Careers in Copenhagen: My internship experience through DIS

The entrepreneurship practicum at DIS offers a unique dual-faceted experience. One of its most exciting aspects is the guaranteed summer internship placement with a local startup in Copenhagen. This matching process begins with a survey where you update Professor Kristian Knudsen about your major, skills, job interests, and background to ensure a beneficial placement at this stage in your career. For many students, including my friends, this served as their first internship — a notoriously difficult step for undergrads. The practicum made this process straightforward.

Now, every startup we were paired with was wildly different, but our experiences working with them did follow a few of the same general themes. Firstly, Danish working culture and the environment that surrounds it really promotes health and balance in a way that most American businesses do not. There was an emphasis on our lives as students, as young people, and as travelers alongside the view of us as interns.

There were no late-night work emails, no projects with poorly communicated deadlines. The entire practicum experience was very organized and very considerate to our experiences here in the city. Secondly, my classmates and I were really placed in positions to get to know our companies well. We all spent time outside of direct work with our colleagues and bosses and were able to create strong connections to them and the work we did together.

Thirdly, the majority of my peers were given offers to continue working for the startups they were placed with. Switching to remote work, most everyone has been onboarded with the hopes of maintaining a longer period of collaboration. This opportunity is not only valuable from the perspective of an internship, but more so from the perspective of an international connection. It leaves a lot more doors open for us to potentially come back and work here, leaving the city of Copenhagen a far more accessible place in each of our minds.

Lastly, the way in which each of us were treated as interns was different from any experience I, or my classmates have had in the U.S. There was a great deal of trust within the internships, where most of us spearheaded large projects, were given complete leeway and freedom with new concepts, and were never made to feel inexperienced or low on the company food chain. There is a large emphasis on the “we” in Scandinavian countries, and that “we” creates not only this shared community, but also a shared trust and shared responsibility.

In my personal experience, I was fortunate to be placed in a creative role as a watch photographer for Orlo, a local affordable luxury watch company managed by Professor Kristian. This opportunity allowed me to blend my creative passions with professional experience. Previously, I had engaged in creative activities through clubs at the University of Minnesota, but this was my first chance to pursue a creative aspect of my life professionally.

Working for my startup was not just a job but an immersive experience that enriched my summer. My roommates, Sarah and Hayden, were also placed in the same internship, which let us bring our already great roommate relationship into a professional one. Sarah and I worked closely on various photography projects, conducting photo shoots, scouting locations, and building a home studio using DIS materials. The creative freedom and support from the company empowered us to explore our ideas fully, making the experience both professionally enriching and honestly just very fun.

The trust and responsibility placed in us brought a sense of purpose and excitement to our roles. The experience felt more like a collaborative creative endeavor than a traditional internship. Running around the city with friends, styling them for shoots, and directing their poses created such an exciting work environment for us. This combination of professional development and personal enjoyment made it the perfect summer job. The practicum significantly influenced my decision to pursue the Innovation and Entrepreneurship session at DIS. Initially, I expected to gain course credits and experience through an internship, but the benefits extended far beyond these tangible outcomes.

Through the practicum, I developed close connections with peers, colleagues, and mentors, enhancing my overall experience. The internship through DIS provided invaluable work experience, particularly in a creative field I am passionate about, and the international aspect of the program opened doors for all of us to pursue future opportunities in Copenhagen and beyond. The possibility of continuing to work remotely for almost every student’s startup, allowing us to maintain connections with the company, adds a huge layer of value. These relationships make Copenhagen feel like a more accessible place, increasing the likelihood of returning in the future. In this way, and for these reasons, I am so grateful to have been a part of the practicum and will hopefully be able to spend a whole other summer working in the city I have loved so very much.