Differences between the U.S. and Sweden

Before moving to Sweden, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I thought the scenery would be just like in The Sound of Music (even though that movie takes place in Austria) with lush green rolling hills and gigantic mountains and bright blue lakes. I also thought that Swedish would sound exactly like the language the Swedish Chef speaks on The Muppets (that's sometimes true). Anyways, I thought I would make a list of just a few of the differences that I've noticed about Sweden. (These might not be true throughout the entire country, this is all just from my personal experience).

Heavy/Tricky Doors: The doors at my school are crazy heavy. They have large silver handles on both sides so it is almost always impossible for me to figure out if I need to push or pull the door open, this results in me running into a lot of doors that pull open instead of push open, quite the entertainment for my friends.

Wooden Floors (un-carpeted floors): In the U.S. ( at least at my house) most of the hallways, the tv room, the living room, and bedrooms are carpeted. In Sweden, I have yet to see a single carpeted room in a home. Most floors are wooden, tile, or vinyl. However, I have seen more area rugs than ever before.  I quite like wooden flooring, but it was definitely a strange experience to vacuum a wooden floor for the first time.

Something Fishy: Kalles Kaviar and Sill. Kalles Kaviar is salted fish paste that comes in a tube that bears a strong resemblance to a toothpaste tube. For the life of me I cannot figure out why some Swedes find this to be an appealing food, but I am told that it is very delicious on hard-boiled eggs. Kalles Kaviar is something that I will probably never like, but something that I've found that is actually pretty good is sill. Sill is jarred herring that is eaten with potatoes and comes in a variety of flavors. By far the best flavor of sill in my opinion is mustard sill. Sill is often enjoyed as a traditional Christmas, Easter, and Mid Summer food and is best when served with potatoes.

School: I think school in Sweden is fantastic, at least in my experience. The school lunch is free and usually pretty good, and it's nice to have a hot meal for every lunch, and on the rare occassion that the school lunch isn't great, there's always a delicious salad bar. Besides lunch, Swedish high schools also provide their students with laptops. Teachers in Sweden are always addressed by their first names instead of Mr. or Mrs. and teachers are a lot more connected to their students here. Something else that is different about school in Sweden is that in high school here, you get to pick a program (Languages, Science, Social Studies etc.) and more of your classes are focused on that area of interest. Everyone is divided into classes of about 30 people each and each class goes to all of their lessons together. It's really cool to get to know a small group of people better rather than always going to class with different people for every different lesson. High school in Sweden is 3 years instead of 4 and it's called gymnasium. The years of schooling also have different numbers instead of 10th, 11th, and 12th, grades there's Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3. I am currently enrolled in Year 3 which means that I get to "graduate" with my class in June, I am really looking forward to that experience! 

My beautiful school.

Cars: The cars in Sweden are generally smaller than the cars in America, and I have yet to see a single pick-up truck. There is also a much higher percentage of cars with a manual transmission as opposed to an automatic transmission. The cars in Sweden are generally Saab or Volvo (both Swedish companies) but I have seen other brands such as BMW and Volkswagen as well. 

This is a typical Swedish car in my opinion, many of the cars here are station wagons.

Fil: Fil is a Swedish dairy product that is quite similar to yoghurt. I think in English it would be called "sour milk" but it's not sour, it's basically like yoghurt, but it is in more of a liquid state, so you can easily pour fil into a bowl. Fil is a product that can be found in almost any home in Sweden. Fil is delicious with müsli or fruit.

Knäckebröd: Knäckebröd is a Swedish bread that I think would be called something like "crisp bread" in English. When  I first moved to Sweden, I had a hard time believing that this was bread, to me the texture and consistency is more similar to crackers rather than bread. However, I have learned to love this bread and I don't know what I'll do without it back in America. Knäckebröd is best when served with butter and cheese. 

Kronor: Kronor (SEK) is the national currency in Sweden. It would be translated as "crowns" in English. The equivalent of $1.00 (USD) in crowns is roughly 6.4 crowns. So there are approximately 6.4 crowns for every dollar, however that is just a rough estimate because currency values fluctuate. This kind of currency conversion can be confusing because prices appear to be much higher than they actually are. For example a shirt from H&M in Sweden can be priced around 129 SEK, but it that is  $20.00. Buying a snack at the grocery store might cost around 50 SEK which is around $8.00. I remember on my first full day in Sweden, I went to MAX (Swedish fast-food restaurant similar to McDonald's) with Simon and Hannes, and the burger I ordered cost 85 SEK ($13.00) and they bought my lunch for me, and I was so panicked and I thought that they had spent the equivalent of $85.00 on a hamburger meal for me.

Language: This is a pretty obvious difference. In the United States, English is the de facto national language. In Sweden, Swedish is the national language. Swedish is a Germanic language with an interesting history. Swedish has many words borrowed from German, English, and French. Swedish also has three additional letters that are not in the English alphabet: Å. Ä, Ö. Swedish is a mutually intelligible lanugage for speakers of Danish and Norwegian. 

Movie Theatres: Going to the movies in Sweden is a lot fun but it can also be quite expensive. A typical movie ticket costs around 110 SEK ($17.00) and that's just the ticket price, not including snacks. Something else that is different about movie theatres in Sweden is that when you purchase your ticket, you also book your seat. This is good system if you think in advance, you can book a really nice seat, however if you are more impulsive like me, you'll often find yourself sitting in Row 2. 

Bus Etiquette: Bus  etiquette in Sweden is quite different than bus etiquette in the United States. Bus etiquette in the U.S. doesn't really exist, because most people drive cars. I digress. Bus etiquette in Sweden involves standing as far away as you can from the other people waiting for the bus. Swedes are very respectful people and they don't want to invade your personal space, just as they would not like for you to invade theirs. It's best to keep a distance of at least 2 meters (6.5 feet) between you and the person beside you. 

I could write more about all of the difference between Sweden and the United States, these are just some of the differences that I've noticed since moving here. The United States and Sweden also have many similarities, maybe I'll address that in another blog post. 

My friend Cecilia would like me to mention that we Americans pronounce IKEA wrong, very, very, very wrong. IKEA is a Swedish furniture store and it is very near and dear to Cecilia. IKEA is properly prounounced like this E(ee)-(KEA) not I(i)-KEA- Now you know. And if you don't pronounce it right....the IKEA Warriors will pay you a visit. You've been warned.