About a month after our big cycling trip to Helsingør, my flat mate and I were on our bikes again. This time around, we were cycling to Roskilde. During my time in Denmark, I had heard many times of this historic city 30 km west of Copenhagen, mostly in the context of its famous summer festival. Even though I never got around to attend it, I figured it was high time I payed this historic city a visit.
Cycling to Roskilde
The weather was a bit muggy that day, not too warm, not too cold, with a constant breeze blowing long hair into eyes. Basically, your typical Danish summer day. Starting from Farum early in the morning, we cycled for about two hours through the Danish countryside. This mostly consisted of lush farmlands interrupted by occasional small towns. Not as eye-pleasing as the coastal road we had done during our last trip, but the backroads were pretty good for biking, and there was little to no traffic.
Roskilde
We reached Roskilde by the northern road following the Roskilde fjord. The fjord being one of the key elements of this old Viking town. Founded during the Viking Age, the city became an important trading hub and a center of power for Danish kings. According to legend, Harald Bluetooth, the king who helped unify Denmark and convert it to Christianity, established Roskilde as a royal seat in the 10th century.
Roskilde fjord
During the medieval period, Roskilde grew into a major religious center. The construction of Roskilde Cathedral in the 12th and 13th centuries solidified the city’s importance. This UNESCO World Heritage site is the final resting place of Danish monarchs, with over 40 kings and queens buried within its walls. The cathedral’s Gothic brick architecture and historical significance make it a key landmark in Denmark’s cultural heritage.
Roskilde Cathedral
Despite losing its status as Denmark’s capital to Copenhagen in the 15th century, Roskilde remained a vital city. It continued to be a religious and economic center, playing a key role in regional trade.
The 5 m tall Roskilde Jars (Roskilde Krukkerne) created by Danish artist Peter Brandes in 1998
In modern times, the famous Roskilde Festival I mentioned previously is one of Europe’s largest music festivals and well worth experiencing. Outside of festival season, the Viking Ship Museum is the city’s top attraction.
The Viking Ship Museum
After cycling around the city center for a while, we headed to the famous Viking Ship Museum. Located along the Roskilde Fjord, the museum is dedicated to Viking maritime culture and shipbuilding. It is best known for its collection of five original Viking ships, known as the Skuldelev ships, which were excavated from the fjord in the 1960s.
The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde
The Skuldelev ships date back to the 11th century and were deliberately sunk to create a barrier against enemy attacks on Roskilde. Each of the five ships served a distinct purpose: one was a long, narrow warship built for speed and raids, while another was a sturdy trading vessel designed to carry cargo across long distances. The remaining ships included a coastal trader and smaller boats used for fishing and local transport.
Recovered Viking ships on display at the museum
The discovery of these ships provided invaluable insights into Viking shipbuilding techniques, maritime warfare, and daily life on the sea. Aside from the exhibits, the museum offers a hands-on experience with Viking shipbuilding techniques. Visitors can watch skilled craftsmen use traditional techniques in full-scale reconstructions of the original ships.
Ship building workshop
During the summer months, visitors can also hop on board one of the reconstructed Viking ships for a rowing experience through the fjord. Before setting off, participants receive instructions from museum staff on Viking rowing techniques, teamwork, and navigation.
Museum visitors rowing away in their Viking ship
A synchronized effort is required to keep the vessel moving smoothly, so rowers must follow the rhythm set by the crew leader. If conditions are right, the sail can also help them out.
A worthwhile visit
After our visit to the museum, we slowly made our way back towards Farum. Another two hours across the peaceful Danish countryside. The sun finally decided to come out to greet us in the afternoon as we rode back. Even though our trip to Roskilde was rather short, the Viking Ship Museum made it worthwhile. I would highly recommend a visit, especially to any Viking enthusiasts out there!
My main objective in 2017 was finishing my Masters thesis. It was going to be a highly work-intensive year with no plans to travel abroad. Cycling had always helped me relax and clear my mind in the past. So in my attempts to cope with the stress and mental fatigue of a demanding year, 2017 would turn out to be a year of cycling and exploring Eastern Denmark.
Cycling: The solution to everything
After moving to Farum at the end of 2016, I was heavily reliant on the Danish S-trains to get into Copenhagen for work. Luckily the trains were fitted with plenty of bicycle areas so passengers could bring their bikes aboard. However, things would get very chaotic during rush hours when the train would be absolutely packed with bike-wielding people. If you were unfortunate enough to be stuck in the middle, you’d have no chance of getting out in time for your stop.
Late winter in the Danish forests
To avoid the nuisance of train chaos, I began cycling back home, instead of taking the S-train. Cycling the 20 km distance would take me just around 30 minutes extra, but it would be much more rewarding. Especially on a beautiful sunset evening with good weather!
Cycling also became my solution to keeping up my gym routine. Farum didn’t have a FitnessDK gym, which I was a member of, and I wouldn’t always want to go all the way to Copenhagen just to work out. Instead, I would cycle to the nearby village of Birkerød. Thus Farum-Birkerød became another regular cycling route.
An old friend
A few months into the year, a close friend of mine from my undergrad years decided to move to Denmark for a fresh start. At around the same time, my old flat-mate was moving out, so my friend Cipri moved in in his place. I had really talked up the Danish cycling culture to him and he was keen on getting into it.
Throughout the year we did several long day rides across the island of Zealand. From Helsingør and Hillerød, to as far as Steven’s Klint in the south and Gilleleje at the top north of eastern Denmark.
Cipri and I on our Helsingør cycling trip
Our first big cycling trip of the year was Copenhagen to Helsingør and then back to Farum. A respectable 85 to 90 km ride that would take us the better part of the day.
A gorgeous day trip to Helsingør
We set out on our big cycling trip on the 20th of May. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Nice and warm with a constant gentle breeze. We took the S-train to Østerport and started cycling from there. The reason I didn’t want to start from Farum was to show Cipri the beautiful coastal road heading up north from Copenhagen.
A great day for water activities and biking along the coast
Starting off with the beautiful neighborhoods at the outskirts of the Copenhagen, the road passed by my old “sanctuary” at Charlottenlund beach park. After passing the last vestige of outer-Copenhagen at Klampenborg, the road followed along the eastern edge of the beautiful, forested Deer Park.
Danish peer in the foreground, Swedish coast in the background
Occasionally losing sight of the coast, the road to Helsingør, continued north with intermittent beaches and marinas on the Øresund straight. Given the beautiful weather that day, a rarity in Denmark, the seawaters were filled sailboats and various other pleasure-crafts.
Sailboat on the Øresund
For the next stretch, the road would cross several wealthy coastal small towns and neighborhoods, offering endless appealing sights to admire. This was by far my favorite cycling route in Denmark.
Helsingør
After a few hours of cycling we had arrived at Helsingør. The coastal road now continued along the Helsingør harbor and waterfront. There, daily ferries connect Helsingør to Helsingborg (Sweden) across the narrowest part of the Øresund straight. Once a key maritime trade hub, the harbor now blends history with modern attractions, featuring lively promenades, seafood restaurants, and cultural landmarks like the Culture Yard (Kulturværftet).
Helsingør harbor and the ferry to Helsingborg
Continuing along the coast, we stumbled upon a curious sculpture. Known as the “Garbage Fish” it was created in 2014 by Japanese artist Hideaki Shibata from plastic waste collected from the sea. The sculpture serves as a powerful reminder of the environmental impact of marine debris and emphasizes the importance of recycling and waste management.
The colorful Garbage Fish. A landmark in Helsingør
Further along the waterworks, we reached Helsingør top attraction and my destination point for the day: Kronborg Castle.
The history of Kronborg Castle
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kronborg Castle is one of the most famous Renaissance castles in Europe. Tthe castle is renowned for its role in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and its strategic location controlling the Øresund Strait. With a rich history spanning over 600 years, Kronborg has been a royal residence, military fortress, and cultural landmark.
Kronborg Castle courtyard from the top floor
The site of Kronborg Castle was originally home to Krogen, a medieval fortress built in the early 15th century by King Eric of Pomerania. Its purpose was to enforce the Sound Toll, a tax on ships passing through the Øresund Strait, making it a crucial part of Denmark’s economy. The revenue from this toll contributed significantly to the Danish crown’s wealth for centuries.
The row of cannons along the battlements pointed towards the Øresund Strait
A grand Renaissance castle
In the late 16th century, King Frederick II ordered the transformation of Krogen into a grand Renaissance castle, renaming it Kronborg. Influenced by Dutch and Flemish architectural styles, the new structure featured ornate towers, decorative facades, and elegant interiors. Under Frederick II, Kronborg became one of the most splendid castles in Northern Europe and a symbol of Denmark’s power.
Dining table in one of the many rooms at Kronborg
In 1629, a massive fire broke out, destroying much of the castle’s interior. However, the outer walls remained intact, allowing King Christian IV to rebuild it in a similar style. The new interiors were less extravagant but retained the fortress’s grandeur.
Holger Danske, the eternal protector of Denmark in Danish folklore
In 1658, Kronborg was captured by Swedish forces during the Dano-Swedish War. Though they plundered the castle’s valuables, it was later returned to Danish control. Over time, Kronborg evolved into a military barracks, housing soldiers for nearly 200 years until 1857, when it ceased military operations and was restored as a cultural landmark.
Sights and thoughts
The fortress boasts around 40 rooms that are open for visitors, as well as the dungeon. The rooms range from royal dining rooms and bedrooms to game rooms and study rooms. The Chapel remains as one of the best preserved parts of Kronborg and the only section that survived the devastating 1629 fire untouched.
Kronborg inner courtyard and clock tower
The dungeon bellow offered its own interesting story, from casemates to beer cellars. our tour guide told us about how Danish soldiers of old would drink several beer a day instead of water because the water was so polluted. A hardy bunch!
View of Helsingør harbor from the castle tower
On top of all this, the outside views like the inner and outer courtyard, as well as the rooftop terrace offer fantastic views of the fortress and it’s surroundings. One could easily spend hours in and around Kronborg and I would highly recommend a visit to this historic Castle to anyone planning a trip to Denmark.
On top of the fortress
I highly enjoyed my tour, but I tried not to dawdle too much. After all, we still had two and a half hours of cycling left to get back home. With sun in our face, we bolted off towards Farum. In total, cycling around five hours that day.
After returning from my holiday in Norway, I fell back into my work-study routine for the rest of 2016. Apart from the occasional bike trips to Bakken, or hang outs with my friends from university, the last months were fairly uneventful. It was soon time to close a triumphant year of success and adventure.
Svanemøllen beach near where I lived in my first year in Copenhagen
Work and study were intense through this period. I didn’t have any more courses, but I began thoroughly working on the samples collected in Iceland. Whenever I wasn’t working in the labs, I tried to read through one of the numerous scientific articles my supervisor had sent me. Apart from that, I had my part-time job and Danish language classes to fill my time. Whenever I’d manage to get a free day during the week, I’d try to hang out with friends. I remember being amused at one of my Danish friends, Irene, calling me a machine because it seemed like I wasn’t ever taking any breaks.
I was busier than ever and it felt great. It felt so rewarding! Having purpose, earning money, building my life and having more friends than ever.
The housing crisis is back
As busy as I had become, I had completely forgotten the unwritten terms of my then living arrangement. If you recall, I had moved in with one of my friends in early summer. However, the deal was supposed to be short term, while I find my own place. I was still looking, but not as hard as I should have. With everything else happening, looking for a new place had fallen to the bottom of my priority list. That’s until, Lasse gave me a wake-up call in November, which then really took me off guard.
The autumn streets of Frederiksberg, Copenhagen
I tried to figure out if there was an issue I could fix with him so that I could stay more, but the man simply wanted to go back to living alone. Which was completely understandable. Although I jokingly kept poking him for years later about that time he wanted to “kick me out on the streets”. Hehe… It wasn’t anything like that, of course (If you’re reading this Lasse, you know I love ya, buddy!). In any case, the pressure was on to find a new place to live. Not an easy feat in Copenhagen.
Farum
After quickly exhausting all possibilities in Copenhagen due to unavailability and pricing, I had to settle on moving out of the city. As long as I could live close to an S-train station, I could easily get in and out of the city. I ended up panic-agreeing to a basement apartment in a house to the west of Copenhagen. The price was a bit steep for me, but I was going to have a fairly large area to myself.
Incoming train towards Farum at Østerport station, Copenhagen
No written contract, just a trust-based payment. However, on second inspection, I found quite a few things that were off putting, like no toilet seat, very poor lighting throughout the day, dirty surroundings and a moldy smell. Oh and did I mention NO TOILET SEAT? That one really bothered me. But I had already sent those people my two month deposit.
Just as I was getting ready to move in, a much better offer had fallen into my lap through a friend of a friend from Romania. At the risk of losing my deposit, a substantial amount, I decided to cancel the first offer and go with the second. Thus, I ended up moving to Farum, a small town to the north of Copenhagen.
One of the regular visitors on our balcony in Farum
I had a nice clean room with a balcony and was sharing the lower part of an apartment with a neat and friendly Romanian guy. As for the other offer, well… I never saw my deposit again. Still worth it.
Holiday season
With the holiday season around the corner, I was planning to gift my mom a trip to Copenhagen so we could be together for Christmas. I wanted her to experience arriving in Denmark the same way I had, so a Norwegian Airlines flight from Budapest was the best option. I had also found a decently priced room in the WakeUpCopenhagen hotel, right in the city center. All she had to do was get herself to Budapest a couple of days before Christmas.
At the Little Mermaid statue with my mom
It was around that time that I had bought my second bike. A new one, fresh from the store. It was a simple city bike, but without all the quirks of “Shame“. So from that point on, Shame became the tourist bike I would lend out to anyone visiting me. Sometimes it was also the backup bike whenever my main one had a flat tire. Shame would never disappoint, despite it’s shameful name!
Checking out the Christmas decoration around central Copenhagen
My mom was fairly quickly impressed with her experience, having appropriately flown on the “Hans Christian Andersen” plane from Norwegian Airlines. Old Andersen being one of her favorite authors growing up. She also enjoyed cycling, so Copenhagen’s extensive cycling culture was ideal for her.
Touring the city
During her few days there, I basically wanted to show her around as many places as I could. I would head back to Farum each evening and then take a train to Copenhagen the next morning. By the time I would arrive she would have had time to go through her morning routine, and then we’d have the entire day to cycle around.
Rosenborg castle in The King’s Garden
We toured the Copenhagen Citadel, Amelienborg, Frederik’s Church, The King’s Garden and of course Nyhavn. I gave her a tour of my university campus as well. On another day we cycled all the way to my sanctuary at Charlottenlund beach. I probably also took her around Østerbro to show her where I used to live. It was basically a tour of my life for the past year and a half.
Hans Christian Andersen statue in The King’s Garden
She enjoyed it very much. She also developed an odd love and fascination for canons, which were plentiful around the old city fortifications. Even to this day she gets excited whenever she sees an old canon or artillery piece displayed in a park.
We caught the changing of the guards at Amelienborg
We spent Christmas night in the hotel room. I was hoping to be able to go out for a nice dinner somewhere, but all restaurants were of course closed. The only thing I found open was my favorite Turkish kebab place. So we ended up ordering a pizza from there. A Christmas pizza!
It’s Turkish Christmas pizza time! With some fine wine and decorations
On our last night, we visited Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli is basically an amusement park and my mom wasn’t really big on rides, or anything like that, but she was taken away by the decorations. She was snapping photos left and right at every little corner. Suffice to say, she had fallen in love with Denmark by this point.
A happy mom at Tivoli Gardens
Considering that my mom raves about that Copenhagen Christmas holiday to this day, I would say it was a resounding success.
New Years Eve
After Christmas had passed and my mom left, I went back to my work routine. I had to work on the 31’st of December too, which lasted well into the night. I didn’t make any plans, so at around 10 pm when I was done, I messaged my friends to see if anyone was available to grab a few a drinks in the city for New Years Eve. One of my friends, Carlos, replied.
We met up soon enough and bought some extra strong Carlsberg Elephant beers. I’m not going to go into details, but we ended up having a pretty wild night on the streets of Copenhagen. We even made it to the Town Hall square for the fireworks just in the nick of time!
Those Carlsberg Elephants hit hard!
The next morning I woke up at Carlos’ place with a pounding headache and an adequate hangover. It was an appropriate way to close a triumphant year of success and adventure. One of my best years to date!
It was now June 2016 and summer was upon us in Denmark. My financial crisis was over and I had settled into my new routine, balancing study and work. We were nearing the end of the semester and the onset of summer break. I was happy to take a break from courses and begin focusing on my ambitious one-year thesis project on Iceland. However, this period also triggered a new crisis for me. A housing crisis…
The problem…
In one of my first posts about life in Denmark, I mentioned how difficult it could be to find an affordable place to stay in Copenhagen, especially as a foreign student. The Housing Foundation was a relatively easy, albeit pricey, solution for first-year students. But their contracts would only cover the first year of study, and mine was nearing its end.
I got my two legs to stand on, but now I lost my upper body – Uh oh! – Sculpture from The Glyptotek, Copenhagen
I began looking for other potential dorms, and housing portals a couple of months before the deadline, but this was already way too late. Waiting lists for some of the dorms in Copenhagen had people on them going back over a year. It was absurd!
I was getting tired of the never ending crisis, but it was time to “fight” once more, so head first right into the storm!
I searched through some of the major housing/rental websites too. There were seldom any studio apartments available. If I ever found one, the price would be too steep. Flat sharing was more common and affordable, but even that was hard to come by as demand exceeded supply.
Last, but not least I made sure to spread the word amongst my friends in hopes that they knew someone looking for a flat mate. Luckily I had no shortage of friends. I was also quickly making more friends in Danish language classes. However, it seemed like everyone was looking for a new place to stay…
At least I found the horse – south Amager, Denmark
Cycling and exploring
Potential homelessness aside, things were good. Whenever I had free time and decent weather, I’d get back on my bike and go explore new parts of Copenhagen and its surroundingas. In this regard, I had found a like-minded friend in Danish class: Marios from Greece. On one of our cycling trips we south of Copenhagen to explore the island of Amager.
Cycling along Sluseløbet in west Amager
Amager was a blend of the urban, ultra-modern south-side of the city of Copenhagen bordered by cow and horse filled pastures. A comically stark change back then. Not sure if it’s still the same today. Further south there were a few quiet towns, nice beaches and Copenhagen international airport (Kastrup). All of this within reasonable cycling distance.
Somewhere in Kalvebod Fælled, close to Kastrup airport in south Amager
Dyrehaven
On another occasion we cycled north-east of the capital, to Dyrehaven (Deer park). This was one of my favorite places to go outside of the city. The northeastern coastline leading to the park was gorgeous, especially on a sunny day. At the entrance of the 11 km2 park was Bakken, the worlds oldest working amusement park.
Horseback riding in Dyrehaven, very common across Denmark actually
Dyrehaven was crisscrossed by a web of trails all converging around the center of the park at the royal hunting lodge. On the wide trails we’d zig zag around trekkers, cyclers and the occasional horse carriage. The narrow forest trails were less crowded and way more fun for cycling.
Racing across the park
Across the wide park we’d often encounter groups of deer roaming around the ponds and forests. Every now and again we’d reach the fenced edge, reminding us that we were in a man-made park and not in the wild. For me, this was the one sad thing about Denmark. It’s so extensively developed that there’s barely any patches of wilderness left. At least on the eastern part of the country where I lived and traveled.
It was always a side quest to find the deer whenever I’d visit Dyrehaven
The crisis is over! for now…
Towards the end of June I found myself having a drink with some of my fellow student at the Geobar. I still hadn’t found a place to stay and I was supposed to move out of my dorm within a week. As I sat there complaining and being all mopey, my drunk friend Lasse says out of the blue: “Well why don’t you come live with me, buddy?”. He tells me the price he’s paying and considering the location and size of the place, it was crazy cheap! The explanation was that his uncle owned the place. It was too good to be true.
There’s my shocked expression when Lasse invited me to be his flat mate out of nowhere – The Glyptotek, Copenhagen
I thought he was surely joking; but no he wasn’t… Then I thought he was just saying that because he had one too many drinks at the time… yet, the next day when I brought it up again he was still onboard with the idea. Just like that, my crisis was solved. Well, at least for the time being. We agreed that I’d still be searching for another place while I’d be living with him. Something that would kind of slip my mind after a few months as I became more comfortable there.
Big DONG sticking out in Amager, Denmark
His setup wasn’t really meant for long-term squatters, but I made the best of it. We got ahold of mattress, threw it on the floor in his study room and voila! Home sweet home. Well, sort of. Hey, it worked for the time and by splitting his already low rent, I was saving some good money too!
Another crisis averted, could I actually relax for a change, or was the next one right around the corner?
A travel-packed summer
After settling all of my problems in the first half of 2016, I was ready for a fun, travel-packed summer.
During July, I took a few days to hop over to Germany and see my mom who was visiting our relatives in Wuppertal. All I recall from that trip was visiting this funny park with some quirky modern art and décor. Another thing I recall was that at that time I was already planning to bring my mom over to Denmark for Christmas, so I was building up the hype for that.
Being eaten by a puffy German house – Wuppertal, Germany
Other than Germany, I had two big trips coming up. A two-week field work in Iceland for my Masters thesis and a glorious return to Norway, to visit my good friend Daniel, who had recently moved to Trondheim. It was truly going to be an epic summer. One of my fondest to date!
By the end of April, 2016, my roommate Nao’s student exchange period was over. He was going back to Japan and I was soon to get a new roommate. After his departure, one of the days I come back from university to find a small crew of cleaners on the job, making sure our room was in top shape for the new arrival. Just before I entered my room, I overheard them talking in Hungarian, so I greeted them in Hungarian and we started chatting. After some small talk, I was quick to inquire if their company was hiring students for part-time work. One of the guys, Gyuri recommends I write to his former employer, Inger, who owns a cleaning company, as she’ll usually hire people for part-time work.
The light at the end of the tunnel
I wasted no time and sent an email to Inger that afternoon. I wrote that I was a friend of Gyuri and I was desperately in need of work and looking to prove myself. The next morning I received a reply. She states that they had issues with Gyuri in the past due to recreational drug use and had fired him. So based on this she was very reluctant on hiring any of his “friends”… My man Gyuri had almost gotten me hired and fired at the same time.
The moment you realize the light at the end of the tunnel is a train coming your way
I immediately wrote back to Inger explaining that I had actually only met Gyuri and that he was kind enough to offer me her contact. I threw in some apologies, regrets and a pinch of desperate groveling. Shortly after, she replied that she will give me a chance and called me in for the formal interview.
Finally! After half a year of job searching and job applications I scored something! All thanks to a chance encounter with a couple of Hungarian cleaners in my student dorm.
A quirky job
The interview was smooth and casual. At the start, they gave me a few temporary cleaning gigs as a replacement for some of their regular staff. My first job was a late-night cleaning adventure at a high-end executive employment office. The client was very picky about their spotless cleanliness so I was asked to take extra care. I took my time and spent an extra hour overtime without asking for extra pay, just to make sure everything was perfect.
The fancy executive office next to Amelieborg, where I started my part-time work
My supervisor, Irina was very pleased and tentatively asked me if I could possibly help her with another gig that night. By this time it was past midnight, but I didn’t care. I was up for a late night cleaning extravaganza. We then drove over to this famous Danish sexologist’s office. Irina was telling me how their regular cleaner there was a shy Muslim fellow who was covering his eyes while cleaning for months because of the lewd paintings and sculptures on display all over the place. It was certainly the oddest office I’ve tended to, but luckily we only had to do a basic floor cleaning and trash tiding. No touching the displays and… toys…
The big contract
After a couple of weeks doing these replacement jobs, the cleaning company gave me my big stable contract. I was going to be their main cleaning guy tending to VICE media‘s Copenhagen office.
The beautiful old downtown building housing VICE media’s office on the top floors
It was a huge office space. This was great for me as this one contract perfectly covered the amount of hours I needed per week to be eligible for the SU-grant. Two week-days of 3.5 hours in the evenings and one 8 hour day on the weekend. This was a good stable schedule that I could work with. I would also have Danish language classes on the same weekdays, Mondays and Wednesdays.
Thus began my busy student schedule for the rest of 2016, where during the week I’d have two full days of courses in the morning, Danish classes in the afternoon and work in the evening. In between I’d have my recovery days with just courses and studying and then my working weekend, with potentially one day off to relax and recharge.
A rainy May day at Amelieborg
It was a lot of work, but I felt like I had all the energy in the world. Then when the money from the job and SU-grant started coming in… I felt like a king! I could actually afford things now!
A long time desire
With my financial burden lifted, I rushed to fulfill one of my desires ever since I had moved to Copenhagen: getting a gym subscription.
For years, even before moving to Denmark, I had been trying to get into shape by exercising at home. But I looked forward to the day I could afford to go to a gym and have access to all the crazy machinery and contraptions. This desire only escalated when I moved and noticed there was a big FitnessDK gym (now SATS) next to my dorm in Østerbro.
Railway overpass to Østerbro
Flashback
Sometime during November of 2015, FitnessDK was offering a 1-day for free deal and I convinced my friend Eddy to join me for a few hours of physical exercise. He was mostly interested in improving his cycling stamina, while I wanted to test everything out and do a hardcore full body workout. I treated this like I would any other freebie deal: Need to take full advantage! So I spent almost 3 hours working out every muscle to the limit… this when I had never been to a gym before, nor had I ever been the sporty type.
My whole body was numb after the workout. That night I woke up with severe muscle soreness and my arms folded up like little T-rex hands. The muscles were so tensed up that I couldn’t stretch my arms out. Everything hurt so much that I didn’t leave my room for the next couple of days. I could barely even lift a cup of water without my arm shaking like crazy. Lesson learned…
One of my old gyms in central Copenhagen
When I finally got my gym subscription, I was going to do it the proper way. Slow and consistent. I cycled through a few YouTube fitness channels over the next months until I landed on AthleanX, who I follow to this day. After all these years of continuing this hobby, I can happily say that I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in and won’t be stopping my gym routine anytime soon!
When I moved to Denmark in autumn 2015, one of my plans was to get a foothold in the oil and gas sector in the region and end up moving to Norway. Ever since my uplifting trip to Norway years before, Norway became the promised land for me. I tried to apply to jobs there ever so often and I tried to go study there. In Denmark I felt so close that I could smell the salt water of the Norwegian fjords. Yet as I spent more time adjusting to Danish life it grew on me more and more.
A forest path somewhere around Hillerød, Denmark
After coming back from our geological field trip to Gran Canaria I had gained a new level of respect and appreciation for the Danes and their country. I could now see myself calling Denmark a home for the foreseeable future. Thus, my plans shifted away from Norway and I decided to better integrate into Danish society. The first and main step would be to learn the Danish language. Luckily as long as you have a CPR (local ID card) Danish language classes are free and offered across the country by the local municipality. I didn’t waste any time in signing up and from May 2016 I would being my late afternoon classes at Studieskolen.
Spring cycling
Spring had settled in and the fields and trees began blooming with flowers across the Danish lands. However, April weather was as schizophrenic as it could get. The daily recipe was a couple of hours of warm, beautiful sunshine, followed by half an hour of hail/rain and chilling winds.
On one of the better days I had planned a long cycling trip to the town of Hillerød, 36km north of Copenhagen.
Spring of 2016, Denmark
I was going to visit one of my Danish friends and colleagues, Jesper who lived in Hillerød. This was also my first time venturing well out of the Danish capital to explore new terrain. New places, adventures and things like that always got me excited.
The cycling lane pretty much followed the main vehicle road going north out of Copenhagen, all the way to Hillerød. On the way I got to bike around and explore new neighborhoods of the busy capital, followed by long stretches of calming countryside.
On the road to Hillerød
Patches of green, sprouting forests were often interrupted by small towns and villages. The road also presented three major hills to conquer. Despite what one would expect from a map, the Danish landscape isn’t as flat as you may think.
Hillerød
After a few hours of cycling and sweating, the final stretch of forest revealed the entrance sign to Hillerød. This final bit of the road to Hillerød with its many nature paths and tranquil forest was always my favorite.
The all too familiar gas station at the entrance to Hillerød
I soon met up with Jesper and we walked to the iconic landmark in the town center: Frederiksborg Castle. Built in the early 17th century, this elegant castle served as a summer residence for the Danish royal family for decades before being turned into a museum. With its numerous bedrooms, dining rooms and various chambers, the multistory castle is the largest Renaissance complex in the Nordic region.
Frederiksborg Castle entrance, Hillerød
As impressive as Frederiksborg may have been on the inside, this wasn’t the time for me to explore it. Unfortunately my financial issues turned me into the ultimate penny-pincher. For the time I would only enjoy such places from the outside where they were free of charge. Besides, the castle grounds and outside decorations were probably just as impressive as anything on the inside.
The victory pose returns!
Indeed, the gardens which are open to the public are a must visit to anyone around Hillerød. Some of the best spots include the cascading fountain – a series of terraced pools and waterfalls, the emblematic rose garden and the scenic Lake Slotsø with its family of white swans. Side-note: for some areas like the rose garden, it’s best to visit during the summer when all the flowers are in bloom.
Frederiksborg Castle gardens
My little one day trip to Hillerød was a much needed respite from my daily thoughts regarding increasingly troubling financial times.
The financial front
There was still no improvement on the money front. I believe it was around April when I had to pay the final installment of my rent and I was pretty much out of funds by that point. Despite my newfound ambition and zeal coming back from Gran Canaria, I was still unable to find a job. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to resort to the only person in my family that could help me stay afloat during the time… my geologist cousin living in Canada, Lucian.
Growing up, I had always looked up to my cousin and his successes. Heck, I even chose to follow the same career path as him. I knew that if I ever got into a really tight financial spot, all I had to do was ask and he’d help me out. Still… I really hated asking for help. Call it stubbornness, call it pride, call it whatever you want. This whole thing I was doing by moving to a completely new country and forging my path, I wanted to do it completely on my own. In my view, any outside assistance would just invalidate my one-man mission. However, by the spring of 2016, I was out of options.
As much as I loved my trusty, rusty ‘Shame”, I looked forward to the day I could afford to buy a new bike
I strictly asked my cousin for just the amount I needed to cover my final rent. I was going to take care of the rest myself, I told him. Of course he helped me out immediately.
It would take quite a long time for me to grow out of this prideful mindset. Well… to be honest, I can’t really say if I ever truly have. But at least these days I’ve come to accept that it’s ok to ask for help from others every now and again.
The first month of 2016 passed by quickly with reports and exams. As bad as my financial situation was, I had to brush that to the side for now. My focus was fully on university work. It payed off too. I received good results on my exams. In fact, to my shock, I had even scored close to the top grade in my geochemistry class.
Changing of the royal guard at Amalienborg
Meanwhile we had to sign up for our optional courses in the upcoming semester. One of the options was a field course with my future thesis supervisor Paul Martin. Participants would travel a week to Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands and work on volcanic flows. Most of the trip would be covered by the University. Even with my money issues, this was a no-brainer for me.
On the other hand, there was another fascinating field course that would entail a trip to the USA. However, this would be more costly to the students. As much as I would have loved to sign up, I had to pass. One field course was good enough.
Sanctuary
February started off with a post-exam break. I was back on my job-search duties. I kept on asking around for opportunities and sending out swarms of emails. At one point my strategy became that with every rejection I got, I’d send out another three job applications. It was a number’s game, I thought. Something had to give at some point.
Copenhagen’s winters were generally rainy and grey, but occasionally we’d get a thin blanked of snow
Otherwise I regularly went out on my cycling trips, exploring the city and its outskirts. This was my way of recharging mentally. Just me, my thoughts and my music. I ended up finding this lovely strip of coastline around Charlottenlund, just north of Copenhagen. It had a wide-open beach park and a motte with rusty old cannons pointing towards Sweeden. This place became my sanctuary. My favorite daytime, or nighttime retreat to relax and clear my mind.
My sanctuary: Charlottenlund beach park during fall
Other times I would venture in other new directions within and out of the city. Every time seeking to explore a new place. Mostly parks, or nice neighborhoods. I would have loved to visit some of the castles, or museums, but most of these cost money. So with my tight budget, I had to settle for just the outside views for now.
The winds of change
Sometime around February, Paul Martin called me in for a meeting regarding the Argentina project. He had some bad news. He couldn’t go through with the project that year due to a mix-up at the financial department. As it turned out, he wouldn’t have the necessary funds. He was incredibly regretful and apologetic. Then almost immediately, he offered me another project if I were interested.
Specifically, a fully funded research project for one Master’s thesis, with two-weeks field work together with him in Iceland. I was blown away. I actually had to make an effort to hide my excitement in light of the unfortunate news about the Argentina project. But this? Iceland? Fully funded? One huge financial burden gone and I get to go to freaking Iceland!? Holy shit this was amazing! I immediately accepted and with a huge grin on my face we shook hands.
My financial problems weren’t gone yet, but this was at least one less burden to deal with. A step in the right direction. I could feel the winds of misfortune slowly shifting away.
A rare snowy day in Copenhagen, Denmark
Apart from my routine, the rest of February involved preparations and an increasing anticipation for the upcoming field trip to Gran Canaria in early March.
A taste of the good life
We departed Copenhagen late in the afternoon and by the time we reached Gran Canaria it was already night time. This was my first time going to a subtropical destination, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I mean we all see places like this in pictures and movies, but it’s always quite a bit different experiencing them first hand.
I didn’t get to see much during landing, as it was mostly just a lot of darkness suddenly followed by the glimmering lights of the airport below. Then we entered the terminal, got our luggage and made our way to the basement parking to pick up our rented cars.
Night time view from our hotel room balcony in Gran Canaria
The realization of where I was only started sinking in once we drove out the airport. Warmly lit highways with palm trees stretching along the roads. Luxurious resorts with inviting swimming pools all around. Then our own resort hotel, with elegant rooms and balconies overlooking the gorgeous valley below and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance. Later still, the food… Oh that magnificent food! Each day a different themed buffet diner…
On the surface I was acting all calm and collected. However, on the inside I was so giddy at everything around me! Up until that point, I was never one to really yearn for tropical paradises, but… now I was experiencing one and it was AMAZING!
Day time view from our hotel room balcony in Gran Canaria
I was getting a small taste of the good life. A hypothetical life where financial worries are a part of the past. A life where I could actually afford to enjoy places like Gran Canaria on my own dime. A seed had been planet in my mind. A desire that would later turn into a grand ambition and would once more reshape the course of my life in the years to come.
For now though, I was there. Enjoying the moment and looking forward to the rest of our days in Gran Canaria.
A few years before my decision to move to Denmark, during what I would call my years of stagnation, I had a strange dream. This was perhaps a year, or so after I had graduated from University in Romania. The plans I had fell apart and I was caught in a loop of waiting on other people’s promises. Waiting for some miracle opportunity to fall into my lap.
It was at this point that I had a dream where I seemingly met up with a divine figure. It had no visible face in the dream, just a human-like outline radiating light. In the dream I acted as if this was some great old buddy of mine from past times. I told the figure that things had been quite dull and bleak for a while, and then asked when will things pick up again? The figure then replied “2015”. Then the dream just faded away. I had had all sorts of fascinating, insightful and strange dreams before. But never did I get a response like that to a legitimate question. I didn’t dwell on it too much, but it did leave me with a renewed sense of hope that things will work themselves out.
Waking up to a winter morning in the Danish countryside
I certainly didn’t plan on things going the way they did, but 2015 did indeed end up being the year that changed everything for me. It was toward the end of 2015 that I recalled that old dream. Mostly because a few months before I had another interesting one. In this one I was climbing a steep hill at night in a dark forest. It wasn’t just me alone, there were a bunch of people around me all trying to climb up this hill. It was hard and I kept sliding back constantly. Finally, a tall, smiling, short gray-haired blue eyed man extended his hand and helped me reach the top. It felt like a nice wholesome dream and I didn’t think much more of it at the time.
Knowledge shock
Before I started my studies at KU, I had to choose my specialization. The University offered four options for Geoscientists. I was debating between two of these. One was a sedimentary rock specialization, which was focused towards the oil and gas branch of geology. The other one was is igneous rocks and geochemical processes. This would somewhat touch upon economic geology and the mining industry, but was mostly a purely research oriented path. I thought back to how much I enjoyed the igneous classes from my Bachelors days. Sedimentary I always found a bit dull, but I wanted to keep my options open for practical reasons. I ended up choosing the igneous specialization, but also signed up for the sedimentary classes for my optional courses.
Nordhavn (North port), Copenhagen, seen from somewhere up the north coast
It was the most practical decision. I would give both specs a chance in my first semester and then decide which one I will focus on later. Regarding the igneous specialization, the one thing that I somehow glossed over was the “Geochemistry” part of the title. I was terrible at geochemistry. Not only that, but I severely lacked any good basic chemistry foundation. The result of too many different teachers replacing each other in middle school and high school.
At the start of my first geochem-heavy course called “Core to crust”, my huge knowledge-gap was immediately obvious. I recall our first professor, Robert Frei, stared off the course by quickly scribbling down an equation on the board and just causally stating “Well, everyone knows the decay equation, so…” and he keeps on going. I took a look at this never seen before scribble and my immediate reaction was , “Woah woah woah! What’s “e”? Euler’s number. The mathematical constant “e” obviously. Everyone knows that, right? Yeah… “Right”.
A steep learning curve
The first three weeks of courses at KU were brutal. I was trying to understand. I was listening and focusing during classes more than ever before. But some of the stuff just seemed so advanced to me that it was impossible to understand. My head felt two sizes too big after each geochemistry class. The sedimentary classes on the other hand were way easier to grasp and follow. Yet as frustrating as the geochem class was, it kept challenging and intriguing me. The topics were fascinating and kept me engaged.
A rainy Østerbrogade in Coepnhagen, Denmark
It wasn’t until we had to work in groups and make a presentation based on a scientific article that I finally started getting it. After all my Danish colleagues formed their groups and picked their topics, the two foreigners, Nigel and myself teamed up to take the scraps. I don’t recall the exact topic of the article we got, but I know it took us two solid afternoons to chew through the material. Re-reading paragraphs dozens of times to try to understand what the heck the author is saying. Deciphering scientific sentences word for word at times. Then there were all these “alien” elements that I never heard of. Like Yb… Huh, Yb? Ybbibidium? What? How about Tb? Teletubium? Ugh…
We did our best to present what we learned. A big part of it just felt like the author arguing for some things while acknowledging that it could be this way, or that way, or another way. It turned out to be a great presentation. This was what our professor was trying to show us. How so many of these processes are still not well understood. Yet how researchers keep pushing to find different ingenious, indirect ways to make sense of what we can’t see, or directly measure. It was fine to not understand everything. You just had to continue persevering, asking questions and researching. There were never any wrong questions. Maybe just wrong answers.
Enter the smiling, gray-haired, blue-eyed man
One month in, I was feeling a lot more comfortable in classes. The geochemistry class had won me over. I was now keen on sticking with the igneous rock specialization. The next step was to find an Master’s thesis project and I didn’t want to waste any time. I asked my friend Jasper about any ideas of whom I could talk to. I told him I’d love to work on volcanoes and magmatic processes. He then told me a professor Paul-Martin Holm, who had a project in the Cape Verde islands. Incidentally he was going to present the second part of our geochem class, so I’d have the chance to meet him soon.
Somewhere on a farm in Ballerup, Denmark during winter 2015
There were a few rumors’ coming from some of my Danish colleagues that Paul Martin was this mean professor. That he was very demanding and harsh during exams. The class starts and in enters this smiling, kind looking, tall, gray-haired, blue-eyed Danish man. I didn’t think of it at the time, but in hindsight, he looked eerily similar to the man extending his helping hand in my hill-climbing dream.
The moment we took a break, I walked up to him and introduced myself. I mentioned that I had heard of a potential Cape Verde project he has and that I would be interested. He replied that sadly he already has another student for that project. However, he had this other geochemistry project in Argentina that would require a Master’s student if I’m interested.
Wow… Argentina?! Heck yeah I was interested! But the geochemistry part again… I told Paul Martin I had a severely week geochemistry background and wasn’t sure if it was wise to sign up for a geochem focused project. His reply was “But you can learn!”. Nobody could have given me a better answer in that moment. I felt challenged in the best way possible. I was given a golden opportunity here and it was time to show what I could do!
Just one little problem…
The Argentina project sounded incredible, but there was one little problem for me. It wasn’t entirely covered by Paul’s research funds, so the students would have to pay a portion of the expenses. This was highly problematic given my dubious financial standing at the time. Well, I still had time to find a better paying job, I thought. So, I accepted. This was around mid-October.
Fast-forward to December and how “well” my job-search was going. Add to that the SU-grant rejection and you can now imagine that I wasn’t in the most cheerful of holiday spirits.
A gloomy winter holiday
I had no plans for the school break. I was just sulking in temporary defeat.
At the same time an old high school friend from Romania, Vlad, was living and working on a farm in Ballerup, Denmark. He invited me over for Christmas dinner with him and the farm-owners. So I went over to pay him a visit. We ate and drank, talked and laughed. His employers were very nice people. They even gave me a gift. The topic of a job came up too. They weren’t really hiring, but I also couldn’t exactly take on a full-time farm-job half an hour away from Copenhagen either.
A Danish Christmas dinner prepared by my high school friend, master chef Vlad
Vlad was a good friend. A great friend. He did what he could in his old way to cheer me up. I felt bad for bringing down the mood, but I told him too that it was just a really shitty period for me. As always, I had to dredge through this on my own.
Despite the struggles, it was a wholesome end to a life-changing year
By the time December 31’st had rolled up, I felt I had enough time to recharge mentally. I spontaneously went out with a group of dorm-mates to have a few drinks in the chaotic streets of Copenhagen on New Years Eve. I hyped myself up and prepared for the next year. Determined to fix my financial issues, prove that I could stand on my own two feet and then succeed in my challenging academic pursuits!
On January 1’st 2016, I received the following email from David, the website owner I was writing for:
My last line of income was cut. I burst out into hysteric laughter.
About a month after my arrival in Copenhagen, Denmark, I was comfortably settling into my new life. I now had a solid group of friends, I had a good means of transportation and had become familiar with most of the city. I was also adapting to the steep learning curve at KU. However, time was ticking on my limited finances and the pressure was on to find a local job.
My accommodation was covered for half a year and I was earning a small wage through my online content writing job. This was enough to cover my monthly costs for now. Nevertheless, I had to find a better income to be able to survive long-term.
Statue of famous Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in Rosenborg park, Copenhagen
I had begun asking around about jobs and grant opportunities within my new circle of friends and colleagues. I soon learned about the SU-system that all my fellow Danish students were on.
The SU-system
The Danish SU-system is a state educational grant and loan scheme for people over 18 following a youth educational system and students enrolled in a full-degree program of higher education.
It’s basically a significant government financial support system for all Danes enrolled in Universities across the country. Foreign students are technically not eligible for SU, unless they apply for equal status with Danish citizens. As always, this is easier if you come from an EU member country. You can read more details about applying for SU as a foreign student here.
My road to SU
I began looking into the SU eligibility as soon as I had heard of it. From my research, I found I had to have no other foreign educational support grants and show that my income was meager enough to merit financial aid. Then the SU-grant would be significant enough for me to cover all expenses. It seemed like the perfect solution to my financial problems.
Amazing mural in the courtyard of Sølvgades Elementary school, Copenhagen
The problem was that I had a foreign job with no tax contribution to the Danish state. The only way this could potentially work was for me to open a company in Denmark and register as self-employed. My English colleague and good friend, Nigel who had experience in registering businesses in Denmark helped me set up “Odyssian Translations”. A one-man translation and content-writing firm registered in Copenhagen, Denmark. I was now the official boss! The boss of me, myself and I.
Now I just had to ask the website owner I was writing for to kindly reword some things in our contract agreement so it would all fit with my new company name. He was kind enough to oblige. Of course now my minimal income diminished further because I had to start paying tax on it. Still, with everything in order, I could finally take my shot at applying for SU in November.
Ongoing job-search
Even though I was banking on the SU-grant coming through, I was still adamant on finding a local part-time job. Mostly because any job in Denmark would pay way more than the content-writing income I had. If I had enough time, I could even do both, I thought. So off I went to ask around for jobs.
My frequent bike trips through north-east Copenhagen helped clear my mind
Ideally I would have loved to get a student-job on campus, or maybe an internship at a company relevant to my field. These were ambitious “big balloon” dreams that were unlikely to materialize. The reasons being that these jobs would be limited and require some level of nepotism and, usually, Danish fluency.
The nepotism part really irked me, because I had just left a country where nepotism was the norm everywhere and I was completely fed up with it. I always dreamed of an ideal meritocratic system where one proves themselves objectively based on skill, action and experience. However, when one has little past work experience and there are dozens, or hundreds of similar applicants for one position, the hirer will most often take a subjective approach and choose the one that had been recommended by a friend/colleague.
The problem for me was that this simple reality was colliding with my “do it on my own” mentality. My whole job application process in those months was as much of an internal struggle as it was an external one.
Expanding, adapting
As time passed on and no sweet and easy jobs were coming along, I had to adapt and expand my approach. I had exhausted my options on campus and it was time to broaden the search. Since my main weakness was lack of Danish fluency, I thought to seek out jobs that shouldn’t require it. I began looking up lists of hostels, hotels and other such businesses that would mostly have foreign clients. To most of these I just sent out swarms of applications through online portals, or email. Some of them I went off to visit in person, hoping that the extra personal step could land me a brief talk with a hiring manager.
When all this didn’t seem to work, I stepped it up a notch. I began going from door to door to stores, gas stations, bicycle repair shops and other businesses around me. Whatever I could think of that may offer a part-time job.
Svanemøllen bike-shop where I got my flat-tires fixed up and also tried to get a part-time job later
This, together with my studies became my daily focus in the final months of 2015. As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy. Every rejection was a let down and just made me want to crawl back into bed and forget about all of it. I didn’t though. I simply couldn’t afford to.
In that regard, this multi-month period was quite similar to early 2015 when I had went through the same thing, but with university applications. I kept telling myself that if I had done it before, I can do it again! I was once more conditioning myself to become immune to rejections. The more you reject me the more aggressive I will become in my job search! That was the mentality I had adapted by the end.
The SU decision
Around late November/early December, I received a reply from the state regarding my SU application. It was rejected… The reasoning was absolutely ridiculous: my income was too low to be eligible for SU.
Gloomy, rainy walks in Nyhavn
So a grant meant to provide financial help for struggling students with low income actually had a cap on how low that income can be. Any lower and NOPE! No grant for you! You’re income is now so low that you don’t even register on our radars!
It was sad and frustrating… Everyone I talked to about it was equally dismayed. Yet there was nothing I could do. Even if I contested their decision, the result would be the same because of their rigid “box-mentality” rules. It was now very clear. I HAD to get a Danish job. That was the only way I would get the grant and survive my coming years. However, after a whole year of fighting and struggling, I was mentally exhausted by that point.
There was also another potential financial burden waiting for me the next year. This was related to my newly proposed Master’s thesis project. However, I will elaborate on this more in my next post.
I’ve finally gotten around to writing again and I thought I would continue on my past journey in Copenhagen, Denmark. In this post I will focus on my overall student life and some of the hurdles I had to overcome as a foreign student in Denmark. I hope this post may still be helpful for people today, but do keep in mind I am writing of my experience from 2015, so some things may have changed since then.
The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen, Denmark (spring of 2023)
I’ve already stressed the importance of having a bike in Copenhagen in my previous posts and I’d go as far as saying it’s an essential part of KU-student life in this city. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just a metal frame with a steering handle, a couple of working wheels and ideally some breaks. I, of course had my trusty rust-bucket “Shame” from day two. Without a bike you’d be wasting so much time and money by just traveling between the spread out KU-campuses in the city.
Paperwork
Moving on to everybody’s “favorite” thing in the world… paperwork. No matter how much we hate it, it’s an intricate part of moving and settling down in a foreign country. For EU-member state citizens like myself, the Danish process was fairly easy and straightforward.
The beautiful old Copenhagen Stock Exchange building
The main thing I needed to do after arriving in Denmark was applying for the Danish yellow card (sundhedskort). The yellow card entitles you to medical treatment in Denmark and also serves as a local ID with CPR number, name and address. The card also shows the name and address of your designated doctor. As a foreign student at KU, you could either apply for a yellow card by yourself, or go to a KU-organized yellow card registration event for their students. I did the latter and I ended up in enormous que for the better half of a day before I got to put my name down on a piece of paper. However, once that was done, I received my card in the mail within the following weeks.
Late autumn’s sunset over Frederiksberg Park
The second important document was the student card. Getting this took a bit of campus hopping across the city. This was because most, if not all of KU’s administrative offices are scattered across Frederiksberg campus. My faculty, however, was near city-campus, in the Geocenter building, about a 10-15 minute bike ride away. The process was fairly easy and straight-forward and I got to explore their beautiful Frederiksberg campus at the same time.
With these two pieces of ID, plus my EU-passport, I was pretty much set. At any point in time if I ever needed deal with more bureaucracy I would just head over to the International House Copenhagen. I can’t think of any examples right now, but I remember things usually didn’t take long and went fairly smoothly whenever I went to this place. They also had a free to use printer in the waiting area, which was super handy.
The modern Copenhagen Opera House
Rejsekort
The Rejsekort is Denmark’s main travel card and can be used for busses and trains all over the country. In fact, you can even use a Rejsekort to travel to Malmö, Sweden. I haven’t used busses much, but I did use trains quite often. Especially in my later years, when I lived outside of Copenhagen. Since all of their train cars have designated bicycle spaces, the train plus bike combo pretty much guarantees you can get anywhere around the country. Well, at least around the eastern island of Zealand, where I lived out my years in Denmark. I can’t speak for the west-side. In any case, I find the Rejsekort to be another essential part of life in Copenhagen.
In 2015 getting a personal Rejsekort required a little trip to the central Copenhagen train station. Mostly because of the on-the-spot photo they required. These day’s it might be easier with all the new digitalization. For detailed information on Rejsekort be sure to check out their webpage.
Railway-crossing walkway near Østerport station (spring of 2023)
Bank account
Last, but certainly not least, I needed to open a local bank account. There are several large banking institutions to choose from in Copenhagen. Some of the larger ones include Danske Bank, Nordea, Nykredit and Jyske Bank. After doing some basic research on the internet, I chose to go with Nordea. I never had any issues with them. Whenever I needed some information regarding my account, they were always quick and helpful. For my little student needs, they were an excellent choice.
The imposing Grundtvig’s Church on a late November’s day
As much as I dreaded the paperwork aspect of my move, I had to admit, I was surprised how smooth and fast it all went. Coming from Romania, I was used to having to go everywhere in person, at least three times before having a chance to get anything done. Not to say that there weren’t the rare instances in Denmark too where people would send me from office to office, because nobody was sure of what “box” to fit me in. However, this was rare and generally the Danish system seemed very efficient. I also highly respected their punctuality. For whatever paperwork, appointment, or anything of the like, the Danes were always on time.
Accommodation
I’ve covered the primary paperwork and transportation aspects of life in Denmark, but as a student there’s another organization you’ll likely have to deal with. Namely, the Housing Foundation.
Let me start by pointing out that finding decent accommodation in Copenhagen as a foreign student can be an extremely lengthy and painful process. Prices are very high, so most student’s won’t be able to afford a studio apartment for themselves. Then, apartment sharing requires either having friends who can vouch for you, or registering for an accommodation service like Boligportal. Even then, most people looking for a flat-mate will want to meet you in person before considering accepting you as a tenant. This is obviously impossible when you’re looking to move to Denmark from abroad.
Hellerup neighborhood, Copenhagen
That leaves you with student dorms. Now, to me, the dorm situation in Copenhagen was always a bit confusing. To my understanding, all dorms are private, not owned by the university centers, so each dorm has its own application and selection process. Some dorms are clearly focused on certain faculties, being closer to a certain campus. So you need to know ahead of time where your campus will be and what dorms are in the area. Then you can apply and expect to be told that unfortunately there are no available rooms for the year, or that you have not been selected for the available rooms.
Your second option regarding dorms is to register for a waiting list website like KAB. Here you are expected to sign up at least one year in advance of your stay, before you know if you’ve even been admitted to a study program. Then if you’re lucky you might get a spot in a dorm in the next 2-3 years. It’s fantastic.
Old residential buildings near my student dorm in Østerbro neighborhood, Copenhagen
The Housing Foundation
Your last resort is the Housing Foundation. This organization is linked to and advertised by the University of Copenhagen, but to my knowledge they are a separate entity altogether. Again, I am not 100% clear on the way this works, but from my and some of my fellow student’s experience these guys lock down a certain number of rooms from various dorms across the city. Then they offer these to first-year students at a higher price. A bit douchy, but considering the lack of options as a first year foreign student, you don’t really have much of a choice. Oh yeah, they also ask for three-months worth of rent as a security deposit, which is super harsh when you come from a poor country.
Another thing is that they’ll also potentially attempt to withhold some, if not all of your deposit for whatever reason they can find. Usually this will be related to cleaning. If you didn’t leave your rented bed/area/room in pristine perfect condition when you leave, they will keep some of your security deposit for cleaning costs. In some cases I heard they expect you to repaint the walls before you leave. Now I don’t want to vilify the Housing Foundation too much, because apart from the ridiculously high rent I payed for a bed, I haven’t had any issues with them. I even got my full deposit back because I had heard of their practices, so I made sure everything was spotless. However, most of my fellow foreign students had a lot of problems with them.
Rain clouds over Copenhagen harbor
To summarize my thoughts, it’s fine to use the Housing Foundation as a student during your first year in Copenhagen. Just be sure you can pay your rent on time and take extra care when you leave your place so they don’t have any reason to keep your security deposit.
Cafes, bars and events
All I’ve talked about so far in this post is work-work-work. But a student needs a place to relax and hang out after dealing with all of the above. Luckily, KU has that covered. Each campus has their own student gathering places. I can only talk about the ones I frequented, which were Studenterhuset in city campus and STENO and the Geobar in the Geocenter.
I’ve mentioned Studenterhuset in my previous post as being one of our favorite meet-up places in Copenhagen. Studenterhuset is located in the heard of the city, near the old KU administrative building. The drinks and snacks are generally cheaper than in most other bars and they offer various events and activities like concerts, dace sessions, yoga and flea markets. The vibe is great and best of all, it’s so near to central museums, castles, parks and, of course, the Geocenter.
Rosenborg castle and park in the heart of Copenhagen
Located a stone throw away from the Danish national gallery, the Geocenter is… well, was my little student home away from home. It’s a large building complex that houses the Geoscience faculty of the University of Copenhagen, as well as the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland and… the GEFION high school? Yeah that last one’s a bit weird, but yes, indeed the Geocenter is also home to a high school. Segregated into its three different wings, the Geocenter is where I had my daily classes, labs, exams, thesis writings and down right fun for a big portion of my time in Denmark.
The Danish national gallery (spring of 2023)
The Geocenter
Within the Geocenter, we had two main student hang-out places: STENO and the Geobar. Named after a famous Danish geologist, STENO is a student organization for geologists. They have study rooms, meeting rooms and a kitchen area and host various events throughout the year. However, most of the events and talks are held in Danish, which is totally understandable as foreign students are a small minority. Despite that, I did go to a couple of their dinner nights and the atmosphere was great!
Main hall in the Geocenter with that weird magnetic pendulum that was broken for years
Finally, there’s the Geobar. A bi-weekly Friday-bar held in the Geocenter, the Geobar is hands down the cheapest imaginable bar in the entire city of Copenhagen. You wanna have one drink and chill with friends? Go to Studenterhuset. You want to get shitfaced? Go to the Geobar! It has worn out couches and beanbags, a foosball table sticky with last week’s spillage and a stale smell that will sick with you for the rest of the night. It’s grunge-central and I loved it!
Each time I went to the Geobar the evening would start out super chill with a few colleagues and friends and then it would explode into a huge late-night party tentatively spreading into the hallways. Also, since it’s off the beaten path of the main campuses, not many students know about it. So it’s kind of this hidden gem, tucked away in the Geocenter.
The old grungy, nostalgic Geobar
Anything else?
Aside from the obvious studies, there’s one more crucial part of a student’s life in Denmark: a job. Yep. A job. It might sound normal to some and strange to others, but in an expensive city like Copenhagen, you really want to have a part-time job if you’re a student. However, this is a lengthy topic and I want to address it in its own separate post.
For now, I hope you enjoyed my walls of text and random Copenhagen photos and I will see you in the next post!
