Denmark: Claudia Delgado (Our global classroom)

In the United States, I am used to a certain rigidity in the school day. I am used to taking notes meticulously, raising my hand before speaking, and living through my planner that is jam-packed with boxes waiting anxiously to be checked. Here in Copenhagen, I have not used my planner once. I have not raised my hand in class, instead encouraged to blurt out what pops into my mind as a way to facilitate creative discourse. I take notes by sketching, framing words into pictures and annotations. It was astounding to me at first–and highly uncomfortable–this notion of experiential learning.

To be quite honest, a part of myself still scoffs when asked to reflect on a day’s lectures through the creation of a mindmap. But then I start talking with my groupmates (everything here is collaborative) and my mind transforms into a flame that craves the kindling ideas of my peers. I start thinking in ways I have never thought before, unlocking new synaptic pathways in my neurons, slowly giving into a sense of childlike creativity that I have not experienced for as long as I can remember. It is joyful learning. It has stirred something within me that I am incredibly grateful to have alive once again.

 

Hometown: La Crosse, Wisconsin

Major: Global Health & Zoology

Program: DIS Copenhagen