Hi, newbie from Denmark

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Well, hello everybody!

My (nick)name's Xanadu and I'm a 25-year old male from Denmark. This is my 50th post and I realize I should have introduced myself some time ago; I've got a tendency to lurk around places, trying to get familiar with them, before I do so. I'm afraid I even had the nerve to welcome others here before introducing myself. Sorry for all that. I hope you still welcome me, but even if nobody does, I already feel very much at home here and am convinced I will continue to do so. Thanks to everybody here for creating such a wonderful and welcoming family.

Though I've seen myself as an out-of-place weirdo for as long as I can remember, I only recently considered AS. Reading lots about it got me more and more convinced of being an Aspie and this has since been confirmed by a psychologist specialized on ASD who called me a "classical Aspie" (although I haven't done a full diagnosis and am not sure whether I want to). My life history seems to resemble most others here, and though I'll gladly share my traits, experiences, pitfalls etc. if anybody wants to know - just ask or PM -, I don't want to bore you with them in this introduction.

English is not my first language; besides I speak Danish, German, C#, VB and a little Python and Hindi. Did I mention that programming and computers in general are my main interest?

Having been here for a few weeks I feel I already learned a lot - I certainly have something to catch up - and I hope someday to be able to repay the debt and help others. Currently on my mind, and what I might ask for help with, are:
- whether to get a full diagnosis
- how to get governmental support for taking courses
- whom to disclose to

All the best,
Xanadu

PS. If there are other Danes here I'd love to hear from you too

hi, new here also just wanted you to be welcomed! I live in Alaska but always think the pictures I see of Denmark are beautiful. I'v heard the Danish are pretty accepting of others differences, have you found that to be true in your experiences?

Welcome to WP!

Tim

Xanadu, welcome to WP, your English is excellent.

Welcome to WrongPlanet

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan...


Welcome to the forum Xanadu, Im also pretty new here

Hi, Xanadu,
Welcome to Wrong Planet. I am new here, but feel quite at home now as well.
Not Danish, just another exotic Californian.

Thanks to everybody who said hi or otherwise welcomed me!!

Welcome Xanadu,

I share an interest in computers and programming. I'm about to learn SML.

thoca

Welcome Xanadu!
I'm new here too, and I'm on vacation so I have LOTS of spare time. I didn't introduce myself either, because I can be a bit shy with initial contacts... but I did post a few pictures of myself on the members pictures thread, so people can put a face to a name and opinions.
English is also my third language...
Take care, and welcome.

Thanks!!


Yes it is, but it can also be a bit boring, depends on ones preferences. Personally I miss mountains, and large forests to go for long walks - we have neither of them, I think the highest "mountain" in this country is lower than 150 meters or so, and the forests are small and feel almost urbanized, with dustbins everywhere and maps, as if one needed those to find ones way out again


Unfortunately not... let me explain why.

I'm an immigrant from Germany, have lived here for 9 years or so, and I tend to believe the fact that I grew up in a (somewhat) different culture makes it a bit more easy for me to see what is happening (changing) in the minds of the people here than if I had lived here all of my life and was totally "submerged" in the culture (of course I couldn't do that anyway). It is hard for me to write about this, because I am afraid it will sound pretty arrogant, and I (and you!) always have to relate it to me being an Aspie and thus probably being unable to ever understand all the subtle changes in this culture's mentality.

Having said that, I believe the nation's mentality is increasingly changing to be less accepting of others than before. Maybe this is partially caused by the war on terrorism, which Denmark is participating in. What I see is that more and more people are voting ultra-right and are publicly stating that they don't like foreigners. Some years ago it was totally unacceptable to publicly criticize foreigners in ways that I now see printed in newspapers' headlines every other day. Now, I'm ranting about this just as an example, because many of my friends are foreigners.

But I don't want to discuss politics here. So, in general, and unlike other countries, Denmark has always had an unwritten rule called the "Jante law". This "law", as far as I understand it - which was and still is hard, as I had never heard of it before I came here - apparently states that nobody should try to "be somebody", read "nobody should make themselves stand out from the crowd". Also, most people don't like to discuss this very well-known unwritten rule, like other social conventions in other countries you are just expected to accept it. I am happy to say that one of my bosses is an exception, he actively fights it and loves to talk about how bad this "law" is for our society, and he was the one who made me think about how stupid it is. (Usually, I don't give a damn about social conventions that don't make sense to me and this is no exception.) So this "law" (it is actually called that in Danish, though of course it's just another unwritten social rule) makes people look down on others who try to start their own company, or who try to be more than usual succesful in their careers, or who have some interest outside the "common" interests (and this is where "special interests" could come into the picture). As an example, my sister has a dream that she could some day live off of painting pictures (she is really good at that in my opinion). When she told some people about this dream they mumbled something like "Yeah, okay, well, good luck with it!" and quickly changed the topic. This reaction she attributed to this "Jante law"... why? Because you are just not supposed to stand out from the crowd in any way, and being a successful painter would be seen by many Danes as a violation of it. (Luckily, there are always people who don't believe in this convention after all!) A couple my sister knows moved to another country and they stated this unwritten rule as the reason for their decision - they just couldn't stand it anymore. In every country there seems to be a "spectrum" of acceptable interests and behaviors, and when too many of yours fall outside that spectrum, society will consider you an outcast. I'm afraid that spectrum always was kindof narrow in Denmark and is even getting more narrow nowadays.

Sorry for this long rant! I guess I just had to get this out of my mind. I will probably never be able to fit into the Danish, or any other, society in a way that nobody considers me an outcast and I don't mind, but I feel sorry for (apparently) NT people who happen to cross unwritten borders just because they have a special interest or a (in my opinion simply human) desire to become their own boss

And I want to make it clear that despite this stupid "law" I really like being here, and I try to fit in where it makes sense... and I don't think moving to another country would solve anything for me, since there probably are other, equally stupid unwritten rules... but I intend to fight the most stupid ones as long as I can

Best,
Xanadu

This "Jante Law" is not doing anything for Denmark except turn the country into Ayn Rand's dystopian "Anthem" world it seems.

Thus "jante law" sounds vaguely similar to the Japanese saying" The nail that stands up gets hammered down."
Entrepreneurial thinking is valued in America. It is often very difficult to get a business off the ground, but there is no attitude of it being wrong to even try in the first place. What an odd cultural quirk this "jante law" is.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

I welcome you to WrongPlanet! Actually, you've probably been here for some time, so I welcome you to new oppurtunities on this site!

I myself am very new, I only joined YESTERDAY (though I've done a lot of stuff)! I do not know as many languages as you but I know a bit of French, Nederlands (because my mamma's side is from the Netherlands) and a teeny bit of Spanish. Now I've just learnt that a world for hello in Danish is hallo (like in the Netherlands). If I have made a mistake please imform me and I will apologize.

Your English is very good, you do good punctuation. I am sure you are good at the others you know too. By the way, which country do they speak Python, I thought it was a snake?

As I too am Aspie I am rather obsessed with particular stuff on the computer (including this site) and computer games etc. What other things are you interested in?

Regards, mightyzebra

I wish you a belated welcome to WrongPlanet!

Sid