This summer, eight students from UNC Greensboro’s Lloyd International Honors College traded their familiar surroundings for the cobblestone streets of Copenhagen, Denmark, as part of the college’s first honors-exclusive study abroad trip. Led by Assistant Director of Honors Student Experience and Global Engagement Gia Born and Assistant Director of Honors Admissions and Scholarships Matthew Reese, the program gave students a 10-day immersion in European culture.
“Watching the students transform from feeling uneasy about learning the city to navigating it by themselves a few days later was so incredible,” Born says.
The LIHC in Copenhagen program is a faculty-led, short-term study abroad experience designed to make global learning more attainable for UNCG honors students. Over 10 days in Denmark and Sweden, students studied cosmopolitanism and global citizenship through cultural excursions, guided learning, and firsthand exploration.
UNCG Honors College Makes Study Abroad More Affordable
Study abroad is one of the high-impact experiences that attracts students to the Lloyd International Honors College. To make global learning more accessible, LIHC created a short-term, faculty-led summer program for students whose academic schedules, work obligations, or financial circumstances may make a semester- or yearlong program difficult.
LIHC invested in LIHC in Copenhagen: Cosmopolitanism and Global Citizenship, covering student participation in excursions such as the Danish Royal Opera, a traditional Danish pastry class, guided castle tours, and a day trip to Malmö, Sweden. Through these experiences, students explored what it means to be a global citizen while engaging directly with life and culture in Copenhagen.
“As a Reynolds Scholar, the scholarship covered my costs for the Copenhagen program,” says Danielle Titus, a junior kinesiology major who plans to attend medical school.
Among the highlights she most enjoyed were a visit to Tivoli Gardens, one of the world’s oldest amusement parks, and a boat tour through the city’s harbor. Titus was also struck by Copenhagen’s cycling culture.
“I had never seen so many bicycles all at once,” she says, adding that residents often chose an hourlong bicycle commute instead of a 20-minute drive.
The experience deepened her understanding of cosmopolitanism. “It really has shaped how I see other cities and cultures,” she says. “Copenhagen has a five-stream recycling system that makes our system in America look sad.”
How a Short-Term Study Abroad Program Expands Access
For students balancing classes, jobs, and other responsibilities, the 10-day format made an international experience more attainable.
Robisha Aftab, who is pursuing a double major in philosophy and political science with a minor in business, says the short-term abroad format was exactly what made the experience possible.
“The fact that it was just 10 days that I had to take off from work was the only reason I was able to go,” she says. “And I think that was a sentiment we all shared because studying a whole semester abroad is a big commitment.”
Copenhagen also shifted her perspective on urban life. Having spent much of her childhood in New York City, she was struck by how welcoming Copenhagen felt to people of all ages.
“I had the perception that cities are for the young, but the older people were so comfortable there, and it was a perfect blend of generations,” she says. “It made me feel like Copenhagen as a city is definitely doing something right.”
As a commuter student in the disciplinary honors program, Aftab says she formed deep bonds with the other students on the trip.
“By going to Copenhagen, I feel more connected to the Honors College as a whole,” she says. “The faculty-led aspect gave us the ideal opportunity to learn about the city with what felt like private guides who planned the best trip for us. All we really had to worry about was making the most of the experiences.”
Aftab summed up the trip’s impact on both her global perspective and her sense of belonging at UNCG: “Ten out of 10. I would recommend it, and I would go again.”
Written by Alice Manning Touchette
Photography courtesy of Gia Born
