The Kroner

Even though Denmark is part of the European Union, it is one of three pre-2004 EU members to eschew the euro and continue to use its old currency, the krone (DKK, pl. kroners). The only other countries that don't are Sweden which uses the Swedish krone (SEK), and Great Britain which uses the Great Britain pound (GBP). Some experts have theorized that the British continue to use the pound out of respect for the Green Bay Packers who share the same initials, although it appears that Sweden will adopt the euro at some point.

The krone is pegged fairly closely to the euro, and therefore the exchange rate will be pretty lousy, having risen about 30% since 2000. The current exchange rate is roughly DKK 5.5 to one U.S. dollar. Fortunately, most expenses on the trip are denominated in dollars, including the airfare and most importantly tuition.

You can tell a lot about a country by what they put on their money. For example, almost all money in India has a picture of Mahatma Gandhi on it. Coins in Denmark have a picture of King Christian V or Queen Margrethe II on them. Pictures on banknotes include Karen Blixen (author), Carl Nielsen (composer), Johanne Luise Heiberg (actress), Neils Bohr (scientist), and Anna and Michael Ancher (painters). Amazingly, Hans Christian Andersen does not seem to have made his way onto any currency. I'm not sure whether this says that Danes have great admiration for the arts and sciences or that nothing has happened there in a long time I'm not sure but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

If you want to hear a rap song about kroners (actually, kronur, since this is about Iceland) you can go here.