My first semester - and something I learned the hard way

To me, the first semester at AAU was quite hectic, as the learning pace was fast – or faster than what I was used to.

Generally, you have to read a lot of research papers and a few books. On the flipside, they are state of the art in their areas, so they are interesting reads.

In the first 2 semesters of the master’s program, the modules are related to each other, so I would not advise skipping course content as the concepts and theories of modules sometimes overlap and are needed for understanding of further courses (I did not follow my own advice unfortunately, so I need to revise some courses).

 

Project based learning: Use your knowledge!

AAU’s patented education method is called “Problem Based Learning”. It is essentially doing a research paper on a topic related to your field, in a team. It starts with doing a literature review of the chosen subject to see which are the trends of research and potential weak areas which could use some further exploration to develop your own research question. It is very systematic in identifying the problem, creating a research plan, implementing it and drawing some conclusions.

I think it’s a very good system for applying the theory to real-world problems and understand its potential and limitations. As one professor put it, “having knowledge without using it is pointless”.

Moreover, it is a practice used by businesses all over Denmark to tackle problems (Danes really like their research).

"You can end up writing the same thing as your teammates or worse, when stitching up all the parts you see that it doesn’t really make sense."

 

Social circles and networking - key to Denmark!

The social life at AAU is great. You get to meet and work with really cool and smart people from all over the world. The weekends are almost always social, whether is drinking a beer on the fjord with your mates, doing a barbecue or hitting the clubs at night. It’s easy to make new friends as most people are easy-going and looking for a good time.

Networking is a big thing in Denmark so it really pays off to meet a lot of people. It increases the chances of finding a job or finding a co-founder for your awesome start-up idea – it often happens through acquaintances.

 

Finding a student job

Speaking of jobs, finding one is quite difficult in Aalborg. It’s a small city and full of students, so the competition is high.

Most jobs here require that you able to speak Danish if you work in an office or interact directly with customers.

It took me half a year to find a student job, which happened through my network. However, there are people at AAU that are working really hard to boost your career. There is a great business accelerator that helps you transform ideas into businesses and, last but not least, awesome career counsellors that organise trainings to help you improve your visibility to employers and land a great job.

 

Sergiu's advice for you

There are many events happening in the city (conferences, trainings, workshops, etc.) for every major study area where you can meet likeminded people. You can find most of them on Facebook Events.

Also, don’t buy furniture from the store! It’s expensive as hell and you can get it for bargain prices on Facebook groups, or if you are lucky, for free (I got half of mine for free).

Cheers and welcome to AAU!