Thursday, February 10, 2011

Hole-y Kroner!

If I were to draw a Venn diagram featuring Canada and Denmark, there would be intensely extensive lists in each separate circle.

Indeedily do, there ARE similarities between the 2 countries, but during the (almost) 3 weeks I've been in Europe, I've come across about 8,000,001 differences.

One being the way the Danes pay for things.

Exhibit A:


No no, it's not a jazzed up dollar, it's a "kroner!"

Unlike it's neighboring countries, Denmark decided to stay off the band wagon and deny the euro monetary system. Thusly! The exchange rate of a dollar to a kroner is about 1:5, so when I'm walking around with 100 kr in my pocket, it's really like I have 10 Canadian dollars.

That was definitely something to get used to at first: I'm not as rich as I may seem.

The first big chunk of Danish money I took out of the bank was to pay for my February rent. I took out around 3,000 kr from an ATM at a "Danske Bank" near my school and started singing "Rich Girl" by Down With Webster...but then I did the conversion, realized I was giving all this money away moments later, and proceeded to sing "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof.

My mental math skills have definitely been getting a work out. I have to make sure I keep doing the conversion in my head when I buy things in order to avoid deathly booby traps that can lead to overexpenditure.

Not to mention that the tax rate here in Denmark is about 40%, or something redonkulous like that!!! There's this one coffee place called "Baresso" that makes Starbucks look cheap, since they charge about $8 for a hot chocolate!! Also, last week I paid 28 kr for a green tea. Do the conversion, and that gives you 4 Canadian dollars. Um, WHAT NOW? I think from now on I'll be sticking to H20 on the rocks when I eat out.

The cool thing though is that the coins have holes in them! The gold ones you see in the picture are worth 10 and 20 kr, the brown ones are called "ores" (so like cents in Canada) and the silver ones are 1, 2, and 5 kr...I think. HA! I'm still getting used to the system. It's actually comical when I'm paying for something since I have to look at the coin to read how much it's worth. (I would especially like to thank the stamp lady at the post office for her patience on this matter.) Honestly! It's like I'm handling monopoly money!



Hopefully I'll still have some leftover at the end of the semester, because a few of us have decided to make necklaces out of the holey ones when we go back home.

So for all you stylin' bitties in Toronto, look out. A new wave of foreign accesorical beauty is hitting the streets in June.

3 comments:

  1. I saw the photo and immediately thought "OMG MAKE A NECKLACE" but then you smartly wrote that right after I thought it. They will be very cool necklaces. Also, make earrings. Easy peasy to do.

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  2. Ya gotta keep working on your math, Kimberly!! 100 kroner is not $10, it's $20!! And 28 kroner isn't $4, it's closer to 6!! As Eddie Shack would have said in Danish "Look after the ore and the kroner will take care of themselves!!"

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  3. ah HAAAAA ha. Indeed. I realize this now, now that you AND mom have pointed that out.

    Hurray for careers without MATH!

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