drue wilding

Jeg er i et rigtigt mærkeligt sted, hvor jeg har teoretisk et CPR nummer, men jeg ved ikke, hvad det er! Albertslund Kommune ringede til mig på fredags for at fortælle mig at mit CPR nummer kommer i posten til mig. Det var meget venlig af dem.

Så ringede jeg i morges til Skattekontoret for at bede om et Skattekort. Med lidt overtalelse kiggede de i deres system (min fødselsdato og mit forenavn var tilstrækkelige) og de bekræftede at ja, jeg har faktisk et CPR nummer, men de kunne ikke fortælle mig over telefonen, hvad det er.

Men, lykkeligt kunne de lave et skattekort til mig. Når jeg får mit CPR nummer kan jeg få en bankkonto med NemID, og så skal jeg kunne log ind og se mine skat detaljer.

Jeg føler mig som jeg er næsten der!

This update is a little overdue, but I’ve been busy! I came to Denmark on Wednesday, found a place on Thursday, paid my first month’s rent on Friday, moved in on Saturday. I chilled on Sunday!

I got really lucky. I just happened to find a lovely Danish lady to live with in a nice quiet neighbourhood in Albertslund. It’s a bit further out than I expected, but the S-Tog and bus connections are good and frequent, so it’s not really a problem. And it’s well worth the travel time for the real Danish experience. Copenhagen centre is much like any other big European city, but out in Albertslund people are really friendly and all speak Danish to each other. It’s exactly what I wanted.

To find a place to live I simply messaged a lot of people on websites like lejebolig.dk, boligportal.dk, findroommate.dk, dba.dk. In retrospect, I could have done this in advance before coming to Denmark. Most people are slow to respond, if they respond at all. I think I got very lucky to find a really good place so quickly. You have to pay a small subscription fee to most of these sites in order to message people. I should remember to go cancel my subscriptions now, especially as they keep emailing me with new places that match my search criteria.

I got my Rejsekort on my second day here. About the only thing you don’t need a CPR number for! You just pay 80 DKK at a machine that dispenses it straight away. You can “tank op” easily and just remember to check in and check out by tapping it on det blå punkt. For some reason I’m finding it harder to get used to “Hvis du skifter til tog eller bus, så check ind igen”. Though they announce it all the time, I still sometimes forget to check in again. But I am learning my way around really quickly and I love Copenhagen public transport!

What I haven’t been so successful with so far is the admin stuff. It’s like a mantra in my head: “EU residence document, CPR number, Danish bank account”. When I came to Statsforvaltningen on Thursday I didn’t have all the right documentation for EU-opholdsdokumentet. My contract wasn’t good enough proof of work because I signed it 3 months ago. It needs to be within 1 month. So I went to DR to ask them to fill in a form (Appendix A in the OB1 application form) which they stamped and signed for me. That says I have a job. With that plus my passport, a pasfoto, and my filled in OB1 form I should be able to get EU residence. (Note that this may all change for Brits after Brexit!)

Anyway, when I came back to Statsforvaltningen on Friday there was an enormous queue. I stood in that queue for an hour (in the rain) before I realised it was “kun for studerende” that day. I couldn’t get it because I wasn’t a student. This is why I’m sitting outside Statsforvaltningen this morning, very early, so that I’m first in at 8am when they open!

Yesterday was my first day at my new job. It went really well. There was morgenmad for me, a bunch of flowers and a Dannebrog by my desk! I was introduced to everyone. Some spoke English to me, others spoke Danish. I found I could mostly understand their Danish pretty well. In a work context the vocabulary is much smaller, and the IT industry contains many words that are the same or similar to English. I spoke plenty of Danish but I feel very limited in what I can say. So I end up repeating a few stock phrases quite a lot.

I would say that’s the only difficult thing for me at the moment. I want to say something but I’m not confident enough to say it in Danish yet, so I end up being a bit quieter than I would otherwise be. I’m sure this will get easier as I speak more Danish. At home, my roommate is keen to speak English, but she knows I want to practise Danish so she will encourage me. All in good time. I haven’t even been here a week yet!

All in all, it has been an incredibly good experience so far. I’m so glad I took the chance on myself for my future. I would encourage anyone else who is thinking about it: just do it. People here are lovely and they are happy to help someone who they perceive as “modig”. They know it’s a big deal. They know their language is difficult, but they are happy that you are trying. You’ll be fine!

Oh, and don’t be upset if you speak Danish in a shop in Copenhagen and get a reply in English. They’re not judging you on your Danish. They do that to native Danes too. That makes me feel so much better!

Today is a significant date for two reasons.

It's exactly one month to go until I leave my current job.

It's exactly two months until I begin my new job in Denmark!

Been reading a bit from these pages to begin thinking about what I need to start arranging.
Arriving in Denmark
Living in Denmark
Coming to Denmark

Looks like it is fairly easy for me at the moment .. thankfully Brexit hasn't had chance to truly mess everything up just yet. I can do the necessary things once I move.

First I have to apply for an EU residence document.
Contact Statsforvaltningen
Application and documentation for EU residence

Next I'll need to apply for my CPR number.
Apply for your CPR number here

Then I should be able to open a Danish bank account.
Getting an account in a Danish bank

Note to self: it might be useful to get a stack of passport sized photos before I go. It looks like I'm gonna need a few!

The other thing I should do pretty soon is book a flight to get there (I'm looking at Wednesday 28 August) and an AirBNB for a few days when I arrive.

It just occurred to me the other day that I am emigrating! I will be called an expatriate! For some reason those words seem very strange, applied to me! Always sounded like something that other people did.