Interview with Annika Patni

Annika Patni, a 24-year old student from London faced the housing challenges in Copenhagen, as she pursued her studies in anthropology in Denmark. Luckily, she got a room at Rigshospitalets student residence prior to the beginning of the semester.

Annika, why did you decide to move to Denmark?

I’m half Danish – I speak and understand the language, so that makes the choice of country really easy.

In England, it is very expensive to study and in Denmark it is free, so I decided to apply for a Master’s degree in anthropology in Copenhagen. Also, the Master’s programme here in Denmark provides an opportunity for a research project during the 2nd year of studying, which is not the case in England. So, I thought that was super attractive.

How did you find accommodation in Copenhagen?

I heard how difficult it was to find a place to live in Copenhagen, so I used my network to find accommodation. At the moment I’m subletting my mother’s friend’s son’s room at RHK (Rigshospitalets student residence, red.).

It was just easiest that way, at least for the first six months of settling in. It wasn’t an active choice of mine, but the room was available, so I said yes.

How is it to live at RHK?

I really like it. It’s a very good experience to live at a student hall, compared to England. It’s very different, but in a super nice way. In

England you only live there during the first year of studying, so I guess everyone is just younger, but here at RHK the communal cleaning system, cooking together and building a community together is totally different. I feel that you’re more in charge of making your own community – it’s done really well because everyone is interested in creating a good “fællesskab” (community, red.) and wants to contribute to it.

In England, there isn’t the atmosphere like at RHK. cleaning or food rotation contributes and that sort of that they have it here!

same communal We didn’t have where everyone stuff – super nice

I lived in my own apartment for 5 years before moving to Denmark – I’m more the type of person to live by myself in an apartment, but it is quite nice to experience the Danish society in this way.

Besides contributing to a cleaning and cooking rotation system – how is the communal atmosphere a part of your daily life?

At RHK, it’s super nice that you can come back from a long day at university or work and have dinner with the others and talk to them even though you’re not best friends or anything. It’s just nice to ask and hear about someone else’s day.

It is quite normal just to sit in the communal kitchen and talk to people – even if you don’t know them very well. Yesterday, they were all playing Dungeons & Dragons in the kitchen – I didn’t participate, because I don’t know what it is, but I think it’s is very cool that people are just doing it.

How is it different from student housing in England?

I feel like Danes aren’t embarrassed as easily as English people are – you would definitely never see anyone playing a game like Dungeons & Dragons in a student hall kitchen, so I think it’s so cool that people here just do what they want to and don’t mind what other people think.

People seem to be a lot more welcoming and just ask you to come along to events and such.

Compared to London, which is more individualistic, busy and crazy, there is a much more communal spirit among the Danes I meet. I really like that about Denmark.

Thank you for sharing, Annika!

Good luck with your Master’s degree!