And what America can learn from them — A little over a year ago, my husband and his two daughters moved from Denmark, voted the second happiest country in the world, to America, the eighteenth country on that list. Here’s what they think so far. American schools look like jails When my 10-year-old step-daughter joined a (well-ranked) public school in Brooklyn, she asked…

Sometimes I’m just as puzzled as he is — For a year and a half since moving to New York and then Los Angeles from his home country of Denmark, my husband has been asking me questions about this weird country of ours that I sometimes struggle to answer. It’s not that his questions are difficult. It’s just that…

Two polar-opposite people from two polar-opposite countries — You couldn’t find two countries more different than America and Denmark. The huge vs. the tiny. The loud vs. the quiet. The money-obsessed vs. the equality-driven. The huge egos vs. no egos at all. The fourteenth Happiest Country on Earth vs. the second. So it’s no surprise that my husband…

We can’t all move to Denmark, but we can bring some of it to us — When adjusting to life in Copenhagen, I noticed that things were very different in Denmark from back home in New York City. Locals seemed more relaxed, less addicted to their phones, more present with one another. Streets were quieter, shops and restaurants played gentle music on low volume. It’s almost…

Drive like your kids live here, among other things — After a year of living in Denmark, the most civilized place I’ve ever been to, I returned to America only to learn that hostility was alive and well in our country, with no plans of going anywhere. I was presented with two extremes. One is a society of strict rule-followers…

Reflections so far — My family moved from Denmark, named the world’s second happiest country, to the U.S. exactly three years ago and three months before Covid-19 hit. Their initial excitement was quickly replaced by a culture shock, then prolonged depression (hello, lockdown), followed by a slow recovery and, finally, acceptance. These days, I…

Free restrooms and freedom of speech — Gratitude is, perhaps, the most major positive force one can use to improve their life instantly. Yet most of us forget to be grateful day after day, year after year. I certainly do. This Thanksgiving, I would like to remember all the things I love about life in America. Because…

My mom’s simple secrets to a happier life — After spending the last twenty years trying to be different from my mother, I’m now seeing how much I can also learn from her. Despite living in a cold country that screwed up the whole world and its own citizens, she happens to be one of the happiest people I…

A secret to Scandinavian happiness is in happy childhoods — Childhood in Scandinavia is a serious business, and an investment that Scandinavian governments, and citizens, take seriously. After all, the secret to a happy adulthood is a happy childhood. No wonder these Northern European countries top the list of the world’s happiest nations year after year. My husband moved from…