About Me
Hi:) My name is Maura! I am from Bristol, New Hampshire and I am a rising senior at the University of New Hampshire. I am a Business Administration: Marketing major with a Social Work minor. I am also heavily involved in a couple of student organizations on my campus. I am the Business Manager of the Slow Food UNH chapter and the President of the Baking Club. In my free time, I love reading, baking, playing volleyball, going to restaurants with friends, and playing games with friends and family.
Why Business and Social Work?
My career interests are in outreach, public relations, or creating programming for different populations. Specifically, I would love to work in outreach to vulnerable populations and support them in finding resources. I also think that creating programming for a community center or working with budgets for non-profit organizations would be very fulfilling. I’ve always been interested in social justice and when I was thinking of switching out of my original major (Information Technology), social work and business were my top contenders. I’ve always liked many things about business especially working with budgets, creating proposals, and all of the other paperwork. I also liked social work and how it expands your perspective and makes you put yourself in other people’s shoes. So I decided to incorporate both!
Why I Chose DIS
I chose DIS Copenhagen because I wanted to study abroad in Europe and I had several major considerations:
1. It had to be at least 8 weeks long to count for a world cultures requirement
2. I had to take a marketing elective
3. I didn’t want to go abroad during a semester because I want to continue my positions within my student clubs (Slow Food UNH and UNH Baking Club)
4. The program/country has to accommodate my dairy allergy (Eosinophilic Esophagitis, not lactose) easily
DIS also has the most appealing courses and easily satisfied my considerations. I will be taking a total of three courses: Digital Media in Marketing; Food, Taste, and Waste; and Sustainable Food: Production and Consumption. I like that there are study tours in the second and third session that have curated activities such as visiting food markets in Barcelona or visiting Slow Food Barcelona (I love learning more about the Slow Food movement!). I think these courses and activities support my career and personal interests really well. I am looking forward to eating my way through Europe and gaining Slow Food knowledge along the way!
What I’m Looking Forward To
I just arrived to Copenhagen this week and will be here for 10 weeks total. During my time here, I am excited to explore the food landscape, meet new people, and learn things that I can take back to my student organizations. I have already started trying the bakeries and local restaurants in the area. So far, I would definitely recommend Mr. Pho, which is near several of the housing sites and the classrooms. (More recommendations to come!) I have met a lot of others studying abroad within the DIS Copenhagen program, and can’t wait to meet more locals. My first session has started and I am learning more about digital marketing and will be able to take back knowledge about filming and marketing techniques to my education and to my student organizations.
I like the field studies in my courses as well. I think they will be fun and am looking forward to those small trips. The small field tours are usually activities that would be either difficult or expensive for me to do myself. For example, Digital Media in Marketing has a field study at a Virtual Reality place where we get to experience game VR, informational VR and they show us different applications, even in healthcare. My second session has a possible field study of upcycling of mash from beer production, and brewing is something I would love to learn more about.
The First Week in Copenhagen
On Monday morning, I arrived in Copenhagen and DIS brought me to my housing site. I have 14 roommates on my floor and we share 5 bathrooms and a kitchen. The room I have far exceeded my expectations because a triple (3 total roommates) in the US is very different than what my living situation is here. In the US, a triple is often a forced triple in a double room, but this is a room around the size of 3 US double dorm rooms.
After we arrived, we took a short tour with DIS around the area. The most important survival stores are a small grocery store nearby (Netto), a store to buy hygiene products (Normal), and a small knick knack kind of place that I was told is similar to a small IKEA (Flying Tiger). After the tour with DIS, I explored more of the city center with some of my apartment roommates. After my personal roommates arrived, we went to Netto and Normal and I picked up survival groceries and basic toiletries because I was too jet lagged to buy anything but sandwich materials and basic shower items.
It’s now Friday and I have bonded a lot with most of my roommates and we have made plans to explore different places this weekend. We watch movies together, have wine nights, and will be visiting Tivoli and having family dinner this weekend. Digital Media in Marketing is also going well. I have class 9-12pm every weekday, but it’s not overwhelming. There’s some reading and we have an exam and a group project due next week, but DIS has done a great job in judging how much students can handle. So far, I am having a great time here and I can’t wait to explore more of Copenhagen!