My Journey as an Expat in Denmark

People typically move to Denmark for either love, work, adventure or education. I moved here 11 years ago, for love.

If you told me 12 years ago I would end up “a suburbia mom” in Denmark, I would have never believed it. I’ve spent the last 25 years travelling exotic countries and living abroad and never thought I would end up in a tiny, cold Scandinavian country, but I did.

The decision to settle down on the other side of the world, far away from my family and friends was a difficult one. Being so far away from everything familiar, everything I knew and everyone I loved was the hardest part of being an expat. It was hard for me to accept that life at home didn’t pause in the lack of my presence. I was missing birthdays, weddings, births, school reunions and memorials of loved ones. My family has always supported my decision (they didn’t have much choice) but if I was happy they were happy. I was happy and in love!

Being Canadian I feel we have many similar cultural attributes to Danes. Like values for equality and community, respect for cultural differences and freedom of speech and most importantly we both believe that everyone deserves to be healthy and happy. Yet…with all those similarities, we are still so very different. Nothing prepared me for the cultural shock I faced when I moved here to Denmark.

Canadians are extremely friendly and polite, almost to a fault. We smile and say hello to everyone we get eye contact with. If we see a stranger in need, we ask what we can do to help and if someone accidentally bumps into us on the street, we will apologize to them. We bring pie to all our new neighbors, we invite almost everyone we meet home for dinner and we try our best to make people feel welcome in their new surroundings.

-----------I wanted Denmark to feel like a home for me as fast as possible. To do this, I had to first learn why Danes are the way they are and to understand Danes, you first must understand they’re humor, they’re sarcasm and they’re straight forwardness. To understand this you MUST understand the Danish Language, otherwise things get completely “lost in translation”

I did everything I could to adapt and fit in to the Danish culture. Not because I needed their approval or acceptance to be here, but because I knew right from the beginning that I was going to spend the rest of my life here.

If your new in Denmark, and need a helping hand let me know. I'd be more than happy to help.

www.homesteaddenmark.com