Christian in Copenhagen

cwaronsky

Jun 1

Sounds like a new sitcom.

Hello all blog readers! My name is Christian Waronsky. I'm an aspiring dental student majoring in computational biology with a Sustainability Certificate and Civic Learning Distinction. I'm fortunate enough to participate in DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad) this summer. For three weeks, I'll be in Copenhagen, and I'll follow that up with another 3 weeks in Stockholm!

I find my feet on Danish soil/concrete to deepen my understanding of sustainability. If you are unaware, Copenhagen is often regarded as one of the most sustainable cities on this floating space rock thanks, in part, to its advanced infrastructure, engaged population, and forward-thinking start ups.

More recently, however, I've been thinking about the happiness of the population I'm immersed in. I'm sure you've heard how "happy" people in Copenhagen are and asked two questions:

Why?
How do they even measure that?

I can only try to answer the first. Being so northern, Copenhagen has either a super long day or super long night. Lucky enough for me, I'm living (and loving) the long days, but I frequently think about how anyone could get through the days of long nights. Despite my best efforts, winter, with its piercing cold and dreary dark, always gets me in a slump. And it seems most people I talk to agree to some degree. So, how do these Copenhageners do it?

I think it comes down to hygge-a foreign word without a direct English translation (hominess/coziness is often regarded as the closest). Hygge is a beloved practice by most all Danes. You could dive into all its intricacies as you'd like (I was able to do this with a little book I found in my apartment), but it boils down to being a comfy atmosphere with people and food you love. As a matter of fact, that atmosphere is often dictated by the lighting. There's a booming lamp culture over here, but for those lamps to truly dictate a setting, you need another, more powerful source of lighting to be hiding. If you catch my drift, hygge is only most effective when the sun is down, meaning Danes associate those long, dark night as more opportunity to be with the people and things they love. When you look at it like that, winter doesn't seem so bad at all...

Now, I'm only here for three weeks so I'm going get back to trying to soak all of this city and its wonderful innovations up! I hope hygge has instilled some inspiration in those of you who don't get along with the cold months too well. Thanks so much for reading and enjoy this video of me randomly finding a hedgehog on the side of a street.