Winter study start

His first week at university

With students from 64 different countries, DTU's master's programmes offer an international learning environment. For many, this is their first encounter with Denmark, which is why networking and social activities are important. We followed one new student during the introductory week.

On the third day of DTU's introductory week for new master's students, the activity Speedfriending is on the programme. Students get to know their fellow students better through a series of games, like stacking a tower of drinking cups against the clock. Photo: Bax Lindhardt

Friday 06 February 2026

Nasrin Billie

Pruthvi Bhat sits at a table in a classroom at DTU Lyngby Campus with a banana cake in one hand and a so-called dilemma card in the other. The cards are passed around among the six new master's students sitting around the table. It is Wednesday afternoon, and DTU's introduction week is in full swing.

When it is his turn to read aloud from the card, he rolls up the sleeves of his green fleece jacket and leans over the table. The card is about how to politely decline food you don't like. While the others offer their suggestions on how they would each tackle this dilemma, he takes a bite of the banana cake. Luckily, it’s tasty.

Pruthvi Bhat is 23 years old and comes from Bangalore, India. In a week, he will start studying Autonomous Systems. For him, the introductory week feels like a test. Not of whether he knows enough, but of whether he can find his place among people who are also looking for theirs.

International learning environment

Pruthvi Bhat is one of 1,100 new students who will begin their master's degree at DTU in the spring semester of 2026. He has temporarily moved in with a friend while he looks for a sublet and tries to get his practical affairs in order, such as obtaining health insurance. He studied biotechnology at BMS College of Engineering in Bangalore, but his focus today is on software development and AI. He says that one of the things he is most looking forward to at DTU is the laboratories:

"I want to 3D print and build things," he says, explaining his choice of DTU as his place of study.

Pruthvi Bhat comes from a city with a huge tech scene. Bangalore is home to over 2 million software developers, and with around 64 billion dollars in IT exports, it is often called "India’s Silicon Valley".

When DTU’s Provost Christine Nellemann gives a speech to welcome the new students, including Pruthvi Bhat, on the first day of the introductory week, she asks the audience: "How many of you are from abroad?" The vast majority raise their hands, after which Nellemann interjects: "Wow—welcome to Denmark."

New at Netto

The day after his arrival in Denmark, Pruthvi Bhat ventures out onto the snow-covered streets to buy groceries. The prices of Danish goods at Netto are sky-high; at least three to four times more expensive than in his home country. When he reaches the checkout and joins the queue, he rehearses this mantra in his head: Just pay. Just smile. Just say something normal. But when it's his turn, the words disappear. He knows English – he knows that – and yet he fumbles. The cashier had spoken Danish to the customer before him, and it throws him off: What if she says something I don't understand?

When he is about to pay, he stands ready with his debit card in hand and manages to say something like, “Do I tap to pay?” with his finger pointing at the terminal. The cashier pauses for a moment before replying cheerfully with a smile: “What do you think?” Outside the store, shame washes over him like a wave: Oh my God, I messed up so bad!

Pruthvi Bhat has not only come to Denmark to study. He also really wants to stay in Denmark after his studies and find a job. That is why he has set himself the ambitious goal of learning to speak and write Danish at a high, professional level. That is why it hits him hard when he suddenly slips up at Netto.

But just a few days later, standing at a checkout is no longer as daunting. The more, he returns to Netto, and now also Rema 1000, to learn where to go and what to do in different situations, the more relaxed he becomes.

"I know I'm being a little hard on myself, because I've practically just landed. It's okay that I can't speak Danish perfectly yet. It will take some time."

In the meantime, he makes a new Danish acquaintance named Oscar, who asks him curiously where in India he comes from and teaches him Danish words such as øl (beer) – which, according to Oscar, is "the main word around here".

New student Pruthvi Bhat (on the left) is playing a game of imposter with eight other students. Photo: Bax Lindhardt

The group is very good at figuring out who the impostor is. Photo: Bax Lindhardt

DTU's introduction week was run by 67 current DTU students wearing red and yellow shirts, as well as the two coordinators Vasiliki Tsanaktsidou (in green shirt) and Belin Gül. Photo: Bax Lindhardt

Around 700 students took part in the introductory week, and here some of them are gathered for Speedfriending, a social activity that aims to bring them together through play. Photo: Bax Lindhardt

"You will feel uncomfortable"

The introductory week is designed so that academic and social activities reinforce the feeling of belonging – in practice, by giving new students a solid foundation before classes start. Each new student is placed in a group with approximately 15 other students from different fields of study and nationalities. The group is led by a buddy – a current master's student – who both initiates social gatherings and answers during the week and often also further into the first semester.

In his buddy group, Pruthvi Bhat quickly notices that everyone is sizing each other up – some are outgoing, others are more reserved. He makes new friends, including a student from Poland with whom he gets along well.

During the week, the point of the introductory week becomes clearer to him: it is not one specific thing, but the repeated short meetings with new people that make the introductory week special. Learning the names of your fellow students, putting names to faces so that you can say hello when walking through campus. Having someone to go to.

"You will feel uncomfortable as a new student. I was very nervous and uncomfortable myself on the first day. Even on the third day, when we sat with those dilemma cards and discussed how to politely decline someone offering you food, I felt awkward. It was bad, but that’s okay. I don't need to see those people again. It's fine."

Creating an anchor

On top of his fear of not fitting in as a new student, Pruthvi Bhat is also struggling with a fear of people disliking him because of his appearance and nationality: Is my accent too thick? Will they understand my jokes? Do I just look too different?

"An EU citizen can pass for a Dane if they speak Danish well enough, right? For some reason, that makes me nervous. But the more I get to know people here, the more I realize that's not true at all."

One of the things that gives him a feeling of calm is that one of the buddies is from India, even from a neighboring state:

"When you meet someone who looks like you, speaks like you and shares your culture, and you see how well they have settled in Denmark and at university, you just think: ‘Wow. Okay. Maybe I can do it too.’ It's like proof that it can be done."

The university he attended in India had around 5,000 students, while DTU is about three times larger, and he can really feel the difference.

"It’s cool, and what’s more, it feels even bigger than that because every single person at DTU is different. The great diversity makes it feel even bigger."

And precisely because DTU feels more like a village than a closed environment, Pruthvi Bhat is starting to think in “slices,” based on the idea that you can't take in the whole university at once.

"This is my slice of this big pie," he says about his buddy group, Oscar, and the friend he is temporarily living with. His point is that you can make that "slice" your home and your anchor, providing stability before expanding it again.

However, Pruthvi Bhat is already working on the next step. He is looking for a student job and has been to several interviews, most recently for a student assistant position as a business analyst through a recommendation from a friend. He knows that networking is important in Denmark and that a recommendation can open the first door.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed," he says, explaining that his portfolio and open-source projects make it easier to show employers what he can do.

The introductory week is coming to an end, and Pruthvi Bhat has transformed from being new and awkward to having many new acquaintances, a few anchors and a promising way forward.

The introductory week is designed so that academic and social activities reinforce the feeling of belonging. Photo: Bax Lindhardt

Contact

Lars D. Christoffersen Senior Vice President and Dean of Studies and Student Affairs Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs Phone: +45 45251009 ladch@dtu.dk