Contrasting life in Phoenix, Aarhus
A week ago, I arrived in Aarhus for my 2024-25 U.S. Fulbright Fellowship in Denmark. Warm, generous people have welcomed my family and me. I am excited to be here.
As we settle into our new life, we jotted down some of our initial impressions of how our new surroundings differ from our life in Phoenix. Here is what we have noted so far:
Climate. Phoenix is a hot desert, teaming with cacti, quail, and coyotes. The day before I left, the temperature was 43°C (111°F).
Aarhus, on the other hand, is a green and wet coastal city. The day I arrived, it was 21°C (71°F) and raining. The furnished house I'm renting has a grass yard and an apple tree. Snails cling to the wall under the porch, and seagulls call overhead. The flora and fauna differs substantially from that of arid Phoenix.
Bicycles. People noticeably bike more in Aarhus than in Phoenix. When biking within the City of Phoenix, I either took mountain trails or the sidewalk – the latter being legal “when [cyclists'] safety warrants it.”
In Aarhus, cyclists have their own lanes, set off from the road. They also have their own traffic lights, separate from motorists’ traffic lights.
Yellow traffic lights before and after a red light. And like motorists, cyclists stopped at a red light in Aarhus will have a yellow light again, before the light turns green. This is to alert them that the green light is imminent.
This is not the case in Phoenix. Motorists have a yellow light after a green light, signaling them to reduce speed because the light is about to turn red. Motorists and cyclists in Aarhus have this pre-red light yellow light also.
12- versus 24-hour clocks. In Phoenix, most official education and business matters I encountered were scheduled on a 12-hour clock. In this format, a time is followed by “a.m.” which signifies “before midday,” or the Latin ante meridiem, and “p.m.” which refers to “after midday,” or post meridiem. A person could eat breakfast at 7 a.m. and dinner at 7 p.m., for example. But Denmark, like most countries, uses a 24-hour clock. Instead of 1 p.m., it’s 13:00, and 2 p.m. is 14:00, and so on.
Systems of measurement. According to the American Geographical Society, all countries – Denmark included – use the metric system of measurement, with the exception of three. Liberia, Myanmar, and the U.S. are the last holdouts. They still use the imperial system, which came into official use throughout the British Empire in the 1820s. The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 intended to usher in widespread, voluntary metric adoption among Americans. However, the United States Metric Board disbanded in 1982, and based on my observations, the extent to which people use metric measurements in Phoenix varies, depending upon their professional or social habits and cultures. In other words, some use metric a lot, and others, not so much.
National flags. When someone in Phoenix hoists the American flag, it’s usually on a patriotic holiday, with nationalistic solemnity. But the Danish flag is flown for a wider range of occasions in Aarhus to signify joy and celebration. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Homecomings. Sundays. The happy anniversary card I recently bought my husband, for example, donned Danish flags. But if I found a romantic card featuring American flags on a shelf in Phoenix, it would seem unusual.
Recycling. Recycling is no joke in Denmark. Household waste in Aarhus is to be sorted into multiple categories: Glass and metal; plastics, food and beverage cartons; paper, cardboard and textile; food; residual (e.g., pizza boxes, hygiene waste); and hazardous (e.g., paint, small electrical items). This is not the case in the City of Phoenix, which offers weekly rubbish and recycling pickup, but all of the recycling is placed together in one big, blue bin.
Toasters. Whereas our American toaster has two slots into which a person can drop a slice of bread each, our Danish toaster lays flat. I enclosed a stock photograph of them side-by-side.
Duvets. It’s usually too hot in Phoenix to sleep underneath much, let alone something this thick. But in Aarhus, this works.
Showers only. Our house has neither a bathtub nor a bidet. Whereas bathtubs and showers may often be found side-by-side in “full size” residential bathrooms in Phoenix, bathtubs are less common in Aarhus.
Basements. Out of all of the houses I've visited in the Valley, I don't think any of them had a basement. The house in Aarhus, however, does. This subterranean space has been a source of great joy for the entire family.
Robotic lawnmowers. I first saw these in Norway a few years ago. Robotic lawn mowers are uncommon in Phoenix. A person puts down a boundary wire for the mower to recognize. Then, the mower cuts within that boundary, in rain or in shine. Not only am I seeing robotic lawnmowers in action again around Aarhus, my own next door neighbor has one. It's cutting right now. (See video.)
Big windows. An entire wall in the living room is covered with windows. And those windows do not have any sort of shades. People in Aarhus embrace sunshine in a way only people who have limited access to it in winter months can. In Phoenix, we tried to block sunlight from heating our homes and driving up air conditioning costs as much as we could stomach. Windows in Phoenix have some sort of tint or shade, in one way or another.
Also, our windows in Aarhus don’t have screens. We open them and the air blows in, cooling the house. There are only a few weeks a year in Phoenix where this would effectively cool a home. And when it does, it’s gleeful. Maybe even exciting. To the point of considering hoisting a flag and properly celebrating it.