It's looking very likely (not certain, but increasingly likely, at least) that I will be moving there in a couple of months, to do a course, for 10 months.
I know that people will have varying opinions on Sweden, and its politics - certainly, I'm not a fan of a lot of it, but... It's definitely quite different to Aus, so there's that.
I would be living and studying in the sort of "Greater Stockholm" area, I guess. That part of the country, anyway (a couple of hours away), in a fairly small place.
I'm fairly well-versed in Swedish culture (more so than the average Australian, I would argue, anyway), having dated three Swedish women, having a few other Swedish friends, and... Exposed myself to Swedish media, I guess. But yeah, as an extremely sociable person, I think that is going to be... Interesting. I fully expect to not fit in, but that's ok. I am prepared for that.
But yeah, wadda ya think, people who've been there/are from Europe, or maybe have family there?
I'm not really going there "because Sweden". That's part of it, but it's also a course that is only offered there, so I figure why the hell not.
Would appreciate your thoughts, even if they're just "commie shithole", lol!
Sweden itself is beautiful and has a lot of cool places to be. The average Swede is kind and fairly curt when responding. However, they have big hearts. This has gotten abused over the years so that Swedes were told they weren't kind unless they did this or that socialist insanity. When a Swede talks about Feminism, it is way different from most lefties I know. Seattle and Portland may have caught up though.
There is a cockiness that is shocking. The biggest assholes I have ever met were in a Swedish only apartment complex in the middle of the Phoenix ghetto. You could get robbed, and they would blame you for not being Swedish enough. That's not hyperbole, that actually happened. Even worse, one of the people in the complex was the robber.
On the other hand, one of my best friends in Portland is Swedish, and has let me stay at his house several times. When my car had some problems, he even drove me around as needed. Heck, I based my desires for a house on how he and his wife designed theirs.
So the Swedes can be incredibly kind, but foolish. They can also be right assholes.
I asked my wife who is Icelandic about it, I got from what she said that they tend to act like the middle child who wants to be in charge of everything. There are jokes in Germany about the Scandinavians about them not having enough beer at home because of how much they drink while in Germany. Scotland jokes that the Scandinavians are nice and a bit quiet, which is fine by them.