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Student life

Review: Scandis Boligerne

At this dormitory, you can choose yourself how much social interaction you want to have. Our review of one of the smaller and lesser-known dormitories

Whenever I am asked what student housing I live in, saying ”Scandis Boligerne” results in confusion.

And surely, having no ‘kollegium’ (dorm) in its name and housing only about 100 residents, this rather humble dorm is not very well known.

Thus, without pausing, I usually hurry to ask if they know Hørhus Kollegiet, or maybe Hørbrækkerhuset, our closest neighbors, and with whom we even share a wonderful garden.

The surroundings

Scandis Boligerne is located about 15 minutes of public transportation from Rådhuspladsen and pretty much everything you need is found in the area.

SEE THE FULL ‘DORMS DISCLOSED’ UNIVERSITY POST SERIES: Reviews by student residents of dorms and residence halls in Copenhagen

A grocery shop, a pizzeria, and a (very) local pub just on the other side of the parking lot, and if you are willing to walk for five more minutes, Amagerbrogade and Amager Center is within reach, offering a variety of shopping and dining possibilities.

All residents are students and a short 10 minutes walk will take you to both ITU and KUA. And if your studies are located further away, if the weather is crappy, or if you are simply of the lazy kind, several buses and DR Byen Metro station is within immediate reach, enabling you to move around Copenhagen easily.

Beer and ice cream time

As a student, I know student life can be terribly stressful, and sometimes you just need to get away from city chaos and nurture your inner hippie.

Luckily, both enjoying the calm of nature and stress-relief are just a few minutes away, at Amager Fælled park.

Or you can relax with a beer and an ice-cream on Islands Brygge, or take a swim at Amager Beach easily. Both are located just a short bicycle trip away.

Inaccessibility

Although the neighbourhood may be described as somewhat questionable, let me assure you that living at Scandis you may feel perfectly safe.

This is because it is near to impossible to move around the dorm if not a resident. To enable ones electronic doorbell, a phone needs to be used, and I feel rather certain that I am not the only resident who never bought one, forcing my friends to call my mobile phone for me to come let them in.

And getting in isn’t the only problem. At Scandis, visitors can´t even leave without a tenant letting them out!

Apartment-like rooms and common facilities

This far from modern 70’s building has only been used as a dorm since the early 80’s. Up until then it was a hotel, and despite it being somewhat renovated when it was transformed into a dorm, traces of its old identity may still be found.

For example, the elevator gives you the choice between visiting the 1st – 4th floor, or the bar/cafeteria. The latter, however, died with the hotel.

Scandis now offers a mixture of single and double room apartments. All have private bathrooms, but the biggest difference is that while 2 bedroom apartments have their own kitchens, 1 bedroom tenants only have private kitchenettes, with additional access to a shared kitchen.

Large but dark

The unfurnished 1 bedroom apartments appear rather large compared to the ”typical” student rooms, and the space is utilized through a great solution of having a row of closets ‘hanging’ from the ceiling.

In fact, they appear more like tiny apartments than typical dorm rooms. But despite the walls being white, as the rooms are rectangular rather than square, with only one window, located in the far corner, they still appear rather dark.

And while half the tenants enjoy a nice green view of the garden, the other half are left gazing upon neighbouring apartment buildings.

Rent includes most amenities

Also, as is a problem with many dorms, the walls are not especially sound proof. Still, I have the impression that we are rather good at respecting each other and the general rules and curfews.

Additionally, Scandis offers further storage space in the basement, internet access, about 15 TV channels, and laundry, all of which are included in the rent.

To be assigned a room at Scandis, you have to be a student, resulting in people generally living here for only a limited amount of time.

Being social, or being private

With my 4 and a half years, I am currently the one having stayed the longest on my floor. The majority of the residents are Danish, spread out on all sorts of studies, with age and gender varying accordingly.

How much people tend to socialize varies from floor to floor, but in general, I have the impression that Scandis is among the less social dorms. A big part of this, I believe, is that the kitchenettes make use of the shared kitchen optional, with most tenants choosing to prepare most of their meals inside their personal sphere.

I still think though that this is one of the strengths of this dorm; here you have the possibility to isolate, or socialize, as much (or as little) as you prefer.

Parties and other social happenings

If you are among the more social outgoing residents, the best places to meet like-minded people would be in the kitchen, the garden, or possibly in Café Coma (at Hørhus Kollegium).

For example, a movie-night club was recently initiated, where all residents are invited to watch a movie together in one of the shared kitchens.

Also, the kitchens offer a nice area for casually socializing and hanging out with your neighbours, or even having friends over.

Free access to Hørhus dormitory’s bar

Personally, I am a proud member of an amazing Disney knitting-club (yeah, that’s right!) which once a month-ish gets together in ”my” kitchen to watch Disney movies, knit, and eat pizza.

The shared garden area and its barbeque facilities are frequently used in the spring and summer time, making it a great scene for getting to know people from the two neighbouring dorms as well.

Further, living at Scandis enables you to also use Hørhus´ facilities, like their music room, gym, tennis court, and weekly bar ‘Café Coma’.

Tour de chambre

In addition to the occasional spontaneous getting together for beers or coffee, a few annual party-traditions are sustained. The major one is the annual ‘Tour des Cuisines’, in which we compete between the kitchens for who can throw the best party.

Dorms disclosed

There are loads of dormitories, kollegiums, and student residences in Copenhagen, yet most of the information available is in Danish.

Some are small, old houses with pretty gardens, others are giant concrete buildings with tiny windows.

In the Dorms Disclosed series, it is the residents themselves that review the dorms that they live in.

Here is an overview with links to all of the dormitory and student accommodation reviews we have published so far, written by the people who know them the best.

If you want to write an English-language review of your dorm write to uni-avis@adm.ku.dk with ‘Dorms Disclosed’ in the subject header.

The theme is announced some time in advance, and depending on how soon your kitchen signs up, it will have a sponsored amount of money with which to decorate the kitchen, come up with an activity, and buy a drink for each attending resident.

During the event, each kitchen hosts a party for about 45 minutes for the rest of the dorm, and at the end, we vote for the best one. This is a fun and great way to meet you neighbours, resulting in it being the best attended event of the year.

Summer festival with neighbours

Although Scandis does not have its own a bar as such, we do have a party-room which tenants may rent for hosting private parties. This room also sets the scene for the dorm’s ”julefrokost” (Christmas-party).

Further, Hørhus hosts an annual summer-festival as well as a football-party in which kitchens compete against each other. Both take place in the shared garden, and again, Scandis residents are welcome to participate.

So to conclude: Scandis might not be among the biggest or best known dorms, but it is a very pleasant place to live. Due to a great collaboration with our neighbouring dorms, we have access to a variety of facilities and social happenings, but at the same time, Scandis also allows for a bit of isolation and privacy. No matter what your preferences are, at Scandis you can be yourself.

READ ABOUT OTHER RESIDENCE HALLS AND DORMS HERE: Student housing reviews: Dorms and residences in Copenhagen

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