Being from Denmark and coming here as an exchange student, I had heard different stereotypes about American teens and their style. I heard that girls wear an oversized sweatshirt or t-shirt with either leggings or short athletic shorts, while boys have a rather simple style like athletic shorts, sweatpants and a t-shirt. 

I can confirm that it is true. The style here is athleisure wear.

I do know that everyone has their own style. This is more of a generalization. I brought my Danish style clothes, but quickly realized that if I wanted to fit in, I did not have to dress like I did at home. 

It took me some time to adapt to the American style, even though there are some similarities to the Danish style.

The style is different in certain parts of Denmark. Our capital, Copenhagen, is more trendy and everyone dresses differently. 

A basic Danish teenage girl usually wears a crop top or a sweatshirt with low rise jeans or linen trousers. However, we do not really wear the kind of shorts as you do here. The shorts we wear in Denmark are longer. 

Jewelry is also a part of many girls’ outfits along with a good bit of makeup.

Teenage guys wear a variety of things, but a typical outfit is jeans and a t-shirt or hoodie. Even guys wear linen trousers, which has become more popular over the last couple of years. It is a simple outfit, but still more formal than the American casual style. 

In Denmark some people say “I don’t want to look like everyone else,” yet you see girls with the exact same outfits, which is quite ironic. Of course there are people with different styles, but many look the same. 

Even though Georgia and Denmark are far away from each other and the style is not exactly the same, there are some likenesses. People do dress up when they go out both here and in Denmark. 

People dress up more even just to go to the grocery store or walk their dog, although that is more common in the cities. 

A small difference is that y’all have a school dress code, which I never had before coming here. The style in Denmark and Scandinavia is more formal. 

I really like the more casual style here, because there are not as many expectations of what to wear. I mean, people literally show up in their pajamas for school, so the bar is pretty low, which is nice because people are not judged for not dressing nicely. 

Now that I have been here for about 10 months, it is going to be weird to go back home and have to adjust the Danish style again. I am going to miss the casual American style and wearing sweatpants at school.

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