- Ilana Bühl believes that the disadvantages of living in Denmark are small compared to the advantages.
- Bühl, who moved to Denmark in 2018, finds the advantages of feeling safer and being in a walkable city.
- On the other hand, the weather can sometimes be negative.
Ilana Buhl said she sees no reason to return to the United States yet after living there. copenhagen Since moving from Dallas in the summer of 2018.
“The disadvantages are very small compared to the advantages,” said Buhl, who recently obtained a permanent residence permit. Denmark.
Buhl posts videos about being American in Denmark tick tock Accounts with over 98,000 followers.she discussed her visit Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerødexplore, museumhow manned playground It’s something like, and I’m a teacher in Denmark. After teaching in Dallas.
She has now lived in Copenhagen longer than she lived in Dallas before moving. Buhl told Business Insider some of the pros and cons of living in Denmark after living in Texas.
Make yourself and your family feel safe
Buhl said she feels much safer, both in terms of gun violence and being a woman.
“There are minor crimes like pickpocketing and bike theft, but for the most part you don’t have to worry about your safety here. It feels very different to me,” she says.
Beyond that, Buhl said the level of support people receive provides a great sense of security.people can get paid Childcare leave There is also subsidized childcare available.
“We actually receive a small stipend from the government just to cover the costs of having a child,” she says. “It happens to everyone until the child turns 18.”
She also thinks her children will be safer here. She shared that it is common for people to leave their children outside to nap in strollers. She said she is using a digital monitor during this time to keep an eye on her child.
“It gives me a lot of peace of mind and means I don’t feel as much stress as I would if I lived in the United States,” she added.
Take long-term parental leave and start your journey to parenthood.
Buhl said it was amazing that most had more than a year of paid leave, but added that “it wasn’t strictly maternity leave,” as she also took paid vacation and a month of unpaid leave. Ta.Certainly in the US Family and Medical Leave Act, However, not all workers in the United States are entitled to the maximum 12 weeks of vacation required by the Act, and it is unpaid. Buhl said the law also applies to school employees, so if you’re pregnant and working in the U.S. as a teacher, you’re likely eligible.
in essay BI’s Buhl said about her husband that they married after a long-distance relationship. 2 years — She took 50 weeks of vacation, not including paid and unpaid vacation weeks. After all, during that time she still earned her salary and received a stipend from the government. In her essay, she stated, “Her husband and I felt it made sense to take the school year off.”
She told BI that the couple needed “enough time to understand what we’re doing, get things in order and figure ourselves out as parents before we both have to go back to work.” It takes a lot of time,” he said. She added that she feels this is “a huge luxury compared to the US.”
Being in such a walkable city with access to public transportation is another benefit
While the former city of Buhl; dallas have Easy to walk Bühl said Copenhagen’s appeal is the ease of getting around without a car. Additionally, she often uses public transportation as she feels it is a good option.
“Most people in Copenhagen bike a lot,” she said. “For me, the commute is quite long, so I wouldn’t say it’s the most practical option for me. But I like the ease of getting around in general. It’s a quality of life for me. I feel like it’s an improvement on myself. “
she has a better work-life balance
Ms. Bühl teaches at an international school in Denmark. She taught at a school in Dallas.
“My job is pretty much the same as what I did in America, which is definitely a very good thing, but the big difference is that I spend less time actually working with students, less time teaching, and more time planning. “I’ve been able to get a lot more work done in my contracted time than I could in the U.S.,” she said.
Additionally, from my experience teaching in Denmark, you don’t have to pay for classroom supplies. She noted that schools purchase supplies and also receive budget for classrooms.
“I think there’s more of a mindset of just using what’s here,” she says. “So no one ever says, ‘Oh, but I need a glitter pen or something.’ That’s exactly what I was in America.”
Several teacher I previously shared that in the US, I spend some of my money on class events. thousands of dollars.
People like Buhl who moved to Denmark from the United States may also find a better work-life balance.by international labor organizationThe average working week is 38.0 hours per employee in the United States, compared to 33.9 hours in Denmark.
“People are really encouraged and expected to have boundaries and have lives outside of work,” Buhl said. “I think that’s also true for teachers, but it’s very different from the United States, where teachers go above and beyond for the kids, doing all the unpaid labor and getting no real compensation. You’re expected to just keep doing it without doing it. “
The weather can be negative
Bühl feels that the advantages of living in Denmark outweigh the disadvantages, but he also points out some disadvantages.
“Winter can be very long and dark,” she says. “But that’s the other side of the coin because I love summer.”
Feeling like an outsider can be a negative.
“Even if you learn the language, living in a foreign country can be difficult,” she says.
“Even if I get citizenship someday, I don’t know if I’ll feel truly Danish,” she added. “I think it’s the general feeling that being a con artist is an outsider no matter how long you’ve been here.”
Buhl also said she misses American grocery stores, saying she feels the food selection could be a little negative. Although she feels there are a lot of good restaurants in Copenhagen, she hasn’t yet found the type of restaurants you’d find in major U.S. cities.
Copenhagen can also be expensive.
“The rent is definitely higher, but everything else is cheaper than I expected,” Buhl said of Copenhagen compared to Dallas. The family’s monthly rent is about $2,000.
Despite being a city with a high cost of living, “there are ways to offset that,” she said. She said she found that her cell phone bill and grocery bills were cheaper than she expected, and that she was spending more on public transportation passes than on a car back to Dallas.
Have you moved to another country? Share the reasons and pros and cons of your move by emailing this reporter at: mhoff@businessinsider.com.