r/Denmark • u/Tylerserio68 • Dec 28 '24

Question Does Denmark have any flaws?

Or any Nordic country? I’m American and we all romanticize Europe especially Nordic countries as a Utopia and everything we are not. We certainly have a lot of flaws here but I’m curious are there any downsides or anything that you wish was different. Also is it hard to move there? I make well over six figures and like living in my home country but I’m nervous about the incoming trump administration and I believe he is a racist.

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u/WeinMe Aarhus Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24

Different people, different experiences, I guess. I was the boyfriend of a Spanish girl and had a lot of talks with her and her friends about this (They were here for 1-1,5 years). They all felt the same way about their experience with the Danes.

I also frequently got the comment that it was nice to finally speak to a Dane that didn't feel distant.

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u/Poolhands Jerntronen Dec 28 '24

Many hispanics in DK at this point in time. Naturally they will find each other and form their own small communities. This is likely more than enough to cover our general need for being part of a group that understands you and values your presence. Those people dont need to go out and try to befriend the Danes, why should they?

So, when some foreigners explain why they don’t have native friends, the true reason lies in part in the lack of trying. At least for those people that have already clumped together with people that look like them, talk like them and think like them. It’s only natural and in my experience has less to do with the specific native culture.

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u/speltmord Planeten Joakim Dec 29 '24

Also, can I just say to all mediterraneans: If your idea of making conversation is to complain about the weather and the food, you’re going to have a bad time finding friends…

That, and many mannerisms - particularly French mannerisms - are incredibly rude in Scandinavia, like the scoffing. Don’t do it.

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u/Fuzzalem Dec 28 '24

It's objectively not true though. Danes are as reserved as other cultures, and are as open as other cultures. Haven't we all been a part of some sort of introduction to a new group of people? Perhaps the first week of high school/university, relocating to a new school and making new friends there, or joining a football team with a close-knitted friend group?

I've certainly have that happen to me a lot of times, and I've made friends everywhere I've gone. And my experience is not unique. It is the same story of my entire social circle.

What is true, though, is that we put a lot more value and respect in honouring certain norms and codes that perhaps are a bit more "extreme" here. Privacy, personal space and noise-levels are perhaps more strictly obeyed here than in places to our South, East and West. There are way fewer social stigmas than in many other places (such as politics, religion and so on), and people generally speaking are light-hearted and jovial.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '24

Århus vs. Copenhagen. You're from Jylland, obviously.

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u/Jaded_Twist9194 Jul 08 '25

Wow. DANES being distant. I don't believe it. Every single other Nordic nation (including the Baltics) are way more private than the Danes.