Of course today we know the horrors from the last decade. See what you think. Be warned ... it's long.
Sunday, 21 May 2023
Quite an interesting rant about Sweden
There are a few curious idiosyncracies, e.g. about white sheets, which I use, but overall, sounds legit ... I'd be curious to know what your experiences of the place have been. I was there a few times in the 90s, in transit, staying for extended periods in Norway and Finland. It struck me as pretty enough but overall ... nothing.
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Knew an ex-pat Swedish couple who said washing machines were banned after a certain time when they lived in an apartment block because of the noise. Doesn't seem unreasonable if the walls are paper thin and people are trying to sleep. Other than that there was nothing like the scenarios described above. One thing they did say, and this was over 5 years ago now, when they went back to visit family they noticed the numbers of beggars on the streets had multiplied significantly and was unsettling for them to see.
ReplyDeleteHaving been there quite often over the decades it sounds as if they are describing ... student accommodations (and having been a "mature" student here, it's almost identical). Normal homes, even apartments in the cities, are ... well normal and still aren't quite at the soviet/commune level of living.
ReplyDeleteThe 'emotional' judgements sound both greatly exaggerated and ... 'cultural' in nature (think "American over-emotionalism compared to British phlegmatic/stiff-upper-lip" on steroids, taciturn/reserved northern Europeans being judged by hysterical Asian).
Prices? 'Every' Northern European 'socialist' country is really that expensive, although the prices are slightly cherry-picked to illustrate (what the local feminist/socialist/health-nazi) government see as cash-cows (just like in Blighty) to fund their other 'social' programmes.
So? Hyperbole and misunderstanding, as well as click-bait.
I've watched quite a few "Things you need to know before moving to ..." YT videos and ... they're always hilarious, partly for the most basic things in one culture that those from others are shocked by, and partly because of the (often deliberate, I suspect) 'misunderstandings' (There was a spoof letter sent by a US professor to his students intending to study in Britain, published some years ago. I can't find it for the life of me, but ... it illustrated the 'difficulties' precisely. e,g. "All Brits address each other as love", "Cottaging is the gentile pastime of visiting local scenic spots", "vaseline is the term for the gift visitors bring to show appreciation", So, to be seen as polite visitor "ask a policeman, remember to call him 'love', where the nearest local cottaging is, and that you have brought your vaseline".)
So Sweden is really liveable and fine you think. Exciting country?
ReplyDeleteAnon 1.34
ReplyDeleteIt used to be, and away from the diverse cities it remains so (I have Sami friends in the far north that I visit regularly even now).
To be clear, not only is this a SSDD hit-piece by a click-bait hunting foreigner bemoaning how nobody gives them everything they want (the usual travel abroad and complain ... it's different) but ... care to imagine what Britain would be judged as being like if we based it off some diverse student-visa holder living in ... London?
Given a choice 'I' would jump at the chance to move there (although I'd probably trend towards Finland out of the three options). Pick somewhere where it remains mostly homogenous 'locals' and (just like rural Britain) it is not just "fine" but great (and the people remain independent, self-reliant, Christian, family and community orientated).