Part 4: Copenhagen
This year, shortly before summer,
for the first time in my life, I made a serious attempt to buy a house. Not
that I really want to own such big property, but I think unless I do this sooner
rather than later, I will suffer financially in my old age, if I manage to
reach old age that is. I reached out to my Danish bank to discuss mortgage. My
initial conversation with the bank advisor ended with him telling me something
like “Usually, we are more difficult with foreigners, but you seem ok. I can
approve you for a loan.” I guess I finally made it as an immigrant after 14
years. Also, I now know how mortgage works.
In February 2018, I moved to
Copenhagen to become an Associate Professor at IT University of Copenhagen
(ITU), and to see if Copenhagen and I can satisfy each other’s criteria even
though my home country pathologically doesn’t satisfy the Copenhagen criteria
and I tend to be pathologically picky when it comes to where I live.
Five years later, I am still an
associate professor at ITU, I love Copenhagen as I already told in the first
post of this series, and, as of this year, I am also a permanent resident of
Denmark.
Copenhagen has the sea (one year
I managed to swim in from May to October), my favorite culture house (Huset), two easily accessible amusement parks (Tivoli and Bakken), 24-hour public transport,
streets that I feel safe to walk on even at late hours and doesn’t feel
deserted during a good chunk of the day, and a ~3-hour flight to Istanbul that
doesn’t make you go through jetlag.
I live in a rental apartment that
I really like, and I think my landlord is a decent human being.
Since I got my own PhD students
in late 2021, I can say “I love my job” without hesitation for the first time
in my life. Plus, I managed to establish a strong support system over time.
Denmark has also been the first
foreign country that I lived in where some people pay attention to writing my
name correctly. Not just the “ö” and “ü” in my surname, but also the “ı” in my
name. To be clear, I don’t expect this from anyone. Even I write my name as
“pinar” instead of “pınar” in emails. I insist on the correct form only in
paper publications and presentations. But I appreciate it when people make the
extra effort for this.
I don’t take any of these things
for granted.
These five years haven’t been a
smooth ride. I didn’t expect it to be smooth.
I didn’t really know anyone when
I moved to Copenhagen. I had the weakest support system I ever had in my life in
the beginning.
Setting up your own research
group from scratch is, to put it very mildly, hard. Doing it while trying to
build up a more decent support system and learning a new language is extra
hard.
And they didn’t give me my
permanent residency card on a silver platter; I took both the longest and
shortest exams of my life to prove my proficiency in Danish at B2-level and
knowledge of Danish culture/history, respectively. This doesn’t account for the
time I spent studying for those exams. Furthermore, they made me go to Næstved. I wonder how many Danes have
been to Næstved. For some reason someone decided to discontinue the fingerprint
and photo procedures for the permanent residency cards in Copenhagen leaving Næstved
as the closest location for this purpose if you live in Copenhagen. To be fair,
going to Næstved is still easier compared to most people’s daily commute in
Istanbul or the Bay Area.
Shortly before I applied for my
Danish permanent residence, my temporary one was up for expiration. I had to go
through the same application process twice within six months, minus the extra
documents for the permanent one the first time around. These applications didn’t
cost me anything in terms of money because Turkish people are exempt from
payment in residence permit applications (500ish euros). I don’t know the
historical reasons for this exemption, but I assume the Danes needed the
workforce. On the other hand, these applications cost me a lot of valuable time
and stress. I would really like to be exempt from that time and stress as well,
especially after 14 years living abroad. I guess the stress side of it is in my
control to some extent, but it hasn’t improved when it comes to permits and
visa applications over these years.
An additional annoyance was that the
expiration date on my temporary residence permit was right after New Year’s in
2022, and I usually spend New Year’s Eve with family. Despite applying for the
renewal of my permit as early as I was allowed to, I couldn’t get the new one
on time before my end-of-year trip to Turkey. I still traveled to Turkey, but I
returned to Denmark on Dec 31, 2021, just in case. My renewed permit was in my
mailbox, but it was extended for less than two years instead of the usual four due
to the expiration date on my Turkish passport. I knew I was going to apply for
the permanent residency soon, which would hopefully overwrite this temporary
permit, so this was ok, but otherwise it would have been a “please kill me now”
situation. The highlight of that New Year’s Eve was I slept though the mayhem
of fireworks that usually takes place in Copenhagen on that night since I was
too tired. Early next morning, I went back to the airport to do a mandatory
COVID test (yes, it was still those times).
Thanks to my Danish residence
permit, I at least no longer have to get a Schengen visa to travel in most of
Europe, which is a blessing. On the other hand, I gave up my green card in
early 2021. By that time, I knew I would likely not go back to the US, and, therefore,
this was the right thing to do. As a result, I missed two conferences in the US
in 2022 because I couldn’t get a US visa on time for them. Now, I have a US
visa for another 10 years, so I am good for the time being. I don’t know if
having a green card prior made any impact on the visa decisions, but it
certainly didn’t shorten the appointment time and it lengthened my questioning
at the airport while I was entering the US this summer for a conference.
The ITU CS department used to
have a coffee hour every other week. The first time I attended this coffee
hour, I remember sitting there in my usual silence and social awkwardness among
people that I don’t know very well yet. After a while, a faculty member
approached me and started a conversation about some issues regarding the
Turkish population in Germany.
I now identify this colleague as
one of my favorites at ITU. I am also the kind of person who would much rather
talk about the Turks in Germany than the Turkish food or the weather. However,
in those early days in Copenhagen, that conversation reminded me why I wanted
to move to the US in the first place after Switzerland and the trade-off I made
when I moved back to Europe. My Turkish nationality gives me a heavier baggage
to carry in Europe, and I am not allowed to let it go. At least, I now have
stronger muscles for it.
