Big news!! I will be moving to Copenhagen (Denmark 😉) this month!

I will be moving to Copenhagen for two years to pursue a masters degree in African Studies!! The idea to go to Europe for grad school was first planted during my solo trip a couple years ago (also, I can’t believe it’s been two years since I went on that trip!)! A few people I met on the trip were Americans going to grad school in Europe for cheap and I was very intrigued. Fast forward to last summer and looking into schools which wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. It was hard to find an English speaking program that had a major that I qualified for (a lot required a science-y undergrad degree, I have a BA in global studies) and didn’t need letters of recommendations from past professors. The last point is a major reason it would have been hard to go to grad school in the US since I don’t keep in contact with any of my UCSB professors.

All this searching lead me to the University of Copenhagen in the Danish capital! I was contemplating if I should apply (applications were due in January) and I figured I might as well try and see what happens. As the procrastinator I am, I waited until the night before it was due to get everything together and of course it was more intensive than I thought. I had to include descriptions of every course I took at UCSB along with information on their grading scale. Thankfully the UCSB website had everything I was looking for, but it did take me a good chunk of time to look up every class and copy and paste the description into a word document. Whoops! I also had to write a one page paper about why I wanted to study African Studies, why I’m qualified and what I studied at undergrad. Luckily I had already done that part though! So I applied late one Sunday evening in early January and was told I’d hear back from the university in April/May. That seemed like a long time to wait!

I ended up applying to two programs – African Studies and Global Development. The Global Development was a stretch as it was a Masters in Science that I didn’t quite qualify for, but I went for it anyways since you could apply to as many programs as you wanted for the single application fee. I found out in early March that I did not get into the Global Development program which wasn’t a shock. And it wasn’t until early May that I found out I got into the African Studies program! Those two months of waiting were hard and I had convinced myself I wasn’t getting in. I was pretty excited but also nervous as this was a big decision I’d have to make. After pretty much a daily back and forth for a month (sorry!), I decided that I wanted to go and give it a try! Of course, this meant breaking my family’s hearts and quitting my job which I love so it was not an easy decision.

I know a Masters in African Studies is a little random, especially in Copenhagen, but I’m hoping some doors will be opened while I’m there and some jobs open up. Plus it’s a really great excuse to live in Europe for two years which has always been a dream of mine. And Copenhagen is pretty centrally located to be able to travel on weekend trips! I’ve already been looking up several places and can’t wait!

Since I’m going to be traveling more, I decided to take the plunge and buy my own domain! So you can follow along at alexiswanderlusting.com now 🙂