Monday, 10 December. After nearly 4 months in Denmark, I can't wait for my flight to Bulgaria. I really want to see my friends and parents again and to spend 25 days at home, to take new fresh power for the long winter and spring. When I think of my past, I have the thoughts that I will buy one-way ticket to Denmark and I'll never come back. I've thought that there is no love in Bulgaria, nothing good waits for me if I stay, but i go to the idealistic Denmark, full of education, full of workplaces, where everyone will welcome you.
After 4 months I think that even Denmark has some benefits and better economical balance than Bulgaria, I will not set up my whole life here, I'll not stay in this country for the rest of my life. One of the reasons for this choice are my meetings with immigrants. I met several times such people and I don't have positive feelings about them. They are really obsessed by the Danish culture, they don't see another alternative, and if you show interest of this country, they will start to follow you, to give you advices, you should get from your parents and they will be very unhappy if they hear you complain about this culture. They will even go very deep into your privacy, which makes every stressed. I can give you three examples.
The ambitious woman from the village. She has moved in August 2007 from a small village in Romania to Copenhagen. She has studied marketing management and she works for the international office of my school. She is responsible for the new students and really ambitious. She goes to educational fairs and making nice presentations of the school, but when it comes to the real thing you realize that life is not in rose. It is said, that school provides kick-start program in July to find accommodation, but in fact they don't help. You are alone, with another students and should find your place in the great accommodation fight in the summer. If you come in August to try your luck getting room in the campus dorm, she will send you to the Polish hostel to search together with people you never knew before. When it comes to contract, it's much easier a contract between one person and landlord/dormitory than with 2,3,4 or more persons and this is why I prefer to live alone. In her opinion you should either not come to Denmark or integrate in the society for the rest of your life. If you send her whatever mail, she will provide you long answer describing how it's perfect and if you say you have a problem, she will remember it for the rest of both lives. Since this year the housing situation was even harder, she wanted that after lectures she will control students as she is their mother that they are searching and not playing games or chatting with friends.
The facebook stalker. He came here in August 2010 and I am pretty sure he would like to stay here forever. He is a programmer and I found him in a facebook group to ask for more info about my future studies. At the beginning he gave me nice answer, but showing that he has come differently - with own money and own transport. He loves Denmark with all its benefits and negative sides and as he really likes to comment my posts or pictures, I see how he forces me stop complaining, think the same way as him, forget that I am young and need more experience than just moving to Denmark. Again he behaves as he is my parent.
My roommate in the Polish hostel is Somalian immigrant, arrived here 12 years ago. He had good life, but he tells his apartment was on fire and he also had no choice apart from coming to the hostel. He is really obsessed by cleaning and order. The first day I came with a big luggage and a lot of packages, he put all of them in the wardrobe. During my stay he said several times how I should change order, how it is not comfortable for me to jump from the bed to the ground, how I should pay if I want to get more daylight reading books on the other free bed. He is sleeping 16 hours a day, then going to the bathroom to have a shower for 4 hours. He has as well the obsession not to touch anything. He is 37 years old, but when he wants to say there is a problem, he speaks like 10 years old child and he can't get that his habits can be problem for someone else. He'll tell that you are confused by the Danish traditions. On Saturday he started conversation with me again and I was very much stressed by the fact, a random person is teaching me how to live when I am already 19 and I have my own decision how to live, and that he knows so much facts about me and I haven't even shared anything with him and he doesn't have computers, so he can't see what I publish and how I communicate with another people.
In general, immigrants or candidate immigrants - people who knows what is to have nothing and want to succeed in Denmark, are behaving as parents and want to involve another people into their passion and obsession. In Bulgaria there is also the belief that life is black in Bulgaria and I should stay forever in Denmark and they want to hear no excuse, so I can see same type of behaviour from their side. My conclusion is that life is too short to be very ambitious and while you are young, you should get a lot of experience, live in different countries, before you find the place which you will call home, which is most likely to be your home city.
mandag den 10. december 2012
NEW IN DENMARK - HOW IT LOOKS LIKE
You have booked your tickets to Copenhagen and you arrive. No matter how long you will stay in Denmark, you have always your very first day, when you are completely lost in the country. Not everybody survives, a lot are just giving up and going back. Here I will tell about the times I met people, who just arrived.
Monday, 20 August
I am with one Bulgarian classmate and a girl hear us speaking in Bulgarian and she is really surprised, but happy of the fact she has people to speak in her own language too. She looked completely confused.
Wednesday, 22 August
The intro week for 120 new students has just started. You are one of them and you expect a lot of parties and new contacts, but a lot of the people has arrived on 21.08, some have no place to sleep the coming night, and only 5 out of 120 have their permanent rooms. This means, they are struggling both with housing and cultural problem. You're trying to communicate, but nothing special can start, because everybody has decided to change themselves and they still don't know where to start from.
Saturday, 22 September
A new flatmate has arrived. I am trying to figure out where is he from and the first markable things are that he speaks English with accent completely different from Danish. The fact he is talking too much makes me understand he's from southern country. He wants to learn about the country and he is really chocked by the high prices.
Monday, 1 October
The Italian man Alessandro B. says "This prices are chock, they switch to English a lot, it's so funny". 4 days later he is thinking to set up his life in Denmark and to come with his girlfriend.
Sunday, 28 October
Alexandr from Ukraine has arrived the previous night tired of flying and the house-owner chocked him with the rules for no video skyping. On Sunday we went together to Copenhagen and he was like a little child in a new place.
Sunday, 18 November
After 10 years working and living in Spain George from Romania has decided to try his luck in Denmark. He was half lost, because he haven't used English up until now. When he was off for 2 days, me and my roommate weren't sure if he'll come back. He was disappointed, that the people prefer Danish workers and on 28 November took his train to Munich.
Monday, 20 August
I am with one Bulgarian classmate and a girl hear us speaking in Bulgarian and she is really surprised, but happy of the fact she has people to speak in her own language too. She looked completely confused.
Wednesday, 22 August
The intro week for 120 new students has just started. You are one of them and you expect a lot of parties and new contacts, but a lot of the people has arrived on 21.08, some have no place to sleep the coming night, and only 5 out of 120 have their permanent rooms. This means, they are struggling both with housing and cultural problem. You're trying to communicate, but nothing special can start, because everybody has decided to change themselves and they still don't know where to start from.
Saturday, 22 September
A new flatmate has arrived. I am trying to figure out where is he from and the first markable things are that he speaks English with accent completely different from Danish. The fact he is talking too much makes me understand he's from southern country. He wants to learn about the country and he is really chocked by the high prices.
Monday, 1 October
The Italian man Alessandro B. says "This prices are chock, they switch to English a lot, it's so funny". 4 days later he is thinking to set up his life in Denmark and to come with his girlfriend.
Sunday, 28 October
Alexandr from Ukraine has arrived the previous night tired of flying and the house-owner chocked him with the rules for no video skyping. On Sunday we went together to Copenhagen and he was like a little child in a new place.
Sunday, 18 November
After 10 years working and living in Spain George from Romania has decided to try his luck in Denmark. He was half lost, because he haven't used English up until now. When he was off for 2 days, me and my roommate weren't sure if he'll come back. He was disappointed, that the people prefer Danish workers and on 28 November took his train to Munich.
søndag den 9. december 2012
REJSEKORT - TRAVEL FOR FREE IN COPENHAGEN
Copenhagen has very interesting transportation system. You can choose if you want to travel by bus, S-train, regional train or metro. The price of a journey depends of the number of zones you travel. The ticket for each zone cost 12 DKK, but you can choose minumum 2 zones. If you need more than 8 zones, you are free to travel around the whole capital region with your ticket. Tickets are expensive, but when you choose a clip card the price for a zone goes down to 9.5 DKK. If you buy a card for 7 days, the discounts go on and the 30 days card(they write both dates on the card and it's exactly 30 days and not one month, no matter if the month is February or 30- or 31 days) is only 2 times more expensive than the weekly pass. It's highly recommended to buy a monthly card with picture, because it's 80 DKK cheaper. The transport is still very expensive - compare 605 DKK for 4 zones in Copenhagen and 81 DKK for the whole greater Sofia per month. No discounts if you are over 15. You have already bought your ticket for 4 zones, we are at Nørreport station, so let's go to Lyngby. We can choose between the normal bus 184 (in direction Holte) and the fast 150S (in direction Kokkedal). In 150S there is a screen, where you can watch news and some funny videos and check where the next stop is. There is a red screen in all buses, where you see what's the time and in which zone you are. With small exceptions in all buses there are messages after each bus stop which one comes next. We go in bus 184, we are in zone 1. Næste stop: Statens Museum for Kunst..Sølvtorvet and so until Vibenshus Runddel. Then the zone changes. "Næste stop: Haraldsgade, zone to(2)".... Tuborgvej, zone tredive (30)... Brogårdsvej, zone enogfyrre(41)...Lyngby station, zone enoghalvtreds (51). If you don't speak Danish, you can start learning numbers by travelling even when you don't find the logic. We got off at Lyngby station, but we have still 45 minutes left, before the ticket expires, so let's go back to the city center by train. We can choose between the slow line B and the fast line E. The E line is coming first. We get in and we hear different messages on each station. "Lyngby. Toget er linie E, og standser ikke ved Jægersborg, Gentofte og Bernstorffsvej. Toget fortsætter til Køge."(It is line E and train does not stop at Jægersborg, Gentofte and Bernstorffsvej. The train continues to Køge.) Hellerup..Svanemøllen. Til tiden(on time). At some of the station there is also explanation how to use the new smart ticket called REJSEKORT:
"Sådan bruger du rejsekort. Husk at checke ind hver gang når din rejse starter, og når du skifter transportmiddel undervejs på rejsen. Husk at checke ud, når din rejse er slut og tjek din saldo på skræm."
"This is how you use rejsekort. Remember to check in, when you start your journey and when you change transports. Check out at the end of the trip and check your balance." There are some benefits in using this type of ticket - of course you pay, but you can travel without thinking how much zones you pass and just check out at the end.If you sign up for electronic recharging of the balance, you'll have always money enough to travel on your rejsekort. If you don't check out within 2 hours, they take automatic 50 DKK from your balance. People say that after DSB realized that a lot of people forget to check in and out they gave up developing the system for now, which means that if a man comes to check tickets in the train, he can't see if you have checked in. This means that you might travel for free in the trains. The next step is to order a rejsekort. This will happen... online again. You go to www.rejsekort.dk , then order and you get the rejsekort by normal post. This people love sending letters, you could wait for ages for..Order your rejsekort and enjoy the S-trains!
"Sådan bruger du rejsekort. Husk at checke ind hver gang når din rejse starter, og når du skifter transportmiddel undervejs på rejsen. Husk at checke ud, når din rejse er slut og tjek din saldo på skræm."
"This is how you use rejsekort. Remember to check in, when you start your journey and when you change transports. Check out at the end of the trip and check your balance." There are some benefits in using this type of ticket - of course you pay, but you can travel without thinking how much zones you pass and just check out at the end.If you sign up for electronic recharging of the balance, you'll have always money enough to travel on your rejsekort. If you don't check out within 2 hours, they take automatic 50 DKK from your balance. People say that after DSB realized that a lot of people forget to check in and out they gave up developing the system for now, which means that if a man comes to check tickets in the train, he can't see if you have checked in. This means that you might travel for free in the trains. The next step is to order a rejsekort. This will happen... online again. You go to www.rejsekort.dk , then order and you get the rejsekort by normal post. This people love sending letters, you could wait for ages for..Order your rejsekort and enjoy the S-trains!
Danish winter
Today is 9 December 2012 - my last day in Denmark before I go for Christmas holiday home. How things changed - in the spring I decided to fly without ever coming back and some months later I found out how good looks everything when I am so far away from home. I haven't even thought I'd wish to go to Bulgaria so much.
The last day the winter is really strong and cold. The temperature are not that low - -6 to 0 degrees, but the wind make the feeling for much lower temperatures. The combination of snow and wind blows directly to your face, which make every single step quite hard. To look forward is also quite impossible. In Bulgaria it happens every year, but for Denmark that kind of winter is a precedent. The snowstorms on Tuesday and Wednesday were really terrible, but today it was the peak. Snowing from the early hours in the night until the last hours of daylight(the sun sets at 3:37 PM). Wind speed of 45 kilometers per hour. 0 C feels like -10 C. I had to leave my luggage at one friend's place. Before I went out I have checked the timetable and when I went I thought I've missed the bus for 2 minutes, but it had delay and it said it comes in 2 minutes, but they were 4. Even the fast S-bus was driving slowly in the full of snow streets. The Danish capital is known as one of the best place for living, but why should the poor Danish people destroy their patience or Sunday to fight towards the nature? The bus took for 55 instead of 45 minutes the distance to Ballerup. This city now looks like a village from the children fairytales with a cozy houses and so much snow and let's not forget about the deep fog. Going back. In the trains it's not that warm any more. Today the trains have a new schedule valid from now up until 14 December 2013. The messages on each train stations are renewed as well. I got off at the central station of Copenhagen and the only thing I could hear was that there are no connections to the airport now. A lot of people couldn't come clear and find the right train. There was total mess. The weather is very dynamic compared to the patient way of living of Danish people.
The last day the winter is really strong and cold. The temperature are not that low - -6 to 0 degrees, but the wind make the feeling for much lower temperatures. The combination of snow and wind blows directly to your face, which make every single step quite hard. To look forward is also quite impossible. In Bulgaria it happens every year, but for Denmark that kind of winter is a precedent. The snowstorms on Tuesday and Wednesday were really terrible, but today it was the peak. Snowing from the early hours in the night until the last hours of daylight(the sun sets at 3:37 PM). Wind speed of 45 kilometers per hour. 0 C feels like -10 C. I had to leave my luggage at one friend's place. Before I went out I have checked the timetable and when I went I thought I've missed the bus for 2 minutes, but it had delay and it said it comes in 2 minutes, but they were 4. Even the fast S-bus was driving slowly in the full of snow streets. The Danish capital is known as one of the best place for living, but why should the poor Danish people destroy their patience or Sunday to fight towards the nature? The bus took for 55 instead of 45 minutes the distance to Ballerup. This city now looks like a village from the children fairytales with a cozy houses and so much snow and let's not forget about the deep fog. Going back. In the trains it's not that warm any more. Today the trains have a new schedule valid from now up until 14 December 2013. The messages on each train stations are renewed as well. I got off at the central station of Copenhagen and the only thing I could hear was that there are no connections to the airport now. A lot of people couldn't come clear and find the right train. There was total mess. The weather is very dynamic compared to the patient way of living of Danish people.
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