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The internationals in Aarhus

Aarhus is a city which can be a temporary home but also a home for forever. Either way you are going to take part and be a part of the cultural landscape of Aarhus. Explore the stories of people who came to Denmark for short and long term.

Story of Riley

Exchange student from the USA

Hi, my name is Riley and I’m in Aarhus on an exchange semester. When coming here, one of my challenges was just being away from my family and friends. As I'm from the US, my time zone is 7 hours behind. So, my friends and I never really correlate with when we're awake and when we're busy. I think it's kind of almost being silence from my friends and family. Regarding sense of belonging, I think one of my fears is also being from the US, and that there are so many mostly valid stereotypes about Americans. Thus, I was kind of nervous about telling people I’m from the US and kind of fitting in, in that way. And not being European was kind of a challenge with also maybe not knowing many other languages. Because I feel like a lot of people here have been speaking other languages with each other. From the first moment I got here, I did feel very welcome here in Aarhus. To tell a story, I was feeling very physically sick my first day here, so I threw up several times, but random people in the hostel that I was in, when I was waiting for my housing, took care of me and they are all so nice and they brought me a bucket and water. I felt immediately that people are going to support me and take care of me, even if they're strangers. So, I just felt like everyone's willing to give you a helping hand and not just ignore you or get mad at you. I feel at home now in Aarhus. I've found a very nice friend group who hangs out all the time and I feel I've also gotten to know a lot of Danes who have helped me situate myself and immerse myself, and I thought that was really nice. I also just feel very relaxed and comfortable. I appreciate how the culture is everywhere. I love all the food, like drømmekage and the rye bread, and I also appreciate that people are really passionate about it, especially with holidays, like birthdays and the Danish flag is everywhere. So, I think it creates a sense of community and it's been fun to kind of be a part of that. And even in the drinking culture, I feel it's a lot more like community oriented than, I'm just going to drink for myself to get drunk, or at least that's kind of the sense that I've gotten from people. A happy place for me in Aarhus is I think the area of the neighborhood of where I live. Just north of the river in the city center. I really like the cobbled streets, and all the buildings are just so homey. Especially now in the spring, there's a lot of people that are sitting outside of the restaurants and cafes, there's a lot of socializing that's happening and sometimes music. Also, the sites and places I can go to with my friends are very meaningful when it comes to my well-being and sense of belonging here, especially in the beginning of the semester everyone's like, let's go hit these places together, because everyone recommends them. So, I feel it's kind of an excuse to be with other people, like an excuse to go to Aros or Den Gamle By, or even places like Dokk 1 and Den Permanente. And I feel it's brought me closer to my friends by just getting to experience that with other people. All this brought me more cultural insights that makes me feel like I'm in a good place.

Aarhus cultural life is very similar to the Irish lifestyle with a little less drinking. But I enjoy it a lot. Here in Aarhus the deer park is very much like home, it's good to have nice forests to walk through and obviously the Irish bar Tir Na Nog :p. Thinking about the experiences that impacted my sense of belonging and well-being positively are joining the frisbee club and in general my friends who I've made through the frisbee club and the friends of my girlfriend. They have made us both feel very welcome here. In general, just hanging out and going for drinks with people is very much the Irish style and seems familiar to us. However, the lack of friends can sometimes be tough, as back home we would have childhood/school friends, and just a lot more people to make you feel like it's home. A favorite place in Aarhus: Street food market Favorite museum in Aarhus: Aros

Story of an Expat

Ireland

Story of an Expat

USA

One of the things that made me feel most welcome in Aarhus is the reception we received from the staff at our children's school, it was the most striking and welcoming. We made the decision to move to Aarhus two weeks before school started, and the staff and teachers set up two different one-hour meetings with us and our three children to talk about what to expect at our local Folkeskole. It was amazing to us. Joining a sport club, taking Danish language classes, and making some friends with other parents who have children in the same class at the Folkeskole, were the best experiences that contributed to belonging in Aarhus. Also, learning more about Danish culture and history, which is mostly done through experiencing Danish traditions throughout the year, and from visiting cultural sites. We visited Den Gamle By, the Botanical Gardens, became members at Aros for the first year, visited Moesgaard museum and forest around it, the Viking museum, Marselisborg Slot, the natural history museum, and science museum. My favorite is the Viking Museum. While it is small, it provides an excellent look back into Aarhus' and Denmark's history and it is easy to get to being right in the center. Spending 20 minutes in there you can quickly gain an appreciation of the age of the city and how it once was a fortified viking town on the Å. The Moesgaard museum is fantastic and really is a two-day event to see it all. We have spent some great family trips to the museum and the area around it. The Natural History Museum is also an excellent place to take the kids to. Although almost everyone speaks English, not being fluent in Danish is a barrier for me in feeling more at home. The Danish classes offered through the Kommune are helping, but it will likely be a few more years before I get to a level where the language isn't a barrier for feeling at home. Also, most Danes we interact with through our schools or clubs have well established social circles, from growing up here and having friends and family close by, and aren't seemingly interested in growing that circle. The few we have become closest with have lived abroad or had connections to our home country. I feel most connected with other expats that I've met through the sport clubs or Danish classes. So, here I have not experienced or built the same sense of community as I had in my home country where I had a larger circle of friends. I am part of a sports club that brings me great joy, but with family obligations, I have not been able to immerse myself fully in the club. Also, most members are quite a bit younger and in a different stage in their lives. I've made connections through the Danish language classes, but most are expats like me, and we are spread across the city. I have also made some connections through our children's school. Most other parents are friendly, but we have not experienced many that are willing to invite us into their circle of friends. Those that have we are extremely grateful for. I work remotely for a company in the U.S., so I am missing possible connection to a community through work. Being away from home, it is the closeness of the nature with the bike and hiking trails, the beach, and all the excellent parks close by that make me feel most comfortable and at peace here. Thinking of favorite places, Salling rooftop and the cafes along the Å are definitely some of them. These are great places to relax with friends and family and bring visitors to. I also enjoy spending time at Dokk 1 and the strøget, and outside the city it is Risskov park and the beaches north of the city in Risskov and Skæring. The cultural life in Aarhus is fantastic. The plethora of museums, the variety of shows at the Musikhuset and other venues, and the rich history Aarhus has is fascinating and exciting to me. I don't think Aarhus gets enough recognition for this, we certainly didn't know much about Aarhus and have been coming to Denmark for vacation for years. This perhaps is changing, as I just saw in Time magazine, March 27th edition, that it has Aarhus listed as one of the world’s greatest places. We have traveled to Denmark for vacation many times in the past, but living here, we were able to take a deeper dive into the cultural and gain a better understanding of Danish life through experiencing Danish traditions, visiting cultural sites, and experiencing day to day living. It has been a truly enriching experience for myself and my children.

I love going abroad, especially to study. I’ve also been to Oslo to study and now I'm doing an Erasmus for the second time in Aarhus. I'm happy to be here in Denmark because you can find ways to have a healthy and good lifestyle. You find people that can help you if you need it, and it’s very friendly in a sense that there are lots of opportunities for everyone, for example, if you want to do sport, have a doctor’s appointment, or to enjoy any type of food. So, it's pretty good here, but at the same time, you can have a struggle with yourself. At the beginning I struggled a little bit, even when the city offers a lot of things. I think that if you move to a new city, you always struggle, because it's not easy. However, I could really find a balance between myself, and the city and I realized that Aarhus could be really beneficial to me. I could, for example, enjoy both the nature and the city, which is something very cool. You have the seaside, forests, city buildings, and it offers a lot of spots for exercising if you want. I believe in order to achieve well-being; you should be a part of where you are. Meaning, if you are in a place, whatever the place is, it's important that you feel at home. So, I believe that if I'm feeling good and if I'm doing well here, then to me, it also means that I'm feeling part of Aarhus. Something that makes me feel welcome in Aarhus is that I don't feel alone here. I feel like everybody is there to help you. The people at the supermarket are always welcoming, and I find this welcoming feeling also in the way in which things are presented here in Aarhus. For example, at some places, in order to let us be tidy or be clean, they wrote something like “ thank you for being clean” instead of “be clean”, it was a welcoming way to deliver the message. Also, the hyggelig part of society is so nice. The way in which Danes live their life, I’m feeling like they want everybody here to be like them in the sense that everyone should enjoy life, but also at the same time do what you must do. So, I felt very welcome thanks to also all the smiling people. And important not to forget, is the fact that I can communicate in English here, which is also very helpful. Especially because it's not that granted to be like that when going to another country. Thus, having English as one of the main languages is in my opinion very helpful for everyone to be included. In that sense it’s also welcoming other cultures because it's the first language that mostly everybody can actually use. I’m currently also studying Danish, so I can improve my communication even more. The cultural landscape of Aarhus has a very wide variety. If we consider food, they offer a lot of different varieties of food from all over the world. I mean, it's subjective, of course, but I love taste and tasting new types of food. I think it's also important for the people that come here, and they see that they have other cultures represented, and maybe their own culture too. This is an important aspect to me, also because food is very important to me. There are also places in Aarhus that give me a happy feeling, for example the harbor, because I live nearby. To me this place feels like home because I spend the day there, I start the day and I finish the day there, and it gives me good vibes if I need to think about something. I just go there alone, watch, and take photos. It's really comfortable and I'm really happy when I'm there; especially at sunrise, and also because I like the combination of water, city and nature. So, I feel at home in Aarhus, I don't feel like a tourist, I don't feel like a stranger. I like to call the places where I live for more than two months home. That is my goal, and I think I achieved it.