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 :)
Do everything you can to learn the language quickly. Take any language class offer you get. It will make life much easier in a new country, especially if you’re looking to make friends. Immerse yourself in the culture immediately.
Remember that Europeans, especially Scandinavians, are not as openly friendly as Americans. They can seem cold and distant at first. It’s not because they are not friendly, it’s just a cultural feature. Once you get to know them, most open up and they are awesome.
On financials, keep all your bank accounts and credit cards open in the US and use a US address for them (and get a credit card with no foreign transaction fees). Don’t advertise to the US banks that you moved overseas. Just use a family member’s or friend’s address. Also note that European banks don’t have rewards credit cards, so I only use US rewards cards with no foreign transaction fees when living overseas. They’ll send you replacement cards overseas if you ask them to, even when your account address is in the US.
If you don’t already have retirement IRA accounts set up (not just 401k), do it before you leave the US. Also, open a brokerage account (e.g. Schwab or Fidelity) with a US address before you leave and don’t change the address to your overseas address, ever. Leave as is. It can be very hard for Americans to invest because foreign banks are required to report different things to US authorities about customers who are American citizens. They don’t want the bother, so they may not allow you to open an account there. And once you move it will be much harder to open the account in the US. Use a service like Wise to move funds cheaply to your US accounts for investments and paying off credit cards.
Get a cheap eSIM phone subscription with a US phone number for two-step verification abroad. You can use Wifi-calling to connect.
Finally, remember that you are eligible to vote in the US as a US citizen living overseas. You’ll still be registered as a voter in the state and county you moved overseas from. You’ll use your most recent address, and you don’t have to have any attachment to that address any longer. It’s only for voting purposes. If you’re not already registered to vote when you move overseas, you’ll also use your most recent address to register to vote. More information here: https://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter.
Good luck!
Do your best to immerse yourself . When you view the USA from the outside or return to visit, you will ask yourself, “WTF is going on here?”
I’m in it asking this.
Remember, they’re called just pastries over there.
What’s called pastries though.
Danish pastries…
I don’t have any advice, but there is something I can say. Next generation UE, investigate it
Why?
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
Oh switching to metric is a great idea.
Denmark :)
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 swelteringIf 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 = 68Cool!!
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
It’s easier to just remember a few key values and estimate based on those. I know the conversions for every ten degrees Celsius from -10 to 30
Never met an American who wants to “talk about work” out here. They all prefer to keep their free time work-discussion free.
The danish people will maybe say a lot of things about us swedes, but don’t believe the lies.
Do not believe this liar. Danes speak the truth.
Too bad nobody can understand what they are saying
Could a Dane confirm any of this or review it?
Am Danish. This is fairly accurate, a solid 60% of Danish is just random guttural sounds. This documentary however misses that the remainder is 30% raw deadpan sarcasm, and 10% English words pronounced in an awful accent.
To contrast and compare, this is an average modern Swedish television quiz show: https://youtu.be/lzv6ljgwgzs
Frederick,
Thank you very much for this quality review, comment, and link. I’ll have a look this evening.
Euro-fight!
Scandi-fight is even better. All the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians secretly love each other (basically the same people and the same societies) but they’ve made an international sport of dissing each other. It’s like three brothers come home for Christmas.
“Finnish him!”
Denmark isn’t real, it’s a fabrication of big pork to keep us in line. Don’t believe their 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.
As a Norwegian: seconded. It’s tough to get real close and personal with Nordic people. We have smaller friend groups and don’t swap out friends often, but that is largely because we are quite loyal. So when you’re in, you’re in to stay.
That’s great, I like that a lot. As the commenter below said, sounds like New England to an extent. I’m fine with that and happy with less superficial
deleted by creator
expats
The word is “immigrants” but Brits and Yanks are scared to call themselves that lol
deleted by creator
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.
deleted by creator
Wait, stores display prices in the US without the tax? Wth? That can’t be!
It’s definitely a thing.
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.
deleted by creator
The reason usually mentioned is that the labels are produced centrally or some such. Though "They know the price to charge at the till’ might be slightly off when the tax is calculated on the transaction as a whole rather than on a per-item basis (i.e. rounding shenanigans). That seems like a totally solvable problem to me, though.
I took my wife to meet my parents and had to remind her when we went shopping that we had to add tax to everything (and tip in bars/restaurants/etc.) Some things looked cheaper than in Japan until tax (especially at that time when the exchange rate was awful).
[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]
When I was last in the US, most of the supermarkets and such had the eink displays, but most other places didn’t yet.
[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]
[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]
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.
deleted by creator
That is indeed quite accurate and comprehensive.
And as a Dane due to move back after 8 years abroad it feels strangely relevant and slightly alienating 🙃
I’m not moving to Denmark and I’m Dutch but this was an interesting read! Thanks for writing it.
Do you speak the local language, if not start getting courses now, even if many person are fluent in english, not everyone will want to speak English. (You know the joke about Parisian who don’t know English if you start talking with them in English, but would switch to a perfect English if you have a slight foreign accent when speaking french)
Expect that even basic stuff won’t work the same way as you’re used too. It’s already an issue when moving between two European countries, even basic stuff like what you can legally find on a lease or how to get health coverage will drastically change.
In southern Europe people are pretty touchy/tactile and an America would feel sexually harrassed, Nordic Europe is the other way around with pretty distant people where an American would pass for way too touchy/friendly
Learn to ride a bike, and expect to walk way more than in the US, also remember that even though winter are milder, Europe is way far up north than the US
Depending on where you’ll live exactly, look up the local train and bus operator. If you’re in a city, chances are, you won’t even need a car most of the time.
Also get ready to install a different suite of apps. WhatsApp is big in europe, although Signal is obviously preferable when possible.
Yeah, I’ll be in Copenhagen. I hope to not own a car at all! Just a bike and public transit
It’s worth it. I’m almost two years in Germany. Wouldn’t move back for a million dollars (although at 3 I could be bought). Work on the local language, volunteer or other community involvement activities, treat it like the new home it is. We’re fortunate to be able to move to a new country, try to be a part of improving it and earning your spot there. I’m even more fortunate to be white, male, straight etc - assuming you’re at least some of those things, do your best to counter the anti-immigration fear mongering that comes out of the political right. It effects you now, but more importantly it’s ramping up and it’ll effect people less fortunate far worse.
Hope you love it and welcome to Europe.
That’s great advice. I’m really excited to experience it and really embrace it. Thank you!
Plus one for taking language lessons. Even if you don’t plan on getting fluent, it will help you settle in a lot more
In my own experience learning Dutch when living in The Netherlands (were, like in Denmark, almost everybody speaks good English) you learn very little and very slow with formal lessons and a lot very fast in situations were you have to manage with the local language (basically sink or swim).
I spent years living there with only basic Dutch and then ended up in a small company were I was the only non-Dutch person and the meetings were conducted in Dutch and within 1 to 2 months my Dutch language skills had taken a massive leap forward.
I also get similar effects with other languages I speak when I go visit those countries: persist in talking to the locals in the local language and that will push your language knowledge up.
That said, at the very beginning language lessons will give you the basic structure for the language, but for going beyond the basics I find that just being forced to use it yields the fastest improvements.
(Might wanna try to start watching local TV at some point too)
By the way, if the Danish are anything like the Dutch, they’ll pick up from the accent that a person is American and switch to English. Do not follow them! Keep talking in Danish even if it feels like it’s pretty bad and hard to use. When I lived in The Netherlands most of my British acquaintances had really poor dutch speaking skills even after over a decade there because of this effect of people picking up their accent and switching to English.
Including which country could help :)
Fair enough, moving to Denmark!
You are welcome! You may visit the danish instance at feddit.dk
Just as Denmark, it is not very large but plenty of people willing to help, mixed with some degree of Danish sarcasm
I haven’t been there, but get a bike!
lucky.
In the middle now.
Wife is already Swedish so I’m doing it on easy mode, plus job is remote.
Politeness, wow, that’s tough to get used to. Trying to fix my silicon valley manners and I’m still coming off as the biggest asshole.
Government is more involved in your life, but it’s not too bad, just something you get used to, ups and downs, they mostly try to help.
Amazon is shit, thats a thing for me, but you manage.
They have a food culture.
No, you may have misunderstood me, I did not say they have food in their culture, I mean a significant part of their societal culture revolves around food.
Did not understand this, used to Door dashing and eating to get by, they don’t do that, food matters to them, spending half a day cooking is just a thing you do, it’s not work to them anymore than watching YouTube is.
Otherwise you’ll get by, just try to tone down your socialization reflexes, they’re more reserved and our outgoing nature can scare them shitless if they’re not ready for it.
