A spring abroad
By Anastasia Dallai | September 21, 2026
Emily Geelall is currently a senior studying sociology, here at UAlbany. Her family is from
Guyana, but she was born and raised here. During her junior year, Geelall decided to spend the spring 2026 semester studying abroad in Denmark.
Geelall has never really been far from her family. When going to Denmark, it was the first time she truly lived somewhere far away where she could not see them whenever she wanted. The reason that she went abroad wasn't to get away from her family, but to experience new things through a program called DIS Study Abroad.
She mentions that her sister had studied abroad in Denmark through the same program in 2019, and her student advisor was also someone that studied in Denmark. She trusted those around her to help her make an important decision to go away from home.
“That really helped solidify my choice of choosing to go to Denmark,” Geelall explained.
She planned on chasing that same happy experience that her sister and advisor found in
Denmark, and within her research she found out that Denmark was the second-happiest country in the world. What drew her attention was living a different way of life in Denmark compared to here in America.
“A life-changing experience,” Geelall said.
Geelall was able to change her life for the better by experiencing many new things such as
taking a plane for the first time by herself and living on her own for the first time. She explained how she knew her life would be so different in Denmark. Being on her own also forced her to make new friends and develop kills she could use in her future.
“I've always been so close to my friends and my family,” Geelall said, “I had to feel confident in myself that I would be able to make friends and adapt and just be able to live a good life."
The life she had over there was something she would never forget. The aspects she dealt with
here felt so much better than being in her hometown. She highlighted how everything was
efficient, effective, and much healthier. Denmark made her feel safe and welcomed. She was
making friends that she would continue to keep in touch with even after coming back home and joining clubs such as the student of color association and dance club.
She talked about the difference between Denmark's public transportation and New York’s public transportation as to why she felt so safe. Denmark has a lot more options for their residents, and people are described as a lot kinder to tourists, according to Geelall.
However, she still had that familiarity of school; she talked about how most of her classes tied to her major. Denmark even made that stand out for Geelall.
“My main class was a marketing class,” Geelall stated. “Which I absolutely loved."
The education there was different for her, in a good way. She explained that they prefer hands-on learning, so they had her explore the area even more by taking field trips with her classes. For her marketing class, she visited companies and would learn how their brand got started and how things worked behind closed doors.
She talked about how happy the place made her and how she barely had any room to feel homesick. She didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity, and aimed to soak up every last second of her time living there.
“I was able to adapt to living in Denmark pretty easily, I would say, because it was a very exciting experience for me,” she said.
She highlighted how the way of life in Denmark felt a lot better, which made it even more exciting. She loved being able to get away from her life in America for a bit and understand herself a lot more.
“The food that I ate felt fresher, the groceries were cheaper, public transportation was amazing,” Geelall said. “Bike culture was huge. You could bike anywhere, Denmark was made for biking,”
Danish culture was kind to Geelall, she recalled. She learned that with a fresh start somewhere new, the world is big and that everywhere has a different way of life for people to explore.
“Being abroad is a great opportunity to live a different way of life and learn things about
yourself,” Geelall said.
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