Hey! I mean, hej, sorry, I’m still kinda new here.

I really like your country. I feel like I really fit in here with my blonde hair and blue eyes, I can usually pass through the streets of Copenhagen unnoticed. Everyone is very kind and no one makes me feel like an obtrusive American. You all speaks such phenomenal English that I sometimes forget that I am studying here in Denmark, until I hop on my bike that is…

As I said before, you Danes are a very nice people as a whole but, and I’m just being honest here, you guys are pretty aggressive in the bike lane.

I was all too excited to rent myself a bike when I first moved here and do as the locals do and bike to and from class, to the grocery store, even to the bar for a drink! The first morning I had my bike, I eagerly hopped on and was quickly greeted by an onslaught of Danes ringing their bells at me. I had no idea there was a proper “bike etiquette” but I quickly learned the hard way.

Now, I’m not sure if you were one of the serious Danes clad in all black who was essentially playing a one-sided game of chicken with me in the bike lane, but I did not appreciate it. I KNOW I stuck out with my bright blue backpack and red trench coat, considering you Danes are, essentially, afraid of color.

Outside the bike lane, you all keep to yourselves, avoid eye contact, and abhor the idea of small talk yet in the bike lane you Danes show an entirely different side of yourselves which includes hand gestures and muttered comments in Danish.

I know I’m laden with produce or small children like you locals are on your bike and I know that my leisurely pace perhaps puts a small kink in your tight morning schedule but whizzing by me at breakneck speed with less than an inch, excuse me, less than a centimeter, between our bikes is no way to impress a newcomers to your country.

So next time you see a girl biking slowly and trying to stay to the inside of the bike lane, give her some space and try not to bike past so quickly she is left dizzyingly trying to catch her bearings in your wake because odds are that girl is me.

Sincerely,