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. …

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. …

Happy people eat together, I learned in Denmark — When I arrived in Denmark, ranked the second happiest country in the world, I was lost, tense, neurotic, and hard as a rock. A normal state of mind for a New Yorker, but for a Danish person — almost unheard of. Even in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, people seemed calmer…

Simplifying parenting — When my daughter was born three and a half years ago, I was overwhelmed with all the choices available to me as a parent. When did parenting become so complicated? Anyone who ever set foot in a children’s store knows what I’m talking about. But do I really need all…

And why I’m back — When my earnings on Medium suddenly dropped after the change in their distribution policies at the Fall of 2022, I blamed it on myself. Was my writing not good enough? Was it boring? Off-putting? Was I boring or off-putting? Did I not engage enough with my readers? Did they get…

When “small nature” is all you have — Last year, I fell in love with sidewalk nature. It all started when I spent a year in Denmark and grew a new appreciation for nature and fresh air. In Denmark (as in England where I lived before that), nature is king and green spaces are abundant and easily accessible…

Foundations of a civilized society — Since moving to the U.S. from Denmark three and a half years ago, my husband’s outlook on life, vastly different from most people I know in America, has surprised me quite a few times. …