{"id":10197,"date":"2014-01-08T09:46:02","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T08:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=10197\/"},"modified":"2019-06-03T14:40:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T12:40:57","slug":"why-are-danes-so-peculiar-37-new-interpretations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/why-are-danes-so-peculiar-37-new-interpretations\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are Danes so … peculiar? 37 new interpretations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arriving into a new culture always involves a little adjustment. A couple of years ago, we gave new exchange students permission to speak freely and asked – what’s strange?<\/a><\/p>\n

We repeated the experiment in 2014 with this semester’s new students (see some pictures of them here)<\/a> at an introductory orientation meeting at the University of Copenhagen. So this is their first take on Danish life:<\/p>\n

So weird<\/h2>\n

\u2022 How can you like the rain? Is that the reason why the buildings are so fancy?
\n\u2022 Leaving babies outside of shops in the cold
\n\u2022 Square pillows – why do you need so much extra height? People’s heads aren’t that tall!
\n\u2022 Overwhelming hospitality
\n\u2022 Breaking and making cultural stereotypes at will – this leads to contrast, surprise, and confusion
\n\u2022 Spending time on many meetings and talking about many things at work and at study places without reaching an immediate conclusion
\n\u2022 Monarchy
\n\u2022 Blossoming flowers in my neighbour’s garden
\n\u2022 The combination of social welfare state and personal freedoms
\n\u2022 EU membership without using euro
\n\u2022 klippekort (ten-trip transportation card)
\n\u2022 Bananas taste unripe
\n\u2022 People on the street play beautiful music<\/p>\n

And then there is the food<\/h2>\n

\u2022 They forgot to put the top piece of bread on their sandwiches \u2013 what\u2019s up with that?
\n\u2022 Every restaurant sells pizza, regardless of ethnicity, e.g. Indian take away and pizza
\n\u2022 No turkey meat, hardly any chicken
\n\u2022 The word for carrot – guler\u00f8dder
\n\u2022 Yoghurt in milk cartons<\/p>\n

The bikes<\/h2>\n

\u2022 All the bikes! Everybody cycles, instead of driving a car
\n\u2022 No one wears bike helmets
\n\u2022 How the bike is still the number one transportation, whenever it rains, snows, or is windy
\n\u2022 People don’t seem to get cold (like ever!). Who else bikes in the rain?<\/p>\n

Crossing the road…<\/h2>\n

\u2022 When crossing the road, always waiting for the green man, even if the road is clear!<\/p>\n

The darkness<\/h2>\n

\u2022 Candles everywhere, even during daytime
\n\u2022 The time of sunset. It’s not weird, but it’s special
\n\u2022 Gets dark around 4pm
\n\u2022 Feels like midnight at 5pm<\/p>\n

The fashion<\/h2>\n

\u2022 Danes wear sports shoes with otherwise formal clothing
\n\u2022 People wearing bright coloured running shoes with otherwise fancy black outfit
\n\u2022 All people, well most of the people, wear black!<\/p>\n

The language<\/h2>\n

\u2022 No way to say please
\n\u2022 The word for carrot – guler\u00f8dder – is a bit odd. But also a bit fun
\n\u2022 The language sounds completely different from how it is spelled
\n\u2022 Not pronouncing letters
\n\u2022 The pronunciation of the Danish language (a like German, but with potatoes in your mouth)<\/p>\n

The money<\/h2>\n

\u2022 That you can spend the equivalent of AUD 23 (DKK 90, ed.) on wok in the box
\n\u2022 The coins
\n\u2022 Hearts on danish money<\/p>\n

And those good-looking Danes<\/h2>\n

\u2022 That there are only good-looking and well-dressed people on the street
\n\u2022 Everyone is a babe<\/p>\n

Do you agree, not agree? Or do you have anything to add? Explanations of all this strange Danish behaviour? Comment below!<\/p>\n

universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n

Like the University Post on Facebook<\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events.<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First impressions of the strange kind: We asked a large group of newly arrived international exchange students what they think about Denmark<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1326],"class_list":["post-10197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","tag-new-to-copenhagen","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy are Danes so ... peculiar? 37 new interpretations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/why-are-danes-so-peculiar-37-new-interpretations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why are Danes so ... peculiar? 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A couple of years ago, we gave new exchange students permission to speak freely and asked – <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/article\/41-reasons-why-danes-are-so-strange\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">what’s strange?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We repeated the experiment in 2014 with this semester’s new students <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/gallery\/new-international-students-january-2014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> (see some pictures of them here)<\/a> at an introductory orientation meeting at the University of Copenhagen. So this is their first take on Danish life:<\/p>\n<h2>So weird<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 How can you like the rain? Is that the reason why the buildings are so fancy?<br \/>\n\u2022 Leaving babies outside of shops in the cold<br \/>\n\u2022 Square pillows – why do you need so much extra height? People’s heads aren’t that tall!<br \/>\n\u2022 Overwhelming hospitality<br \/>\n\u2022 Breaking and making cultural stereotypes at will – this leads to contrast, surprise, and confusion<br \/>\n\u2022 Spending time on many meetings and talking about many things at work and at study places without reaching an immediate conclusion<br \/>\n\u2022 Monarchy<br \/>\n\u2022 Blossoming flowers in my neighbour’s garden<br \/>\n\u2022 The combination of social welfare state and personal freedoms<br \/>\n\u2022 EU membership without using euro<br \/>\n\u2022 klippekort (ten-trip transportation card)<br \/>\n\u2022 Bananas taste unripe<br \/>\n\u2022 People on the street play beautiful music<\/p>\n<h2>And then there is the food<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 They forgot to put the top piece of bread on their sandwiches \u2013 what\u2019s up with that?<br \/>\n\u2022 Every restaurant sells pizza, regardless of ethnicity, e.g. Indian take away and pizza<br \/>\n\u2022 No turkey meat, hardly any chicken<br \/>\n\u2022 The word for carrot – guler\u00f8dder<br \/>\n\u2022 Yoghurt in milk cartons<\/p>\n<h2>The bikes<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 All the bikes! Everybody cycles, instead of driving a car<br \/>\n\u2022 No one wears bike helmets<br \/>\n\u2022 How the bike is still the number one transportation, whenever it rains, snows, or is windy<br \/>\n\u2022 People don’t seem to get cold (like ever!). Who else bikes in the rain?<\/p>\n<h2>Crossing the road…<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 When crossing the road, always waiting for the green man, even if the road is clear!<\/p>\n<h2>The darkness<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 Candles everywhere, even during daytime<br \/>\n\u2022 The time of sunset. It’s not weird, but it’s special<br \/>\n\u2022 Gets dark around 4pm<br \/>\n\u2022 Feels like midnight at 5pm<\/p>\n<h2>The fashion<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 Danes wear sports shoes with otherwise formal clothing<br \/>\n\u2022 People wearing bright coloured running shoes with otherwise fancy black outfit<br \/>\n\u2022 All people, well most of the people, wear black!<\/p>\n<h2>The language<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 No way to say please<br \/>\n\u2022 The word for carrot – guler\u00f8dder – is a bit odd. But also a bit fun<br \/>\n\u2022 The language sounds completely different from how it is spelled<br \/>\n\u2022 Not pronouncing letters<br \/>\n\u2022 The pronunciation of the Danish language (a like German, but with potatoes in your mouth)<\/p>\n<h2>The money<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 That you can spend the equivalent of AUD 23 (DKK 90, ed.) on wok in the box<br \/>\n\u2022 The coins<br \/>\n\u2022 Hearts on danish money<\/p>\n<h2>And those good-looking Danes<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 That there are only good-looking and well-dressed people on the street<br \/>\n\u2022 Everyone is a babe<\/p>\n<p>Do you agree, not agree? Or do you have anything to add? Explanations of all this strange Danish behaviour? Comment below!<\/p>\n<p>universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n<p><em>Like the University Post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UniversityPost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"Dansk","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Receive a weekly newsletter in your inbox","button_text":"Tilmeld nu","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}],"feature_color":""},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":44,"name":"Campus","slug":"campus","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":44,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1547,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":1326,"name":"New student in Copenhagen","slug":"new-to-copenhagen","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1326,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"New student or researcher in Copenhagen? 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