5 STRANGE FACTS ABOUT DENMARK PART 3

Hej Everyone!

I know, that the upcoming posts were supposed to be about my apartment stories, however I think you are not that much interested in those.. Are you? Let me know! Today though, I have for you 5 Strange Facts about Denmark part 3. I know you love these series! Write a comment below and share your thoughts of Denmark too!:)

5 Strange Facts About Denmark Part 1
5 Strange Facts About Denmark Part 2

As always, a little disclaimer - these facts are not as strange to me as they were before. Those are the things that surprised me about Denmark and might surprise you! I am not writing these posts to offend Danes or show my huge love to them. These are just the things that I observed over 5 years in Denmark :)

1. Rich Students

In Poland (where I come from) students going to universities, in order to pay their rent and/or their expenses, they need to have a part time job. Unless you have rich parents of course! There are also some schools that you need to pay for. The people who did not get into public universities, are often enrolled into these private ones and they need to pay there money for each semester. Well, in Denmark all students are receiving their monthly pay from the government and trust me, they can afford to live well and party for that, without having to find any job! ;)

2. Black Prams

When my mother came to visit me here in Denmark she told me about this and I started noticing that. In my country there is plenty of colorful baby prams / strollers ! The bluest or the yellowest - the better. In Denmark though EVERY stroller is BLACK! When I said about that on my polish website, people commented that it is because, there is not that much sun here, therefore black brings a bit of warmth into the pram and the baby. Is that true, or is it just fashion? :) You let me know!:)

3. The Teacher May Be Your Friend!

I was so surprised when I came here and all the teachers wanted me to speak to them by name! Does not really matter if the teacher is young or older. They don't really like to be called mr. mrs. or Professor. Sometimes they can even sit down in a friday bar with you and have a beer together! It was a huge challenge for me because I come from a country where the power relation is kind of big and you talk to everyone calling them Mr., Mrs. or Professor and you keep a distance!

4. Clean Up After Your Dog (REALLY!)

When you see signs with "Clean up after your dog" you don't really pay attention to that, do you? At least I know me, and all my friends. However when they say so in Denmark, DO IT. Otherwise you will have people looking at you like killers or screaming from the window to clean the poop up! #neighbourpolice

5. Naked People Around Me!

One day I decided to go to the swimming pool here in Denmark, and what? And I was shocked! I had no idea that being naked is not a big issue here at all. In Poland everyone hide themselves in locker-rooms, or behind the towels, because you can't even see a knee of a child! (joke, or not..  but you know what I mean) Here nobody cares. Young and older women are going around with EVERYTHING on the view, either in the public changing-rooms or in the shower area. After a couple of times, I stopped caring as well, but until now it's a pretty strange view to me:)

Well, I hope you liked all of the observations and I am not the only one noticing them! Let me know what you think about it and if you have anything else that really surprised you?:) I am waiting for your comments!:)

Aleks

5 Strange Facts About Denmark part 2

Hej everyone!!

Some time ago I wrote a post called "5 strange facts about Denmark part 1" ( <- Read it there) and lots of you loved it! Even Denmark.dk shared this post on their facebook page!:) I knew right away, the continuation of that post will be needed :)

Again - Some of these facts may be normal to you, however those are the things that surprised me personally, if there are others that surprised YOU, don't forget to share them with me here :)

1. The danish accent + written and spoken form of the language

The one thing that stayed in my mind was one situation where my danish friend asked me if I knew the danish man : Andersen and I replied .. NO. Why? Because in polish we say his name directely as it is written, together with 'D' and 'R', so when she asked me about him I had no idea, who is she talking about!

The same is with other words that I am trying to learn in this video down below (another written form and spoken one, as you can hear:) )

 

2. There is more pigs than people!

You can of course interpret this however you want to, I am just saying.. :) There is around 5 mln people and over 13 mln pigs!:)

3. The tax is in avarage 49%

Of course there are some exceptions, as for the students - 8 % , but whenever you reach the earnings over some kind of limit you pay much more… and most of us do reach that and it feels so bad to pay half of your money to the state.. :( (And yes, I know what we are getting for that - education, health insurance etc, but the thought you need to pay so much is just depressing! :) )

4. Equality of men and women

I know, everything is great - women can go to work,  drink as much alcohol as men and nobody's judging, perfect - I agree, but there are some things that are just making me upset, as for example men walking first through the door, not letting the woman first… GRHHH I hate that! I still feel that a woman is a lady!!! :)))) and it is not acceptable in Poland when a man goes first, he is then treated as he was raised in a "bad" manner.

Another surprising thing is that you can see a lot of women working in a job that in Poland for example is considered only for men :) As in building construction or painting the houses:)

Also the one thing, I was told in the first year of my education in Denmark though my teacher - The head of the family in Denmark is the woman - not the man as in any other countries :) For example most men doing shopping or taking care of children when mother is coming back to work after the pregnancy :)

Can you also guess the toiltes are common is some buildings? Both for men and woman - even at my school :) In Poland - not acceptable hahhah :)  I am used to this one, but I still find that as quite interesting fact :)

5. Renting the apartments

First of all - almost everyone does that. In Poland its mostly students who rent, and directly after finishing their studies, they are getting a loan and trying to buy something. Denmark, among other northern countries are leading in the statistics of renting apartments in Europe.

Second of all, when you rent the apartment you come in to the totally empty one. You just see white walls and just a kitchen ( sometimes you even need to get your own fridge.. ) and what is the most funny is that you need to pay a deposit for that empty space, that is equal to 3 times the price of your monthly rent :) So speaking more straight - most of the times the deposit for these empty apartments is minimum 10. 000 KR (min. 1.000 Euro) of course depending on the price of the rent, in my case it was always 15. 000 for two rooms. Imagine bigger apartments and bigger rents :)

( I will write something more about renting apartments in Denmark,since it was highly requested:) Ask questions if you have any)

That are just some of the things that really surprised me and are creating Denmark as it is:) I am not judging here - those are just funny/surprising/strange/interesting facts to me:) Share yours if you found any!:)

All the best for the New Year!!

Aleksandra

5 Strange Facts About Denmark Part I

Hej guys!

Today I decided to write you about 5 things that still amaze me here in Denmark.. And trust me.. there is much more to it!

I hope I am not a weirdo, so please, let me know, these things surprise you as well! If you have any others, please add them in the comment section, I'll be sure to include them in a part II ;)

1. Danes and a red light. OMG!! How long can you stand and wait for this green light? I was in CPH last weekend, and you know.. Big city,more people, bigger mess. Well, I thought so. But NO ladies and gentlemen. Even though the road was close from one site, plenty of people stood there and waited for a green light to come across, even though there was no car or bicycle going..
I know it's a good and safe thing, but sometimes.. you need to break the rules, or.. ?

2. Put some clothes on! Remember the story about Denmark and the vikings? Well.. Here is one example of that.. Eventhough it may be so cold outside, that I am wearing winter jacket, some of the Danes put jeans and tshirt and are ready to go. Brrrr! Ahm, almost forgot - why some of them are going on the streets with a bare feets? Please tell me something about that...

3. Do you know "Please"? In a danish dictionary, there is no such a word as 'please'..

4. Babies in front of the houses. Imagine you have e.g. 2 months old baby. You are coming back from a long and a cold walk outside - the baby in a stroller. What do you do? Well I guess come home and warm yourself and your baby up. But NO! In Denmark, they leave their babies outside for a sleep. Remember I was telling you about the vikings? Well.. :)
Ps. I think its great, but looking at the fact that in Poland parents would not go out with their small babies for a long walk when its cold.. then it may be strange for me.

5. Are you this girl I met yesterday? Most of the Danes look alike..or are trying to do so.. E.g. Girls -
Blond, long hair
Black outfit - usually something baggy on top and skinny jeans
Sneakers - in most cases from New Balance
Really, really 'mini' make-up (foundation, pink cheeks, LOTS of mascara)

Disclaimer: I am not trying to offend the Danes : the facts may be strange - doesn't mean they're bad. This is how I see it, from immigrant eyes. ;)

Guys! That's it! I am very curious your opinion. What do you think of these? Did you also notice some of these facts?

Until wednsday then, cheers! Aleksandra