This past summer, I lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, the happiest place on earth. Upon arrival, it was not what I expected. It fell short of my expectations and at the same time exceeded them. There were things I completely wished I had growing up as a child. Here are the top 3 benefits of living in Denmark.
1. Less Work, More Play
It was 7:45 pm. My 14 hour flight landed in Copenhagen and I walked 2 miles to my hotel. To my astonishment, there were no people, no cars, and nothing open. Sadly, I slept on an empty stomach. The next day, I realized most local businesses, except grocery stores, close around 7pm. How could businesses close so early? After all, I depend on my midnight Raising Canes runs in America. That’s when I realized the motto in Denmark is Less Work, More Play.
Like Rihanna, U.S. culture means to work work work work. After high school, you immediately go to college to start thinking about your career. Upon graduating college, you start working the next 40 years of your life 40 hours per week with 2 weeks of vacation.
Danish culture, on the other hand, considers time with family and friends more important than work. Upon graduating high school, it’s common for Danes to take 2 gap years to travel with family and friends. Immediately attending college after high school in Denmark makes people think you are a try-hard or have no life.
For these reason, work-life balance is just better Denmark. All Denmark employees receive:
- 25 days of paid vacation
- Health Insurance
- Paid maternity and paternity leave for 1 year
- Paid sick leave
That’s not all. Even though the average work week is 37 hours, I had friends that worked less. One friend only worked from 10am-3pm every day and loved it because he had time for family and friends. Another friend mentioned that part of his job was flying to Finland for hockey games.
2. Healthy Lifestyle
Every time someone asks me “Daniel, what’s the best way to lose weight?” I say, “Easy, just move to Denmark.”
You know that feeling you get when you eat so much and your stomach cannot take anymore? You’ll never get that feeling in Denmark. Don’t worry, this is a good thing, even though I completely hated it.
With large food portions in America, eating out in Denmark never filled me. Worst of all, I always wanted more. One sunny Sunday afternoon, two friends and I visited Rosenborg Castle (a must see attraction btw). Outside the castle stood a stand that sold the most beautiful ice cream cones you’ve ever seen. I paid my $8 for two scoops only to taste a sugarless Oreo ice cream. The very next day, I ordered a Chicken Mexican burrito that had more veggies I’ve never heard of than chicken.
Don’t get it twisted, there’s a reason why I never saw anyone overweight my whole time in Denmark. As America struggles with a 42.4% obesity rate, Denmark boasts a 19.7% obesity rate.
To give you a better idea of what food tastes like, the Official Danish Dietary guidelines are:
- Plant-rich
- Less meat
- less sweet, salty, and fatty foods
- Thirsty? Drink Water…and Beer
3. Small Bubble Society
This is my greatest envy of Denmark.
Living in a city with 1,000,000 people and attending a public university with 50,000 students, it’s sometimes hard to find that close group of friends you can trust and spend a lot of time with.
Most Danish people, never have this struggle as they make lifelong friends during childhood. The reason is largely built in the school system. The average Danish class size is 19 students and these same students share classes together from elementary to the end of high school.
To give an example of how extreme this can be, a group of friends and I met a couple during the famous Distortion Festival. The Danish boyfriend was bragging to us about how beautiful his girlfriend was as he showed us her Instagram profile and scrolled through all her pictures. As his girlfriend was smiling and rolling her eyes, my friend said, “You’re a lucky man, how did you two meet?” The boyfriend replied, “Oh we were in Kindergarten together.”
Expats in Denmark sometimes find it hard to make friends simply because most Danish adults already have their close knit friend group from childhood. For this reason, Danish people have a reputation of being reserved and anti-social as they make no efforts to make new friends.
I discovered that making Danish friends takes a lot of initiation, persistence, and patience. The best way is to join local clubs that interest you like a running club or comedy club and learning a little Danish will help too. Once you make it inside a friend group, you are set and will learn that you actually have a loyal group of friends.
So why is the Small Bubble my greatest envy? Even though the bubble is small, when you are inside of it, you feel significant.
