N.B. I am currently at Heathrow Airport, in London, enjoying my last few hours on European soil. I hope to be home by Sunday evening, however I may be delayed by fresh ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano.
As my final post from Europe, I have decided that instead of writing about how much I am going to miss Denmark, or how much I have learned since coming here, it would be interesting to list some of the things I am going to have to re-adjust to as I move back home. Some of them are things I am looking forward to, other I am more nervous about. If nothing else, it will be a great way to highlight some of the differences between living in Denmark and the US. However, I hope it will also help me to mediate some of the adjustments I have to go through. I need to decide what I will bring back from Denmark, and what I will leave behind, what I will change about myself, and what old habits I will readopt. I am hopeful that my time in Denmark will have changed something, even if I am not conscious of what exactly it is. So, without further ado, here is my list:
1. Cheep Food. I won’t lie; this is one of the things I am looking forward to most. Scandinavia is known world wide as one of the most expensive places to live, especially for foreigners. Everything is more expensive in Denmark, especially food. A reasonable pastry is about $2, a latte perhaps $6, a cheap piece of pizza might be $2.80, and a bottle of water $5. These are cheap food in Denmark. Going to a fast food restaurant will easily set you back $10 to $15, and a cheap night out will be at least $25, plus drinks. Although I hate how much it costs in Denmark, I have to admit that it really makes me appreciate eating-out so much more, because it is a special-occasion for everyone.
2. Altitude. I have spent the last nine months living at sea level. Denver, the mile high city, is more than 2 km higher than Denmark. The highest I have been on this entire trip was the top of Untersberg, near Salzburg, Austria, and that was just about as high as Denver is. Although I am looking forward to the mountains again, I am going to have to take a little time to the general lack of oxygen in Colorado, especially in the mountains which can be more than 4 km above sea level.
3. The English Language. Although I conversed with my professors, friends, and host-family primarily in English, I was living in a country where the dominant language was Danish. Even though most Danes are fluent in English, I was at times more or less immersed in the Danish Language, which I was attempting to learn. Although I am no where near fluent, few foreigners ever are, I made more progress than most Americans, and felt comfortable in situations where I heard nothing but Danish for hours. Although I complained about the difficulty of pronouncing the guttural consonants and absurd vowels of the Danish Language, they eventually started to grow on me, and I will certainly miss hearing them. I will have to rely on my small collection of Danish Pop-music and movie, plus the wonder that is YouTube, to get my weekly fill of the Danish Language, if only to remind me how ridiculous it really sounds.
4. Cloths Dryers. For some reasons, one of the biggest shocks when I first got to Denmark was the lack of a dryer. Most Danish families don’t have one, as they are extremely expensive and use up a lot of energy. Danes prefer to dry their cloths the old-fashioned way, outside…and in the hallway during the winter. I became accustomed to the routine of doing my laundry and waiting a day for my cloths to dry. It is going to be strange to imagine that now it will take three hours for cloths to go from hamper to drawer. I just can’t fathom it.
5. The Movies. Another insanely expensive commodity in Denmark is the price of a movie ticket, often between $16 and $20. As such, I have only seen five movies in theaters while I was here; Abrazos Rotos, New Moon, Sherlock Holmes, Avatar, and Valentine’s Day. In America, I would easily see that many movies in a month. I love going to the movies. It is such a relaxing-yet-enlightening experience, and generally doesn’t cost that much. I am very much looking forward to getting back to my favorite independent theaters, where I can see a great foreign film, with English subtitles, for only $7.
6. Big Cars. Denmark is known for being relatively progressive when it comes to environmental issues, and as such, most Danes drive small, climate-friendly, cars. Most Danish families only have one car, and many don’t have any at all, preferring to bike or take the train. One of my professors was proud to explain to us that he has been able to live for sixty years, raise three children, and maintain a summerhouse in North Zealand, all without ever having owned a car…although he does have five bikes. He takes the bus to work, he bikes to the grocery store (every day), and if he needs to get to his summer home, he just has to hop on a train, and is there within an hour. I have grown accustomed to the streets of Denmark being dominated by bike, and very small cars. The largest personal car I have seen on the road here is a Jeep Cherokee, and it looked huge to me. I am a little apprehensive about coming back to a country where SUVs dominate, let alone having to drive one again.
7. The Media. I have to admit; I really didn’t miss American news while I was away. It was very refreshing to get away from the partisanship and polemics that is the American media. I loved getting my news from the Danes, or from BBC, as they offer such a unique, albeit biased, perspective. When Obama passed health-care reform Europeans rejoiced that America had finally joined the civilized world. Experiencing the European media has given me the opportunity to really take a step back from American politics, and attempt to understand what is really going on. I learned a lot, though not much that can be described in writing, though I will try to write more once I am back in the states. That being said, I am also somewhat nervous about what I missed in American media while I was away. What Music and TV-Shows, not to mention books, don’t I know about? What new words have entered the American dialect of which I will be woefully unaware? I am really nervous that at some point, someone will make a veiled reference to pop-culture, which will go right over my head. Maybe I worry for no reason, as Denmark is fairly current on American pop-culture…I just like to feel like I am always aware of what has been going on in the world, and that I may have missed out on something important.
8. Weather. During my fist two months in Denmark, the weather was perfect. It was sunny almost every day, moderate temperatures, with very little rain. Then November hit, it began to get cooler, and significantly darker, and by the end of December, it was dark by 4:30 PM and snowing. After the New Year, and what turned out to be one of the coldest Danish winters in 20 years, we were all expecting spring to arrive. The sun began to come back, but spring never really arrived in full. It got warmer, it rained instead of snowed, and some of the plants began to grow again. However, we never had more than a week of really great sunny weather, even when the sun was out for 16 hours a day. I know that it hasn’t been much better in Denver, but I feel like I am ready for some genuinely warm weather, instead of the undecided chilly climate that I have learned to love in Denmark.
