Erasmus students adopt Danish drinking habits

Erasmus life in Copenhagen is a social whirl of parties, cheap beer at Studenterhuset and, well, more parties.

This is the stereotype of international students that the University Post set out to test, with a small, unscientific, survey on University of Copenhagen Erasmus students’ drinking habits.

No big surprises here.

International students do indeed adjust rapidly to the relaxed Danish attitude to alcohol. On average, the international students in our survey drink 11.8 alcohol units a week.

See the article Stop before five, say health experts here.

No parental control

A report by Statistics Denmark on the consumption of alcohol in Denmark in 2008 shows that Danes between 21 and 30 years drink 8.9 alcohol units a week, while the amount for students is 10.2 alcohol units.

Studies show that Denmark’s young generation drink more and more often than their youngsters in the rest of Europe. Internationals coming to Denmark live up to these statistics.

»I drink much more alcohol in Denmark than in Spain. It is because I have more free time here and I am not under control of my parents. All my friends here do it, and with alcohol I enjoy the night even more,« Gabriel López explains.

Part of Erasmus life

The male students in the survey drink more than the girls, but common to them all is that most drink more during their stay here than they typically do at home.

»In Spain I don’t drink as much. I hang out with friends back home without drinking alcohol, but here I drink when I am with my friends here. It is just a part of Erasmus life,« says Spanish Daniel Martin, aged 20.

A friend of Daniel’s, Charlotte Derudet from France, agrees with him. It depends on who you hang out with. If they drink, you drink:

»I only drink, when I go out. But I just go out more often here than back home. Here I party almost every weekend,« says Charlotte Derudet.

uni-avisen@adm.ku.dk