After 1 year of living in Cph this is what I think


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Europe » Denmark » Region Hovedstaden » Copenhagen
October 1st 2006
Published: December 13th 2017
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Geo: 55.6763, 12.5681

What I like is about CPH is

Accommodation
1. Utility bills are included in the rent so you don't have to worry about that.
Shopping
2. There's a good range of shops.
3. Clothes can be cheaper than elsewhere
4. They have good & genuine clothes/shoe sales
5. They have lots of magazines & books in English
6. They have cheapo supermarkets
7. Good range of fruit & veg. shops (run by Asians)
Eating out
8. Not a tipping culture
Medical/Bureaucracy
9. Once you have national id card Doctor visits are free (but you can't buy lemsip).
Outdoors
10. Feels Safe
11. Good public spaces
12. Easy to navigate
13. Good place for walking & cycling
14. Can easily rent tourist bicycle (with a coin in a slot) in a lot of the city.
15. Good cycle lanes
16. Nice wide streets
Society
17. They are self deprecating & can have laugh & take/get a joke.
18. Great place for festival of all kinds
19. There is always something on (and described in a monthly free magazine)
20. Good place for cultural events
21. The can mostly all speak English
22. They have free Danish lessons (once you have that national id)
23. They have free speech
24. They are allowed to organise demonstrations (just have to register with the police 1st)
Money/Banking
25. Taxis can take visa cards (incl. international ones)
Public Transport
26. Public Transport is great & regular
27. You can bring your bike on the train easily (special racks in special carriage)
28. All public transport uses same ticket and same ticket is good to use on all varieties for an hour or more.
28a. They have Silent carriages (for resting)
28b. They have very good online time tables where you can entry start and end address (as opposed to station name) and it will tell you All options how to get there plus give you a map.
Socialising
29. They have a bar culture/brewing history
30. Good brunch place
31. Bottled beer is half the price of a pint of beer (as it should be)
32. Lots of cinemas with movies in English, they don't really dub much (same with t.v. shows - can even see some EastEnders!)
Airport
33. 2 direct flights to Ireland a day
34. They have automated check in
35. The airport is never really that busy
36. Easy to get to & from airport by public transport
Holidays
37. They have 5 weeks or more annual leave
38. They are in a good location for travelling to rest of Europe.
Weather
39. Gets lovely deep proper snow.
40. Doesn't rain much
41. Had a great hot summer this year (apparently that's unusual).

What I hate is (and this is only my opinion so no offence intended)

Accommodation
1. Renting an apartment involves 3 months deposit (between 4-5000euro) and then they have a month after you leave to return it to you i.e. not the day you leave. And renting furnished apartments is exorbitantly expensive.
Shopping
2. Mostly the shops close at 2p.m. Saturday & don't open on Sunday but there's post on a Saturday.
3. You have no consumer rights i.e. you can't return anything, instead the shops have the right to fix it not once but twice, only then can you get a refund (if it's within 2 years).
4. The shops couldn't give a crap about actually making a sale.
5. Shop keepers not into haggling, giving a better price for cash, giving a gesture of good will at all. Not much business sense.
6. If a shop is closed they don't close the door or put up a closed sign.
7. If a shop is just about to close and you just want something really simple & quick there is no way they will sell it you.
8. Everything bar clothes is way dearer than elsewhere.
9. But women's underwear is a shocking price - to extent that say an Irish credit card company would phone you to check could you possibly have spent that much in a shop called 'Wunderwear', mortification!
10. Magazines & books in English are an exorbitant price (e.g. 12 euro for a 'Marie-Claire', 6 euro for a Sunday Newspaper from Uk/Irl).
11. The cheapo supermarkets are really horrible & mayhem but expensive supermarkets also mayhem.
12. If you buy laptop here as an obvious non-Dane they don't think to tell you it only comes with Windows in Danish!
Eating out
13. If you are a foreigner you are expected to tip or they may even keep the change (even if the service was atrocious and am I not talking about just rounding up.)
14. No service industry ethic what so ever - couldn't care less about repeat business. Service frequently atrocious.
15. When you do give repeat (repeat) business to a restaurant, & have tipped in the past, they never remember you!
16. Wine is restaurants is 200%!m(MISSING)ark up on the price in the shops.
17. You may be ignored for ages when you want to get served/get a table.
18. If you complain about the (lack of) service you are told it's your fault.
19. Fairly limited vegetarian options/restaurants
Medical/Bureaucracy
20. You have to have a national id card (and can't get one without a residents permit even if you are an EU citizen)
21. They are bureaucracy mad but a lot of public-service offices close at like 3pm with 'late' evening til 5pm on a Thurs. so hard to get anything done if you don't work nearby.
22. Tax is high
23. There are a lot of rules
Outdoors
24. Can be a bit dead by times (deserted streets).
25. Cyclists do not have much manners - to the extent they had to have a campaign of wearing bowler hats to remind them to be more gentlemanly.
26. They park their bikes cross ways on the FOOT path. Have no qualms about blocking foot path altogether.
Society
27. They can't believe how nice foreigners are to them abroad but it never occurs to them that they should pass the good karma on.
28. They are too reserved, sensible & restrained but conversely so shouty & loud
29. Danish is a very hard language to learn (esp. to pronounce).
30. They can't see the border between free speech and being downright insulting.
31. They can be a bit colloquial
32. You would never guess they were in EU - you would think Scandinavia was separate entity if you didn't know better.
33. If you are from EU you still have to apply for a residents permit.
34. They love to pick the narrowest point in a path or corridor & stand there blocking it chatting (they even admit this and think it's quaint).
Money/Banking
35. They don't have Euro
36. A lot of shops & restaurants don't take International visa cards (they have their own DK card).
37. Bank fees are high
Public Transport
38. Public Transport is dear
39. There are no fast trains between 10 past & Half past 8 and 9 am (rush hour!)
40. Public Transport can let you down
41. No concept of queuing so commuters very rude
41a. They are so bloody loud and noisy! (Caw Caw Caw Ai Ai Ai is the noises they make ALL the time.) Thank God for the Silent carriages. They also insist on bringing school tours on the train and even the bus in rush hour!
Socialising
42. They never get drunk
43. If brunch ordering is over at 15:00 (but kitchen is still open for another hour) and you arrive at 14:58 they will either ignore you or ask what you want & then stand a look at the clock for 2 minutes and then look at you and say 'No too late'.
44. Pint/Large beer is dear
Airport
45. No where in airport does proper breakfast before 9am
46. All shops, bars & fooderies in airport close at 10pm
47. They only store beer in fridges in airport but not water or soft drinks.
Holidays
48. They all go on annual leave the same time - so if you are at work & are in a team situation you can get nothing done.
49. They think 'city breaks' are weird and frequently ask 'why are you going there?' - and so short trips are kinda hard to organise from here. Also they don't seem to go abroad much at all, which is not a bad thing, just seems strange to me.
50. All their public holidays are between Christmas and June.
51. If public holiday falls on a Sunday they don't get to take it on the Monday.
Weather
52. Once it starts snowing it doesn't melt for ages (so mountains of yucky sludge) and also snows on and off for 3 months which can get a bit boring. Had a particularly hard winter last year though.


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