Flash Guide to Aarhus for Ellen and Olga

Yesterday, the first meetup after the summer of the University International Club of Aarhus University took place in ARoS. Twelve expats in Aarhus (among which two Danes) were there and shared fun and information.

With two women, Olga and Ellen, I embarked on a conversation about finding work in Aarhus. I promised to send some links to them. Later, I thought 'Why not share it on my blog, so others can read it, too?'

So here goes. Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments, and I'll add them to this list.

Organisations and groups that are helping newcomers in Aarhus

International Community
Sponsored by Aarhus Municipality and Erhverv Aarhus, of which the latter is the organisation of entrepreneurs in Aarhus, it goes out of its way to make your 'landing' in Aarhus as smooth and informative as possible. They know all about the practicalities of settling in, and if they don't, they have a network to help you along. They also organise events for socialising among expats.

UIC - University International Club
Is the social branch of the International Center of Aarhus University. It meets weekly and organises presentations and (informative) events about all things Danish. A big plus is that internationally minded Danes are joining, too, so you can tap their minds on the weirdest questions, like how to find a good Peugeot garage, where is a good jeweller, who is a good child-psychologist that works in English ...
Furthermore, it organises an International Playgroup, and Language Buddies for learning Danish - look here for more UIC-activities

Meetup Aarhus - Aarhus Internationals
Is an international concept for expats finding each other abroad - they also organise events.

InterNations
Is a network I haven't explored.

Arriving in Denmark and being an expat

ExpatinDenmark.com
Is the digital, national version of International Community, so to speak :-) Good for a broader perspective. they also go 'on tour' and organise events in denmarks bigger cities, often in co-operation with, in Aarhus' case, International Community.

Your Danish Life
Is a magazine, both digital and on paper, about building up your Danish life in Denmark. Available at the 7-Eleven at the main train station, and at Kristian Møller Boghandel on Store Torv (this bookshop also has a good English section)

A blog I particularly like is Life in Aalborg


Learning the language

Lærdansk
Is the place to start your Danish lessons. It's free for every newcomer who has a residence permit. Sadly, they have a waiting list of eight weeks! So much for hitting the ground running...
Lærdansk also teaches courses at the university campus, especially aimed at university employees. So without having to trek around the city, you can follow a Danish language course right after work. Hard, but worth the investment. See also UIC Language Buddies.

Once I gave a presentation about learning Danish - I have copied here the (shortened) blog version.


Finding work

WorkinDenmark organises workshops where you can rewrite your CV and cover letter the Danish way. These are very useful, not in the least because they also explain how the Danish labour market works.

Job Center is the first place you will be sent to when looking for work. More often than not, they'll tell you to start learning Danish first. their website is in Danish only, too. True, learning Danish is almost a job in itself, but in my opinion it is a bit sad that momentum goes out of your career by moving over here. Also, it's not true. There are foreigners who have found jobs in Denmark while speaking English mostly. This is not only because there are workplaces where the working laguage is English, but also because it is a matter of offer and demand. If you have special talents and competences, there is always a solution. Finally, the Danish authorities are very keen on people finding work, and there are special arrangements for foreigners, too. Ask for it. Even in English.

The way to find a job in Denmark is through your network. Anybody can be part of your network: your tennis partner, your neighbour, someone in your language class, the mother of your daughter's friend in school, people you meet at Aarhus Meetup socials... Be aware of that, and start thinking like a networker - seeing opportunities for others in your network.

Also, find professional networks in your field. You can also join The Bridge Project, a network group of foreigners in Aarhus trying to find work. See also The Bridge Project (TBP) on LinkedIn (you'll have to join the group first, though) and The Bridge Project on Facebook (public)

Also, consider joining service clubs like Lions or Rotary. There is a special International Rotary Aarhus Chapter, where the main language is English.

Another interesting network is AarhusToastmasters


Starting your business

For many newcomers, starting up a business can be a good plan. If you want to offer translation and editing services (an option for many native English-speaking expats), being a 'selvstændig' (independent = freelancer) makes sense.

But you can also explore this trail in order to find out for yourself, what you have on offer. Thinking of yourself as a 'shop' or business can unleash a creativity that is helpful for defining your Unique Selling Points :-)

Startvækst Aarhus  has an English website and offers support in English, too. Sometimes there are mentor schemes, where you get assigned a mentor who can be your sparring partner. Furthermore, they organise networking events, too.

The StartUp Digest has also a lot of networking events on offer. You can tailor it to your own needs and preferences.


Where to find Real Danish People to be friends with?
So far, most of the links are to expat-community activities. If you want to make friends with Danes, you have to venture out to where they are. But that's another story :-)

Again, if you think that there are links and activities lacking in this overview, feel free to comment and I'll add your suggestion!

Robert Schuman wants your vote!

Robert Schuman, 'Père de l'Europe' and co-founder of the European Coals and Steel Community (EU forerunner)

Well, actually it is Karen Melchior who wants you to vote. This is the story.

I was cold-called, last Friday. Or rather cold-emailed. Someone mailed me, someone called Karen Melchior, and she drew my attention to the fact that foreigners - EU-citizens, that is -  can register to vote for the European Parlement. The deadline for registration is 22 april, did I know that?

No, I didn't, and I did not know her either. In fact, I felt a little bit spammed, but instead of throwing away her mail I mailed her back. Because I was curious about the why and how of her e-mail. And also because I felt SO tempted to click on the link in her mail. But clicking on links in mails from persons you don't know, is the grown-up version of following the man who promises you candy. You don't do that.

So I wrote a very short mail, and did not expect much out of it, other than it being bounced.

But no. Within twenty minutes, I got a reply, in which she apologised for spamming and explained that the tempting link in fact was a link to the site of the Ministry of Economy and Internal Affairs, showing how you can register tor vote in Denmark as a European citizen. And the reason she mailed me, was that she had read my blog.

That flattered me right into outer space, of course. So now I am spamming you with a call to come out to register and vote – if you are a European citizen, that is.

Sad thing is that I cannot vote in Denmark myself. I, as a dutiful Dutch citizen, have already registered to vote in Holland, by letter. It was more of a democratically inspired Pavlov-reaction than a well-considered political deed – which realised when I received the Danish registration papers in the mail. Then it dawned on me that it was perhaps a better idea to vote for Danish candidates. After all, I live in Denmark. But then again, we are all one big European family. Or are we? But I digress...

So please register, in your own country or here, and vote. And if you are casting your vote in Denmark, you might consider voting for Karen Melchior. I can't.

Do I hear the sound of plaintive Anglosaxophones?

I love language. I love learning foreign languages. Having said that, I can sometimes get extremely upset about language issues. One that gets me going anytime, anyplace, anywhere, is

”I cannot express myself as I wish in Danish. If I really have something important to say, I will speak in English because I cannot convey all the subtleties that I want to communicate in Danish.”

This is a real, deeply felt problem for almost all foreigners in Denmark. Or, for that matter, for any foreigner in a country with a language that is not his – or hers.

So I don't want to play down the problem. But really, that is the destiny of being a foreigner: having to fumble in a language that is not your own, however much you may be at ease with it. And in it.

Danish only

There's also the opposite: Danes who, even though they can speak some English, refuse to do so. They are afraid of making mistakes, I guess. Or they want to make a point - most often a nationalistic one.

To a certain extent I can accept that. It's a free country. But I get furious when I hear that civil servants at Skat, the Danish tax service, refuse to speak English to callers who called to a special phone number, designated to calls in English! And that for a public service! From my 'skattekroner'! Why on earth bother having special phone numbers for that, Skat?

Sorry, I got carried away.

I can also accept, to some extent, foreigners in Denmark who refuse to speak Danish at work. They consider that it is better to maintain a professional position as a relative outsider not speaking Danish, than to try to talk professionally in Danish and sound like a five-year old. Speaking Danish that way would undermine their professionality, they say, and they are probably right. Also, it takes quite some time to build up a vocabulary that is extensive enough to communicate professionally.

Fine. But don't come and complain to me about those cold Danes if you don't even want to make an effort to speak Danish (and the idea that you make friends at work in Denmark is another fallacy - read here).

English only?

But what I find really hard to accept are English native speakers who refuse to speak Danish because they cannot express themselves as they mean in that language, so they keep on talking English. To them I have a question and an observation. The question is: what gives you the right to put the Dane you are talking to in precisely the position you so desperately want to be out of – the one who is stumbling, looking for words, feeling uncomfortable?

And the observation is: welcome abroad! This is what living abroad is all about for the rest of us non-Anglophones! Do you really think speaking English has grown on me overnight? Don't you think I feel silly making mistakes, in both Danish AND English? Don't you think we sound different and more at ease in our own languages? Oh, and another thing: do you really mean it when you are paying me a compliment for my 'excellent' English – or are you doing the polite English thing?

*grumble*

I tried to tell all this, as politely as I could, to an Anglophone who innocently told me he did not speak Danish with Danes in certain situations, thereby unwittingly setting off all the alarms. Of course I tripped over my words doing so, and accidentally called Anglophones... Anglosaxophones. Thereby proving my point in several ways: speaking and thinking in a language that is not your own tends to make you trip over your words. And you tend to make a fool of yourself, even if you try very hard not to.

He and I laughed it off, and it became a running gag between us. Anglosaxophones. It has a, well, kind of special ring to it.

What's love got to do with it?

It took me Lærdansk, a friend and a Danish philosopher (Anne Marie Pahuus) to realise how much love enters in the equation that made us end up here in Denmark.

First Lærdansk.

Almost every foreigner ends up in Lærdansk in order to, well, learn Danish. One day, my fellow student Christine and I let our thoughts wander about various subjects, such as Danish integration policy, and why we are here - in Denmark, that is.

We concluded that we, and each and every one of our class mates, were here for love. Either because we fell in love with a Danish citizen, or with a partner we decided to follow, because this person's work required her or him to come here. Imagine that: a classroom full of love!

Then the philosopher, Anne Marie Pahuus.

She published a book on love in the 'Tænkepause' series of Aarhus University Press, and recently presented her work for an audience of expat partners in University International Club at Aarhus University (all this while holding her youngest daughter on her hip). She took us on a whirlwind tour of philosophy and literature, touching upon the works of philosophers like Plato and Kierkegaard and authors such as Milan Kundera.

In other words, it got really philosophical and up-in-the-air, and as she was talking, all of a sudden I fell to earth so to speak, and the conversation I had with Christine came to mind. Again I found myself sitting in a room full of love – expat partners who have ventured out with their loved ones, out into the unknown, and they were all gathered here, in a sterile-looking seminar room in Aarhus.

It struck me that love was represented as a sort of end product, but can that be true? As far as I am concerned, no. Something changes in the relationship when a couple moves to another country, something having to do with balance. Usually, the move is for the direct benefit of one of the partners, while the other one's benefits are not always that straightforward to describe. That does things with you – and with your loved one.

Also, the new circumstances make that the two of you develop yourselves. Sometimes in unforeseeable ways. That can be scary – let's be honest about that (I can be, eh, LOUD). But it can also be exhilarating, resulting in a giddy feeling of success, and a strengthening of the bond between you and your loved one.

So the choice for being an expat comes from love, and the choice itself influences the love that made it happen. That's scary, too...

Wait. Could it be that philosophy is contagious and I just wrote down something philosopical?!

I'll stop immediately and do something down-to-earth, like running away to buy my sweetheart some chocolate and roses. It's Valentine's Day anyway.