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A blog about the good expat life
by Henriette Johnsen
Welcome to my blog! Here you’ll find everything from guides on various aspects of Danish culture to personal accounts from other expats - and most importantly, an in-depth look at some of the psychological challenges of expat life. I hope you will use these blog posts to enhance your expat experience.
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Talking with your child about the Ukraine war
Over the past two years, many children have been worried about covid: Will the virus come to Denmark? How might I be affected by it? Can...
Henriette Johnsen
Mar 2, 20222 min read
How to deal with the challenges of Empty Nest Syndrome
Part 3 of 3 posts! The last two blog posts have defined empty nest syndrome and explored why it often hits expat parents harder. In this...
Henriette Johnsen
Oct 22, 20214 min read
Why is Empty Nest Syndrome often worse for expat parents?
Part 2 of 3 posts! Last week's post defined empty nest syndrome; this week's post will look at why this experience often feels most...
Henriette Johnsen
Oct 14, 20213 min read
What is Empty Nest Syndrome?
Part 1 of 3 posts! Not that long ago you held them in your arms for the first time, you nurtured them around the clock, taught them to...
Henriette Johnsen
Oct 7, 20213 min read
Expat couples - co-dependency or dependency?
Co-dependency in an expat relationship is not necessarily the same as an unhealthy co-dependent relationship. And perhaps it shouldn't...
Henriette Johnsen
Feb 12, 20213 min read
Expat spouse dependency - Anna's story
I met my Danish husband while we were both working abroad. The nature of our work was not such that we would stay there permanently. We...
Henriette Johnsen
Jan 26, 20214 min read
Expat spouse dependency - Camilla's experience
I love living overseas with my husband and our infant daughter. I’ve been an expat wife for one and a half year now and it’s one of the...
Henriette Johnsen
Jan 21, 20213 min read
Codependency in expat couples
One of the biggest challenges of the expat adventure and most vital to successful outcome of the expatriation contract is the wellbeing...
Henriette Johnsen
Jan 21, 20217 min read
Divorcing abroad, and what is a stuck parent?
Expat life can be testing on any marriage, and studies show that nearly 70% of all failed international assignments are due to “marital...
Henriette Johnsen
Jan 16, 20214 min read
How to care when mental illness hits
Caring for and supporting someone with a mental illness can be challenging. Many people feel they haven’t got the knowledge and as such,...
Henriette Johnsen
Oct 25, 20205 min read
Depression in expats
According to the Danish Mental Health Fond every five or six of us will suffer from depression of varying degree at some stage throughout...
Henriette Johnsen
Oct 12, 20203 min read
Teenage life: friendship, freedom, efterskole, sex and alcohol
Friendships mean the world to children and teens. This is where they develop their sense of self and identity, they learn social coding...
Henriette Johnsen
May 25, 20204 min read
Student gradutation celebrations
Many international students finishing their IGCSEs go on to IB; and you may have noticed that upon graduation, they are rewarded a white...
Henriette Johnsen
May 23, 20203 min read
Teenagers' spare time jobs
Lots of teenagers want to earn their own money. Many start out babysitting for friends' or have a news paper round before moving on to...
Henriette Johnsen
May 21, 20202 min read
Baptism and Confirmation
Denmark is a largely Christian, protestant society with approximately 60% of all children born in Denmark being baptised into the Danish...
Henriette Johnsen
May 21, 20202 min read
Danes can't help forming associations
For more than a hundrede years, Danes have established associations; for private as well as professional/business reasons. The Sports...
Henriette Johnsen
May 21, 20201 min read
Children's birthday parties
In Denmark, tradition is for school children to invite either all the girls, all the boys or the whole class around for buns and cake...
Henriette Johnsen
May 21, 20204 min read
Childcare facilities and schooling
In Denmark, all children from the age of 6 months , have the right to be looked after outside their home if needs be. Unlike some other...
Henriette Johnsen
May 21, 20202 min read
Advice for expats on grief: How to cope with grief whilst living abroad during the corona crisis!
Most people have seen their life change dramatically over the past weeks or months. Some have lost their jobs. Some expats don't know if...
Henriette Johnsen
Apr 28, 20204 min read
The pandemic of loneliness - alleviate the stressors of social isolation!
In recent years, much has been written about loneliness in modern age people, in particular amongst the younger and the elder...
Henriette Johnsen
Mar 27, 20203 min read
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