Copenhagen, Dk help needed! :)

hello!

I used to be a member here years ago and have re-discovered the place recently. Since I know some of you here are from Denmark I'd really appreciate it if you could help me with something. The thing is, I am moving to Copenhagen this summer and have been offered a place to stay but I would like to have more info about the location before I sign the contract.

So if any of you could give me more info on "Hauser Plads" that would be just great! I haven't been able to find any pics of the place so I am just curious what kind of neighbourhood it is in and stuff like that. The rent is quite high so I kind of want to make at least half-sure I won't be paying a fourtain for nothing.

Thank you, thank you in advance!

have a nice day,
A.

 

Hey there!

Unfortunately I'm living far away from Copenhagen, and unfortunately I think we're only two danes at this forum by the moment. :-/

So I've never heard of "Hauser Plads" in Copenhagen, but I just located the place in a web-map at...

http://www.krak.dk/grids/Subpages/GridRightRows2.asp?BY=&data=t&HUSNR=&vej=Hauser+Plads&pageArea=Person&Map_left=&Map_right=&Map_top=&Map_bottom=&Tagning=2.Pers_Fors%2FKN_Sog&navn=&Adresse=Hauser+Plads&omraade=13%2C14&tlf=&sog=S%F8g
> ...and click "Kort" in one of the adresses below (the little button imaging Denmark on a map).

And I must say that you're lucky!
It's just in the center of Copenhagen. Very near the famous park "Kongens Have", and also very near the national botanic Garden, "Botanisk Have". People are waiting for decades and they gladly pay fortunes 'under the table' for getting an appartment in that neigbourhood.

But Copenhagen is a magnet, and appartments are sellers market. Therefore, unfortunately, it's hard to predict the excact standard / quality / size of your appartment. Copenhagen is so expensive, and the neighborhoods in the inner city so exclusive, that people only care about in which neighborhoods to live; they choose upon which location, not upon the quality of the appartment.
In Copenhagen (and in other danish cities) quality of appartments differ alot within the same neighborhood, even within the same street, so your excact offer is impossible to predict; sorry.

But Hausers Plads is surely a part of a very exclusive & exciting neighborhood, so if I was you, I would just let my adventure in Copenhagen begin!!

love,
-wolf-

p.s. but promise me not forget to read the small letters in the contract, before you sign it!

 

Thank you very much "wolf"!!!

I realize that it is a very exclusive location so I will see what I will do. I sent an email to the landlord to gather more information and am now waiting for her to reply.

no other Danes on the forum? ah that's too bad!

thanx again.. I'll let you know how it goes!

peace,
A.

p.s. I'll make sure to have my glasses on when reading that small print in the contract, yea. hehe.

 

hi, it's me again.

it seems the hauserplads apartment is out. Looking for a new one now and am curious to know your opinion about Nørrbro neighbourhood, Wolf.

Thanx in advance and sorry to be bothering with all these questions.

Peace!

 

I'm looking forward to hear some more about your - hopefully - great experience in Copenhagen.

 

Don't mind at all. I'm glad if I can help.

Nørrebro is also very central - very near to the inner city.
Nørrebro is a famous neighborhood known as an old working-class neighborhood. Nowaday it has big cultural diversity, and it's famous for its revolutionary spirit. They're having a saying there that says "Nørrebro overgiver sig aldrig" = "Nørrebro never surrender". Nørrebro is the danish "headquarter" of punks and squatters. Tolerance and resistance are the keywords that describe Nørrebro the best way. An enormous spirit of community & fellowship, no matter what kind of person you are - and no matter what your cultural/national background are. Indeed a very interesting place to live!

Love & hugs from me.

 

Wolf, do You still read this forum?

I have to tell You something. Some minutes ago I was thinking about my dilemmas concerning Denmark and I wrote two words in google: "Denmark + xenophoby". I wrote them into google because I still didn't know how to look at Denmark, even though I was living there for a longer time as an Erasmus student. I was (and I am) still asking myself if Denmark is really a xenophobic country or not?

Then I met Your post in google regarding this issue, and I was really amazed at how self-critically and neutrally You looked this problem, even though You were born to that country. So I hope You will read this topic, and we will be able to make some discussions about Danmark - of course only if You feel like doing so.

As far as the danish part of my life is concerned, the first thing that comes to my mind is that the best year of my life was the one that I spent in Denmark between 2005 august and 2006 june. I experienced a lot during that year, and my experiences were basically positive as I've never felt any form of xenophoby towards me, although I heard a lot about it as a problem in Denmark. But if it really is a problem in Denmark, then why didn't I experience anything about that personally? Is the "famous" Danish xenophoby directed only against coloured-skinned, non-eu citizens? Or is it directed only against people who want to work in Denmark but not against the ones who study there? When I was walking on the streets and going to the shops, noone could see that I was a student and not someone working there. They only saw I was a foreigner and they didn't look down on me at all. Nor in the case of the exams. I can't say I've ever got an unfair treatment at the university because of being a foreigner.

I remember once I bought a "böfsandwich" from a kind old man, standing on Kongens Nytorv (that's such a cool place otherwise - it was my favourite square in Copenhagen!) . That man saw I was a foreigner and asked me where I came from. I told him and he knew surprisingly lot about my country's history, its famous sportsmen and Nobel awarded scientists and he said nothing about the dark side, however there are quite ugly dark sides in my country's history (Hungary) as well. Of course this was not the only event when I had positive experiences, but it was a very tipical one. And I just understood less and less why I was living in a xenophobic and chauvinist country when I was in Denmark?

However I experienced some other dark sides that were surprising. You also wrote to this forum that one can get a cheap flat from the komune if he/she pays enough money "under the table". You are not the first Dane, from whom I hear that.

But, You know, all the things that You read about Denmark say that this is the country of no corruption and equity. But when I hear that people pay "under the table" to get cheap komune flats, then I just can't believe to my ears, how can that happen in Denmark? And then I cannot understand why only this thing can be corrupted and why all the other things cannot be corrupted?

Huh, I've got a bit tired by now, but I hope we can go on the discussion as regards Denmark!

I am sorry for not having been systematic enough now, but I have too many thoughts and impressions about Denmark and I ve been too tired now to argue in a logical way.

 

Hello, dear Amd scientist...
Btw - what kinda mad science are you doing, mate?

Denmark is a small country, and according to the international press, we're a very homogenic society/people. But I'll say that that are just nothing, but typical simplifications - such simplifications that the press/medieas survive on.

I'm glad if you're able to recognize it all from a deeper/wiser angle...
Cuz when all comes to all, Denmark is not at all a homogenic society, despite it's a small country.
Yes, it's a small country, but our population is splitted, you know. We've got a farmer-alike-redneck-culture living in the provinces, and we've got a n intellectual/cultural culture, mainly living in the larger towns/cities.

Right at the moment "the farmers" are at power in this country, so they're the ones who brand Denmark - they define the line (but to prove that DK is not homogenic, let me remind that DK in fact was the first country to allow homosexual marriages - and in fact one danish male minister under our former government was married to another man)... And it's such ashame that the rest of the world doesn't have any understanding about that Denmark in fact isn't that homogenic, such as all the press' prejudices about tell...

Denmark is a small country, but a very splitted & complex country...

You're welcome to pm me - perhaps we can mail later. I'm just a tad bit busy at the moment, since I'm new at a new job - it drains me, ya know...

love,
-wolf

 

"Amd"... typo...

 

Oh, what I ment / had to tell was:
You're welcome to PM, but if I don't answer immediate, it's because I'm a bit busy at the moment - it's not because I don't wanna answer you... Cuz you're actually a quite interesting person...

love,
-wolf-

 

Jeg

studerer

JURA.

Yes, that must be a reason for what I experienced. I might have experienced only the better side as I was not living among the "redneck farmers" (as You mentioned those provincial ones) but in the metropolis of Copenhagen...

However, it is really difficult to determine where the xenophoby comes from (if it really exists at all.) When I was cycling around in Copenhagen, I often went through the above-mentioned Nörrebro. At some points it looked like a fully muslim world: muslim hairdressers with muslim employees and muslim consumers. If Copenhagen is really a tolerant place (and I exprienced it was such) then why are a lot of immigrants segregated in an own district? I don't think it is a result of xenophoby, because not they are the ones whom are excluded from society, but they are the ones who exclude the rest of the society. When I started my Danish classes in a Nörrebro language school I got to understand it why.

There were some arabic persons at the language classes. It was quite transparent that they didn't want to mix even with us, who were also foreigners but from Europe or the USA. The only exceptions were the turkish people - they were really kind and open people towards everyone. But the majority of the muslims only appreciated the other muslim's company and sometimes it seemed to me that they kinda look down on the country in which they are living. They weren't really engaged in learning the language, they were laughing at Danish habits and customs and it made me annoyed a bit.

Because how can it happen that I want to live in a country, that even provides me the free option of learning its language, but on the other hand, I look down on its culture and people? Even though one has a different opinion about the Danish attitude and customs, he/she doesn't have the right to hurt those people for whom their culture is the same important as how the islamic culture is important for a muslim.

I think it is a very unfair attitude that You need a country because of its welfare but You don't even show a minimal respect towards its culture.

So I don't want to say I understand any of the racist guys babbling in Folkeparti and in any other organizations like that, but nor do I think that a huge part of the immigrants is innocent as regards the tension about immigrancy...

I understand if You are busy right now. Maybe, some time later, You will have some more time to discuss things. (I am rather busy at the moment as well - I am preparing for an ugly exam...)

 

Dear Mad Scientist,

You're an intelligent & observing person. I also sense that your curious by nature, and you're able to recognize things that to huge part of my countrymen are unsaid taboos.

Where do the xenophobia come from? What's its origin - what's the source of all the hatred? - It's a big question, that many sociolgists and philospohers have tried to find, but yet none have found a complete, satisfying answer.
Neither can I. But through discussions we can learn to understand that unfair phenomenon better, and you already provide a part of the answer, thanks to the experiences you had in your danish language classes.

Unfortunately some arabs are having that kind of demanding & respectless mentality that you mention. It's such an ashame, since I'm sure most immigrants really wanna learn the language & pay respect to the country that invited them, but the part of the danish population who already got tendencies to xenophobia judge them all, including the turks that you observed had eager to be a part of the danish society.

I definately see that the problem partly origin from some muslims side, but let's not forget that the phenomenon "xenophobia" is a complex sociological & psychological phenomenon which has got no clear/simple cause.
It's caused by a confrontation between two cultures, and the reason of that confrontation is those two cultures miscommunicate, because they haven't found a common symbolic code/language.
As I mentioned earlier, rednecks are governing this country. What's remarkable is that most people who vote Dansk Folkeparti (which are not in government, but is the parlamentaric fundament that secure the majority votes to our conservative government) mainly are living in districts in Denmark, with no immigrants.
By other words, the typical Dansk Folkeparti-voter has never met a muslim in his/her entire life. People who are living among arab immigrants, even in areas with alot of crime among immigrants, typical vote more leftwing.

That make me conclude that xenophobia first of all comes from a lacking knowledge to other cultures, and that the phenomenon must be analyzed as a symptom of a deep divided and alienated society.

Love and understanding,

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p.s. Yes Law is really a mad science - especially law-peoples chancellery-language can piss me of sometimes. Will you do me a favor? When you graduate, please do an effort to reform that law-language so ordinary people will have a chance to understand its substance!


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Now I am in a big hurry , so I can only partly answer to what You wrote but later on, I'd like to write some other things as well.

Do You really think so? Maybe this is also a question that divides Danes. When I was chatting with a Danish friend of mine in Copenhagen, I also asked him about immigrancy and xenophoby. He said that immigrancy as such is not problem - let's look at chinese, everybody likes them and it's the same even in the case of the turkish people because both turkish and chinese people behave in a kind way towards the others.
What You are saying means (contrary to what he said) that immigrancy as a whole is a problem for the very right wing opposition - no matter where You come from, You are a persona non grata.

It is another interesting view (I heard it from an other Danish friend of mine from the dormitory) that Folkeparti is very much supported by integrated immigrants! People who think they achieved something by obtaining a new citizenship want to raise the prestige of themselves as immigrants by cutting the way of the new immigrants. At least it is an interesting explanation isn't it?

Huh now I have to end this post 'cause I have to go away from home.

all the best,

m_s

 

BTW, do You know something about the SU restriction? Has the government succeeded in pushing through those restrictions? I heard they wanted that people can only get SU if they go to high education right after highschool.

 

Hi there, did you know that Copenhagen has the best places when it comes to hotel and restaurants?

It's also ranked 2nd in Europe and the world's 17th best city for business travel.

______________
Australia Travel

 

Yeah, it really is a marvellous place! Even though I've never been a "business traveller" there - just an exchange student. However, I remember once I stayed in Ascott Hotel for some nights. (I was supposed to have two visitors from Hungary but eventually only one of them could come. And because two beds had been ordered and prepaid, I was offered to live in the hotel instead of him for those days. )

 

Hey Mad Scientist!

People living in the Copenhagen area, and people who are living in other urban areas got used to differentiate between different cultures among immigrants. Those who vote Dansk Folkeparti typically judge them all, because they're typically living in provinces (so in logic terms, it's a spurious causality). People who live in urban areas know the difference between turks and arabs. People who vote Dansk Folkeparti typically have nothing against chinese, korean, and vietnamese immigrants - they do well, they run profitable businesses (usually tailoring (that danes adore, since they got in such a nostalgic mood ø reminds of the 50's (!), and "grill-bars"), and they're spread all over the country (also in areas where the DF-voters are living).

And, yes, as you've observed very well: Relatively many "old" immigrants actually support Dansk Folkeparti (or at least the conservative political ideology), because they are already well-established/integrated in the community, and they don't want the new-comers to fuck up the image of all immigrants.
In same token, the danish-chinese is actually the segment in danish society which score highest in its votes for the danish liberalist party (the leading governing party). Almost every danish-chinese vote pro the current government.

Definately there are also cultural differences - ofcourse it's not only a matter of duration, but it has to go both ways. Denmark, except to city-areas, is a provincial culture, and people don't welcome newcomers with open arms. That's why many danish immigrants, especially Somalians (whom by many danes unfortunately are contemplated as underdeveloped creatures, and therefore ofcourse has turned into the absolute underclass in danish society) actually has fleed to London, where they succeed much, much better in carriers, integration, life.
That proves to me, that it's not only a matter of their culture, but also a matter of our provincial resistance to anything that seem just a little bit different.

At last, let me post a cartoon. I love this one by Jørgen Bitsch, who actually participated in the un-pc Iranian cartoon contest. You can twist the theme various ways, as you see below, and therefore condemnation is equal to lacking trust of human creativity, and therefore totalitarian.

ok.... technical problems right at the moment... I try to attach the mentioned image later....

love,
-wolf

 

In accordance to my post above...

 

Obviously, it still doesn't work... I'm getting tired of this... I can't even attach a simple image...

 

Don't worry! Maybe it will work tomorrow when You'll be a bit less tired!