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Stepping out of your comfort zone and going to a foreign country alone may sound daunting. But for Benjamin Hyldebrandt Mortensen it was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life when he went on a four-month exchange to the University of Alberta in Edmonton in January 2024.
Although Benjamin knew in advance that he was the only exchange student from Denmark, the silence fell as soon as he landed in Canada. So, he spent the first three weeks of school meeting his fellow students for coffee after class to get to know them.
He was also introduced to the Canadian national sport of ice hockey through one of his new friends. He was on the bench every Monday for the student team, the Tortfeasors, and before long he had earned the nickname “Coach Ben” and was attending all the team’s games.
“It was important for me to quickly create a new daily routine and build a network. I love sports and now I’ve discovered a new one,” says Benjamin, who has gone to the stadium to watch the Rødovre Mighty Bulls play after he returned home.
Support from colleagues
24-year-old Benjamin, who joined Gorrissen Federspiel as an assistant in 2020, is no stranger to working his way up from the bottom. He now works as a law student in the Dispute Resolution group and is happy that he was able to go on an exchange.
“Gorrissen Federspiel is a law firm with perspective and international focus. One of my colleagues in the Shipping group also graduated from the University of Alberta, so I was able to ask him for advice before I left. You can clearly see that the firm supports going on an exchange. Knowing that it’s valued and that there’s a job to come back to meant that I left with a different perspective,” he says.
Benjamin has worked in several different groups in Gorrissen Federspiel as part of the firm’s rotation programme, and he is happy to gain practical experience with the law.
“Law is not just articles and legal texts. It’s also a very good education in how our whole society works. As a law student you find out how the law works in practice and what field you would like to work in later on,” says Benjamin, who has an ambition to apply for a position as an assistant attorney at Gorrissen Federspiel when he completes his master’s degree.
In Canada, you can only study law at master’s level. Therefore, everyone with a bachelor’s degree is eligible for admission to the master’s programme. This means that the students do not have the same knowledge as a postgraduate from Denmark. For Benjamin, having studied law as part of the bachelor’s programme made it easier to fit into the study group and keep up with the coursework.
“I came in with almost no knowledge of the Canadian common law system. But I had experience in legal methodology that the other students didn’t have. Legal texts and judgments didn’t scare me off. It made it easier for me to start the programme so I could also focus on networking. So now I’ve gotten to know a bunch of new people who have a completely different way of looking at the world,” he says.
Studying in Edmonton has given him a broader understanding of how they practice law in Canada and how their legal system works. And he has become even more fluent in English:
“Even if you think you’re good at colloquial English, legal English is a new discipline. I grew with that while studying at the University of Alberta,” he says.
Known mostly for low house prices and the Edmonton Oilers hockey team, Edmonton didn’t take Benjamin by storm. Canadian nature did. During his stay, he also had the opportunity to visit Jasper, Banff, Victoria and Vancouver with his mother, who grew up in Canada.
Despite days with a windchill of 50 degrees Celcius below zero, he experienced amazing warmth and hospitality from the Canadians throughout his stay.
“It doesn’t really matter what city you’re in. If you have good people around you, you only look back on it positively. I started at zero but have come home with a backpack full of experiences, good people, a new network and new knowledge. I’m proud that I’ve created a whole new everyday life from scratch. It has made me much wiser about myself,” he says.
Canada has not seen the last of Benjamin. In 2026, the World Cup will be held in Vancouver, and he plans to go to Canada to see Denmark win the trophy.