Typically, first-year students at Middlebury start one of two ways: either they arrive in September and spend a week or so at orientation, meeting their classmates, being mentored by their orientation leaders, and finding their way around campus; or a smaller group begins as Febs, as 105 students did last month, arriving in February and starting with the spring semester, having spent the fall working, traveling, or just taking a break before starting college.
The fall of 2023, however, was hardly typical. The College, faced with a housing shortage because of unusually high enrollment, gave 30 first-year students a third option—to start their Middlebury careers a continent away in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“Middlebury was flexible with COVID,” explains Michelle McCauley, professor of psychology and interim executive vice president and provost. “We had allowed students to take semesters off during the pandemic—which eventually led us to being crunched for space because for several years, fewer students than normal had graduated. We also had several incoming classes with higher-than-normal enrollments. We were heading into fall with a space issue. So, we got creative.”
Middlebury reached out to DIS-Study Abroad in Scandinavia, a longtime partner. In addition to sending dozens of Middlebury students, mostly juniors, to study abroad with DIS’s Copenhagen and Stockholm programs each year, this past summer Middlebury had also sent 10 undergraduate and graduate students to Copenhagen, together with McCauley, Professor of Economics Julia Berazneva, and DIS Copenhagen faculty, to explore Scandinavian approaches to conflict transformation.
“We have a trusted relationship with DIS,” says McCauley. “So, we worked with them to take their strengths as a leader in global education and wrap them around a Middlebury experience.”
Dozens of students applied for the 30 places, and enrollment filled up quickly.
“We were giddy about every application that came in, and we knew it would be hard to narrow it down,” said Barbara Hofer, professor of psychology and, together with Tim Case, a Middlebury faculty resident director. They were joined for the semester in Copenhagen by associate director of international programs and off-campus study Stacey Thebodo, who played a key role in planning the program. “The students the three of us selected were from all around the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and from Mexico, China, Macedonia, Greece, Uruguay, and Georgia, including six United World Colleges students who had already spent two years abroad. Others had never left the country and were eager for this unusual opportunity. All the participants beautifully articulated their commitment to an intercultural experience.”
Those students included Devan Perez ’27 from Idaho, who had taken a gap year between being accepted to Middlebury and getting started as a student. When he received the email offering him the opportunity to apply for the Copenhagen semester, he was immediately intrigued. His reaction was, “This could be a great way to start college. … Why not?” During his first few weeks in Copenhagen, he took to the local custom of swimming in the canals—Copenhagen has the cleanest harbor in the world. “It’s mighty cold,” he said, “but I’m used to swimming in glacial water, so it’s been great.”
When I caught up with a group of Middlebury first-years in mid-September, they enthused about starting their college experience in a walkable city, where libraries, classes, the gym, movies, and cafés were all accessible by foot or bike. They lived in a university residence with kitchens and were learning how to manage their food allowances and cook with local ingredients.
While their physical location and experience were quite different from a typical Middlebury first semester, their academic structure was similar.
They were all enrolled in a Middlebury first-year seminar, either Hofer’s Cultural Psychology of Happiness or Case’s Climate Crisis and Photography of Place: Copenhagen. (Hofer and Case, both of whom had taught at DIS previously, also taught the students during winter term and will be the students’ advisors until they declare their majors.) They also took Cultural Diversity and Integration, Danish Language and Culture, and either Gender and Sexuality in Scandinavia or Urban Ecology, all taught by DIS faculty. The students also experienced components of a DIS semester abroad, including field studies every Wednesday, Danish visiting hosts, and two study tours—a week in Sicily and a weekend trip to the island of Samsø—plus other activities planned especially for them.
Despite the enthusiasm for their Copenhagen experience, all the students were eager to set foot on Middlebury’s campus in February. After all, they’d applied and been accepted to Middlebury in Vermont.
As they considered the spring semester, several of the students imagined what their lives would be like. “I’m most looking forward to outdoor activities, being in nature, skiing, climbing. … Here in Denmark it’s a bit flat,” noted Victoria Perez Hidalgo ’27.
Devan Perez was excited to start taking language classes. Despite his quick proficiency learning Danish, “I want to explore more options,” he said. Isa Infosino ’27 from San Francisco was anticipating being in a small town. “I’m looking forward to not living in a city,” she said. “I applied Early Decision to Middlebury because I wanted to experience living in a rural area.”
Toward the end of the fall semester, just like the rest of the first-year students at Middlebury, the Copenhagen students met with their advisors and chose their spring classes. On registration day, “within a few minutes they all had their classes, and they could see themselves at Middlebury suddenly,” said Hofer.
With the Copenhagen students now at Middlebury and integrating into campus life, the College can reflect. “We want as many students as possible to have a global experience,” says McCauley. “This past semester certainly allowed some of our students to get a first Middlebury international experience; it’s not necessarily their last.”
Hofer agrees. “When you look at Middlebury’s website, it’s all about a global education. That’s our guiding mission; half of our students intend to do something international—this kind of program is at the heart of what Middlebury is.”
“It all went too fast,” Thebodo concludes. “It’s been wonderful. What a remarkable start to college.”
Caroline Crawford is senior writer at Middlebury. In fall 2023, her daughter, Liz Crawford ’25, studied abroad with DIS Copenhagen.
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