Denmark
All posts from Denmark
Easy living
Posted 7 Jul 2008:For those of you who manage to keep up reading along with my trip, welcome to country number 27: Denmark! I got here in the early afternoon, on the ferry from Rostock to Gedser. Denmark is the birth place of the Vikings, Lego, Queen Margarethe II, Bjarne Riis, the Laudrup brothers and a wealth of fairytales. In polls, Denmark consistently comes up as one of the happiest nation in the world. I wonder if two weeks will be enough to unravel the Danish secret recipe for happiness.... Read more
Holiday time
Posted 8 Jul 2008:When I saw that my way from the south tip of Denmark up to Copenhagen would lead through `Fakse`, I was excited about the idea of spending the night in a village with such a cool name. Reality seems to be a bit less sparkling. There is not much to see in Fakse, neither are there many people to talk to. They all seem to have found there luck elsewhere at this time of year. Which leads me to today`s question: how do Danish people typically spend their holidays?... Read more
Looking for trouble
Posted 9 Jul 2008:As far as the previous four articles on Us Europeans showed, Denmark seem to be a rather problem-free country. That obviously makes me quite eager to find out about the problems there are, because how can a country ever be perfect? I guess there`s no better way to look for bad stuff than to open up a newspaper, so here we go with a quick round-up of Danish problems, issues and challenges.... Read more
Danish Camilla
Posted 10 Jul 2008:While on this trip, it took me some time before I felt comfortable interviewing people about their own lives rather than about abstract subjects. I must say I enjoy I have come to enjoy doing these interviews, not in the least because it takes less effort to understand one person than to understand an entire society. Today`s one-(wo)man interview is about the life of Danish Camilla who is 30 years old and works in an afterschool institution that takes care of children with brain damage. This is a short synopsis of her life so far:... Read more
Happiness explained
Posted 11 Jul 2008:Time after time, international polls show that the Danish are the happiest people Europe, usually slightly ahead of fellow Scandinavian countries. Danes are in the enviable position of not having much to worry about. After having seen the other 26 EU countries, I do have some ideas about how Danes can be happier than the others. But what do they themselves think about it?... Read more
Reporting from Christiania
Posted 14 Jul 2008:So Denmark is supposed to be the happiest country in Europe? Inhabitants of Christiania, a community living on a deserted army terrain south of Copenhagen`s city centre, have less flattering opinions about the Danish society. They hold their fellow Danes for selfish, uncaring and indifferent. Christiania is a self-declared autonomous part of Copenhagen, inhabited by roughly 1000 people and visited by many more than that every day. Danish law has been suspended, which means that Christiania is the only place in Denmark where marihuana and hash are freely available. Here`s a quick glance behind the scenes of Christiania:... Read more
Gender issues
Posted 15 Jul 2008:Only sixteen more days of Us Europeans left. I slowly getting used to the horizon coming closer. As much as the first of August of last year was a horizon-beyond-which-the unknown, this first of August will be similar in many ways. The end of a rhythm, a habit, a version of myself. No wining about that though, there`s still 1000 km left to cover. Today`s subject: gender equality in Denmark. Pretty much the opposite of stories I wrote earlier in Southern Italy, Greece and, more recently, Poland.... Read more
Fairytale city
Posted 16 Jul 2008:Denmark has quite a couple of internationally known heroes, but few of them are as well-known as fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen. His name itself may not be known everywhere, but his stories of the `Ugly Duckling` and `The little Mermaid` are commonly read all across the Western hemisphere and possibly even beyond. What is there to know about this man, and how do the inhabitants of his birth place Odense feel about the heritage of such a famous writer?... Read more
Denmark shows the way
Posted 17 Jul 2008:People from everywhere outside Scandinavia, please sit down and read. Denmark has a message: environmental friendliness actually makes sense. Just like learning foreign languages, it`s just a matter of mentality: not one of money, not one of time. Everybody can do something to make his or her country a cleaner and more pleasant place to live and it`s not all dependent on supporting systems by the state.... Read more
Perspectives
Posted 18 Jul 2008:When I was asking Danes about happiness a few days ago, some responded that Denmark offers a lot of safety to its inhabitants. Opportunities would be plentiful but what effect does all that on people`s ambitions? They just might get lazy if there is nothing to win or loose. Today`s question: How ambitious are young Danes?... Read more
What`s cooking?
Posted 19 Jul 2008:Denmark is a good place for food lovers, as long as they bring enough money. Supermarkets and restaurants in Denmark are more expensive than pretty much anywhere else, but they do have a wide variety of food on offer. It`s five o`clock in the afternoon when I start exposing people in Arhus to today`s question: what`s for dinner tonight?... Read more
Spending money
Posted 20 Jul 2008:People from Jutland are seen by their compatriots as rather greedy. On average, they have less money to spend and they are also more careful about how they spend it, and what they spend it on. Today`s question therefore deals with money management. What do young Jutlanders like to spend money on, and which expenses do they see as nothing but nuisance?... Read more
Regional variety
Posted 21 Jul 2008:Most countries that partly consist of islands will have most of their economic activity on the mainland, preferably in a capital which is centrally located. Denmark is a bit different from that. The Danish economy revolves around the islands Sealand and Fynn. The Danish `mainland` is called Jutland. It is the only part of Denmark that shares a land border with Germany. In history, however, Jutland used to be the poorest and least developed part of the country. Today`s article describes the differences between Denmark`s various regions.... Read more
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