Your guide to student life in Copenhagen

This article is from 2013. Check out all our more recent guides to student life here.

Student life is about much more than just school work. This list of top 10 student tips and tricks will help you find the best way to unwind, get involved, and make the most of your university experience!

10) Discount movies at Cinemateket (the Danish Film Institute)

Are you studying Film or Cinema, or do you simply enjoy watching a good film? Then we recommend getting a membership to the DFI Cinemateket. The discounted student membership is DKK 145 for one year, and gives you certain free showings every month, as well as regular discounts on their films, merchandise, and cafe.

Also at Cinemeteket: Want to experience the Danish film scene (check out Seven Danish films you need to see ), but haven’t quite mastered the language? Every second Sunday Cinemateket offers Danish on a Sunday, where you get the opportunity to enjoy a Danish movie with English subtitles, along with a traditional Danish pastries.

9) Visit the Student House (Studenterhuset)

The preferred hangout for students is, of course,The Student House (Studenterhuset). This is because of its great location in the city center, and its great combination of a relaxed cafe in the day and a lively bar at night. It also has a constant program of events and activities, many of which are in English. They also offer discounts to UCPH students.

8) Read books, drink coffee

Other student hangouts places worth trying are Paludan cafe, right across from the international office, and a frequent student study-spot. It doubles as a book store, so if you love being surrounded by books, this is your place.

Café Retro is a volunteer run café, where international students tend to often congregate. The original is on Knabrostræde 26, in central Copenhagen, and you can find the Nørrebro counterpart on Jægersborggade 14. Both cafés have events, listed on their webpages. In Retro Nørrebro, you can practice your Danish on Tuesdays, and in the café Retro city center you can listen to live music from amateur singer-songwriters on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

7) Volunteer at ‘CPH volunteers’ organization

‘CPH volunteers’ is a non-profit organization that coordinates volunteers for a large number of social and artistic events such as Strøm music festival, Copenhagen Fashion Week, and Copenhagen Pride. If you like helping people, and want to take part in all of the different festivals happening in the city, you should get involved! It is a great way to meet other volunteers, and the organizers always make sure that you have fun.

The aforementioned café Retro and Student House, both tend to constantly need volunteers. Danish is usually not necessary, even if you happen to be working behind the bar. Details can be found on the cafés’ respective websites.

6) Start playing at the student orchestra

If you love playing classical music and you want to be the next Carl Nielsen, you must join the University of Copenhagen’s student orchestra, SymfUni. Every semester they are looking for new members and they have a great collaboration with Dresden University in Germany. Find out more about SynfUni here .

5) Join the Kubulus alumni network

Already thinking about your future? If you want to get an early start on connecting with professional life, then join Kubulus Alumni, the association for all students at and graduates from UCPH. Members are able to participate in career networking activities like career fairs and professional talks, as well as fun social events between students and alumni. Find out more information, or sign up here.

4) Join a session of ‘Cocktails and science’

Admit it, there’s an inner science-nerd in all of us. The Niels Bohr Institute organizes free scientific talks in a really relaxed environment for people with all different educational backgrounds. And what environment is more relaxed than Christiania? Almost every week, people gather at Christiania’s cinema (Byens lys) for a fancy cocktail, a good conference, and free live music. You can read more about the events, and see the transmissions from the planet X31 here.

3) Spend your Fridays at the ‘Friday bar’

We all deserve a break after a week of hard studies. The best place to let out some post-academic steam? Every faculty at UCPH has its own Friday bar. That means that a space at your University’s campus is designed just for this purpose, where all the students gather for cheap alcohol, themed parties, and complete madness. You can start by visiting the famed friday bar at Life campus, A-vej or the recently renovated Faculty of Humanities’ bar, Café Mødestedet (The Meeting Place).

2) Be sporty

Want to stay in shape, but hate doing it alone? UCPH’s USG brings together students with similar athletic interests. It’s not just about the sports, being part of USG is also a truly social experience. USG offers a variety of sports clubs, like badminton, football, soccer, basketball, volleyball. You can even take a look at Denmark’s leading ruby club, CSR/Nanok Rubyklub, as they are also looking for new members.

Brave enough to try some crazy sporting activities? New semester, new habits! Beyond sports teams, USG has nearly every activity you can think of. Classes in burlesque, stripfitness, afroaerobic, and parkour are only one tiny preview of their selection. Check out our previous article and gallery for the USG burlesque class, here. They also offer dance classes and courses such as kayak, ice climbing and skiing. Don’t panic about the prices, you’ll get a good discount for being a student, and they have a good refund policy – if that stripfitness class just really isn’t for you. (hey, at least you tried, right?)

1) Join the Exchange Student Network society (ESN) in Copenhagen

Exploring Danish culture is great, but, what about all of the other cultures and nationalities mixed into University of Copenhagen’s culture? The UCPH and the ESN Copenhagen society is in charge of mixing the international student with the Danes. They meet several times per month and organize different actives, from movie nights and cake competitions to trips around Denmark. All of these events come cheap, and are suited to a student budget.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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