♫ Maja min Maja, min bitska lilla piraya… ♪
First time away of home, first time living alone…
I must say that I’m not going to generalise the whole country or use my experiences as stereotypes, but I’m going to share with you my experience in Sweden from the point of a southern European and of course my experience with the Swedes I’ve met personally or randomly out in the streets, during this one single month.
The Swedes are not what I have been taught to expect them to be. They smile at you whenever your eyes meet or even say “hej” to you. They say “hej” to the bus drivers and the bus drivers hej back to them, no matter if you’re the 83782463254th passenger and everyone seems to be willing to help you out, flaunting about their English. So no, Swedes are not cold at all! Okej, maybe for someone like me, who’s coming from southern Europe and the “kissy-touchy” thing is a very common thing there, even with people you don’t even know, the “not-even-a-proper-hug” the Swedes give to each other or the tap-tap on your back might appear to you a bit of… cold, but no…! If you think about it, it’s just how they interact with each other and a hug can be really warm and welcoming, I assure you!(ok I admit that the tap-tap thing on my back can only help me to burp faster :P ).
The Swedish weather! Big topic!! Since the 5th of September-that is when I put my foot on this beautiful country-Swedish people keep saying to me “Oh you brought the Greek summer with you, you’re so lucky!!” Really??? Do you people really believe that I came to Sweden expecting sunny days, spring flowers and colourful butterflies???? EVEN the mushrooms have shrank with that abnormal heat! Give me thunderstorms Thor and fogs with crows Odin!! Show me what you got, even if that means sending me back to my little country with gangrene! Okej enough ranting! As people have said to me, I haven’t experienced the real Swedish weather yet, so the only thing I can share with you now is that during the night the temperature gets really low, no matter how high it was during the day. So if you’re not a fan of cold weather, embrace yourselves, if you do like cold weather or you don’t care about it, you’ll be fine with the right clothes, either way I think you’re gonna enjoy the foggy eerie nights as I do…!
Nature! Oh for the love of Freya! I can’t get enough of this place, really!! Where a Swedish city ends the forest begins! Vast woodland areas with numerous lakes and lots of animals. When I walk through the woods I feel like I’m gonna be attacked by Whitewalkers[1] or meet Tauriel[2](if only). If you love nature, you’re gonna adore Swedish nature! Its forests are literally alive! You can listen to them, see them changing through the seasons, smell them and feel their moist aura. Sparsely, around parks into the forests, you can find picnic tables or even tiny log cabins with hearths, where you can hang there with your friends or family. You can also pick mushrooms and fresh berries, like blueberries and lingonberries!
Attention: Do NOT go out for a walk deep in the woods, when it’s very warm. You’ll probably end up running away chased by swarms of älgflugor(elk flies). Speaking from my personal traumatic experience :P
Food… All right, I think that Sweden owes a big gracias to España, a big grazie to Italia and a big shukran to Arabia! Swedes have adopted many foreign dishes, which is a very good thing, because you can try different cuisines in one city BUT if you’re brave enough you can always try a Swedish dish like blodpudding (black pudding). On the other hand Swedish sweets are delicious, standardised or not, they have a big variety of sweets for everyone’s taste! And if you like coffee, fika will be your thing! Fika is the Swedish coffee break and you can NEVER skip out on it, even if the world is about to end, Swedes will have their fika.
Social responsibility/Politics/Human Relations The first thing that made me feel sort of safe and accepted is the non-discrimination environment lots of Swedes are working on to create. Some areas or fields like schools and fritidsgårdar (youth centres) have already achieved it on some level and they’re still trying to create a society, where everyone in it can have the same opportunities and treatment, no matter your special needs, no matter what you have between your legs, what your sexual preferences, cultural backgrounds or your religion beliefs are…
Also many of the Swedes are very environmentally conscious. You’ll find recycle bins in every possible corner, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see any rubbish at all on the ground. As surprising as it sounds a lot of Swedes do not care about the environment, like in every other country.
As a 1 month resident among Swedish citizens, I have to admit and share with you that they treat me as an equal citizen. I have not felt any racist behaviours or even hostile glances(yet), because of my nationality or my southern physical characteristics. Swedish drivers respect the pedestrian crosswalk, even if it’s “maja min maja, min bitska lilla piraya” on the radio(Swedes seem to love that song). You don’t even have to be careful when you cross a street (but please do)! You’re not going get squeezed or pushed, when using the bus or when you’re in a public facility. People form queues in order to avoid crowds and in general Swedish people respect your personal space and they expect you to do the same.
Sweden is a very green and beautiful country with a very interesting background as well! When you come here please strangle every stereotype you may have formed by reading stuff or by other people’s experiences. Consider that you have a great opportunity to introduce yourself to a different culture, learn new things and meet lots of new people… So keep your eyes and mind wide open and seize every opportunity that appears to you.
P.S I would love to read or listen to your experiences in Sweden…!
[1] Game of Thrones’ frozen zombie-like magical creatures
[2] Lord of the Rings’ female elf character
