It has been over month since I’ve been back from Copenhagen, and I’ve been meaning to type up my thoughts regarding that trip. I stayed in Copenhagen, Denmark for a month because my husband was there for work. This was the first time I had been to this part of the world and it was exciting!

Here are some observations and reflections from this trip:

Biking

By no means am I an amazing biker, but I’ve biked in China and in the Netherlands and thought I had seen it all. Wow, I was so wrong… Biking is one of the most common forms of transportation in Copenhagen, and the Danish are the fastest bikers I have ever seen. They literally whiz past you with record speed as if they were in the Tour de France. Also they completely disregard all traffic rules and perform dangerous actions, such as riding on the sidewalk, running red lights, crossing diagonally at an intersection even if the light isn’t for them. It is astonishing that there are not more bicycle related injuries in this city.

Customer Service

As an American, I completely relate to expats who complain about the lack of customer service in the Netherlands but you have not experienced bad customer service until you go to a Scandinavian country. I spent a weekend in Stockholm, Sweden and received the worst customer service ever. My group had waited over 45 minutes for food and when we asked a waitress about it, she angrily answered “It will get here when it gets here.” Wow… so enjoy the lack of Dutch customer service, at least they aren’t sassing you.

Food

Surprisingly, Copenhagen is a foodie town. Some of the biggest names in cooking and best restaurants are in this town. It is also the birth place of the Nordic food movement, which can only be summed up as some of the craziest things you will ever consume. Also, everything is bloody expensive. Want to spend $500 USD eating moss, this is your town!

Happiness

The Danes have been voted the happiest people in the world, and when I asked a local Dane about this, she replied “it depends on how you measure happiness” with a frown on her face. So the country with the happiest people aren’t really that happy either, they may have less to worry about because they have health insurance and social benefits but they still struggle with daily things like bad weather and high cost of living.