Big change in my life. I moved from Denmark to Germany.

Here's why.

Nov 13, 2024

Hello friends,

A couple of weeks ago, I told you that I made one of the biggest decisions of my life. But I didn’t tell what decision it was.

I moved from Copenhagen, Denmark to Munich, Germany.

By now (10.11.24) I have already been living in Munich for 2 weeks and I had my first week at the new job. I am completely in love with this city already. But more on how my first 2 weeks here have been later.

In this newsletter, I also want to talk about why I left Denmark, because most people consider Denmark and especially Copenhagen one of the best places to live and work as a structural engineer.

You get a good salary, only 37 working hours, great health and education system. Copenhagen is considered one of the most liveable cities in the world.

So why would I leave this place?

I wrote down the 5 main reasons why I moved away. Before we get into that, I just want to make sure you don’t misunderstand.

The last 3 years in Copenhagen have probably been the best in my life. And I didn’t move away, because I had a bad time. I am very grateful for the jobs I had, the friends I made, and the things I experienced. I also love Copenhagen.

It’s because there are a few things I started to miss as a Non-Dane in Denmark.

It’s becoming more common to work abroad and as an expat. And I want to share my thoughts and experiences.

→If you are a structural engineer living and working abroad, text me about your experience.←

Here are the 5 reasons why I moved away.

Reason #1 - not feeling 100% integrated

I speak fluently Danish. I had lived in Denmark for over 4 years, but I didn’t have any Danish friends, and I tried hard.

Even though I had many international friends, when you don’t have any local friends you don’t feel 100% integrated. I felt 95% integrated, but these last 5% made the difference. I want to live and work in a place where I feel 100% integrated.

Reason #2 - the weather

Summers are good, but winters are long, dark and grey. I grew up in the South of Germany. It’s even colder there in winter. But you get sun. Every 2nd or 3rd day on average it’s sunny. There were times in Copenhagen where I didn’t see the sun for 3–4 weeks because it’s always cloudy in winter.

Until I moved to Denmark, I didn’t know that the weather can impact my well-being. Now, I know it does. And this year is the first year in 5 years that I am actually looking forward to winter again. The Alps are close, Munich has sun and nature is just amazing here in the South of Germany.

Reason #3 - language

Speaking a language fluently doesn’t mean that you always feel comfortable speaking it. Going to the doctor, talking to the plumber or calling the municipality is always a bit of an extra challenge because there might be words you don’t know because you never use these words in your day-to-day life.

Reason #4 - nature

I grew up close to the Alps. I love hiking and spending time in the mountains. As a kid, I skied every weekend in winter.

Denmark is the complete opposite. It’s one of the flattest countries on earth. The highest elevation is 171m. 🏔️

Mountains are definitely something I missed a lot in Denmark, and I am happy to be close to the Alps again.

Reason #5 - culture

Danish and German culture are quite similar when you compare it to other countries. Both countries are pretty good at drinking alcohol (😐), most people do loads of sports and both nationalities love bread to mention a few things.

Still, there are many differences.

As someone who didn’t grow up there, you can’t contribute to a lunch discussion about kids TV series, the election or the school system.

Even in Germany there are big cultural differences between South & North, East and West.

I realized that I missed my culture - the German/Bavarian, and now that I live here again I feel home.

Living abroad is exciting and challenging. You grow 5x more than if you always stay in your home country. There’s just so many things you need to figure out yourself, and you are out of your comfort zone every day.

I would 100% move to Denmark again. I grew so much as a person. And I had a fantastic time.

But being an expat is also over romanticized often times. It comes with many challenges like the feeling of not belonging to the place. This ultimately made me move back to Germany.

The move and the first 2 weeks in Munich

What can I say. I am completely blown away by Munich.

Munich has so many parks like English Garden, public transport is cheap and well-connected, people are very active and sporty (especially running and cycling), great job opportunities, very ambitious people, a lot of internationals, cool cafés and nice nature outside the city.

I didn’t expect to have such a great time from the very beginning. This is the 3rd time that I moved to a new city (Innsbruck, Copenhagen and now Munich) and the first 6–12 months in Innsbruck and Copenhagen were super challenging. It took me quite a long time to find friends that I match with.

Like in Innsbruck and Copenhagen, people here are very active and sporty. But what’s quite different is that most people are very (very) ambitious in their professional lives.

I don’t want to say people aren’t ambitious in other places. But Munich is next level. A good friend of mine who lives here as well found the right words: “Munich is a hustler city.” From my conversations with the people I met, I agree 100%. Work is always a topic when you meet somebody new. You can feel that people here care a lot about their career, and I really like it.

In Denmark, for example, most people don’t understand if you work longer and extra hours because you care about the quality of your work or because you want to learn. People valued their spare time a lot. And I never felt I could be proud to work a lot. It had a negative taste for many people.

I joined already 2 run clubs and met up with the few friends I have here. I am doing a lot of socializing atm, because that’s something I didn’t do enough when I moved to Innsbruck and Copenhagen with the result that I felt lonely in the beginning, and it took quite some time to find friends there. So not too much work on Structural Basics, but that’s OK.

Now let’s talk about my first week at the new job. As for the city, I am also positively surprised by my new job.

I joined a structural engineering consultancy with around 200 employees in 8 different locations. My colleagues are super friendly, young, competent and ambitious, the company has a flat hierarchy, the office is central, and I am already busy with 3 exciting projects.

My colleagues work a lot because they really like their job. I appreciate that a lot. In Copenhagen, I often felt stressed when I was one of the last ones in the office at 16:30. Here many of my colleagues stay until 18:00-19:00 and nobody has a rush going home. That way, time flies by super quickly.

I am still settling and there are still a few things to organize like getting a bike or getting my German phone number to work. But as you can read, I am very happy about the move and excited for what’s coming.

If you live in Munich, reach out and we can go grab a coffee. I am always excited to connect with new people.

And to all expats: I know how difficult it is to live abroad. There are many challenges every day that people who never lived abroad don’t even think about. I really look up to everyone who lives abroad, and even more to those you managed to integrate into a new society.

On that note. Thanks for listening to my monologue. I thought you should also know about this big change in my life to get to know this guy better who emails you every Wednesday. ✌️✌️

I am very happy about my decision to move back to Germany. But at the same time, I don’t regret that I moved to Copenhagen.

We are back next Wednesday.

See you there.

Laurin.

PS: There are also amazing structures here in Munich, like the Olympic Stadium. Look at these cables and membranes. 😋😋