Grace Campbell – Education Abroad

For my STEP Signature Project I took a class with DIS, a third-party study abroad program. The class that I took, the Neuroscience of Fear, was based in Copenhagen, Denmark with an included week tour to Munich, Germany. This class discussed the physiology of fear, modern fear research, and the implications of fear neuroscience.

I thought that I had a pretty good cultural understanding of the world prior to this study abroad experience, even though I had never left the country before, and so I was not expecting a major change in my worldview during this trip. I was still expecting the Danish and German cultures to feel foreign to me however, since I had never experienced an organic European culture firsthand. I was very surprised after arriving then to discover that instead of these cultures feeling very distant and removed from what I was used to, they just felt overwhelmingly normal. This discovery was the biggest surprise to me while abroad. I was fully prepared to deal with some culture shock upon my arrival and ended up being more shocked when I felt the exact opposite.

After living abroad for almost an entire month, I came to realize just how secluded the United States is from the vast amount of countries in this world. I realized that I was expecting a bigger culture shock than I was actually presented with because of how distant Europe and the other continents feel to me when I am at home in the US. I was prepared to feel lost and out of place in Denmark and Germany and instead felt an overwhelming sense of similarity. Different languages are spoken and day to day activities are done in different ways, but it was really eye opening to see how the basic behavior of everyone was exactly the same in every country that I visited.

One specific activity that helped me come to this conclusion was observing how the locals who were about my age behaved. I’m not sure what I was expecting them to be like, but it was really comforting and also really humorous at times to see that they do the exact same things that I do with my friends back home- hanging out at bars and restaurants, laying outside in the nice weather, blasting music and playing games. I felt much less out of place while abroad when I was around this behavior that I was so used to.

Another specific activity that showed me the normalcy of these European cultures was the cultural information that I learned by taking this class abroad. The professors that I had were both Danish and very willing to answer any questions that we had about Denmark and the Danes. The in-depth conversations that we had about Denmark’s government, holidays, food, media, etc taught me how all of these differences  were only surface level. The day-to-day activities between the US and Denmark differed, and therefore so did a lot of opinions, but our societies as a whole were majorly similar.

Another finding that I had about this normalcy abroad was observing the rowdiness that also takes place in these countries. It is a very heavily stated stereotype that Americans are loud, obnoxious, and generally excessive. While the Danish people are quite reserved, it was refreshing to see them at night drinking in cafes and letting loose. In Munich, the locals’ behavior was even more similar to what I’m used to in the US. The local Germans reminded me a lot of the people who I see all of the time at home. It was a nice reminder that there are loud people everywhere and that it’s not something that Americans should necessarily feel shameful of.

Overall, this study abroad taught me things about the world that I could not have learned from reading. It is 100% different experiencing something firsthand and I know that I learn and retain information so much better that way. The feeling of normalcy that I gained from this study abroad experience has made me feel so much more connected to the world as a whole. The realness of all of these other countries has expanded for me and I feel more confident in myself personally as a global citizen.

Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark

Munich, Germany