Hi all!
We’re very excited to move to Denmark soon as lifelong Americans. I have a good job lined up, and we’re set on a place to live for a while.
Any advice from people who have done it, looked it up, had friends who have done it, etc? Just in general :)
Think of other topics and questions than work, Americans care too much about work outside of work.
Switch your phone apps to celsius and start your brain switching ASAP.
Knowing what country or region you’re going to would help
American here, got stationed in Italy for a few years. Learning Celsius was easy with this in mind:
0 freezing
10 cool
20 nice
30 hot
40 sweltering
If you need to do the actual calculation, double the celsius value, subtract the tens digit (i.e. -10%), add 32. For example:
Double it: 20 * 2 = 40
Subtract the tens digit: 40 - 4 = 36
Add 32: 36+32 = 68
Cool!!
Or a “good enough” rough estimate is: double (the Celsius number) + 30
(0 * 2) + 30 = 30F freezing
(10 * 2) + 30 = 50F cool
(20 * 2) + 30 = 70F nice
(30 * 2) + 30 = 90F hot
(40 * 2) + 30 = 110F sweltering
In reverse: subtract 30 (from the Fahrenheit number), and divide by 2
(30F - 30) / 2 = 0 C freezing
(40F - 30) / 2 = 5 C freezing
(50F - 30) / 2 = 10 C cool
(60F - 30) / 2 = 15 C cool
(70F - 30) / 2 = 20 C nice
(80F - 30) / 2 = 25 C nice
(90F - 30) / 2 = 30 C hot
(100F - 30) / 2 = 35 C hot
(110F - 30) / 2 = 40 C sweltering
(120F - 30) / 2 = 45 C start praying
The danish people will maybe say a lot of things about us swedes, but don’t believe the lies.
Getting new friends in Denmark can be difficuelt at first. Many are reserved and needs to thaw up first. Do not expect colleagues to invite you home, if you are ysed to that. However, when people open up it is because they like and respect you. Danes are in general not superficial as Americans often can be. So remember, we are not unfriendly, just different from Americans :) Advise from a 100% Dane.
Lol, and Danes are definitely the most outgoing of the Nordics. I’ve found Danes to be pretty similar in terms of outgoing-ness to people from New England in the US; unlikely to start conversation with complete strangers, but certainly kind once you have that initial connection.
expats
The word is “immigrants” but Brits and Yanks are scared to call themselves that lol
If you work for an American company you may end up with an American style corporate hierarchy, but Danish companies are a lot more egalitarian on average. Not just office wise, but also “only addressing the boss by their first name” wise.
That’s been a thing in the USA for decades.
Wait, stores display prices in the US without the tax? Wth? That can’t be!
Which tax? Federal? State? County? City/Municipality? What if some of those are zero?
This is why no one does it. I think smart labels may change that some day, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Edit: ah, to be clear, those tax types can all vary. I used to shop at a place where the same store on the opposite side of the street was cheaper because the tax rate was less.
Yeah, this is all great advice. I work for a very European style company in the US and will work for a Danish company in Denmark. So I’m not expecting total culture shock (like our CEO currently wears a T-shirt and sneakers, you can have a beer with him) like going to Japan would be, but also looking forward to less work focus.
Yeah, the mental math of money, units, will all be a lot. But we’ll get used to it!
I’m stoked for the smaller, car-free, perhaps simpler life.
Jumping on this to evangelise about some car ownership alternatives, as it can even be quite the cultural leap even for some Europeans to not own a car.
Firstly Denmark has some brilliant cycling infrastructure I would highly recommend sourcing a bike with a pannier rack to make small trips to the shops easier. If you enjoy it you can always go all in later with a cargo bike and there are many - even from local brands - to choose from (although I have an urban arrow I can also recommend a Bullitt (DK))!
For when you do need a car aside from all the big brands rentals there are also peer-2-peer rentals, eg in Finland I will use go more which is great here and while it looks like they also exist in Denmark your mileage may vary, but I have friends in Sweden who have used this there too.
