> "It's because they're all on antidepressants!" Well, in the same period I have lived next to Copenhagen for three years (in Malmö) and this does not match my

> "It's because they're all on antidepressants!" Well, in the same period I have lived next to Copenhagen for three years (in Malmö) and this does not match my experience of the city nor the country in general in the slightest. Perhaps you visited near the end of winter, or when spring just started and the sun hadn't fully returned? The long winters can suck out the energy of anyone near the end of them, but during every other part of the year the Danes I know are a very cheerful bunch. More likely though, I think it's a different attitude towards smiling itself. In the US it seems like much more of a social thing: aside from spontaneous, genuine smiles, there is also smiling as part of how you present yourselves to others, almost like a form of politeness. That doesn't apply to European cultures.