University of Wisconsin–Madison

Denmark: Hannah Dolinar

Program: DIS: Study Abroad in Scandinavia Copenhagen, Semester

Hannah’s Major: Neurobiology

Hannah smiles in front of a row of apple trees on a sunny day.
Here’s a picture of my taken while apple picking near my homestay in Copenhagen.

What challenges or barriers did you face as you prepared to go abroad and/or during your time abroad? How did you work through them?

Before going abroad, I was nervous to be away from home for so long. To combat this, I kept in touch with my parents on a relatively regular basis, and luckily my host country reminded me a lot of home so that was nice. While abroad, I faced some cultural challenges with my host family. Danish people are very blunt and to the point, so sometimes when my host parents talked to me about issues they had, it came off in a way that upset me. To work through this, I talked with my friends and my parents to make myself feel better. I relied a lot on my support system throughout my time abroad and I’m really grateful that they gave me space to let me grow as a person, but they were also there when I needed them most.

Describe your internship, research, or fieldwork and how the experience helped advance your career or studies.

My research experience from the semester was very fun. I worked all semester on a project with two other girls in my class. We researched how OCD tendencies impact students’ consciousness. I think this research experience will advance my future studies of the brain because it gave me a different perspective on how consciousness can impact personal experience.

A castle with a square tower and a circular tower with a domed roof, as well as a tree next to it, are perfectly reflected in the still waters of a lake.
Here’s a picture of Fredericksborg Castle in Hillerød, Denmark. This was one of my favorite sites to visit in my host country.

What did you learn about yourself or the world because of your experience?

I learned that I am much stronger than I thought I was. I already knew that I was independent and capable of doing hard things, but the experiences I had throughout the semester really proved that to me. I think my mindset also changed while abroad because I learned to take things as they come and judge others less for things they cannot control. Maybe that was because of the culture I was in or maybe that was just internal processing.