“Welcome to the 3rd Gathering of The Foreign Lands’ Explorers!”, said Jack. “Today’s topic is happiness. So, I did a little research and I found that ‘happiness’ comes from the Middle English word ‘hap’, which means ‘to happen’ and ‘chance or fortune’. Therefore, from the old days to these days, ‘hap’ turned into ‘good fortune’, ‘something that occurs by chance’. Nowadays, ‘happiness’ also means ‘joy’ and ‘a good experience’”.

“Well, in German, it’s ‘das Glück’, which is the word for ‘happiness’ and ‘luck’”, said Michael.

“In Spanish it’s ‘felicidad’, in Italian it’s ‘felicità’, and in Portuguese it’s ‘felicidade’. It comes from the Latin word ‘felicitas’, which means ‘good luck’… and also ‘fertility’. I guess that for Latins fertility was connected to good fortune somehow”, said Leo.

“The word for happiness in French is a little different: ‘le bonheur’. It brings together the words ‘bon’ and ‘heur’. ‘Heur’ means ‘chance’. So, it’s literally ‘good chance’”, said Elizabeth.

“It’s the same in Nordic languages. For example, in Norwegian, the word for happiness is ‘lykke’, which also means ‘luck’ and it has the same root as the German word ‘Glück’ and the English word ‘luck’. In Danish is ‘lykke’ and in Swedish is ‘lycka’”, said Sophia.

“It seems that happiness is in fact good luck. It’s when things are going well, when everything is in our favour”, concluded Jack.

“Speaking about Nordic countries, there is a book about happiness in Denmark. It’s called ‘The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well’ and it was written by Meik Wiking. I haven’t read it yet, but I think it is about the little things, being with the people we love, and cosy homes. Denmark was considered the happiest country in the world for some years, but not anymore. I think it’s Finland now”, added Sophia. “However, he gave a TED talk about the ‘dark side of happiness’. Through their studies about happiness, they found that comparing ourselves to others is very important to determine our own satisfaction with life. So, if you are surrounded by people who are more successful than you, even if you are successful, you will feel like crap.”

“Success is relative, isn’t it? What is success anyway?”, asked Elizabeth.

“Ok, let’s look at the dictionary. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, success is ‘the achieving of desired results, or someone or something that achieves positive results’”, said Jack.

“So, if ‘happiness’ is when things are going well and ‘success’ is achieving results, then successful people are happy because they are getting the results they were looking for, whichever they are”, concluded Michael.

“It’s all about standards, right? In Western countries, there is a model of the happy family and how a successful life should be, which may be different from other regions in the world. In any case, you want to be part of it, to fit in, to show that you comply with the norm. It’s hard if you are different. You may feel like a pariah”, said Elizabeth.

“And no one wants to be a pariah. By the way, pariah comes from the name of a lower caste. People belonging to this caste would be avoided by everyone else”, said Jack.

“Well, that fits. Whether you are part of the happy ‘caste’ of society or you are avoided until you get promoted”, laughed Leo.

“Do you think there are happier countries than others?”, asked Michael.

“There are definitely countries where you have a higher possibility to be happy than in others. In poorer countries you are so worried about surviving that happiness is not even an issue. On the other hand, in wealthier countries, surviving is, in principle, guaranteed. Thus, you can afford (literally) to think about it”, commented Jack.

“But you also have poor people in wealthier countries and what you said also applies to them”, added Michael.

“That’s all true. However, people in poorer countries sometimes seem happier than people in wealthier countries. Maybe because in wealthier countries people compare themselves more to others and are more pressured to be happy? I mean, if you don’t earn a lot of money, go on luxury vacations, or have a beautiful family, you may be considered a failure even if you don’t actually want a family, earn enough money to live the life you love, and don’t care about luxury”, said Leo.

“People in different countries have different values. Are you familiar with the expression ‘first world problems’?”, asked Sophie, but she didn’t wait for an answer. “This means problems that are not real problems compared with problems faced by people in underdeveloped countries. For example, getting annoyed because you don’t get an internet signal in certain parts of the house. Some countries struggle to have internet signals at all.”

“That’s not different values, that’s just a different dimension of problems”, said Leo. “In terms of values, in some countries people value life at home, like in Denmark, but in other countries happiness is to go out and meet friends somewhere, like in Ireland, where people like to meet at the pub. Happiness is different in these countries because of this.”

“Yes. In some countries, people love to go camping in nature, like in Scandinavia”, said Sophie. “There, being in contact with nature is extremely important for one’s happiness.”

“People in Latin countries go mad if they have to stay inside the house all the time. So, maybe Denmark’s definition of happiness can’t be applied there”, laughed Leo.

“Perhaps, but, in reality, what makes people happy it’s up to each individual. Some Latin people can be perfectly happy at home, watching TV while drinking hot chocolate”, said Sophie.

“Yes, there’s no rules, no models, although culture does play a part in it, I think”, said Jack. “Cultural shock can happen when you move to a country completely different from your own. Some people struggle to find a way to fit in and become miserable when failing. If they have moved for professional reasons, they can move back to their original country. If they had moved because they married someone from that country, then the marriage may not hold due to cultural differences.”

“Thus, fitting in is important to be happy”, concluded Elizabeth. “Some people adapt so well to another culture that are no longer able to return to their original culture.”

“It’s like they were born in the wrong country”, commented Michael.