Blog Writer

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During the pandemic in 2020, I started writing first by posting on social media. I was still living in the Dominican Republic and had in July 2020 moved from the capital, Santo Domingo, to Las Terrenas, a small beach town. Then, in 2022, I moved back to Denmark. I continue to go back to the DR, and it is always a mix of spending some time in Las Terrenas, where I own a home, and Santo Domingo, for business and visiting friends.

I am now living in Aarhus, Denmark, as a resident, after almost thirty years away—twenty years away from Denmark as I was almost ten years in Copenhagen. I lived as an expat in the Dominican Republic and went through all four stages of cultural shock: excitement, irritation, adjustment, and adaptation. I prolonged the excitement phase, also referred to as the honeymoon stage, by moving around and traveling, spending time in different places. I think the irritation and adjustment phases overlap and are, of course, together, the main learning phases. You are challenged and irritated, then you adjust; then there are new challenges with the culture, and you adjust again.