Advice for Parents, whose Children Study Abroad

How to help your children adapt quickly and successfully to the new environment in Denmark?
What advice and guidance should they receive before leaving, but also after they have started their studies at university?

Dear Parents,

Your child’s decision to study in Denmark can be a rewarding and exciting opportunity for a better life and a successful professional career. As with most parents, such a decision is likely to cause you certain anxiety and uncertainty. We know that the questions you are interested in are many and will only increase with time. However, rest assured that you are making the right choice. The education in Denmark will make your child much more responsible, independent and confident. The opportunities they will receive thanks to the experience gained in Denmark would not be the same in your home country. Denmark is well-equpped with several airports and low-cost flights make both holidays in your country and visits to Denmark easily achievable. Let’s summarize some of the advantages:

• Studying in Denmark will help your son / daughter grow personally and academically.
• After completing their education, the students return more responsible, more independent and better prepared for the life’s challenges.
• They gain confidence and intellectual maturity, which distinguishes them from others of their age.
• They acquire skills that they could not develop in the universities at home.
• They improve their ability to communicate in a multicultural environment.
• They increase their ability to communicate in a foreign language.
• They establish contacts with people from different countries.

What is our part and how will we help you?

Choosing Dan-Bul Study as a consultant, you will get not only professionals with the graduate experience from Denmark, but also friends, who you can always count on in difficult times. We are the only agency that will ALWAYS answer inquiries and find answers to the problems that your child will face on the spot in Denmark. Whether you need our help only after 3 days or after 3 long years, we will respond when you are in trouble!

At the very beginning, you can expect from us a true interest in your child’s ambition and valuable help in choosing the right educational program meeting their wishes. We will work with your child to identify their strengths and help them reach their full potential! In our face you will find a personal mentor, who will set the bar high and prepare your child for the reality in Denmark – both in terms of education and everyday life. It is important for us that the future students face some of the problems while they are still in their home country, which will allow them to resolve them more easily once they arrive in Denmark. The education in Denmark might be very different from what your home contry offers – both at school and at university.

How important is your support?

Your role is extremely important! The step towards an education outside your home country requires a great deal of courage, ambition and desire for success! It is important to support your children in pursuit of their dreams, even if you are not fully convinced that they are capable of overcoming all obstacles and succeeding. Very often they do the impossible  when you demonstrate your belief in their abilities and emphasize on how anything is possible if you work tirelessly and pursue your goals! Over the years we have been impressed on a multiple occasions by the perseverance, the desire, the ambitions and achievements of the students who worked with us! What they really expect is only support and encouragement from you in the most difficult moments, when they will question themselves if they can really cope with the tasks! Do not betray them! Do not give up on them! Encourage them and make them feel independent – let them cook their favorite food on their own, make them do the laundry or iron their shirts! This will be of great benefit once in Denmark. We will take care of everything else.

Advice to the students when they are already abroad.

The social networks, skype, zoom, viber, etc. will certainly make the communication with your child possible at any time of the day. Like most parents, we know that you will worry about whether your son or daughter will get used to the new environment. You need to know that your worries can easily be passed on to your child. Be careful with the advice you give! Instead, try to have a discussion and work together to determine the best response strategies for any particular situation. It is important to help them solve their problems on their own, giving them a chance to analyze the situation and come to the right solution on their own. In this way you will inspire them, they will feel confident in themselves, which is the ultimate goal!

Is the student’s life expensive in Denmark?

You probably know very well that Denmark is one of the countries with the highest standard of living not only in Europe but in the world! What you don’t know, however, is that every student in Denmark can support themselves completely on a part-time basis, working for only 12 hours a week! Of course, you should be able to fund your child for the first few months until they get their documents and find a student job. To speed up this process, we have valuable advice for you. We strongly recommend to every student to enroll in Danish language lessons while still in their home counry! (link Danish language courses) “Do you speak Danish?”, will be the first question they will be asked wherever they look for a job in Denmark. Knowing even bits and bobs in Danish can be a huge advantage over all other international students, who will also be actively looking for a job at the very beginning! Every employer would like their staff to understand and speak Danish. It is the same in your country – every employer in expects that you can speak the local language! And if you don’t take those words seriously, just watch the following video with Bianca.

Prepare a sample monthly budget

In general, budget management is a difficult task for a lot of students in Denmark and abroad.  Unfortunately, very often this leads to difficult times, especially for the parents. It is important to talk to your child about this and create a sample monthly budget to serve as an example, especially during the first few months. Always include at least 10% as an unforeseen expense, but here we would rather pay attention to the extent to which your child is aware of the financial situation in which your whole family is.

Focus on the cooking skills

Do not think that your child will eat the same way as they were used to. Especially in the first semester he/she will have a lot of tests at the university as well as a lot other events to take care of.  The cooking is often limited to the golden 3 – frozen pizza, spaghetti and sandwiches…

The lack of time, but mostly of skills and established habits in the kitchen, create a stereotype that is difficult to overcome. Help your child get the nutrients they need to supply the energy to perform well at the university on a daily basis. The brain challenge is immense, which means the right nutrients for the brain should be there to perform on the required level! Fish, almonds, fruits and vegetables stimulate the brain and its functions. It is a good idea for your children to know different recipes with these products, but also with everything else they like to consume. Another plus of the ability to cook is that it creates a great opportunity for social contacts with other students, who will most likely stick to pizza and french fries. Our advice to you is to cook with your child in the last months before they go abroad.

Do not stereotype that the student years are the best ones

The education abroad is not easy at all, especially in the beginning. The students face a new world, language, people, way of life… Your child should be aware that not everything will go smooth. They should expect to deal with different problems on a daily basis. It is very likely that they might find themselves in an unforeseen situations upon arrival. The education in Denmark can be totally different from what they might have been used to in school. This difference will certainly lead to some problems at the university. It is very important for the student to be aware of all these circumstances in order to have a realistic idea of ​​their future life. Otherwise, the likelihood of being disappointed with their choice increases a lot. It is your role as parents to remind them, in good times, that there will be many adversities they will have to deal with. After all, this is how the life goes – today we are incredibly happy, tomorrow we face another great test that builds us as individuals!

Is it safe in Denmark?

Denmark is one of the safest countries in the world. Crime is almost extinct here, especially if we exclude the capital Copenhagen, where the police still have some work to do. Danes love the peace, tranquility and really value their leisure and privacy. The confirmation will come when you visit your child in Denmark. Many parents share with us that they are fascinated by the lifestyle in Denmark – the obeying of rules, order, cleanliness, the smiling people on the streets and those riding bikes. Road aggression is another factor that is absent in Denmark. Drivers are extremely careful and calm, which is largely due to the fact that they ride a bike themselves. However, the expensive fines, non-corrupt police officers and severe penalties for repeated offenses contribute to the Danish paradise.

Healthcare

Be sure to apply for an European health card so that your child can use free health services until they receive their Danish documents. It is a good idea to carry analgesics, antibiotics, ear drops and other medicines, as they will not be able to get some medicines in Denmark without a prescription! Do not worry, you will receive detailed manuals as well as deailed lists not only with imporant medicines, but also with everything your child should get before departure from us!

Culture Shock

The culture shock is a psychological transition (it can also be physical – such as changes in the body weight) caused by a change in the usual way of life and / or cultural environment. It is most often observed during a long stay away from home. The effects of the culture shock could be very individual. They depend on the nature of the situation in which the particular person is, on the experiences and changes in their character and behavior, on the tasks for which they are responsible, on the adaptive, social and communicative abilities they possess, etc. Familiarize yourself with the stages of the culture shock your child will go through to help them cope with the challenges they will inevitably face!

What will the other parents share with you?

When a student contact us, we make a free consultation with them and their parents. The education abroad is a serious step, everything happens in the span of a few months and the unanswered questions suddenly increase a lot. To make you calmer, we have created our own Facebook group, where parents like you share their experiences and help each other! Our goal is your children to be satisfied and happy with the choices they have made for their future. At the same time, you should know that they live in a safe place! See and hear what Vesela and Zlati will share with you.