TRU WolfPack Alumni find new home in “Copenheaven”

Colin Carson, men’s volleyball alumnus (’14) and girlfriend Kailey Colonna, women’s basketball alumna (’11) have landed themselves a new home in Copenhagen, Denmark. Carson, a recent Bachelor of Business Administration grad was looking for an opportunity to play professional volleyball overseas and Colonna, who holds a Bachelor of Arts, TESL Certificate and Master of Education from TRU, was hoping to put her education to good use across the pond.

As luck would have it, another TRU volleyball alumnus, Martin Stenderup, head coach of the Gentofte Volley Club men’s team, recruited Carson to join his squad. As part of his contract, Carson will coach the Gentofte Volley Club women’s team. Colonna has secured a job working at an international private school as an English instructor and substitute teacher. She has also been able continue playing basketball with Gentofte- the SISU basketball club that has won the Danish national championship for the last four years in a row.

“It was luck that we ended up somewhere as amazing as Copenhagen. We have been really lucky to find such great opportunities here to fulfill everything that we love and miss about life in Canada,” said Colonna.

Carson and Colonna’s Copenhagen home, where they reside in the upper suite of  a board member for the Gentofte Club.

Q & A –

Tell us about your experience so far, what are the best and worst things about living in Denmark?

The worst thing about being here is being away from our friends and family. It doesn’t feel real that they are so far away but keeping in touch has been pretty easy and we are hoping to fill our spare room with visitors a few times this year!

In a more general sense the cost of living is hard to adjust to. It is very expensive to eat at restaurants (almost triple the prices in Canada) and even buying coffee is so much more expensive – Colin is really missing Tim Hortons.

Another negative is the time change affecting our ability to follow North American sports (including the WolfPack of course) and we are already starting to really miss it. It’s a lot less fun to wake up to the results rather than watch the games live. This could negatively affect Colin’s fantasy hockey team this year 😉

The best things:

We have spent a lot of time being tourists here already and it is amazing just to look around and appreciate how much history is here and how lucky we are to live in a city like Copenhagen. Playing on teams has also helped us meet people more easily than expected and meet friends with a lot in common with us.

So far our favourite places are Nyhavn in downtown Copenhagen, which is the ‘new harbour’, and Bellevue beach which is located only about 5 minutes from where we live.

One of the biggest adjustments is biking everywhere instead of driving. It has it’s perks (especially when the weather is nice) as it gives us time to appreciate the local attractions. However we are dreading the bike trips in the winter months.

There is a reason why Denmark is famous for their pastries – good thing we have to bike everywhere so we feel like we’ve earned them. We have already tried a lot of the traditional food with the family we live with, which makes it more affordable and accessible.

What are your long term goals, how long do you see yourselves living overseas?

As of right now we are just enjoying this year. So far it has been great and we would love to come back to Europe next fall if the opportunity were to arise. It has been a great procrastination for real life so far and we are both getting to pursue work and play in fields we love. Long-term we would like to be back in British Columbia to be near our families, and as amazing as everything we see is, it also reminds us how fantastic our lives at home are as well.