New beginning abroad: Young woman tells about her life in Denmark

This piece comes from the star archive and first appeared in January 2024.

It almost sounds like a typical Hollywood Schnulze: a woman, a man-they have known each other for around ten years, but somehow it never worked. They stay in touch loosely until they finally become a couple. But this story is not invented, it is the love story of the 32-year-old Babette that she tells here:

“On paper I had everything in Germany: a beautiful old building near the city and yet in the green, my family around the corner and a safe job as a school psychologist. I could have been civil servant. I was well looked after, I could buy nice things – but I was not happy. I was in a relationship that didn’t good for me. After the separation, I finally got together with my great love.

I have known my friend for around ten years. We always kept the contact, but always missed the right time to get together. And now we were both singles – maybe we have secretly waited for this moment. My friend has lived in Copenhagen since his master’s degree, and when we came together, we decided relatively quickly that we also wanted to start a family. And I would move to him to Denmark. I gave birth to our daughter in Germany. During my parental leave, I traveled a lot between Germany and Denmark. I have been in Copenhagen since June 2023 and have never regretted this step. Even if I never thought I would end up in Denmark.

I could always imagine living abroad, but was never the big Scandinavia fan. But the longer I am here, the better I like it. The Danish: Inside are looser and more relaxed than the Germans. Everyone here is doing themselves – even if I call the tax office. With the philosophy of life hygge really really likes: in the uncomfortable weather, it is easy to make it comfortable with a tea at home or to discover the beautiful cafés in Copenhagen. In summer you will be rewarded to have held out the winter. The quality of life is simply super high, you can go swimming everywhere and there is a great atmosphere in the city.

I took a risk with the emigration to Copenhagen. But it felt like the step to my great luck. I just noticed that freedom is much more important to me than security. Some people would call my step to go to Copenhagen as naive. I think I’m a bit naive, but that may also be part of it when I dare to raise my child alone with my boyfriend without a family. This is a challenge, but also an opportunity for us as a couple – knowing that we are a team and also make it in pairs. For an emergency, we also have a network of friends in Denmark. Of course it is different from having grandma on site.

In the beginning I sometimes felt very lonely in Copenhagen, thought back to my life in Germany and asked myself how I can finance myself in Denmark. But little by little I got used to it really well and work as a freelancer as a psychologist. It gave me a lot of strength that I saw through this fresh start that I can master such a big change in my life. And it can be positive if one’s own life changes significantly. The thought helped me with my emigration that I could go back to Germany in an emergency and to build a life there again.

I would like to learn the language even better for the future in Denmark. When I’m in Germany, I realize that I enjoy speaking in my mother tongue and incorporating things that I could not express in Danish. Because it is a curse and a blessing at the same time that it works very well in Copenhagen when I only speak English, and our family language is also English. But I would like to understand more and also have more contact with Dän: inside. So far I find it difficult to make Danish friendships – but I have the feeling that when people open here, they are very warm. “

The first name is given in the article on request. The full name is known to the editors.