Moving to another country is not always a walk in the park and it be get somewhat difficult to settle in. Moving to Denmark and Aarhus in particular can be, for some people, a challenge in terms of building a social circle and meeting new people.
Picture by Henriette Mølgaard
That wasn’t the case for one of your members, Phoebe. Although she had visited Denmark once before on a student exchange, she settled in rather fast and that can be a hard thing to do if you’re an adult – as she puts it herself.
“I had actually lived in Denmark before, so I didn’t have any big culture shock moments. Like, I didn’t accidentally say hi to a stranger on the street or almost get run over by a bicycle while exiting the bus. But I had never even visited Aarhus before, so there was a lot to get used to” – Phoebe
Networking and meeting people in Aarhus
Meeting Danes in an environment suited for networking and building friendships can be a challenge. Moving to Denmark to study has it’s obvious benefits networking-wise, but if you want to branch out from there, it can get hard. As a Newcomer you have to deal with the fact that you are not sharing the classroom with old childhood friends and that can easily be a challenge in building a social circle in Aarhus.
Picture by Henriette Mølgaard
“The way the Danish school system is set up, students spend basically their entire childhood and adolescence with the same group of people, so they have this really tight friend group and it’s very hard to break into that network as an adult” – Phoebe
Associations can be a great way to meet new people
“How do adults anywhere make new friendships? It’s not easy! I kept hearing the same advice: “Join an association!” “Join a club!” Apparently, this is a very Danish thing to do. So that’s one of the main reasons I joined the Århus Baseball Softball Klub, and there really are organizations for just about any interest you might have.” – Phoebe
But joining a sports club can be frightening for some people – especially if you are not an athletic person or maybe “just not that into sports”. However, maybe the thought of playing sports can unintentionally scare you away from what’s really important: social interactions and the possibility to make friends for a life time. Joining a sports club can be a lot of things and not necessarily running a marathon every other day. Baseball and Softball can be quite friendly to non-athletic people, since the sport is more a matter of technique than “Usain Bolt stamina”.
“I am not a very athletic person. I played sports as a kid, but not as an adult, so joining a sports club was not the most natural choice for me. I was at a city-sponsored event for expats in Aarhus, and ÅBSK had a table set up and they seemed really friendly! So I went to an open house they had for the international community, and it felt really good to be around something familiar like baseball. Living in a foreign country, there aren’t many times where I feel like I just “get it” and understand what’s going on, but when we were talking about the rules and balls and strikes, it felt like home” – Phoebe
What’s you next move?
When moving to Aarhus you have to decide what your stay will look like. Are you going to join a club like Phoebe? There are many associations in Aarhus and almost something for everyone. If you would like to play Baseball or Softball with us, you can follow this link:
If you’re looking for something different, we would recommend this page to discover your leisure time activity: