Denmark to Aspen
Ude godt, men hjemme bedst! (There’s no place like home)
Leaving home is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The feeling of saying goodbye to something, and knowing that when you come back, it may never be the same as when you left is the hardest part of leaving. People would change, previously familiar places would become unfamiliar but most importantly – you’d be a completely different person.
After 17 hours of traveling, I arrived in Aspen. I went from a busy city life to a laid-back town life, from sea level to 8,000 ft, from Danish to English.
Studying abroad is a challenge. Giving up the safe habits and patterns of your daily life, and going to a completely unknown place you may have never heard of, where people do things differently than I would ever have imagined is a huge challenge.
During this year’s International Education Week, which rolled in on November 12, an important annual report was released on global education trends, called “Open Doors”. This report stated, that exchange students in the United States is at its highest.
Aspen’s education system is like Denmark’s in many ways, but Aspen natives have so many more opportunities like Experimental Education, and trips to France and Spain with their language classes. In Denmark we have study tours depending on what line you choose to study in Gymnasium (Danish High School).
Experiencing a new culture and a new way of living is great. You get to be yourself and to have no one judging you, while you evolve as a person. In my opinion, Aspen is definitely one of the more european styled towns, so it felt like home from the beginning.
Had I not left Denmark, maybe I would never have discovered how the world works, and how different culture is in different parts of the world. Being fortunate enough to get to experience it, is truly a gift. From living in a country where the highest point is 561 ft., and where the Danes build a tower on top of it to make it appear bigger, to living in Aspen, where the elevation is 8,000 ft., and the mountains seemingly never ending, is truly a big change and a blessing.
As an exchange student, you get a ton of opportunities and all you have to do is say yes! You also form a very special bond with other exchange students as well as people in your host country, and you go home with worldwide connections that you can use for the rest of your life.
It’s definitely a challenge to be an exchange student, and to “give up” a year in your normal life. To pack your suitcase and leave family and friends behind, never knowing if they’re going to be there when you go back home, or if they’ve moved on with their life, and made new friends is a huge sacrifice and a huge risk to take. To be honest, it’s a terribly hard choice to make, but I strongly believe, that it’s going to be one of the greatest decisions that I’ll ever make. It’s not only a year in your life, it’s your life in a year.