House Hunting in Denmark - a saga

Other than "checking Denmark out", the primary purpose of my trip in September was to find a house or flat - somewhere to live. Rich thought that it would be neat to get a nice apartment in downtown Odense, then we could live a bohemian life for a few year (yes, he used the word bohemian, and I said - who are you?). But I liked that idea too - and that became our game plan.

We told the assistant assigned to help us out (Pia is her name) that we'd like to live in a flat in Odense. She did what any Denmarkian would do to find a place to live. She pulled up all the leasing agencies names and addresses. Because Denmark is a socialist country, these agencies rent out apartments and homes that were build at least partially with public money.

We visited the first one. She said that we could be put on a 3-6 month waiting list for a place located in Odense northeast. Now, I had heard about this neighborhood. Back in the 1960's when Denmark's economy was strong they brought in immigrants from Turkey for cheap labor. To house all these people the government built large apartment complexes in Odense NE. They look like the projects, except that there is a lot more green space.

She (the rental lady) said - this is a nice neighborhood, the government has spent a lot of money fixing it up, many foreigners live there. She had a look on her face - I'm very serious, why wouldn't you want to live there. When the lady mentioned that many foreigners lived there, I chuckled. Ha ha, yeah right, we'll live with the Turkish people. I was joking - She was not. (By the way, the Danes are not a sarcastic group - I'm in trouble). I then told her that we have a small boy. She quickly said - Oh, you don't want to live there.

We visited the second agency - exactly the same thing (except without my chuckle about the foreigners). So, we could get on a waiting list and in 3-6 months we might get a phone call to go live in a 3 room flat (that's 2 bedrooms, and one main room) that we'd never seen and that may be located in the not so nicest of neighborhoods.

That was day one, and it was depressing.

The next day Pia was busy, so she sent us off to the ONE private rental agency on the list. At first they were very - I guess a good word would be - curt. We simply said that we were looking for a place to live (that would be their cue to tell us what they have - come on - sell us something!!!). The girl stared at us blankly for a bit and said (exasperated)- I can't help you if I don't know what you looking for.

That was the point where I learned you must be very specific in your questions to a Dane. In the US, you go to the car dealer and say, I'm looking for a new car, and the dealer says - oh I got this over here, and this over here, this one is nice because... In Denmark, you go to the car dealer and say I'm looking for a new car, and they say OK. (Or when I explained to the rental girl that I'd really like a place with a bathtub she simply replied - So would I.) All-rightly-then.

In the end the private rental place had four different developments that we looked at. All located just outside of the city. There was no waiting list, and they were in nice neighborhoods. After a short while with the rental girl she warmed up to us and was quite friendly and helpful.

Well, the housing contract is now signed and we have an address in Denmark. We'll be living in a two-story townhouse in a little suburb outside of Odense called Fraugde. It has a grocery store, pre-school, and a bus to the main city - so I should be able to get by during the week without a car - just me and my beautiful bike.