Student of physics: »I was surprised by the high level from day one«

When I was a kid, I had an Albert Einstein obsession — he was the only other person I knew of who was also called Albert. I liked space, I thought it was exciting to read children’s books about it. Later on, I got into watching documentaries with Stephen Hawking.

I’ve always been interested in physics, but in upper secondary school I really didn’t think I could do it. I failed my 9th grade oral exam in maths — you can include that! If I can learn it, anyone can.

After upper secondary school, I took a few gap years, went to [Danish traditional, ed.] folk high school and travelled, and after a few years I felt like studying. I still thought physics was fascinating, so I decided to brush up on the subjects and apply.

Challenging curriculum

When I started, I was surprised by how high the academic level was already in the first semester. I thought it would be easier. The teaching style also surprised me a bit — I expected a more chalk-and-blackboard vibe, where you could stand up there with your friends and mull things over. But that’s not how it is.

In lectures, we only take notes by hand — writing formulas on a computer just takes too long. We only use laptops for coding.

You really don’t need to stress out about fitting in — everyone’s really kind

Some subjects are obviously more exciting than others. Mechanics didn’t really do it for me, for instance, but we had some really good lecturers. The course is about how objects move and what forces act on them, and the instructor brought in physical objects to demonstrate how the formulas work in real life.

In the thermodynamics course, we had a lecturer who asked us to answer questions during the lecture by holding up coloured cards. He’d then ask students with different colours why they chose that answer and explain why it was right or wrong. That was really cool, because I often gave wrong answers — and yet I could still follow the teaching and understand it afterwards.

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Black holes and childhood curiosity

I’m still just as excited about physics as when I started. For our first-year project, I wrote about some newly discovered black holes, and we got to calculate the mass of one. It was so cool to work on something I used to wonder about as a kid, and it brought back that childhood curiosity.

The social side of the programme is really great — everyone is super welcoming and kind. You can talk to anyone and ask anyone for help. It’s the total opposite of being competitive — people genuinely support each other.

In the very first week, we were split into intro groups and told to talk to each other, and I felt like everyone answered me really briefly. I thought it was because they didn’t want to talk to me. But it turned out they were all just incredibly shy. So then I got shy too. But you just have to keep trying — eventually they’ll open up and start talking to you.

The intro trip was also a great way to get to know people. All those horror stories I’d heard beforehand didn’t apply at all. It was just relaxed and friendly. The tutors even did a mini-revue where they poked fun at themselves, and it gave us something to laugh at together. It was really sweet of them — and it was the first time I was introduced to physics humour, which probably seems a bit dry to outsiders.

You really don’t need to stress out about fitting in — everyone’s really kind. But if I had one piece of advice for new students: If your course includes even a bit of maths, brush up on your maths techniques before starting. Being able to do quick calculations is a huge advantage, especially during exams, because it gives you time to check your answers. I wish I’d done that.

This article was first written in Danish and published on 19 August 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.