My second week in Copenhagen has filled me with lots of emotions which includes happiness, sadness, and figuring out how to live in Copenhagen with being American and a loner. In positive psychology, we wrote an essay about why Danes are one of the happiest people on planet.
For this assignment, I had to do research on Danes happiness as well as interview two Danes about why they feel like the citizens of Denmark are the happiest. From doing my own research, observing locals, and interviewing two Danes I have come to a conclusion about why Danes are ranked the happiest people in the world. Their welfare system is amazing, they enjoy getting outside and exploring nature, and they value the time they share with family and friends.
During our classes, we learned about the concept of being in a state of flow and its characteristics. A flow state is the mental state of performance in which an individual performing an activity is fully engage in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and pleasure in the process of the activity.
Also, in class we had a guest speaker from London teach us about Tai-Chi in which we even did some Tai-Chi exercises. At first, I was nervous about doing the exercises because I had never done Tai-Chi before and it required that we had a partner, but after being involved in the activity, I felt more relaxed and grateful that I tried something new.
On Wednesday, our class had a field study in which we visited the Deer Park in Klampenborg. The main purpose of the field study was to focus on well-being and happiness with a nature and mindfulness workshop and a carriage ride to finish our trip.
Unfortunately, I was late to our field study because I went to the wrong train station and was getting lost trying to figure out how to get to where our class was at. Once I finally made it to our designation I was already in a depressed mood because I called my mom and cried that I was lost, and I could not find my class. So, I was not able to enjoy the field study due to me being in my thoughts and letting my emotions ruin my experience.
My second week in Copenhagen was tough because I was struggling to still find people to socialize with and learn my way in this beautiful city. A positive thing I did take away from this past week was I was finally able to figure out how to navigate my way in Copenhagen through transportation.
Completing the happiness paper really helped me realize why Danes are so content with life. From an American perspective, Danes have a lot of to be grateful for and as I continue my study abroad in Copenhagen, I hope to take lessons I learned in class and from Danes and incorporate it into my daily life, so I can be more content with myself and at peace with this wonderful thing called life.