanes are perfectly built and you will always find a place to ride your bike. Let's remember the reader that Odense is the third largest city in Denmark. The cafeterias, restaurants and shops are there for you.

What is the food like?

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure. I ate a lot of times at the university's self-service restaurant and I must say that in general, the food was acceptable. You could choose between warm and cold food. There are a lot of salads and healthy food too. Sweets and desserts will also be there for you. Everything seemed tasty for me and I really enjoyed some bottle of juice you can find in the refrigerator, very healthy and tasty!

With respect downtown, I found a place (Monday Coffee Shop) that serves really good hamburgers! I love it.

As I said before, in Christmas time, you will be able to find the Danish typical Christmas dinner as well as the sweet typical Danish dessert.

Danes like to drink beer in general.

Another fact that surprised me was that you, as a student, are free to eat in class (even with the plate, fork and knife) during class. It surprising how much freedom they allow in regards to that fact. You can take the plate out of the restaurant and bring it with you anywhere. After that there exist some "drop-off" points where you can leave the plate, forks, and knives after you finish eating.

Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Odense?

The university in Odense (SDU) guaranteed me accommodation from the beginning. It was enough for me to fill in some form and send it back to the Accommodation Office. There is one thing to remark here: the university guarantee you one accommodation place. I mean, if you refuse or you reject the offer they give you at some point in time (before moving to Odense), then you will have to find your own place.

If you go to SDU university, and you are given an accommodation place, you will end up in one of many places they have scattered all over Odense. Apart from classical students dorms, there are also normal houses (which have been repaired and modified for students), flats, buildings (where you share the same floor with local people), chalet, and so on. I cannot point out just one place, there are plenty of them and you never know where you are going to be. Every place has its own advantages and flaws. Sometimes you will have to live with more than 8 or 10 people but at the same time near SDU. Some other times you could end up living in a 4 people shared flat but 7km away from university. If you are not lucky at all you will end up at 11Km away from the university in a cozy place living with two other guys. Or maybe as near as 100m distance from the university in the most expensive dorm in Odense where you will have modern TVs and very large and contemporary rooms. You never know because you cannot choose. Birkeparken is where I live and I can write a dissertation about this place: with bad and good things and even with average things too, haha.

It all depends in your personality too. I don't know.

Nevertheless, which ever way, you will need a bike for sure. To go partying you will need a bike, to go downtown also a bike, to go to the university again a bike... The bike is the common medium of transport. You can also get some special bus card with fair discounts for students.

How much does it cost to live in Odense?

Well, I think I've already mentioned this before.

With respect the accommodation I will just copy and paste what I wrote before:

The rent could fluctuate between 1900DKK (254€) and 3800DKK (400€) more or less. You should expect to pay all that per month in case you want to stay in Odense. Of course I'm sure you might find some other magnificent place for a very cheap price. But that wouldn't be normal/average.

Now, in regards with living costs. You should bear in mind the following costs:

• Food & drinks: 200DKK (or less) per week or week and a half (depending, of course, on how much you cook, whether you like expensive food and the variety of the food).
• Meals: 200DKK (or less) per week, if you expect to eat at the university on average 3 days or 4 days per week. Things such a normal meal, a couple of coffees, smoothies, snacks.
• Bike: Now, here it depends whether you buy it or you rent it. In my case, I was just going to stay in Odense one semester, so for me it was more than enough to rent a bike for fairly price. Normally what students tend to do is buying a bike. This is the average thing to do. I paid 500DKK for my bike rental and 500DKK for the deposit just in case (which I'm supposed to get it back at the end of the semester). In case you want to buy it, you should expect to spend from 500DKK to 800DKK more or less.
• Parties: From 40 to 60 DKK for the entrance. And from 20 to 40 DKK for the wardrobe. If you are student and you are lucky, with the student card or even with the ESN card you can get reasonable discounts. Sometimes the entrance is free, but very rarely.

I don't know if I left something behind...

Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available at the University?

At the beginning you will be completely lost with the language. If you have never been in contact with Scandinavian language, it will sound very weird. Anyway, once you stay in Odense for a couple of months, there are some words which will be easy to grasp. There are some daily basis expressions you will learn in case you are interested in that, of course.

Yes, in the university, there were free courses available for anyone interested in them. I didn't enroll myself in that because I put all my workload in balance and at the end I considered that I wouldn't be able to tackle with all my tasks.

Some local people are very keen on English, whereas there are also some of them that are not very good at it. In general Danes tend to be bilingual.

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to Odense from your city?

Traveling from Bilbao to Odense is a very interesting trip...

Bilbao is not a very important city so to say, hence, the flight ticket might be more expensive than you thought.

I think there are two airports in Denmark, but the one you should go is Copenhagen airport (a. k. a Københavns Lufthavn or Kastrup). It's the standard place.

In my case, what I had to do is to take two flights in order to go to CPH. That is, there are not direct flights to CPH from Bilbao. So you will likely stop in Brussels, Germany or some country like these.

I'd recommend buying the flight ticket online and compare the prices as much as you can. Make sure you print everything and you do the check in online 24h before the flight so that you can choose your seats. Don't expect to spend more than 7 hours to complete all your flight itinerary taking into account the waiting time in airports, flight time and so on. Everything should go smoothly.

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in Odense?

The Friday bar is the name of the bar which is located at the university. Of course, there is no more atmosphere rather than this bar in that location. Because you are actually in the campus.

In downtown you will have a lot of options to choose from: LA Tequila bar, Australian bar, Ryan's, Old Irish pub, Boogies, The Gap, The Gym and so on and so forth. In case you want something more like chill-out, I'd suggest going to Monday Coffee Shop, StudentHouse (Studenterhus) and Cinemax cinema.

And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Odense?

I didn't use to go to restaurants in Odense because it seemed to be quite expensive. But as I mentioned before, at Monday Coffee Shop you will enjoy a very tasty hamburger.

I also went to a Chinese shop where you could order instantaneously Chinese food in a paper-box container.

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

I visited a lot Copenhagen in the autum break I had during my semester. So I'd be able to tell more things about CPH than Odense.

There are three cinema theaters in Odense, there is also a Train museum next to Central Station. You can also visit the museum built for the H. C. Andersen writer as well as his house where he used to live before moving to CPH.

There are also some open-air monuments you can see in the streets.

Is there any other advice that you could give to students going to Odense in the future?

Be aware of all mandatory forms, papers and requisites that Danish government and SDU demand. You should be aware of all deadlines and all official documents they require. To have a CPR number (Danish ID card) is obligatory for all students staying in Denmark for at least 3 months.

Danish people are very polite and friendly but don't trust anyone and don't lower your guard. Sometimes the Danish culture could be a double-edge sword.

Have a nice trip!