Moving to Copenhagen - scary prospect?

lorem ipsum

Hi All,

My Boyfriend may very likely be offered a job in Copenhagen. While it is a really great opp for him I am not so sure how easy it will be for me to make the move.

I haven't been to visit yet but we'll be going very soon, I am just wondering if any one has lived or is living in Copenhagen. I am particularly interested in how people found the language barrier and what it was like to make friends there etc.

I've been reading this forum

http://portal.foreignersindenmark.dk/forum/

and have quite frankly found it scary, but I wonder if its the fact that many of the posters are american/canadian. They may have found the culture shock worse than a European might.

I would love to hear from anyone with any experiences at all.

Thanks in advance

Irishrossoblu

Cant speak for København, but I recently moved to Oslo, and I think its great. I read the forum you linked, and it sounds just like the 'I hate Oslo' facebook page set up by americans. Its not that some of the thinks say arent true about Scandi countries, cos they are. It is hard to meet people, it is hard to get native mates. You need the language to really get involved with life.

I guess it depends on what you like about Ireland etc. If you are looking for another Dublin, you wont find it. What do you like to do? Outdoors activities are big in Scandinavia. Cost of living is high, and I remember that København is high. You have to get used to that. Anyway hope you like the place.

lorem ipsum

Thanks for the feedback, Irishrossoblu, it certainly gives that forum some welcome perspective!

I agree the language is a must to get more integrated, I don't expect to find friends if I make no effort to speak their language. I guess what I fear is that you hear so much about Scandinavians being aloof and cold. I am just scared of feeling very isolated there.

I definitely do love Dublin and will be sorry to go but its also a great opportunity to experience an other country and the cost of living is just something that goes with that. I guess I am not so sure that its the country I would have chosen myself.

I am not too outdoory myself, but I love cycling and the country is so flat that shouldn't be a problem!

keithclancy

lorem ipsum wrote: »

Hi All,

My Boyfriend may very likely be offered a job in Copenhagen. While it is a really great opp for him I am not so sure how easy it will be for me to make the move.

I haven't been to visit yet but we'll be going very soon, I am just wondering if any one has lived or is living in Copenhagen. I am particularly interested in how people found the language barrier and what it was like to make friends there etc.

I've been reading this forum

http://portal.foreignersindenmark.dk/forum/

and have quite frankly found it scary, but I wonder if its the fact that many of the posters are american/canadian. They may have found the culture shock worse than a European might.

I would love to hear from anyone with any experiences at all.

Thanks in advance

Alot of the Americans that come to Europe except things to be a certain way, if for example you look at Hotel reviews Americans usually complain about the service, yet in the same review you'll see a Brit or an Irish person say it was grand.

Even here in the Netherlands they make absolutely ZERO effort to integrate, expect everything to be in English, set up American only clubs and get pissed off if anyone sends a mail on their lists in Dutch.

A guy sent a message in Dutch to an Expat mailing list and got a load of replies from Americans saying it was an English speaking only list and to f*ck off basically.

Try to Integrate, learn the language and put up with the bad things as well as the good things (remember everyone complains about the bad, noone ever praises the good, so you always see a very negative picture online) and give it a go, try to make friends, join a club, maybe rock climbing, football, hockey, whatever your into

Remember as well, theres the Big City, Small Town mentality.

I.E. If you come from Kenmare and move to Amsterdam, then its a Culture Shock. If you moved from Dublin to Kristiansand in Norway, same thing. Not always about the country, sometimes its about the City Mentality vs the Town Mentality.

If you come to Holland, Amsterdam is not IT, totally different in different parts of the country, just like in Ireland.

Same in Finland, Norway, France, Germany ... etc etc.

Zizou

had a short spell in København with work last year really liked the city and people were friendly. 98% of Danes speak english but obviously they are more open if you can speak danish.
Eating out can be quite costly but danish quisine is execellent.
To get around most people cycle in the city using the cycle lanes which are twice the size of our own and have traffic lights, Public transport is really good aswell.

good site
http://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-us/coming_to_dk/coming_to_dk.htm

Bluefoam

I've know a couple of people who have spent 2+ years in Denmark on in a small town, the other in Copenhagen & they had no issues integrating. Neither spoke the language...

lorem ipsum

Hi all, thanks for all the replies

keithclancy wrote: »

(remember everyone complains about the bad, noone ever praises the good, so you always see a very negative picture online)

Keith, this is great advice and certainly explains why the posters on the other forums seemed so down on Denmark, prob would have been the same no matter where they were!

Zizou, thanks for the link, that website is very handy. And great to hear about the cycle lanes, I'll be looking forward to them! Also looking forward to trying the food, glad its good.

Bluefoam thanks for your comment, that has certainly given me some hope!

Defiantly feeling better about Denmark now

LI

ManofStraw

I only got back from Copenhagen a couple of weeks ago and I have to admit I thought it was an amazing city and the people were very friendly. The one piece of advice i would have for you is to make sure that you are not accidentally standing in the bike lane when you are waiting at traffic lights, its footpaths first then the bike lane, I almost got hit on several occasions on my first day there