Are Danes Truly the Happiest People in the World?

Hej! So I have been back in Copenhagen for a few days and have been getting back in the routine of having classes. I apologize about the length of my last post, but I had so much I wanted to say about my trip to Milan and had a hard time editing it down to a readable level.

I know you all have been super worried about my lack of Internet after 9:30PM every night (just kidding…), but have no fear, I now have access to the Internet when I want! I had a meeting with DIS Housing to see if there was anything they could do. I didn't really think anything could be done about the situation, but DIS has given me this handy little thing I plug into my USB port that gives me access to the internet. I am so happy! If you have no idea what I am talking about, please see the post entitled, “Impressions”, where I explain my Internet situation and why my host mom turns off the internet at exactly 9:30PM every night. 

So there are apparently four stages of culture shock, according to Wikipedia. The first is the Honeymoon phase, where one sees the differences between their home culture and the new one they are in as exciting and wonderful. I must now be in the second stage, negotiation, where I am finding some of the differences between the United States and Denmark to be frustrating. For example, today I had a field study for my Positive Psychology class. Denmark, as I have mentioned previously, is ranked in the top three countries consistently to be the happiest country in the world.  My class was instructed to go around Copenhagen and ask people why they thought Denmark is ranked as the happiest country in the world.

The group I was with and I decided to ask store workers their opinions. We were doing this around 10AM so most places did not have too many customers. We purposely only went up to workers who were not dealing with customers/ did not look busy. We probably spoke to about five or six different people. Most of the people we questioned answered our question, however, I had a problem with a few of the people we asked. Two separate women we asked were basically like, “I don’t want to answer that question. I am too busy.” How hard is it to answer a question that will probably take about ten seconds out of your life to answer? I feel like if someone approached an American with a question, the American would always answer it, even if they were busy. We specifically made a point to talk to people who were not preoccupied. It almost seems rude to me to not answer the question. However, this is just my opinion.  Danes are a lot more reserved than Americans and are a lot more blunt, which I suppose can be a good thing in some cases.

I also have found that Danes will not help you if you are lost- you must ask for help. You could be walking around clearly lost, looking at a map, but a Dane, for the most part, will only help you if and only if you ask for it. This sort of makes me feel worried because if I were truly in danger or needed help, would a Dane help me? If someone is in trouble, they can’t exactly always ask for help… I am definitely generalizing here and I am sure there are Danes that would definitely help someone in need, but it does make me wonder. I would hate to see another Kitty Genovese- - a New York woman brutally murdered in the 1960s where many people watched the murders from their apartment buildings who did not call for help, assuming that others had already called for an ambulance.

I do like how genuine Danes are. If they say let’s meet for a cup of coffee, they mean it. I can’t count the number of times Americans, myself included, have said, “oh, let’s go out/ meet up” and it never happens. Or how American will ask “How are you?”, but not really mean it. Do you really care how I am doing? Probably not. When you ask a Dane how they are doing, they will usually tell you how exactly they are doing. Just something to think about…

Tomorrow I have a test in my Human Sexuality class. Hope it turns out well! Next blog I will tell you about my adventures in Switzerland and Germany!

Vi ses (See you!)

~Jenna

P.S.- Oh and most of the Danes felt that Denmark was the happiest country because they did not set their expectations too high, like American do, and that they have the welfare state, which provides for their basic needs. Did you know that Danes are paid to go to school? No student loans for them! I shouldn't let two people not answering my question get to me so I am not. Though it is true what we have been learning in Positive Psychology, that we tend to focus on the negative events more than positive...