Goodbye Copenhagen: Why I chose to move away from the city

For as long as I can remember, I’d dreamt about living in a big city. Growing up in a sleepy, small harbour town in Eastern Jutland, I always knew there was more out there for me. I’m lucky to have parents that took me abroad often, widening my horizons. But the majority of my childhood was spent in that small town, a town that I never really appreciated before I moved away from it.

In August 2016, 21 years old, I finally flew the nest and moved all of my stuff and myself to Copenhagen, the wonderful capital of Denmark, where the plan was to study prehistoric archaeology for the following five years. I’d always been fascinated by Copenhagen and thought it would be the perfect place to try out my city life dream. But sadly, I quickly found out that I did in fact NOT enjoy city life. A small-town girl who felt completely lost in a big city, that was me. I missed nature every day, I hated the traffic, the pollution, the slow-walking pedestrians and the dangerous cyclists. But don’t get me wrong – not everything about Copenhagen was bad.

I LOVED my time there because of the friends that I made. Great friends that I know will be for life. I also loved it because of the university and my passion for studying prehistoric archaeology. Studying in a field that I was passionate about made me grow as a person; I found something that I want my future to involve, I found my niche. The world of archaeology is so fulfilling to me. I loved Copenhagen because of the opportunities it gave me, such as me landing three amazing part-time jobs, two of them at museums! I also loved the greenery of Copenhagen and the tiny squares. And the most convenient part about living in the city was the close proximity to the airport, which is simply a short metro ride away from the city center, meaning that I could go off on my travels whenever I wanted.

During my time in Copenhagen, I went abroad 22 times. I went to amazing places such as Iran, Albania, Faroe Islands (five times!), Slovenia and Azerbaijan. I travelled so often mainly because I LOVE travelling and want to explore all the time, but sadly also to escape from my city life in Copenhagen. And I always knew I shouldn’t feel that way – I should be happy living in the place that I had actively chosen, where I had many great friends and endless opportunities, but I wasn’t happy there. I never felt like I belonged and therefore, I was constantly dreaming myself away and making those dreams my reality.

Ever since I moved to the city I felt like something wasn’t quite right with my life. I stopped living my dream, although I was actually following one of them. I missed the freedom that I’d had during my two gap years, where I worked whenever I wanted and travelled whenever I wanted. I absolutely hated the fact that I was now location dependent and did everything in my powers to forget that by travelling whenever I could, even if that meant having no money left for anything else.

Getting my job at the Land of Legends back in April 2017 definitely helped me feel happier about my stationary student life. That job was the best thing that happened to me while living in Copenhagen. The confidence I gained, the friends I made, the nature I enjoyed and the feeling of travelling that I got whenever I was going there. But still, that was just a summer job, and winter had me stuck in the city again. And I just never felt at home in Copenhagen. It’s a lovely city with lots to see and do, but I was hardly ever motivated to seek out any of those things. I felt more homesick than I ever have while travelling, resulting in me going home to Jutland once a month, sometimes even more than that. It wasn’t healthy and a year ago, I even found myself feeling depressed about my life.

So I made a decision. I didn’t want to live like that anymore. I need more in my life – I need freedom, to choose my own path, not just follow the goals of society. I don’t care whether or not I finish university in standard time. It doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t want to be stuck in the same place my entire life or even just for the entirety of my university time. I realized that I needed to move to somewhere else, to somewhere smaller with nature and preferably cold weather.

So for my fifth semester, where we are able to choose the courses we want, I sent in an application for an exchange programme at the University of Greenland. And when I got the news that I’d been accepted, I was ecstatic, I was over the moon! I only had half a year left in Copenhagen, which became more than bearable because of how my future now looked.

On August 5th with help from my family and a good friend, I moved all of my stuff out of the apartment in Copenhagen, and on August 16th, I moved out for good. On September 1st, I’m moving to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. I will be studying there for five months and then I will return to Denmark. But unlike what society would want me to do, I’m not moving back to Copenhagen. I also don’t want to give up my studies, but thankfully I’ve found a solution for that. When I get back from Greenland, I only have to write my bachelor’s thesis for four months, which I can write anywhere I want, and then take a course for 15 ECTS, which will hopefully be an internship at a museum, meaning that I won’t ever have to move back to Copenhagen. For my master’s, I’ll find another solution, maybe the University of Cambridge if I’m lucky enough to get in!

The decision to move to Greenland and move away from Copenhagen is the best decision I’ve made in my life. I’m out of the city and I’m much happier for it. That being said, I don’t regret moving to Copenhagen, because it made me realize what I want in life, and it also gave me a lot of great things that I’ll hold onto for the rest of my life. I love the friends that I made there and I plan to visit them often.

Living in Copenhagen was something that I had to try and at least now I know that it wasn’t for me. I’m not a person that can settle in one place, I’m free at heart and now I’m finally location independent, meaning that I get to choose exactly where I want to be at all times.