Sweden: Reasons to (Not) Move There

[Deleted]

No one in Norway actually hates Sweden, you're just being silly and taking obvious jokes seriously.

And no, I was actually being serious, Sweden has problems, and thousands of young swedish people go to Norway instead of staying home because they can't get work, and if they do get work the pay sucks compared to the 1 hour away Norway.

Yea he obviously doesn't understand the Norway and Swedish rivalry, it's nothing serious really, just jokes. :-) Though it ain't that hard to get a job in Sweden and the pay ain't that bad either. You need to remember that everything is a lot cheaper here in Sweden. And both sides abuse it, we go to Norway to work and get a lot of money, you go to Sweden to buy food/clothes and more for a cheap price. Whenever I'm in Värmland here in Sweden there are a LOT of Norwegians shopping because of the prices, and with a lot I mean atleast 50% being Norwegians.

But we don't like Finland! Especially not when they think they got the right to call themselves Scandinavians. They don't even speak a Scandinavian language! The only good thing we (Sweden) got out of Finland was giving them away to the Russians to avoid the Russians invading Sweden. : D

[Sinraye]

There is a quite big of a difference between US and Sweden. Here are a few things that are worth mentioning.

1. We pay high taxes, ~30% of our income, and usually there is a 25% tax on things you buy, but it can also be 12% or 6% depending on what you're buying. However these taxes cover quite a lot. Free healthcare, school etc, I imagine you get a lot less bills here than in the US. If you somehow manage to hurt yourself you will never have to pay for the medical treatment or anything like that, in fact you will probably get some money from the insurance for your pain. University used to be free for everyone and I mean EVERYONE. Now its free only for swedish citizens and members of the EU + Switzerland and ofcourse exchange students. Oh yeah, you have to pay for dental visits if you are over 19 years old (can be quite expensive).

Because of the high taxes that cover so much wellfare there aren't many people who are considered "poor". That gap between the rich and poor is much smaller here than in the US. Though since we got a right wing a few years back this has increased, the rich getting richer and some people got a harder time (ppl with sickness and dissabilities got more pressured to get back to work). Anways as I looks today, the left wing parties will probably win.

2. Systembolaget: Yes it is annoying. Sweden has maybe the most expensive alcohol in the world. Insane taxes on it. But honestly its not that bad. You can easily afford to get drunk a couple of times a month. The alcohol prices in bars is even more insane though. ~7$ for a glass of beer. (Saying this as a former student)

3. House and living: Buying a house is quite expensive in Sweden. Also they are not nearly as big as your american houses, perhaps 150m^2. However, most are very well built and you will not have to worry about freezing on cold days. Buying an apartment is expensive aswell. But the prices vary a lot depending on where you want to live. For example a house or apartment in a bigger city is a lot more expansive than in smaller towns.

3. The weather varies a lot. Summer is amazing and later part of the spring and earlier part of the autumn too. Then comes the bad part. It gets cold and dark and it lasts for, what atleast feels like, a long time.

4. Language: Most swedes can speak and understand english very well, especially the younger generation (<40y). Some of our commercials are in english for some reason.
Most tv shows are in english, with swedish subtitles. You won't find anything that dubbed to swedish unless its a cartoon/anime for kids, e.g pokemon, Ice Age etc. At university most of the litterature used is in english. I studied Informatics (System Sciences) and like 95% of the litterature was in english. This can vary a lot between programs.

5. Work: You get a long vacation (5-6 weeks) and have good protection from the work union. Being a good english speaker is almost a must (you got that covered). There are quite a few big companies located here. The pay is good and there is a much smaller difference between rich and poor here than in the US because of the taxes. Even if you get work as a cleaner you will still be able to live a normal life. You will have money over to spend on fun since you don't have to worry about medical and school fees etc. The minimum wage is pretty high here. Almost 3 x as high compared to US if I remember it right.

6. Attitude towards foreigners: Sadly this has gotten a bit worse in recent years. Last election was the first time a "racist" party (Sverige Demokraterna) managed to get over 4% of the votes and therefore get into the parliament, though none of the other parties wish to work with them. Think they got 5.3%.. However it is abit understandable considering that sweden is the country that accepts most foreigners in the world divided by population and the recent recession. Since 9/11 and US going to war in the middle east and the arabic spring, we've had a lot of foreigners coming from the middle east. Also a lot of people having been coming from Somalia. And it is mostly towards this group (muslims) that hatred exists. However this is only what a very small minority thinks. I think the problem lies with failure to integrate these people into the society and people being ignorant. These people come from countries where the culture and lifestyle is completly different from Swedens and people need to understand that it will take longer for these people to adapt. Every once and then you will read about daughters being abducted by their families, taken to their home country and forced into marriage or "honor murder". This is something that Sweden needs to keep a better eye on and be harsher about.

I'm actually a swedish citizen with a foreigner background. I actually come from Bosnia (southern europe, east of italy) and moved to Sweden when I was 4 years old with my family. Back then, if you perhaps remember, there was a war in former Yugoslavia. Most people from Bosnia are muslims, though it is very relaxed. They are as much muslim as a swede is christian meaning it does not impact the society/goverment/laws etc. You don't see women wearing veil and there are bars everywhere (been there a few times during summer break). In fact it is very equal between men and women like in most western countries. I consider myself to be an atheist, as does my father, don't know about the rest of my family though (grand parents are believers though). Anyway Sweden took really good care of us back then and I'm very grateful for it. I can only describe the "racism" experience given my own background and belifs. People coming from countries where the culture is very different from the swedes will probably have a harder time.

Anyway, back to what I was trying to say. As a "white" european I haven't felt much racism towards me, though every once in a while you do feel abit different. Coming from a european country the culural differences haven't been big compared to swedes, so me, my family and most other families with a former yuguslavian background adapted quite naturally. Unfortunalty, I think it might be abit more difficult for those with a darker skin, from countries where religion (islam) plays a big part at all levels of society and culture. As I said it is a very small minority that are "racist" and Sweden as a country is probably one of the least racist countries in the world, though it does exits.

As an American you won't have any issues with this. In fact most swedes look up to people coming from countries where english is the primary language. However you might feel that people do not always understand your way of thinking (in the beginning). Both Sweden and US are western countries with a "western culture" if you know what I mean. There are differences but not that big. You will probably fit in easily. You might miss some American holidays though, but you will get to experience a few new interesting ones haha. Germany is also nearby for some hardcore oktoberfest.


Oh yeah, the women, its no joke, they are HOT (at least many of them). Sweden really is a great place for women as someone mentioned. It has one of the best gender equality in the world. During my time in school, uni and work I've never witnessed someone being harassed for being a woman.


Sorry about the big "foreigner" section. Since I have a foreigner background I thought I might give my thoughts on how the "racial" situation looks here.

[Archangel Tyrael]

DU GAMLA DU FRIA ! xD

---------- Post added 2012-05-26 at 02:29 AM ----------

Anyway, yes. It's an undisputable fact that we're all supermodels.

You're not.

I'm telling every men on this thread right now, the barbie blonde light blue eyed girl stereotype from Sweden is a FAKE. If you truly want that, go to Finland.

[Sopperino]

It is in my experience extremely common to hear people casually speaking English, for some reason. Even when everyone present in conversation is Swedish. In fact, this image was shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia. (Article here)




So you'll not have much issue language-wise.

I don't think that map is very accurate... I live in Norway and everybody speaks English :s

[Deleted]

I don't think that map is very accurate... I live in Norway and everybody speaks English :s

Grey stands for no data.

[Reeve]

I meant 20k swedish kronors. thats what $2700 is roughly. And that is quite a low sallery.

Ah, fair enough.

---------- Post added 2012-05-26 at 03:18 AM ----------

3rd girl from the left is Victoria, my friend Alex gf, she is a model.
Totally cool girl with a sound head on her shoulders, so don't judge her as a blond barbie doll with fake tits... rofl

My experiences in Europe (opposite of the experiences I've had here) suggest that the hotter a girl is in Europe, the more down to Earth, intelligent, and generally awesome they are. It usually seems to go the other way around in this part of the world. Kind of stands the whole attractiveness thing on its head.

[Lefthandpath]

i havent looked through all the posts, but if it aint been said yet, best part of sweden is THE HEAVY METAL.

that itsy bitsy country fucking exploded with metal about 15 years ago, and has shown no signs of slowing down. the brits had it for the 70s' to early 80s, the americans had it from the early 80s to late 90s, and now the swedes are leading the way.

much respect to the swede metal scene.

on a side note, im not a HUGE black metal fan, but i saw the documentary "until the light takes us", about the black metal scene and the church burnings a while back. for the swedes out there, was this at all a big story for you guys? did it have any relevant impact on your country? or was it just something that blipped on the metal radar, and didnt really make any waves for folks outside of the genre?

[Drekker17]

Ah, fair enough.

---------- Post added 2012-05-26 at 03:18 AM ----------



My experiences in Europe (opposite of the experiences I've had here) suggest that the hotter a girl is in Europe, the more down to Earth, intelligent, and generally awesome they are. It usually seems to go the other way around in this part of the world. Kind of stands the whole attractiveness thing on its head.

Just your luck in Texas, most beautiful people I meet from anywhere are nice and smart, same with the physically ugly people. It is the plain looking people that try too hard with too much makeup or whatever that tend to be mean and/or ignorant.

Anyway, do Swedish people like to bake goodies a lot? Like cookies.

[Aroa]

on a side note, im not a HUGE black metal fan, but i saw the documentary "until the light takes us", about the black metal scene and the church burnings a while back. for the swedes out there, was this at all a big story for you guys? did it have any relevant impact on your country? or was it just something that blipped on the metal radar, and didnt really make any waves for folks outside of the genre?

The church burnings related to black metal happened in Norway, not Sweden.