I've now been in Denmark since October of 2004 - over 1.5 years, and more than half of the three-year contract I am signed on for (it runs through September 2007). Susan and Malcolm have been here almost as long - since January 2005. So it is long-overdue that I take a few minutes and 'take inventory' on what life is like here for an American and share some impressions on culture, language, lifestyle etc.
As always, I'll try to accentuate the positive first -- this isn't Rants after all!
Things I Really Like About Denmark
Lifestyle / Bicycling - If you want to live without a car and ease your conscience and imprint on the planet... Denmark is a great place. No matter how foul the weather, you will always see Danes of all ages out on their bikes, using their bicycles the way Americans (or the English, nowadays) use their cars: For errands, shopping, taking kids to/from school, going to work and more, if you live in greater Copenhagen, there is a vast network of well-maintained bicycle paths (separated from cars by a granite curb - so it is safe for children to cycle on their own, alongside busy streets). In fact, you can cycle virtually the entire country using bicycle routes or low-traffic streets.
For Seattleites used to the Burke-Gilman trail and the occasional painted lane, it is a dream come true. It is what we've always wanted for our city but we never seem to muster the political will to make it happen in a comprehensive way.
Because they have this great network of cycle lanes (and well, because cars and gasoline are very expensive here) they are always on their bikes, and they seem happier and healthier to me than most Americans.
Disclaimer: We have purchased a car here and I use it when I have to drop off Malcolm @ school or when we go on a trip, but definitely one could live without one even in the outer suburbs.
Lifestyle / Public Transit - Denmark has an excellent rail system that can get you to most points in the country. There's great light rail running from the suburbs where we live to Copenhagen and a small-but-growing Metro system in the city. And of course the rail is integrated with the bicycle network so you can throw your bike on one of the (marked) train cars if you don't want to cycle.
Lifestyle/ Work - By law, the Danes get 5+ weeks of vacation per year. Everyone gets that, regardless of your position. It has nothing to do with seniority or time on the job. This contrasts starkly with the US norms of 2-3-4 weeks, and here they frown on carrying over vacation from the previous year -- you are expected to use it all, each year! They also jealously guard their private/family time versus work time, so typically by 5 p.m. the parking lot at my office is empty. In fact, my first week on the job, I scheduled a meeting to review bugs at 4pm on a Friday -- and nobody showed up :). That would never be the case in Seattle/Redmond, where many/most people work until 6-6:30pm.
I must admit I haven't completely internalized this behavior yet. For example it is a holiday today (Danish Constitution Day) and I'm in the office because my connection from home wasn't working properly. I'm the only one around besides another American guy. The Danes do tunnel in and work from home occasionally, but not as compulsively as Americans.
Also the work environment is a bit different. Most people work 9-5 or so, take a 30 minute lunch in the on site canteen, don't really take coffee breaks or screw around and go home on time. So they don't work long hours like in the US but they also seem more focused while they're @ work.
Children - Our son is nearly four now and was 2+ when he came to DK. One thing that impressed me right away was the Danish attitude towards children: Very tolerant, usually patient and they typically try to engage children in public places. For example, older people will often talk to Malcolm in the street or when we're out shopping or something. This is quite different than (say) England where it is much more of a "children should be seen and not heard" culture, and little ones running amok in public places is frowned upon.
It is also a very safe environment for children. You often see young children riding bicycles or out on their own, without parents, even as young as 5 or 6 years old. The kids in my street run amok without much parental supervision at all... there aren't many cars, and there is a widespread perception that it is 'safe' to do that. You'd never typically see that in the US, at least in urban areas.
Socialism - We are Seattle lefties, so we believe in things like government-sponsored health insurance and subsidized public transport, and you get those things in full measure here. Also education is virtually free for all citizens: Malcolm's daycare is subsidized and good quality education through the university level is free of charge. It is a society where "few have too much and even fewer have too little" according to their founding motto.
You can argue about how much the society pays in taxes in order to achieve this nicely-engineered welfare state, but by most measures (health, life expectancy, education, overall happiness, women's rights) they are successful.
Things I Don't Like As Much, or: Things that are 'Better' in Seattle
Of course, there are things that we miss or prefer from Seattle and the US... here's a short list:
Taxes - Brace yourself: They pay as much as 60% in income tax here (51-53-55 is typical with a mortgage interest write off) so for Americans this is a bit shocking. Of course we have many 'hidden' and ancillary taxes in the US, which makes our typical 25% or so more like 40%, but *still*. It is a hell of a lot of tax to pay, and virtually everything you buy has 25% MOMS tax on it, including food.
And buying a car means you pay 180% tax on the vehicle and nearly $6.00 USD per gallon of gasoline. That is not a typo... the joke is "buy three... get one". So really if you can, avoid a car here.
Ironically (or maybe, cleverly) the taxation for business is comparatively very lenient, and their regulatory burden is not too stiff... so DK is considered a great place to base a business in Europe.
I think at some point they will have to normalize personal tax with the rest of the EU, but most Danes say that ain't gonna happen any time soon.
Food - Sorry but DK is just not a good place for foodies. It's like England 20-30 years ago before they discovered the marvelous food their minorities had brought from the old country. Of course here, there aren't many minorities to speak of ('cept the Turks) so that is probably part of the reason, but whatever the cause, food here is typically expensive and not of very good quality or variety.
The upside of this problem is that Susan has been cooking everything from scratch and has really increased her repertoire and ingenuity, but at a price :).
Coffee: OK if you are a Seattleite this is obvious, but they just don't get the concept of 'bold roast' coffee here. I feel like a junkie who has been cut off, and I stash kilos of the stuff in my luggage (along with cashew butter and other sundries) every trip outside of DK. There should be a methadone clinic or something for transplants from coffee-centric places.
Language Barrier - You'd think this would have been obvious to us before we came, but it was not.
The Danes - almost to a person - speak English wonderfully. These days, they are required to learn English from a young age (eight I think) and virtually all can effortlessly drop into English when needed.
The fact that they can do this may mislead you into thinking that you can therefore just cruise along, speaking English and not bother to learn Danish if you want to live here. And there are lots of people who do just that -- the university courses are typically all taught in English, here @ my work meetings and emails are all (usually) in English, and so forth.
*But* if you want to cultivate some friends and have deep conversations and the like, you really must learn Danish and learn it well. The Danes will happily speak English with you, but we forget that for many it is still an effort to converse at depth in English. And because it is more work for them (in my opinion) it is a bit harder to make friends with Danes than with other foreigners who speak English... which leads to my next point.
People and Friendships - For various reasons, I think that Americans -- at least Americans in places like Seattle where a large percentage of the population is 'from somewhere else' (i.e. you have given up your support network when you moved here) -- I think it is easier to make friends and integrate. Also the USA has been absorbing waves of immigrants for hundreds of years, and the practice of moving to a place and establishing roots is, erm, more well-established.
Because it is commonplace for Americans to be 'new' in a place, people more readily open up to newcomers and foreigners. In short order, I knew virtually all of my neighbors on our block when we moved to Seattle in 1999, but after nearly two years here I have nothing more than a passing acquaintance with most my neighbors here.
Part of that is probably awkwardness due to our deficiencies in Danish: I now speak 'functional' Danish, Malcolm speaks a mishmash of Danish and English ('Danglish') and Susan only English, but it is still work for me to have even simple conversations.
But it is not only language. I get the impression that the Danes aren't really deeply interested in forging relationships with foreigners... at least not in their own country. Certainly they are very polite and friendly, but I feel they are more xenophobic than xenophilic. Possibly this is because (again) they just aren't used to having foreigners in their country.
If nothing else, the experience has given me a really good appreciation of what it must be like for Latinos coming to the US with no English skills. Watching Malcolm interact with other kids at his Boernehave (kindergarten) reminds me of Puerto Rican kids I knew while growing up in NYC: They were very tentative at first and a bit isolated because they couldn't speak English well. Kids being kids, we found ways to play together anyway, and Malcolm has picked up a huge amount of Danish in the past year, but there is a price to pay regarding socialization if you don't speak the native tongue.
My observation is that, in Seattle, is that it is easier for a given Indian/Chinese/transplanted American to build up a network of friends than it is here. I could be wrong, and if you are considering a move to Denmark, you may find it easier than we have. But come prepared to make a strong effort to build up a network of friends.
Weather - Ahh... the beautiful, benign climate of the Northwest... we miss it so. Spring comes pretty much on schedule in Seattle in March, but here it is still a bit chilly all the way into June.
In some ways, the weather is comparable: A fair amount of rain and overcast days ("the mist-shrouded North", to quote Thomas Mann) and a maritime climate. But Copenhagen is 55 degrees N latitude... the same as Edinburgh (if you're trying to impress someone) or Moscow (if you're trying to scare someone) or Edmonton, AB for North Americans. Seattle is 47 degrees N latitude, protected by the Cascade mountains on the east from the harsh interior weather, and moderated by the Pacific on the west.
In Denmark you get a month or so in the summer where the weather is glorious. In Seattle you get 2-3 months of lovely weather in summer.
One lovely aspect here is the 'midnight sun'. As we are so far north, around summer solstice the sky will become light beginning around 3 a.m. (starting a cacophony of birdsong... oy!) and it is still dusk/light at 12am - 1am. This continues for a few months around the solstice. On Skt. Hans' Day (June 23rd) there are bonfires up and down the beaches as people celebrate the long days.
Summary
Well that is one long-winded post, but I've been thinking on these things for a long while. I wanted to write them down while things are still fresh in my mind.
Feel free to leave a comment or describe your own experiences living abroad if you like!
. So, I’ve been watching the games @ home or down pub with friends.
.