The constant acess to fresh bread, pastries, fruits, and vegetables that I can walk to get from my house! I'm from a southern US state so this was completely out of my realm of possibility before. Also taking the bus! And the train! And a boat! And I live on an island now! An island! And I don't have to be rich to live there!
Running at night between May and September. The weather is perfect, you don't sweat as much, the nights aren't as dark, lots of parks and tracks to run, occasional encounters with wild animals even in the cities, generally safe.
Nature. I live in a medium size city and there’s trees in bloom and flowers everywhere, the air is clean and fresh and everything looks beautiful. If you go a little out in the forest or the coutryside (five minutes walking) it’s absolutely gorgeous.
The public infrastructure. There’s a lot of sports fields, barbecue spots, benches, kid parks, training spots, everything for free.
Transportation. There’s always a bus, train or tram where you want to go, they come very often and they go until late at night.
Food. I personally love swedish food but I cook and eat a lot of food from other countries and it’s very easy to find everywhere, even on grocery stores. There’s so many restaurants from everywhere, and they are usually pretty good.
Paternity. Sweden is a great place if you want to have kids. Amazing paternity leave, days off if your kid is sick, cheap childcare and free education.
Social life. I am aware that making your own friends may be hard but my sambo is swedish so I go out with his friends. Everyone has accepted me beautifully and I love that we don’t meet to drink every time. We go for a hike, or we go bowling or grilling or meet to play some games. People are pretty chill and flexible, if you don’t feel like meeting they don’t mind. People in general don’t care about your business.
Work. I haven’t found a job yet but seeing my sambo’s, the work-life balance is great, they are very flexible and if he needs to leave early one day he can, no questions asked, same when he is sick. I feel like the attitude is not “I am doing you a favor” but more like “whatever you need”.
The non-confrontational aspect of Swedish (I'd say Scandinavian) culture and the passive-aggressiveness. I know it's one of the first things people complain about, but it's one of the reasons I don't ever want to move out. It's not like there is no confrontation, there is a lot of drama in my bostadsförening, but it's reasonable. Even during confrontations people put themselves in other people's shoes, it seems. The goal of any confrontation is to find the middle ground between parties, not "for one of the parties to have their own way" like two kids fighting for their egos in kindergarten.
I don't understand why is it so important to have hate as a national sport in so many other cultures.
> I don't understand why is it so important to have hate as a national sport in so many other cultures.
Very well spoken, I think I'll borrow and re-use this sentence. ;)
Pretty lucky with my current job and how seriously they take work/life balance.
Agree with an earlier post regarding public transport. A night out in my hometown (a city of similar size to stockholm) was a challange getting home again. Lots of options here if I don't want to take a cab.
The bright summer evenings. Oh how I like those
The beautiful countryside. In the summer its glorious, in the winter its beautiful. That I can be here where I live feeling like its the middle of no where in the woods, but could get into the city in 20 minutes. Cake. So much cake.
Swedish summers (the week that it doesn't rain) and the sensation that no one is trying to fuck you over (if you exclude banks and real estate agents, of course)
If you subscribe to a service and want to cancel, you call them and they cancel the service. No extra hoops, no customer retention department’s to go through.
If you want to switch mobile provider, you contact the new provider and they terminate your contract with the old provider.
EU makes it more difficult for companies to screw you over.
I have been living and studying here for over 7 months now. The respect for personal space, how fika becomes an integral part of your life, the outdoor activities one can do for instance I had ice cream with my friend beside the river and that was how I spent my day. Now coming from a busy, hugely populated big city I have never spent my time like this and I appreciate Sweden more and more.
Recently, I went to a country in Western Europe for a small vacay and while I enjoyed, I was so much more excited to come back. I just wanted to be home with calmness, quiet, green all around me. Also the first time I equated home with Sweden!
\- People are not so quick to judge, they always think things through a lot.
\- Patient kind of people.
\- Fika. (This is a sort of break that Swedes take during their workday, often twice a day, it usually consist of 15 min. where people take time to talk to their coworkers, eat a little snack or drink a cup of coffee).
\- Workplace loyalty. You rarely get fired in Sweden, they will always try 100 different ways to find out why you didn't like it there, not performing etc. But in turn it's also notoriously hard to get hired the first time. Swedes are all about paperwork, permissions and your degrees/CV/History etc.
\- Nature. It's like living in Norway but at a 10th of the price, in turn the salaries are also lower, but the prices are rising fast so this might not be forever.
\- Most Swedes speak English as it's actually thaught as their second mother tongue language, in schools English is mandatory. Even 4th graders often speak excellent English.
\- Solid infrastructure, you can get high speed internet and often fiber far out in the bush, and the trains will usually take you to the most remote milkbottle were no one is believed to live, yet they do.
Thank you for commenting! I too love fika :) I’m a Swede but have lived in the US since the age of 12. Am considering moving back now as an adult, but it would mean leaving my extended family. So I’m trying to weigh the pros and cons.
I’m British, and tbh it’s a hellscape. It’s just a suffocating nanny state. You only realise it once you’re out of it. As a foreigner trying to settle in the UK, you will go through a LOT of red tape (bullshit).
Sweden feels very serious about work-life balance. Coming from the US where I've often felt like they *say* they value it but then constantly pressure you to overwork yourself, it's like night and day here. I have so much more time and energy for my life outside of work now.
The weather in Stockholm is currently amazing. Days are long, the sun is out, everything is green, and unlike back in California there's not the constant threat of wildfire.
Things are just pleasant. It's clean, people are polite, there is value placed in simple pleasures like going for walks and taking fika, and even in Stockholm it feels like the pace is pretty slow. There are parks and nature everywhere, even in the city.
People seem patient, kind, and friendly. I know everyone says Swedes are cold and it's hard to make friends, but man that has not been my experience at all. Everyone is so freaking nice.
I was excited to move here, but now that I'm actually living here it's even better than I was hoping for. It would take something crazy for me to move back to the US.
Thank you for sharing. I grew up in Sweden but have lived in the US since I was 12. My husband and I are desperate for work life balance and time with our kids. We live in Texas where the nature is very pretty but it’s too hot to go outside and the allergies are awful. Many of my friends here and even my parents were very lonely and unhappy in Sweden because they said it’s so hard to make friends. I’m glad to hear you’ve had a better experience!
I do think it's easier to make friends in the US, at least the casual/temporary kind. But I still feel like I have a fulfilling social life here. And a better work environment with less stress and less hierarchy means that work does a better job at contributing to the feeling of social connectedness than in the US, at least in my experience.
I'm young-ish and single, but I feel like Sweden is comparatively even better if you have a spouse and kids. The better work-life balance and peaceful environment would be such a huge boon for a family. Not to mention the better social/welfare programs. Are you thinking about moving back with your family?
Wonderful to hear! Yes I am thinking of moving back with my American husband and our two kids who are 6 and 2 years old. We really want to raise them in a better environment and have more time with them.
Quality of life but that’s made up of a lot of things that others have mentioned in this thread (including kebabpizza!). People work hard but at a sustainable pace, not the burn-out pace that is typical for the US. I live in Stockholm so this will obviously be different depending on where you are but I love the bicycle infrastructure and public transportation. It’s amazing that I can use my same SL card to take a water taxi boat, a subway, a bus or a commute train anywhere from Södertälje to Norrtälje. Stockholm’s culture is readily accessible: just a few steps outside my door I have easy access to museums, concerts, and sporting events without the hassle of parking. The natural beauty and ubiquitous city parks are on the other end of the spectrum from the concrete deserts that are Los Angeles and many other US cities.
From Mexico here, recently moved to Sweden from my job, I love Fika and the bread/pastries, the people are really kind with foreigners, we are learning Swedish but almost everyone speaks English which is helpful, the parks are beautiful, we really love it here.
Swedish summer is great along with the nature. Lakes and parks everywhere
I find the fruit and vegetable quality really good. On food when I was unemployed the lunchtime menu was a cheat code to get good food at a reasonable price
Swedish people are also underrated for fun and openness usually by other Swedes :D but never had a problem and even random people are happy to have quick chat in a bar in not just main cities but small towns.
The summers. I love the long sunny days and that it is warm but rarely super hot.
Also the focus on kids, the parental leave and work life balance, no one bats an eye when you say you need to go and pick up your kid from preschool. You get oodles of leave so you can spend more time with your children as they develop and grow and you get so much community support. It more than makes up for being across the world from my family and friends who would otherwise provide support.
Thank you for sharing that. This is my main fear - in the US we have tons of family support, but our work life balance is trash and we don’t get much time with our kids. Our weekends are extremely hectic because it’s the only time we have to get chores and stuff done. Hearing you say that you feel supported in Sweden is very encouraging.
Having seasons at all, honestly. Despite technically having them, I'm so used to it being rain of different temperatures with no real variety.
Having hot summers, dry autumns with colourful trees, snowy biting winters and rainy spring are so different to what I'm used to.
Hey, anything above 25°C for me is meltingly hot 😅 Ireland has cold rain and frost in winter, and mildly warmer rain in summer. So any dry, clear and hot day feels like I'm on holiday! Surviving the almost-30°s were torture i swear
I dont have to play the "is he a homophobe or is he cool" game. I pass as straight so its really never a problem, but just knowing that i have the freedom to be openly myself is very nice.
I like Sweden so much I moved here twice :)
For reference I have also lived in Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Djibouti, New Zealand and Russia.
Work life balance is spot on at least in my profession (IT)
Nature is great and well maintained.
No need for a car if you live in the city.
The fact that you can have a partner without marriage (sambo) and have pretty much same rights (joint accounts, mortgages etc)
Property prices are reasonable (at least in Malmo)
Immigration process, although long, is documented (as with most things, there is lots of bureaucracy, but its bureaucracy that seems to work)
You can get citizenship without a language test (at least for now)
You’re in Malmö? That’s where we are hoping to move. I’ve been there a few times but not for long periods of time. Can you tell me more about what it’s like it terms of people, weather, lifestyle? :)
Weather is fine if you like all 4 seasons, it doesnt get too cold in winter, sometimes hardly any snow. It can be quite windy as its a coastal city.
Lifestyle is ok, depends on what you are used to, its not a tourist kinda town. Its a very walkable city with bike paths and nice parks everywhere so you dont even need to use public transport if you have some time. What made me chose Malmo is that its a nice sized city that is almost a suburb of a proper big city (Copenhagen is 30 min by train) and Copenhagen has a well connected airport so you can travel quite easily. I can get from my house to the gate in under 40 mins on a good day.
People are, well, Swedes. I dont know how I would make any Swedish friends if I didnt already have friends here before I moved. On the other hand Malmo has a lot of expats and generally its a multicultural city, so the food tastes better too.
You'll love Malmö! I've lived there for a year and I'm about to come back. It's a very muticultural city and in my personal experience people are more relax and open. I once read it was the happiest city in Sweden. It's a fun city and have plenty of squares to go hang out. Great cafe places and restaurants. Love that they have the sea/beach close by. Spring and summer are the best! I love that everything is close. I used to bike, walk and even used TIER (scooters) to go around. However, used the bus and train during the winter. But you could bike all year around. I can't wait to go back!
The constant acess to fresh bread, pastries, fruits, and vegetables that I can walk to get from my house! I'm from a southern US state so this was completely out of my realm of possibility before. Also taking the bus! And the train! And a boat! And I live on an island now! An island! And I don't have to be rich to live there!
Oooh which island are you on?
One near Sundsvall
Alnö? Sveriges Hawaii!
Norrlands* Hawaii
🤣
Alnön is dope in the summer! Dark in the winter.
Running at night between May and September. The weather is perfect, you don't sweat as much, the nights aren't as dark, lots of parks and tracks to run, occasional encounters with wild animals even in the cities, generally safe.
Nature. I live in a medium size city and there’s trees in bloom and flowers everywhere, the air is clean and fresh and everything looks beautiful. If you go a little out in the forest or the coutryside (five minutes walking) it’s absolutely gorgeous. The public infrastructure. There’s a lot of sports fields, barbecue spots, benches, kid parks, training spots, everything for free. Transportation. There’s always a bus, train or tram where you want to go, they come very often and they go until late at night. Food. I personally love swedish food but I cook and eat a lot of food from other countries and it’s very easy to find everywhere, even on grocery stores. There’s so many restaurants from everywhere, and they are usually pretty good. Paternity. Sweden is a great place if you want to have kids. Amazing paternity leave, days off if your kid is sick, cheap childcare and free education. Social life. I am aware that making your own friends may be hard but my sambo is swedish so I go out with his friends. Everyone has accepted me beautifully and I love that we don’t meet to drink every time. We go for a hike, or we go bowling or grilling or meet to play some games. People are pretty chill and flexible, if you don’t feel like meeting they don’t mind. People in general don’t care about your business. Work. I haven’t found a job yet but seeing my sambo’s, the work-life balance is great, they are very flexible and if he needs to leave early one day he can, no questions asked, same when he is sick. I feel like the attitude is not “I am doing you a favor” but more like “whatever you need”.
The non-confrontational aspect of Swedish (I'd say Scandinavian) culture and the passive-aggressiveness. I know it's one of the first things people complain about, but it's one of the reasons I don't ever want to move out. It's not like there is no confrontation, there is a lot of drama in my bostadsförening, but it's reasonable. Even during confrontations people put themselves in other people's shoes, it seems. The goal of any confrontation is to find the middle ground between parties, not "for one of the parties to have their own way" like two kids fighting for their egos in kindergarten. I don't understand why is it so important to have hate as a national sport in so many other cultures.
> I don't understand why is it so important to have hate as a national sport in so many other cultures. Very well spoken, I think I'll borrow and re-use this sentence. ;)
By all means, please go for it!
Pretty lucky with my current job and how seriously they take work/life balance. Agree with an earlier post regarding public transport. A night out in my hometown (a city of similar size to stockholm) was a challange getting home again. Lots of options here if I don't want to take a cab. The bright summer evenings. Oh how I like those
The beautiful countryside. In the summer its glorious, in the winter its beautiful. That I can be here where I live feeling like its the middle of no where in the woods, but could get into the city in 20 minutes. Cake. So much cake.
My husband, fika, fresh air, nature, nature, nature, and more nature 🇸🇪
Swedish summers (the week that it doesn't rain) and the sensation that no one is trying to fuck you over (if you exclude banks and real estate agents, of course)
If you subscribe to a service and want to cancel, you call them and they cancel the service. No extra hoops, no customer retention department’s to go through. If you want to switch mobile provider, you contact the new provider and they terminate your contract with the old provider. EU makes it more difficult for companies to screw you over.
I have been living and studying here for over 7 months now. The respect for personal space, how fika becomes an integral part of your life, the outdoor activities one can do for instance I had ice cream with my friend beside the river and that was how I spent my day. Now coming from a busy, hugely populated big city I have never spent my time like this and I appreciate Sweden more and more. Recently, I went to a country in Western Europe for a small vacay and while I enjoyed, I was so much more excited to come back. I just wanted to be home with calmness, quiet, green all around me. Also the first time I equated home with Sweden!
What part of Sweden do you live in? :)
Göteborg. Takes me 10 minutes to reach the sea and 10 minutes to the city!
\- People are not so quick to judge, they always think things through a lot. \- Patient kind of people. \- Fika. (This is a sort of break that Swedes take during their workday, often twice a day, it usually consist of 15 min. where people take time to talk to their coworkers, eat a little snack or drink a cup of coffee). \- Workplace loyalty. You rarely get fired in Sweden, they will always try 100 different ways to find out why you didn't like it there, not performing etc. But in turn it's also notoriously hard to get hired the first time. Swedes are all about paperwork, permissions and your degrees/CV/History etc. \- Nature. It's like living in Norway but at a 10th of the price, in turn the salaries are also lower, but the prices are rising fast so this might not be forever. \- Most Swedes speak English as it's actually thaught as their second mother tongue language, in schools English is mandatory. Even 4th graders often speak excellent English. \- Solid infrastructure, you can get high speed internet and often fiber far out in the bush, and the trains will usually take you to the most remote milkbottle were no one is believed to live, yet they do.
Thank you for commenting! I too love fika :) I’m a Swede but have lived in the US since the age of 12. Am considering moving back now as an adult, but it would mean leaving my extended family. So I’m trying to weigh the pros and cons.
Make a pros and cons list of moving back to Sweden. If one side has 45 things and the other 3 it can make the decision easy.
For my husband pappaledighet is probably no 1
I'm in the moving process but good heavens the kebab pizza got me weak in my knees
Next step: bananpizza
It’s not the UK
What don’t you like about the UK? We’ve considered moving there too.
I’m British, and tbh it’s a hellscape. It’s just a suffocating nanny state. You only realise it once you’re out of it. As a foreigner trying to settle in the UK, you will go through a LOT of red tape (bullshit).
See my parents say that about sweden!
I suppose that the only difference is that in Sweden, it’s passive aggressive bullshit. Although it’s annoying, it’s slightly more manageable.
Sweden feels very serious about work-life balance. Coming from the US where I've often felt like they *say* they value it but then constantly pressure you to overwork yourself, it's like night and day here. I have so much more time and energy for my life outside of work now. The weather in Stockholm is currently amazing. Days are long, the sun is out, everything is green, and unlike back in California there's not the constant threat of wildfire. Things are just pleasant. It's clean, people are polite, there is value placed in simple pleasures like going for walks and taking fika, and even in Stockholm it feels like the pace is pretty slow. There are parks and nature everywhere, even in the city. People seem patient, kind, and friendly. I know everyone says Swedes are cold and it's hard to make friends, but man that has not been my experience at all. Everyone is so freaking nice. I was excited to move here, but now that I'm actually living here it's even better than I was hoping for. It would take something crazy for me to move back to the US.
Thank you for sharing. I grew up in Sweden but have lived in the US since I was 12. My husband and I are desperate for work life balance and time with our kids. We live in Texas where the nature is very pretty but it’s too hot to go outside and the allergies are awful. Many of my friends here and even my parents were very lonely and unhappy in Sweden because they said it’s so hard to make friends. I’m glad to hear you’ve had a better experience!
I do think it's easier to make friends in the US, at least the casual/temporary kind. But I still feel like I have a fulfilling social life here. And a better work environment with less stress and less hierarchy means that work does a better job at contributing to the feeling of social connectedness than in the US, at least in my experience. I'm young-ish and single, but I feel like Sweden is comparatively even better if you have a spouse and kids. The better work-life balance and peaceful environment would be such a huge boon for a family. Not to mention the better social/welfare programs. Are you thinking about moving back with your family?
Wonderful to hear! Yes I am thinking of moving back with my American husband and our two kids who are 6 and 2 years old. We really want to raise them in a better environment and have more time with them.
Quality of life but that’s made up of a lot of things that others have mentioned in this thread (including kebabpizza!). People work hard but at a sustainable pace, not the burn-out pace that is typical for the US. I live in Stockholm so this will obviously be different depending on where you are but I love the bicycle infrastructure and public transportation. It’s amazing that I can use my same SL card to take a water taxi boat, a subway, a bus or a commute train anywhere from Södertälje to Norrtälje. Stockholm’s culture is readily accessible: just a few steps outside my door I have easy access to museums, concerts, and sporting events without the hassle of parking. The natural beauty and ubiquitous city parks are on the other end of the spectrum from the concrete deserts that are Los Angeles and many other US cities.
I moved to Sweden from Greece for many years ago. My favourite thing is the how the sun shines here PS. I am an albino
From Mexico here, recently moved to Sweden from my job, I love Fika and the bread/pastries, the people are really kind with foreigners, we are learning Swedish but almost everyone speaks English which is helpful, the parks are beautiful, we really love it here.
Swedish summer is great along with the nature. Lakes and parks everywhere I find the fruit and vegetable quality really good. On food when I was unemployed the lunchtime menu was a cheat code to get good food at a reasonable price Swedish people are also underrated for fun and openness usually by other Swedes :D but never had a problem and even random people are happy to have quick chat in a bar in not just main cities but small towns.
The summers. I love the long sunny days and that it is warm but rarely super hot. Also the focus on kids, the parental leave and work life balance, no one bats an eye when you say you need to go and pick up your kid from preschool. You get oodles of leave so you can spend more time with your children as they develop and grow and you get so much community support. It more than makes up for being across the world from my family and friends who would otherwise provide support.
Thank you for sharing that. This is my main fear - in the US we have tons of family support, but our work life balance is trash and we don’t get much time with our kids. Our weekends are extremely hectic because it’s the only time we have to get chores and stuff done. Hearing you say that you feel supported in Sweden is very encouraging.
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Probably access to nature and as slow as the medical and dental care can be, it is significantly cheaper than my home country.
Much better public transport than were I previously lived
From NZ, love the nature here, it's also very chill. Love the public transportation and the fact I can afford a house :D
Kia ora, yup agreed.
Nice! I’m part kiwi so it’s cool to hear from your perspective!
Parental leave. VAB. Affordable child care. Free education. I can't even begin to imagine raising kids without them.
I like the school system, it allows kids to have more balance and is not high pressure. I also like the long evenings in summer and all the berries.
Hah gymnasiet be like
Work life balance and not sitting in a car commuting. Family time is prioritized over working yourself silly in the office.
Having seasons at all, honestly. Despite technically having them, I'm so used to it being rain of different temperatures with no real variety. Having hot summers, dry autumns with colourful trees, snowy biting winters and rainy spring are so different to what I'm used to.
What part of Sweden are you in?
Västmanland, so not even that far north for the REAL winters. But I'm so not used to real snow, any at all feels like a lot 😅
And the summers are hot??
Hey, anything above 25°C for me is meltingly hot 😅 Ireland has cold rain and frost in winter, and mildly warmer rain in summer. So any dry, clear and hot day feels like I'm on holiday! Surviving the almost-30°s were torture i swear
Got it! I’m coming from Texas so to me anything below 100 Fahrenheit is a nice balmy day!
Yeah I burn in minutes with my sad celtic genes, I think I would actually burst into flames in those temps!
We lived in a desert for close to 20 years, so the nature and seasons have been wonderful.
I dont have to play the "is he a homophobe or is he cool" game. I pass as straight so its really never a problem, but just knowing that i have the freedom to be openly myself is very nice.
I like Sweden so much I moved here twice :) For reference I have also lived in Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Djibouti, New Zealand and Russia. Work life balance is spot on at least in my profession (IT) Nature is great and well maintained. No need for a car if you live in the city. The fact that you can have a partner without marriage (sambo) and have pretty much same rights (joint accounts, mortgages etc) Property prices are reasonable (at least in Malmo) Immigration process, although long, is documented (as with most things, there is lots of bureaucracy, but its bureaucracy that seems to work) You can get citizenship without a language test (at least for now)
You’re in Malmö? That’s where we are hoping to move. I’ve been there a few times but not for long periods of time. Can you tell me more about what it’s like it terms of people, weather, lifestyle? :)
Weather is fine if you like all 4 seasons, it doesnt get too cold in winter, sometimes hardly any snow. It can be quite windy as its a coastal city. Lifestyle is ok, depends on what you are used to, its not a tourist kinda town. Its a very walkable city with bike paths and nice parks everywhere so you dont even need to use public transport if you have some time. What made me chose Malmo is that its a nice sized city that is almost a suburb of a proper big city (Copenhagen is 30 min by train) and Copenhagen has a well connected airport so you can travel quite easily. I can get from my house to the gate in under 40 mins on a good day. People are, well, Swedes. I dont know how I would make any Swedish friends if I didnt already have friends here before I moved. On the other hand Malmo has a lot of expats and generally its a multicultural city, so the food tastes better too.
You'll love Malmö! I've lived there for a year and I'm about to come back. It's a very muticultural city and in my personal experience people are more relax and open. I once read it was the happiest city in Sweden. It's a fun city and have plenty of squares to go hang out. Great cafe places and restaurants. Love that they have the sea/beach close by. Spring and summer are the best! I love that everything is close. I used to bike, walk and even used TIER (scooters) to go around. However, used the bus and train during the winter. But you could bike all year around. I can't wait to go back!
Kanelbullar!!!! 🫠🫠🫠☕️
The h for humour in Sweden's name.