First of all, a practical item that people sometimes forget: traffic laws are different in every country. Even if your driver’s license is valid in other countries, take a moment to read up on traffic rules.

If you live in a city, give public transport a serious consideration. It’s not for everybody and not every place has good connections, but you’d be surprised how little you need a car if you live in an area well-served by public transport.

As with any foreign country, you’ll do well to learn the language. Written Danish probably isn’t too difficult to learn when you already know English (they share a heritage after all) but spoken Danish is quite peculiar. You’ll probably get by with just English just fine, but most people will prefer to speak their native language.

What I’ve heard from family moving to Denmark: check and double check your tax information and registration. The bureaucratic process can take a while, even when moving within the Schengen zone. Also: America has some weird laws where you need to pay taxes regardless of if you live there or not, as long as you’re a citizen. Make sure you know how much taxes you need to pay to what government! You generally don’t need to pay tax in both countries unless you make a boatload of money but it can’t hurt to check.

Speaking of, you’ll pay a lot of taxes. You get a lot in return, but make sure you know what your net income is going to be like and what taxes are hiding around the corner. The amazing Danish welfare state needs to be funded somehow!

If you live near any borders (European definition of “near”), check any visas you may have for what you’re allowed to do. Some visas allow you to move freely within a single country but not leave it for x amount of days consecutively/in a year, for instance. Denmark is actually one of the few countries with border checks (Germany too these days).

What I’ve heard from other Americans visiting Europe: it’s smaller than you think and everything seems closer than you think. That’s very nice when it comes to stuff like grocery stores, but some people feel a little claustrophobic because of the lack of free, open space.

Make sure your credit card is set to allow for international payments, unless you already have your money in a Danish bank account. You don’t want to arrive and find out you can’t pay for anything.

Get yourself a local SIM card. It’s probably a lot cheaper than carrying your American number in general, but roaming charges between the US and the EU are Not Fun.

Most Danes speak English well, in my experience. However, don’t let that fool you into thinking they share the same cultural norms. Things common in some American subcultures (calling everyone “dear”, saying stuff like “we should hang out some time” without actually meaning it) can cause some humorous/awkward interactions when misinterpreted. Knowing the words isn’t the same as knowing what you actually mean!

Prepare to do a lot of currency conversions in your head. You can get tricked into spending more money than you thought if you don’t know what amount of DDK translates to USD. 1 USD is about 6.8 DDK, so yeah, good luck with that, multiply by seven and subtract a bit I guess?

Stores in Denmark will often show prices including tax, so don’t do too much mental math. You generally don’t need to apply the 25% VAT on listed prices unless you’re buying business to business.

Based on experience from expats: immerse yourself into the local culture and language. Making connections with strangers is hard, likely harder than in the US, but you’ll end up quite lonely if you only hang out with coworkers and other expats.

Also read up on punctuality expectations. Some cultures expect you to be five minutes to half an hour “late” to an agreed upon time, others expect you to be there much earlier, and then other cultures expect you to arrive right on time. That applies both professionally and socially!

On a similar note, make sure you read about the expectations your coworkers may have of you, culturally. If you work for an American company you may end up with an American style corporate hierarchy, but Danish companies are a lot more egalitarian on average. Not just office wise, but also “only addressing the boss by their first name” wise.

Working overtime may not be appreciated as much, and may even be seen as a bad thing in some contexts (i.e. constantly working after 5PM to finish your work, implying you can’t finish in time when you’re really trying to show your work ethic or something like that). Work/life balance is important and every country has different standards.

From what I can tell, the Danes are quite strict in not wanting to spend too much of their life working, so don’t be that person that brings work into every conversation. As a foreigner, you probably have much more interesting topics to talk about!

I’ve only head good things about Denmark from people who worked/moved there, so I hope you enjoy your time there!

Don’t bring a truck or guns with you. Change some dollars for euros. Remember that the US has an insane tax system that follows you abroad and you still have to file taxes in the US in addition to the country you live in.

The danish people will maybe say a lot of things about us swedes, but don’t believe the lies.

Plus one for taking language lessons. Even if you don’t plan on getting fluent, it will help you settle in a lot more

You could finally visit the only real Legoland in Billund of course!

Hej Frank!

Welcome in advance!

Where are you gonna live? You don’t need to specify city, but perhaps approximate destination? Jylland, Fyn, Sjælland? And which part?

Which line of work?

Indeed, try to learn Danish even though it is a ridiculous language. I believe there are even free courses, although I am absolutely sure. Here’s a few words to get you started:

Hej/godmorgen/goddav’ = hello/good morning/howdy (last word especially in Jutland) Farvel = goodbye Tak = thank you Velbekomme = you are welcome Undskyld = sorry Undskyld mig = excuse me Ingen problem = no worries Jeg hedder Frank = my names is Frank Godt at møde dig = nice to meet you Vi ses/hav det godt = see you/take care Hav en god dag = have a good day

And remember! Free health care! Free schools and education! Although you will pay higher taxes, lol.

Hope you will enjoy! And feel free to ask questions. I live very near Aarhus in Eastern Jutland.

Plus one for taking language lessons. Even if you don’t plan on getting fluent, it will help you settle in a lot more

Including which country could help :)

Don’t bring your gun, also public transport should be good, so using a car might not always be necessary / the best option.

Time to learn a new language, unless you’re moving to Ireland or Malta I guess. Tons of people come to Germany and are shocked when not everyone speaks English.

Anyway, I think you’ll get better answers if you specify a country. The EU is quite diverse, so I don’t think there’s a ton of advice that’ll be true everywhere in the EU.

It’ll be tempting, but don’t try to drive there.