Arrival and Social Programmes

Copenhagen is a city of bikes and adventure
Copenhagen is a journey between tradition and modernity
Summer in Copenhagen is definitely worth considering when the city is Copenhagen where the streets are filled with sidewalk cafés and the midnight sky is never darker than a deep blue. You can walk the winding streets of the old city centre or see it from a canal boat. Visit the 175-year old amusement park Tivoli Gardens, the statues of the Little Mermaid and H.C. Andersen, the freetown of Christiania and Amalienborg - home to the royal family. Copenhagen is also a city of innovation, modern architecture and design. Experience prominent Danish designers, such as Georg Jensen, Hans J. Wegner, Finn Juhl and Arne Jacobsen. Start your visit at the city of Copenhagen's website. You may also find interesting things to see and do in this article from Copenhagen Business School's university newspaper WIRE.

Copenhagen boasts good work life balance and relaxed atmosphere
Copenhagen is a bustling city full of ambitious professionals and young families. Yet working long hours here is frowned upon. Just 2% of employees in Copenhagen work 40 hours a week or more, according to an OECD report, freeing them up to spend time with family, join organized sports, volunteer or participate in other community programmes. The cost to participate in those programmes, which range from laughter yoga in the park to basket weaving? Free. This helps encourage residents to get involved.

Their ability to balance work with quality time with friends and family not only keeps their stress levels down, it gives them a happiness boost. Studies show that people who focus on experiences versus things have higher levels of satisfaction long after the moment has passed.

Other things play into Copenhagen's relaxed atmosphere. Residents walk to restaurants and walk to get groceries. There are outdoor food markets with fresh produce and vegetables within a few blocks of most spots in the city.

Copenhagen is a city of bicycles
Men cycle to work in their slim-fit suits, and women don’t shy away from pairing a bike helmet with their sundresses and wedge heels. The city has around 390 kilometers of bike paths, which makes biking an easy and safe option. And people use them: Nearly half of commuters in Copenhagen travel to work or school by bike each day.

You can read more about the biking culture in Denmark and Copenhagen on the official website of Denmark

Supportive society in Copenhagen
Here’s one more stat that may make you want to start packing your bags for Denmark: 96% of residents in Copenhagen say they can count on someone if they are in need. This supportive society is just another reason Copenhagen earns a spot as one of the healthiest (and happiest) cities.

Read more about Copenhagen for summer schoolers in this article from CBS Wire - CBS's independent university newspaper.

Denmark is home to the happiest people in the world
Denmark: Happiest nation in the world (2016)
Denmark has taken the top spot as the happiest nation in the United Nation's World Happiness Report multiple times, latest in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Denmark came in first place as the happiest country in the world in the 2016 happiness report and one of the happiest places in Denmark must surely be Tivoli Gardens. One of the world's oldest amusement parks, Tivoli Gardens is open to throngs of native and foreign visitors. If a calmer Copenhagen is more your preference, visit the King's Garden at Rosenborg Castle, a popular spot for locals to picnic during the summertime.

So, why not travel to one of the happiest countries with an open mind and a loving heart, and pick up on that Danish spirit of "hygge," which is sometimes translated too simply as the Danish need for "cosiness." It's really a more complex sense of intimacy, community and contentment that generally happens with friends and family.

What is Denmark also famous for?

Did you know…

• Denmark is the oldest Monarchy in the world
• The little mermaid statue is located in Copenhagen
• The Vikings originated from Denmark (well Scandinavia to be fair)

Danish companies

• Maersk (shipping, oil, etc.)
• Carlsberg (brewery)
• LEGO (toys)
• Novo Nordisk (pharmaceutical)
• NOMA (4 times awarded world's best restaurant by 'The World's 50 Best Restaurants')
• Vestas (wind turbines)
• Bang & Olufsen - B&O (manufacture of audio systems and television sets)
• BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group (architecture)
• Arla Foods (producer of dairy products)

Famous people (contemporary)

• Michael Laudrup, (former football player; Juventus, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Ajax, etc.)
• Nicolai Coster Waldau (actor)
• Mads Mikkelsen (actor)
• Anders Fogh Rasmussen (former Secretary General of NATO)
• Lars Von Trier (film director)
• Lars Ulrich (drummer in Metallica)
• Caroline Wozniacki (tennis player and former World’s number 1)
• Helena Christensen (supermodel)
• Thomas Bjørn (golfer)
• Susanne Bier (film director)
• Tom Kristensen (race car driver)
• Viggo Mortensen (actor “Lord of the Rings”, etc.)
• Peter Schmeichel (former football player (Goalkeeper) for Manchester United)
• Bjarke Ingels (architect, known for buildings like; VM Houses, The Mountain, ARC - Amager Resource Center, LEGO House, etc.)
• Rene Redzepi (chef and co-founder of NOMA)

Famous people (historical)

• Hans Christian Andersen (fairy tale writer)
• Søren Kierkegaard (philosopher and the father of existentialism).
• Niels Bohr (physicist and Nobel Prize winner)
• H.C Ørsted (he discovered aluminium)
• Tycho Brahe (astronomer)
• Karen Blixen (author of “Out of Africa” and better know under her pen-name Isak Dinesen)
• Piet Hein (mathematician, inventor, designer, author, and poet)
• Georg Jensen (Silversmith)
• Arne Jacobesen (architect and designer, known for chairs like the Drop, the Egg and the Swan, and for the SAS Royal Hotel, where the aforementioned chairs are designed for)
• Henning Larsen (architect, known for the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry in Riyadh and also for the Dalgas Have campus of CBS)
• Jørn Utzon (architect and known for the Sydney Opera House)

Products

• Danish pastry called “Wienerbrød” or directly translated into English “Vienna Bread”
• Dairy products
• Interior design (furniture)
• Smørrebrød - open faced sandwich
• The New Danish Cuisine (a component of the New Nordic Cuisine)