November 7, 2014
The first email I sent my parents after arriving in Copenhagen was simply a list of all the cultural differences I had noticed. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was still shocked that in a country where I blend into a sea of tall blondes and everyone over the age of 14 speaks English fluently, I still found myself feeling like I was in an entirely different world.
For example, parents will leave their babies unattended in strollers outside cafés while they go inside and have a leisurely cup of coffee with friends. As unimaginable as this is for Americans, they don’t really have anything to worry about here, as violent crimes and kidnappings are almost non-existent. A less frightening but equally surprising find: Danes don’t jaywalk. Not even at three in the morning at a designated crosswalk that has been red for two minutes with no sign of changing and not a single car in sight. They just won’t do it. It might be because they’re used to constant bombardment by a never-ending stream of bikes. I knew Copenhagen was the bike capital of the world, but I didn’t realize that meant there were consistently more bikes than cars on the streets, and that in some cases the bike lanes are actually bigger than the car lanes.
Of course, probably the biggest surprise to me was the welfare state, which was made clear to me by how expensive everything is. I’ve spent $8 on a cup of coffee, $15 on a burrito and $20 on a cocktail. Every product sold in Denmark has an automatic 25% tax added to it, one of several crazy taxes in the country, including a property tax equal to whatever you would make monthly if you rented out your house and an income tax above 60% for the highest earning bracket. It all pays off though, as healthcare is free, families get 52 weeks maternity/paternity leave to be split between the two parents, employees have six weeks of vacation that they are required to take, and students don’t just go to school for free, they actually get paid a stipend while enrolled in university to cover food and living costs.
Oh, and if they can’t find a job after they graduate? Denmark will pay them a small monthly amount for up to two years to help them get by while they’re searching.
My time in Denmark has been absolutely wonderful. I live in a kollegium which is the Danish version of a dorm, except any university student can live here no matter what school they attend, what level degree they are pursuing, or how old they are. My hall has 15 people in it, and we share a kitchen, so I’ve gotten to know a lot of Danes really well. The kollegium itself also has a great bar with foosball, darts, and a very cheap bar where any resident can volunteer to bartend for a night!
Fortunately, being in a kollegium does not necessarily mean missing out on the study abroad tradition of a host family, and I have a “visiting” Danish family that I hang out with a lot; I get dinner with them, watch their handball games and even walk their dog. I’ve met a lot of other international students as well, thanks to the club volleyball team I joined. Twice a week I play with women from Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Estonia, Spain and France, and we often go out for food or drinks outside of practice.
My program, Danish Institute for Study Abroad, has also been really great. They have over 150 classes in a variety of subjects and all the teachers are professionals in their field. Above all, they provide a lot of time for travel and exploration in the city. There are no classes on Wednesdays, and sometimes that means you get a day off to sightsee on your own, and sometimes that means you get to go on a field trip with one of your classes. There are two breaks during the semester when students can travel wherever they want (I went to Oslo, Malmö, Paris, London, Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Berlin), and one week of travel with your core course, which my Positive Psychology class spent in Budapest learning about happiness in a post-Communist society and enjoying ruin bars, thermal baths and spa treatments. I no longer feel like I am in a different world. Denmark has become my world, and I hope that when I have to leave in a month, I won’t be saying goodbye for good.
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