Last weekend I went to see Prince perform in Copenhagen, along with several thousand other Copenhageners. It was a beautiful, long day of performances with fantastic weather and great energies, culminating in the man himself coming on stage later in the evening and giving an amazing show. Unfortunately, about an hour into his concert torrential rains came pouring down all of a sudden, forcing the crowds to flee the premises and bringing the concert to an abrupt end. As we made our way back to the metro with all the others, I was struck by the good spirits shown by everyone around us – no-one seemed to mind that Prince’s concert was cut short or ‘ruined’ by the weather. Instead, they all seemed to think it was quite an experience!
At that point my partner made what I thought was a very Danish comment: “how lucky we are that the rain only came towards the end of the day” he said. I never cease to be amazed by the Danes’ capability to see the glass half full and ascribe positive interpretations to otherwise unfortunate situations. But the really shocking thing was my own feelings at that point – I completely agreed with him! Here I was, not for a minute upset or annoyed by getting soaking wet and missing out on the better part of a show I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. Could it be that Danishness is slowly creeping up on me?
This made me think about another recent experience – a visit my parents made to Copenhagen several weeks ago. As I was showing them around town I suddenly found myself eager to show off certain parts of the city, while talking up various aspects of Danish culture and society. How can it be that within such a short period of time I’ve developed some form of national pride in my host country?
It didn’t start out that way, to be sure. About a year ago, a little after I moved to Denmark, I saw the Newsweek report of the ‘world’s best countries’ (where Denmark made no. 10), and read an article there titled “Why cold, dark, small, and depressive nations top the rankings”. Being a cynic the headline was enough to attract me to the article, but obviously being a newly-arrived resident of one of these small, cold, dark and depressive countries (let’s face it – it’s the truth) was another big reason to read it. The article never provided me with any real answers to my questions, but it appealed to my own ambivalence about life in Denmark.
In the year that has passed I have written 23 blog posts (13 in Politiken, 10 in another publication) about my trials and tribulations as a newcomer in Denmark, talking about my likes and dislikes here, but most of all about my many head-scratching moments. And I have no doubt experienced a lot here, including even an expat dinner at which I happened to sit next to the current integration minister Søren Pind as he was trying to convince me how much he actually wants foreign professionals to move to Denmark (I believe him, but I’m not sure he’s going about it in the right way). I met scores of foreigners and Danes and talked endlessly with others about the state of affairs in Denmark today, its society, culture, politics and people, its fear of the unknown and the many other inconvenient truths about the happiest people in the world.
But as I now sadly bring my blog to an end in order to focus on my day job as a consultant, I have to be honest and say that with all my criticism and frequent annoyances – I must admit that Denmark is getting under my skin. In a good way. Don’t get me wrong – I still have my issues and doubts about Denmark and its future. One thing I’ll certainly never get used to is the tax ideology of this country (god knows how the Danes can accept the oxymoron of ‘skat’ – the Danish word meaning both ‘tax authorities’ and ‘sweetie’. I’m sorry but there’s nothing sweet about taxes!) I also tend to think that Denmark confirms what Daniel Bell, the famous sociologist, once said: “as the welfare state expands, it can eventually undermine people’s willingness to take risks or look after themselves”. I do often feel that the Danish model of high taxes and state support has resulted in reduced motivation and a general risk aversion among many Danes.
Despite all that, I think this country has got many things right: from its value system to its education system, from its beautiful design to its cultural contentedness. And yes, that part about seeing the glass half full is a big plus, too. I don’t even mind the funny smorgasbord called ‘brunch’ in the Copenhagen cafés anymore (a far cry from what I’m used to as brunch in New York). I guess even a cynic can fall for a new country.
