Tuesday, January 6, 2015

The truth about Sweden

I've lived in many different countries and moved several times, and I am about to move again to a new country. I am really excited because of different reasons and I am just as excited to leave Sweden. I've noticed though that whenever I write about Sweden I make it sound negative and I was asked by a reader, what is wrong with Sweden. Here is the truth.

There is nothing wrong with Sweden. Sweden is a great country with highly educated people and a good system that seems to be working for 99% of the people from here but for me personally it is just not a place that I feel like I belong in for reasons I don't find irrational.
First of all it is cold like 80% of the year. Winter is like all the time except for the months of June to August which contains like 50% rain anyway. And when it is winter, there is like one day out of the entire season that is actually pretty with snow and stuff, which works for me since I don't even like snow that much but then the snow turns into this gross ice so it is impossible to walk outside without slipping. Then it rains like all the time the rest of the winter and no shoes could possibly handle that much rain. Not to mention the weather is also completely unpredictable. Especially during the summer. It can look like the hottest day ever so I wear something light, and then it is just really super cold, the light of the day was just fooling us by being bright. And for like 5 months of the year, a person is lucky if they see sunlight. It is dark from like 3.30pm to like 8.30am. Imagine those who go to school, they start 8 and end 4, it is basically night for them the entire time. Then during the summer it is literally the exact opposite. The sun is out like 23 hours a day, how can a person get any sleep with the sun shining right in your eyes at midnight?!

Then there are the people. I am NOT at all saying that every single person in Sweden is like this, but I've stumbled upon a lot of close minded people in my time here in this country. Lets start with the fact that a lot of people here looks the same. Every single time I sit on the bus I can get annoyed by just looking at the people that hop on. Everyone has the same clothes, same hair style, same make up, I can swear that everyone even has the same weight and height. I know that I don't look very exotic compare to the Swedes myself but I do find it ridiculous and I try going in a different directions but since everyone has the same style here, the clothing stores don't really give a lot of options!!! Then there is the pathetic obsession Swedes seem to have with health and wealth. Facebook blows up with blonde's showing off how little their waists are and how expensive their new purse is! Again, I don't want to throw all Swedish people under the same bridge because there are a lot of people here that do travel, see the world and learn languages but from what I've seen at least, there are just as many people that are extremely close minded and think that Sweden is the greatest place on Earth. Sweden is suppose to be a neutral, peaceful county where everyone is welcome, but I can't even count how many times I've heard someone say "It is never a Swedish person that causes problems", or "You lived in Africa? Isn't everyone poor there?". I have received millions of negative looks just because I speak English to most of my friends.
That is another thing, when immigrants come to Sweden, they are all placed in the same community so there are neighborhoods filled with only immigrants which is probably because of comfort I assume, and alright, I get that people want to be surrounded by those who are similar to yourself but I find it hypocritical and wrong to place all immigrants in one place and then complain about them not being Swedish enough. How can they possibly learn to become Swedish if they never see Swedish people? And even if they did, I don't believe that immigrants should have to become Swedish against their will, a lot of people came to Sweden to save themselves. Not for any other reason. And I myself have lived in several different countries and yes, I've adjusted to the way it works in different places but I don't change my nationality every two years because thats how often I move. I like the mix, with different cultures and languages, after all I am an international student, hellooooo!

Since I am an international student, I don't see Sweden as "home". I don't think I am all "Swedish" and I can easily feel like an immigrant being here, because to me personally I just consider Sweden as another country that I've lived in and frankly, there are other places that I prefer and that is just the way it is. But there are things that I do like about Sweden too though, of course, like I said before it is a good country and a lot of people love it here. I for one miss the candy when I live elsewhere. Then of course I have my relatives here like my grandparents and cousins which I will always come back for to visit and this year I've also made some pretty great friends that I will miss :)

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