One Month on...

I guess the fact that I have stopped writing every day and even every week is a sign that perhaps I am settling in.

Maybe I'm getting complacent, just accepted my situation, just too busy with work or perhaps it's actually not that bad? The jury is still out on that point. What I have decided to do is to try and summarise my experiences into topics which may assist other expats moving over to Copenhagen.

At the moment I'm thinking of a few blogs on;

• Arriving in Copenhagen - your first days
• Finding a place to live - a brief overview of areas on first impression
• Public Transport - how not to get shouted at or fined!
• Keeping the costs down - how to live reasonably in Copenhagen at the start and still have a little fun :)

If anyone has ideas or requests please let me know and I'll try my best to oblige!

At the moment I am flying back to the Netherlands, which I still look forward to and yes - I still feel like Netherlands is my home and not Copenhagen.

The Bose QC35

New Toy! 

Oooo… first impressions… nice, good quality build, noise suppression is as good as the QC25, but I seem to be getting some breaks in the music from the Bluetooth connection in my phone. But this could be more to do with the Huawei phone I have rather than the headphones (I’ll review that a different time).

It’s only been a week now since I have had the phones. But so far I’ve used them on planes, busy sidewalks and crowded metro’s and they seem good. I haven’t had a chance to try the mic yet in any environment so will probably update on this after a couple of months.

The battery life seems good and the 20 hours billed in the marketing seems to be true.

All in all so far I would recommend this especially for frequent travellers. One of my complaints with most phones was the cable, especially getting long cables tangled on seat handles and in my jacket. This total removes this.

Look for a further more detailed review soon!

Week 3 - Should I start scratching off days on the wall?

Three weeks and it's still feeling a bit like a prison sentence and I can't help but thinking it shouldn't. I'm still disappointed at every turn. From finding out that you need to "earn" vacation over a year before you actually get your vacation entitlement the next year to finding out that the online banking uses an archaic paper based code system.... seriously!

I am also starting to learn that for a Scandinavian country there is a little more racism than I expected to see lurking in the shadows. You can sometimes feel it in the background and it's not a comfortable feeling. By contrast I have never felt this in 15 years of living in the Netherlands.

There is more and more that surprises me here and I wait everyday to finding out more. The apartment hunting and specifics to renting here are also quite interesting and probably worth a separate article when I get a little more time and complete the process. First and foremost it is expensive. Expect to have to provide 3 months security deposit, plus at least the current months rent in advance. Heat and Water are on top of any rental quoted, but you pay that at a fixed amount with your rent and the account is reconciled for these up or down yearly. Like I said a separate article for any fellow expats coming over.

I'm flying back to the Netherlands today for a weekend visit and can't say I am too upset. I am really hoping I grow to like it here.... but I find that difficult to believe at the moment :-/

2 Weeks - (Sunday) OMG the cost!

I'm in shock! I am used to going out at least for a drink on weekends and this weekend I have fallen off my chair almost twice!! On Friday two glasses of wine came to 110DKK which equates to nearly 15 Euros... for two small glasses!!!!

Then on Saturday we went to a restaurant we would consider mid range and a little trendy anywhere else in the world. Two glasses of wine, two pizza's and some tap water ended up costing 90 Euros once the tip was factored in at 10%....... so looks like life in Copenhagen will consist of work, metro and drinking in the confines of the apartment. Can't say I am overly happy about this.

Still considering that this life move has not been my best decision to date.

What I am really very interested to understand is how wine in these Supermarkets is the same price roughly as in the Netherlands but how a drink in a bar or restaurant is like 100% more!

At the moment I can not understand (a) How the Danes actually live here and (b) How they came out as the happiest people...... something is not computing... perhaps I am missing something?

Enjoy the Pizza (below)

Day 4 - (Tuesday) Getting used to it

Tuesday morning and the daily morning shower ritual in the dinky bathroom which soaks the entire place doesn't seem so bad anymore. 

I'm even getting extra exercise, squatting afterwards to squeegee up all of the water and wipe off the floors and tiles around the sink. The cleaning is down to a 5 minute after shower process that I now do without a thought. 

I can understand a little now - if you've lived with this kind of bathroom your entire life, how you would not even see the problem... people adjust and adapt I guess.

Time for work... let's see how today pans out. I think I may need to start cutting back on Blog Posts soon when I start running out of things to complain about :-) :-)

Day 3 - (Monday) A place to live

Outside it is 8:30AM and grey.... let's see what the day brings...

... well the day has been grey and drizzly weather wise and now at 10PM I've had the whole day to reflect, and a little light started to emerge out of the weekend's worry that I had made the wrong choice. Assisted by my trip to the office to meet my new employers. It reconfirmed that I had made this choice for some solid reasons to start with. In this case, that the Company I was moving to was a more human one than those I have been working for previously.

So with that little glimmer of hope I started to rethink my general attitude and with my initial negativity held at bay, I believe I may be (don't hold me to it) on my way to seeing this through with a more positive attitude.

After my little talk at work, and my partner hammering into me the logic that I was perhaps comparing apples with oranges by looking at the suburbs of Copenhagen against Utrecht :-D  , I decided to consider some of the areas we had visited and also take on board some of the advice offered by other expats at work.

With all this, I think we may be considering as top of the list the area of Islands Brygge. From what I hear there is a younger professional community here and newer apartments. Now hopefully there will be some within my budget available.

For anyone else moving to Copenhagen some consideration on cost which can be a little different from other places. Generally the deposit you have to pay is 3 months and there is sometimes a 1 to 3 months of prepaid rent also held and finally the current months rent. So all in all you need to consider having between 4 and 7 months of rent in hand in order to even consider getting a place.

Oh, and I also finally decided to try out the dreaded Lebara Prepaid SIM cards. Will keep everyone informed how we get on with this. Initially it was 50DKK for the card and 99DKK for 30GB data and some talk and SMS time - valid for 30 days.

Day 2 - Sunday

Woke up and what a beautiful day! Blue sky, the sun is out. It is surely going to be great!

I have a few things I wanted to do today. First on the list was to get a Prepaid SIM card. That should be easy enough you would think. But no. Not here unless you want Lebara or LycaMobile and I have not heard good things about them. So I learn that Telia is the only Danish Provider who still sells prepaid cards. And they do, because you can get top-ups at every kiosk or 7-11… but can you actually find a place to buy the physical SIM card (including the Telia Store)? No. I have no idea how you get your hands on one yet. And to get a subscription you need not only an address but a Danish Social Security number in hand and mine is still being processed. Fun.

Next on my list was to go and see some potential areas to get my final apartment that I hope not to move out of till I leave. This went better as we managed to buy a travel card, charge it up and see a few locations. So far the area around Orestad and down to Islands Brygge is by far the type of location and housing that seems to suit my outlook.

End of the day still disappointed. Things are more difficult than I expected and the same Dutch organisation and happiness just does not seem to be here.

Tomorrow is another day and the only thing I can hope is that all this is just part of the teething of moving countries and getting used to it. I hope…. for some reason I do not remember moving to the Netherlands being so difficult.

Day 1 - Saturday

Arrived in Copenhagen. I’ve been here before but am apprehensive. For some reason coming over for a permanent job just seems more final. Even though it is not. I am still keeping my ties to the Netherlands as eventually I hope to go back “Home”.

Get through the airport with no issue. It is small and seems distinctly not in the Danish Design mentality I would have expected. I had not paid attention to this when I came over on a vacation but now it seems to strike me more.

Whilst waiting for the luggage I decide to visit the mens room, and am immediately disappointed further. It is old, in need on maintenance, dirty and not what I would have expected….. again projecting based on my experiences in the Netherlands. I am beginning to wonder if I have made the right decision…

The taxi ride to the temporary AirBNB accommodation is uneventful and actually cheaper than I expect. The 15 minute ride only costs me 160 Kroner.

The apartment though is completely another question. It is on the forth floor, no elevator and I have to lug up 5 suitcases – we are coming over to stay for a few years after all. I already dread the thought of having to take these back down and to the next apartment in 5 days times!

Inside the apartment I find more surprises. The apartment is nice enough… but not what I would consider clean. And the bathroom… well let’s say the shower is nothing like what I would have expected in the civilised western world. I learn from a friend however that the crammed bathrooms and shower wedged into a corner above the sink (see the photo) is a standard for Denmark.

I am tired now but need to go out to at least get some food. The area we are staying in for me is now the next disappointment (Amagerbro). Near the Metro and supposed to be a nice area reasonably priced. I found the area to be of the same atmosphere as some areas of the UK that I hate with a passion and the prices… at least for the AirBNB to not be really reasonable. For cheaper I got what can be considered a luxurious apartment in Utrecht from AirBNB. This one was just pretty on the outside.

So far not a good start and I am extremely disillusioned with my decision to move. Not good. Not at all. Anyway time to go to bed and try again tomorrow.

Copenhagen - Why Move?

Just arrived in Copenhagen for a new job. After many years as an independent consultant, I decided to bite the bullet and accept a permanent job.

This blog (or at least the My Move to Copenhagen Labelled blogs) is going to be (I hope) a view into the day to day life of getting settled in a new country. And hopefully will provide some info, enjoyment and general amusement to some people out there.

A little background first. Mid fourties, been through my midlife crisis early, multiple time from 35 onwards at various times. A professional in the banking industry, which by the way is the most boring job possibly on the planet – but it pays the bills and I think I may be too old to be retrained now in any case J These blogs help to keep me doing something different and my brain functioning. I have been living in, and resident in the Netherlands so am hoping that Denmark has a similar attitude and lifestyle.

The Internet of Things - Nest Thermostat

Just had a Nest Thermostat installed in the house. It's been a few days now. Still early days to tell if it is likely to save more money or energy than a standard thermostat. But what I can say it is pretty cool! I love being able to have the have the ability to turn down the temperature when I am out and have it back on when I return home! It looks pretty cool too :-)

What I am waiting to see is how well it will learn our habits at home and how quickly the house warms up etc and how it will apply this. I'll update here after a couple of months on this front.

One thing I do want to check out is using IFTTT (IF This Then That) to see about incorporating Geo-Fencing for example with the Thermostat.

I am hoping for fairly big things from this and I hope I do not get disappointed like I do normally with so much of today's "advanced" technology.

Moon over Edinburgh

A month after the Neato

It's been about a month now after I purchased and started using the Neato Robotic Vacuum cleaner. How is it doing? Still fine and I am still very impressed. The little vacuum has significantly reduced the amount of time spent cleaning the floors and the whole apartment just constantly feels cleaner under foot. The only additional cleaning is ones every other week I go round the edges with a normal vacuum cleaner - which takes all of 5-10 minutes.

It's scheduled to run every other day and this keeps the apartment spotless. Very very impressed but little features of the cleaner such as returning to it's base to charge and if not completed it will return and start cleaning from where it left off once fully charged again. It also has managed to get out of some very tight situations all on its' own!

I can highly recommend this little gadget!!! now all I need is a robot mop with all of the same functionality :-)