Well it all started with me looking at a map of the radiation leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima plant. And I wasn't thrilled with the idea of being rained on by radioactive rain and then eating crops that had been watered by that water and eating radioactive fish. Whether that would all be true or not isn't the point. So I started looking at places where I would live on the other side of the world, England kind of got passed up automatically, no offense to the English I just don't really see myself living there. After further lurking on the Internet I came across a poll that stated, maybe last year or the year before, but for a few years in a row Denmark was the "happiest" country in the world, seems like a pretty good reason to want to live there. (although I also came across a little snippet saying Danes consume more antidepressants per capita than the rest of the world, also not sure if that's true). As much as I enjoy driving, it seems that you guys have a very well developed bicycle and public transportation system, also something that was very attractive to me. Not having to maintain a car would be nice. Your health care system actually seems to work where as we can't really figure ours out. I personally hate the heat, today it was 101 F, and I think I remember reading that it doesn't get hotter than like 74 F all year, also very attractive to me. Apparently Danes value family a lot, can't agrue with the good in that. Something like 84 percent of the Danish population can speak English, which would mean I probably wouldn't die the first year from being unable to communicate in Danish, German or French, the last two are supposed to be your other most learned languages. If there are truly a high number of Scandinavian beauties that's even more reason to move, I thought that maybe that was just kind of a myth.. Also I'm fairly young at 23 so I feel like if I were to do something crazy like move to another country it better be now as opposed to when I'm older and retired, those seem like the two possible Windows. Also I liked the idea of people respecting ones religious views and that being more of a private thing as opposed to here where it's all out in the open. Also it rains a lot there, I love the rain... Now I've taken all of my points with a grain of salt of course but that's the main idea behind my reasoning. If you can squash my dreams then by all means please save me from making a mistake.
I guess it was only natural.
- Thread starter bananhunden
- Start date
Well it all started with me looking at a map of the radiation leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima plant. And I wasn't thrilled with the idea of being rained on by radioactive rain and then eating crops that had been watered by that water and eating radioactive fish. Whether that would all be true or not isn't the point. So I started looking at places where I would live on the other side of the world, England kind of got passed up automatically, no offense to the English I just don't really see myself living there. After further lurking on the Internet I came across a poll that stated, maybe last year or the year before, but for a few years in a row Denmark was the "happiest" country in the world, seems like a pretty good reason to want to live there. (although I also came across a little snippet saying Danes consume more antidepressants per capita than the rest of the world, also not sure if that's true). As much as I enjoy driving, it seems that you guys have a very well developed bicycle and public transportation system, also something that was very attractive to me. Not having to maintain a car would be nice. Your health care system actually seems to work where as we can't really figure ours out. I personally hate the heat, today it was 101 F, and I think I remember reading that it doesn't get hotter than like 74 F all year, also very attractive to me. Apparently Danes value family a lot, can't agrue with the good in that. Something like 84 percent of the Danish population can speak English, which would mean I probably wouldn't die the first year from being unable to communicate in Danish, German or French, the last two are supposed to be your other most learned languages. If there are truly a high number of Scandinavian beauties that's even more reason to move, I thought that maybe that was just kind of a myth.. Also I'm fairly young at 23 so I feel like if I were to do something crazy like move to another country it better be now as opposed to when I'm older and retired, those seem like the two possible Windows. Also I liked the idea of people respecting ones religious views and that being more of a private thing as opposed to here where it's all out in the open. Also it rains a lot there, I love the rain... Now I've taken all of my points with a grain of salt of course but that's the main idea behind my reasoning. If you can squash my dreams then by all means please save me from making a mistake.
Beautiful pen! Have fun. You'll find you don't need to press so hard, if you were used to ballpoints before.
- Thread starter
- #23
Hmm...
Let me see if I can address some of your points.
About Fukushima, I think they found radioactive traces everywhere, Greenland ice cap etc.. Basically the fallout has gone global so I believe there's no escaping that.
DK and Scandinavia in general has topped the list of happiest countries to live for the past couple of years, that part is true.
About the anti depressants. Health care is free and sometimes that breeds lazy doctors that would rather drug people than actually give the psychiatric help they require.
Patient Empowerment is a very trendy word here in DK and that basically means that you, as a patient, are forced to know more about your ailments than you normally would and can argue with the doctors about the best course of treatments.
Sometimes that's fine but other times you can feel a bit lost.
Buying and owning a car is very expensive in DK. That is also one of the reasons we bike everywhere. Another reason is that the roads are designed for bicycles so there are bike paths everywhere you want to go. You could probably bike all the way to Germany and most of the time you would be on a bike path. Parking in the cities is also hell. If you manage to find a spot It'll be expensive to park even for a few hours. Bikes, you park where you want.
Public transportation works, most of the time. Especially in the cities. It might be overwhelming with all those bus and train routes through the city but once you sit down and look at the routes they will start to make sense. I hope ;-)
About the weather. Summers are getting hotter and so are our winters. This year we came up to 85-90F but that is quite extreme for us. Usually summers are about 75-F80.
Three months of sun and the rest is rain. So since you love the rain, you'll love DK when it's not sunny
Winters aren't that bad either. I can't even remember the last time it snowed in the city. In the countryside yes, but not in the city.
Sensible clothes, in layers, are a must in DK since the weather can change several times during the day. That's especially true during spring and autumn.
Do Danes value family? Yes and no. They usually leave home when they're quite young >20 years so they might not be overly attached to their parents. The thing with Danes is that in a way they choose their own family. For example if part of the family sucks then there's no need to keep contact with them. There's no preconceived notion that "blood is thicker than water". A Danes family usually includes not only the relatives they like but also friends. Basically if you act like family then you're part of it, whether you're actually blood or not.
Only 84% speak English? That might be true in the small provinces but if you come to Copenhagen you'll have to look really hard to find someone who doesn't speak English.
If you manage to find one, chances are it'll be an Italian tourist. (I'm Italian so it's ok if I tease ;-) )
We're taught English from the second grade so if you're around people maybe >40 years you can assume that 100% will speak English.
A buddy of mine moved here from Holland a few years ago and he still doesn't speak Danish. He never had the need to learn it because everywhere he went, people could speak English.
German and French speakers are a very small minority compared to the English speakers so you need not worry about not being able to communicate.
Scandinavian women a myth? In the summertime. Grab a cold beer and take a seat at a park, the beach or even just by a square on the shopping street. You'll be entertained for hours ;-)
At 23, if you visit DK for studying and manage to move in to one of our university dorms. Heaven!
Especially the dorms that enforce 50-50% male-female occupants.
About religion. For a Dane it's mostly about tradition. Scandinavia are the countries where I believe the percentage of atheists and agnostics are the highest in the world compared to the big religions. People who practice religion are a minority.
It's very true that we consider it to be a private affair. One sure way to make a Dane, or any Scandinavian, uncomfortable is to start "talking religion".
I kid you not, most of the time they'll think you're crazy and try to get away from you
The only thing that might actually prevent you from moving to Denmark is our immigration laws. They're tough. Very tough.
They were initially made to prevent "undesirable" elements moving to Denmark, like poor and uneducated that would have to live on the support system and religious radicals, but ended up including everyone who wanted to move to Denmark.
If you're not up to the standard they'll throw you out after two years.
A good way to avoid it is buy integrating yourself into DK society. You know, get a job, learn Danish etc. There are guides ;-)
But that's the Goverment's rules.
The regular Danes aren't xenophobic. They like 'em exotic ;-).
Unless you're from the Middle East. Sadly, prejudice is prejudice and that particular one is tough to beat.
I wouldn't call it open racism but they'd be more guarded as opposed to if it was someone from, well basically everywhere else.
I hope that gives you a clearer picture of Denmark. You're welcome to ask away if there are other things you'd like to know more about.
Let me see if I can address some of your points.
About Fukushima, I think they found radioactive traces everywhere, Greenland ice cap etc.. Basically the fallout has gone global so I believe there's no escaping that.
DK and Scandinavia in general has topped the list of happiest countries to live for the past couple of years, that part is true.
About the anti depressants. Health care is free and sometimes that breeds lazy doctors that would rather drug people than actually give the psychiatric help they require.
Patient Empowerment is a very trendy word here in DK and that basically means that you, as a patient, are forced to know more about your ailments than you normally would and can argue with the doctors about the best course of treatments.
Sometimes that's fine but other times you can feel a bit lost.
Buying and owning a car is very expensive in DK. That is also one of the reasons we bike everywhere. Another reason is that the roads are designed for bicycles so there are bike paths everywhere you want to go. You could probably bike all the way to Germany and most of the time you would be on a bike path. Parking in the cities is also hell. If you manage to find a spot It'll be expensive to park even for a few hours. Bikes, you park where you want.
Public transportation works, most of the time. Especially in the cities. It might be overwhelming with all those bus and train routes through the city but once you sit down and look at the routes they will start to make sense. I hope ;-)
About the weather. Summers are getting hotter and so are our winters. This year we came up to 85-90F but that is quite extreme for us. Usually summers are about 75-F80.
Three months of sun and the rest is rain. So since you love the rain, you'll love DK when it's not sunny
Winters aren't that bad either. I can't even remember the last time it snowed in the city. In the countryside yes, but not in the city.
Sensible clothes, in layers, are a must in DK since the weather can change several times during the day. That's especially true during spring and autumn.
Do Danes value family? Yes and no. They usually leave home when they're quite young >20 years so they might not be overly attached to their parents. The thing with Danes is that in a way they choose their own family. For example if part of the family sucks then there's no need to keep contact with them. There's no preconceived notion that "blood is thicker than water". A Danes family usually includes not only the relatives they like but also friends. Basically if you act like family then you're part of it, whether you're actually blood or not.
Only 84% speak English? That might be true in the small provinces but if you come to Copenhagen you'll have to look really hard to find someone who doesn't speak English.
If you manage to find one, chances are it'll be an Italian tourist. (I'm Italian so it's ok if I tease ;-) )
We're taught English from the second grade so if you're around people maybe >40 years you can assume that 100% will speak English.
A buddy of mine moved here from Holland a few years ago and he still doesn't speak Danish. He never had the need to learn it because everywhere he went, people could speak English.
German and French speakers are a very small minority compared to the English speakers so you need not worry about not being able to communicate.
Scandinavian women a myth? In the summertime. Grab a cold beer and take a seat at a park, the beach or even just by a square on the shopping street. You'll be entertained for hours ;-)
At 23, if you visit DK for studying and manage to move in to one of our university dorms. Heaven!
Especially the dorms that enforce 50-50% male-female occupants.
About religion. For a Dane it's mostly about tradition. Scandinavia are the countries where I believe the percentage of atheists and agnostics are the highest in the world compared to the big religions. People who practice religion are a minority.
It's very true that we consider it to be a private affair. One sure way to make a Dane, or any Scandinavian, uncomfortable is to start "talking religion".
I kid you not, most of the time they'll think you're crazy and try to get away from you
The only thing that might actually prevent you from moving to Denmark is our immigration laws. They're tough. Very tough.
They were initially made to prevent "undesirable" elements moving to Denmark, like poor and uneducated that would have to live on the support system and religious radicals, but ended up including everyone who wanted to move to Denmark.
If you're not up to the standard they'll throw you out after two years.
A good way to avoid it is buy integrating yourself into DK society. You know, get a job, learn Danish etc. There are guides ;-)
But that's the Goverment's rules.
The regular Danes aren't xenophobic. They like 'em exotic ;-).
Unless you're from the Middle East. Sadly, prejudice is prejudice and that particular one is tough to beat.
I wouldn't call it open racism but they'd be more guarded as opposed to if it was someone from, well basically everywhere else.
I hope that gives you a clearer picture of Denmark. You're welcome to ask away if there are other things you'd like to know more about.
The fukushima thing is really just what started my little idea, it isn't REALLY a reason why I wanted to move anymore. And yeah my little research found that the immigration process is difficult, and I'll admit it's intimidating. Well the family thing is good seeing as I don't have any family there so I would be practically forced to make a new one so to say. Nothing you had said is a flat out deterant to me other than the immigration policy being tough, I was kind of under the impression that just about every country worth trying to live in is going to have some amount of hoops to jump through if you wanted to become a permanent resident. I truly appreciate you taking the time to respond, and I will be sure to PM you if I have anymore questions
