What is it like living in Denmark?
I am a 22 year old woman living in the US and I have grown very exhausted with this country over the past few years. Everyone here is so hateful and I'm tired of the constant unrest, the racism, the hatred (yes, I understand other countries have it much worse, that isn't my point.) I'm 40K in debt due to school (without a degree yet) can't find a job to support myself, and really don't see things getting any better any time soon. I have a friend who moved to Denmark last year and she said it's amazing. The people are so nice, so friendly, and that it is so peaceful there. She also said that the high taxes are worth the free college and free healthcare. Basically, my question is for Denmark natives/other people that live there/have lived there, etc.. What is it really like? Would you agree with her opinion? Have you had that experience? How bad are Denmark's own problems compared to the US? Or should I just accept that everywhere sucks? Thank you.
What's it like to live in Denmark?
I can answer a couple and I'm afraid then the others wouldn't then apply For an non-EU citizien this is becoming impossibly difficult to get a job in the EU anyway. To obtain this, you must have a job offer from an employer, and this employer will have to obtain a work permit on your behalf. This exercise is (a) costly (b) takes time - can be up to 6 months and (c) difficult - the employer must prove that the job has been advertised for at least 6 weeks and also credible reasons why it cannot be fulfilled by another EU member citizen. Taking into consideration the recession which is biting hard, then this option is nigh impossible for someone without very specalist skils/experience (who could therefore also apply for the highly skilled migrant tier) - working as a general worker in the catering industry will not get you this permit as there are hundreds of thousands of people within the EU who could fulful the vacancy and no employer would try to prove otherwise. I answered a question from a fellow American and this gives a lot more details on how difficult it is (granted this is for the Netherlands, but the general principles apply throughout the EU) and you can read more here if this helps http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;... Concerning being an English teacher, I am afraid that this would not be considered a specialist job as of course Europe has native speakers in the UK & Ireland. Also Danes generally have a very high level of English and (same as here in the Netherlands) foreign language teachers are not necessarily native speakers. Indeed very few are. You would not be able to work as a freelance writer for sure and a translator would require you to speak Danish to a very high level with qualifications I realise that it looks like I am being very negative, but unfortunately (same as in the US), in the last 10 years there have been massive movements of immigrants into the EU and as a result, immigration policies have been substantially tightened as a result For official info you can read the info on the Danish immigration dept site http://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-us/coming_to... It is a really good site actually answering all questions very clearly.
How diverse is Denmark?
Hello Wow ! http://www.denmark.dk/en . . . this is the official site for Denmark and much information is here. Most people speak multiple languages in Denmark and it is one of the most prosperous nations on the planet. Try and think about being unique and therefore meeting wonderful people. There is no such thing as out of place. Be well
Sweden vs. Denmark, which is better to live in?
I'm unsure what you read about Denmark and I don't know where you're from, but Denmark isn't all that bad. All in all, Denmark is actually probably very similar to Sweden, we have similar culture and the history of the two countries are quite intertwined. My honest answer is that it depends on what city you choose to move to. A lot of the smaller towns are probably more prejudist and might have more pre-conceptions about strangers and so might act more cautious or evasive around strangers. If you choose to move to on of the bigger cities (I would advise you to), they are much like any European metropolis with ethnic diversity and people go out more to enjoy the town than they might in the smaller towns. I would recommend Copenhagen and Aarhus in particular. Particularly Copenhagen (1.5 mil) is a beautiful city with lots of "life", because it's quite an old city so it's a bit more rustic and welcoming and less made of aluminium and glass. It is also the Danish city with the most historical and cultural potential I'd say. If you like museums or statues or castles or architecture (or the Queen), you'll like Copenhagen. There's also an awful lot of parks, big and small.A popular spot for foreigners (and inhabitants) of Denmark is Nyhavn (Eng: New Harbour) on a sunny day. You should look it up!Generally when it comes to the different areas of Denmark, people from Zealand (Danish: Sjælland) are more open, vocal and energetic than people from Jutland (Danish: Jylland). I'm born and raised in Jutland and I'd say we are more mellow in general, and probably harder to get under the skin of.Again Copenhagen is like any other major city in Europe in the way that there is space for everyone, and it's quite popular for foreigners to study and work there. You'll most likely meet plenty of other people who weren't born or raised in Denmark, but moved there perhaps because of the same reasons as you.There's nothing about Denmark I'd say that's particularly better than Sweden, and I don't want to persuade you to pick Denmark, because I bet you'll have an exciting time in either country. But there is a bridge from Copenhagen to Sweden, and you won't need to show your passport or anything. It only takes an hour to see a moose (in the wild or in a park) from Copenhagen. Just sayin' ;)