I was nine when I came to Denmark, and I feel zero percent foreign. At least here in Copenhagen. My dad is a Russian Jew, my mum is Georgian, and her boyfriend is Italian, so there are many languages around the dinner table. I embrace my mixed identity and perceive it as a strength rather than a weakness.
As a child I was really nerdy, always wore the wrong clothes, a fan of authors rather than of boy bands and I listened to Leonard Cohen rather than to Ace of Base. Today I have an almost religious relationship with the Tønder Festival, which features folk and country music. Every year I am ecstatic when I return from there. I work as a journalist and love my work. I prefer the somewhat quirky stories and personalities. They are also the ones I seek out when I travel. My travels mean a lot to me, especially my trips to South America and the Southern States of the USA. I love the people’s hospitality, warmth and the way they express themselves.
People may see me as a colourful person, who talks with her arms and laughs out loud. I’m allergic to anything streamlined and also to trivial rules. There should be more space for the quirky and eccentric here in Denmark. When people return from a trip to Italy, they talk about how charming it is with people on balconies chatting to one another across the street, the colourful buildings, the laundry hanging in the streets. But then it is weird that they come home and vote for quiet after 9 pm in the housing cooperative, they vote for only neutral coloured paint, and they will absolutely not allow laundry hanging out to dry.
34 years / female / in a relationship / journalist / Copenhagen N / from Russia / came to Denmark in 1991 / residence permit in 1993