Wondering how much different living in Denmark would be compared to The United States.?
I have distant relatives that live there, and they say it's peaceful. They are older and cannot compare to current times.. anyone give me a young view?
I have distant relatives that live there, and they say it's peaceful. They are older and cannot compare to current times.. anyone give me a young view?
B H
Favorite Answer
Like others have said, it's quite different from most places in the states.
1) It's white like white-sand beaches are white. Tall white people are everywhere. Overt racism is pretty rare, but there is some xenophobia. From what I've seen, it's still nothing like the Deep South in the U.S.
2) People drink. While it is generally not acceptable to be drunk at 9 a.m. it sure as hell is acceptable to buy a bottle of beer and drink it at 9 a.m. (not at a regular office job of course). And in the winter, you stay out til 4 drinking, that's just the way if you're under 50.
3) When I first moved to New York, I thought people were cold. After living in NYC for 12 years and moving to Copenhagen, I learned what cold really is. The people seem quite cold, but in fact, really want to talk and really want to get to know other people from other places. It sounds odd, but there's a strange code of etiquette that Danes live by which requires that they be reserved in their behavior, so it takes a little work sometimes to get a good conversation going.
4) It's expensive. To the extreme. A bottle of decent beer at a cheap store will cost at least $1.50 (and that's rising all the time thanks to the decline of the American dollar). At a bar a pint of regular beer can cost around $7, and a good beer $10+. Income taxes START at %50, no joke. Cars are taxed at approximately %200 (you pay for the car, then you pay twice the value of the car in taxes).
5) Along the same lines, food is very expensive compared to the states and in general there's less variety. Again, not saying there's no variety, or that it's all bad, but by comparison you may find the food here of a lesser quality and more expensive. The cheeses are softer and smellier, there's a lot of fish related products, food-wise things are just plain different. Now, the Danes also take a lot of pride in foods and goods produced in Denmark, and especially goods which are Økologisk, or ecological/organic. There's a ton of organic produce and goods, and the Danes really take conservation and concern for the environment seriously.
5) Scheduling: social scheduling is important. People don't just bop around and show up at a friend's place. It's basically considered rude.
6) Weather: in the winter you can expect the sun to rise after 9 in the morning and set before 3 in the afternoon. You have to guess that the sun rose or set though, because the constant cloud-cover at approximately 100 ft altitude and near daily rain showers obscures the fact. It is very, very, very dark, and for a very, very, very long period of time. However, right now, the sun is rising around 5 in the morning, and setting after 9 p.m. at night. We've had three straight weeks of beautiful weather, and people are walking around with big unstoppable smiles on their faces. It's awesome, and it's only May. The height of the summer will have sunrise before 4 a.m. and sunset after 11 p.m. Wrap your head around those numbers- it's a lot of light. Even if it's raining, it's pretty nice.
7) Peaceful- as you mentioned, yep, it's peaceful. There are some strange happenings every now and again where people take to the streets to protest the Ungdomshus (look it up) or treatment of immigrants, or possibly, some notorious cartoons... But I've personally walked up to cops wearing riot gear, and received a jovial, warm reception. Crime is ridiculously low, and people are laid back, getting into a fight is difficult (not that I've tried intentionally), but I've witnessed a few shake ups at bars and people just don't seem to feel like bothering with it. There's no feeling of a police state, guns are rarely seen, and yet one still feels very safe.
8) The bike. When you go somewhere, you almost always bicycle. Biking is for all ages with all manner of cargo and the cars ACTUALLY pay cyclists respect.
If you're young, come to Copenhagen, you'll likely love it. If you're a hipster, you'll be in hipster paradise. If you like biking, you'll be in biking paradise. If you like drinking, you're in drunk paradise. If you like lighter drugs and "alternative" lifestyles Christiania is probably your paradise.
Done.
snugglebunny_in_denmark
Unfortunately I do not live in Copenagen like a lot of others, so I can't tell you what it's like to live in a huge city like that. I came from a small town in Oklahoma with 5 thousand people and moved to Holbæk where there is about 25 thousand people. But I absolutely love it here. In the smaller towns of course less people speak english on a daily basis, but pretty much everyone can speak it if you explain you're an american or you don't speak danish well. The people are really nice for the most part. Everything is way more expensive in denmark than it is in the states, but people also get much better wages. Don't expect to drive a car unless you can really afford it, though. A bike or even a moped would probably be better (especially since gas prices are 11.02 kr per liter right now, or about 12 dollars a gallon.) It's ridiculous. But the public transportation can get you just about anywhere.
Denmark really is peaceful. There are a lot of immigrants (I'd never seen so many middle eastern and asian people until I came to Denmark, haha), but most of them are fairly friendly. There are a couple of old guys from Iraq who own a candy store here, and they are so nice and sweet. Overall I really like the country. Being an international student is annoying sometimes (but I go to RUC so maybe somewhere like Copenhagen is better). There isn't a whole lot of stuff in grocery stores like there is in the states. Less variety, but also a LOT healthier because of the laws about how much sugar and stuff like that can be in products. A bottle of soda in the states would be about 150 calories, but here it's only 45, etc.
Anonymous
Imagine moving to Australia, Danes are the Aussies of Europe in many ways. Very laid back and easy going with a very similar sense of humour. They love to drink and are quite family oriented. Most are approachable and very pleasant but they will not let you know if they don't like you, they just wont talk to you.
The min drinking age for beer and wine is 16 so don't be surprised if you see some kids enjoying a quiet ale.
The tax on cars is 180% so if you see a new audi A8 anywhere you can be fairly certain that person has money to splash around but don't expect to see too much more than that.
Go to Skagen for a more american experience in Denmark.
I lived there for six months about two years ago and am currently saving to go back.
The first thing the Danes want to talk about is the weather.
P.S. Beware of Swedes on the ferry who come for the alchohol, which is taxed lower in Denmark
topink
Denmark might be like living in Oregon or Vermont, but more urban with trains, buses, and bicycle paths linking all the cities. It would be very different from living in most of the USA, because Danes are usually not religious fanatics and they are rather tolerant and liberal in their views. (Not everyone, of course, and there are conservative thinkers there, but not like the USA.) It's also very white. There are some Middle Eastern immigrants, Turks, East Europeans, and a few others, but it's not going to be half black like parts of the USA. I found it quiet, clean, expensive, historical, and houses were high quality, yards well kept, and Copenhagen is a fun big city. Danes aren't always super friendly on the surface, but they are helpful and kind if you ask for help, like directions or advice.
tessan_bc
Denmark is nice. It's not a big country, so it's easier to see much of it in short time, than in many other nations. It's also a small country with a fairly big capital - Copenhagen is rather different from the countryside, and the other cities are rather insignificant compared to Copenhagen. As an American, you'll find it peaceful and well-ordered, is my guess, and easy enough to get around as most people speak English. You'll miss mountains and big rivers, maybe, but there's lots of other nice things to see and in Copenhagen you can have as much fun as in any other big city.