How I feel after living in Sweden for a month

Askarina Bintari
Aug 28, 2017 · 4 min read

This summer I spent a month in Sweden and the whole experience changed something within me.

The decision to go to Sweden came in early this year just in time with one of those airline travel fairs. It was not a hurried decision, instead it was very calculated despite the fact that I was still working at a full-time job which would make it impossible for me to leave the country for a month. I knew then what to anticipate and was ready to take any risk. Indeed, the motivation for this trip was not original nor unique though it was genuine, to see someone very close to my heart.

I’ll leave you all the emotional mushy-gushy details over that because that is not what this story is about, ish. Fast forward to several months after I booked the ticket, there I was at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol waiting for my transfer flight to Copenhagen where I can get on a train that will take me to Sweden — yeah, it was a long journey. As someone who is keen in observing things around her, I was fascinated by the Scandinavian land. Some things in particular are worth to share;

Trollhättan falls — a beautiful view in breezy Sweden.

The weather sucks, especially if you come from a tropical country like Indonesia. The first few weeks left me feeling like a monkey trapped inside a refrigerator. Their summer is nothing like I imagined as it is windy and often rainy. The only thing I like about their summer is that the sun last longer; it rises at 6 AM and sets at 10 PM. Welcomed by the breezy summer, I can only imagine how bad their winter would be which lead me to the next observation,

The people are very reserved. I have heard this stereotype before but not until I set foot in Sweden I understand why. When you live in a place that is windy and cold, chances are you want to be indoor as much as possible, socialize less with people outside, and when you are outside you just want to get to your destination ASAP — because it is cold people! But the interesting part is that they are only reserved and shy in public, ish. Once you get past through their shyness, Swedes are very kind and humble people. Though they have a “mind your own business” mentality, they will still gladly help you on the street if you’re lost. Just don’t expect the exchange of smiles or pleasantries — they don’t do that.

Another point about the Swedes that I’d like to bring up is how they respect individuality and your personal space. As an Indonesian living in Sweden for a month, I feel a sense of liberation and a different kind of “freedom of expression”. It might be that the Swedes just don’t care about random people on the street, but with almost no judging-eyes I certainly feel more respected and liberated. Nobody expect you to act a certain way or do certain things in particular, there is no social pressure that is as heavy the one we have in Indonesia. The way society works in Sweden expect you nothing but living life the way you want it and pursue life goals that you are good at and passionate about. And yes, the typical 9–5 desk job is not that popular for young people here in Sweden — they like to invent things instead (remember spotify and skype?).

Now let’s discuss their food. The only thing I can say is, don’t expect much from the Swedish culinary. During my stay, I didn’t go out to eat that often but when I did the only restaurants I like are Asians. I guess when it comes to food everything is very subjective and where you come from determine your tongue-preference. The Swedes don’t use as many spices as Asians do and that is why I prefer to cook the food at home most of the time. I’m not really sure about their authentic culinary because there are more kebab stands than I expected sold by residents with non-Swedish heritage (Sweden takes in a high number of immigrants). My dissatisfaction of their food is one of the reasons why I was excited about going home which lead us my last point,

After living in Sweden for a month, I feel hopeful about Indonesia. This conclusion might be a little bit far off from the points I have stated above, but after reflecting on each of those points, I personally feel nothing but hopeful about my country. That sense of hope would be far from existing if I didn’t travel almost half across the world and see that problems exist everywhere — even Sweden is not perfect.

An opportunity to experience firsthand the stark difference between the Indonesia and Sweden gave me a new sense of appreciation to both countries. I admire Sweden with all of its advancement and I also admire Indonesia with all the big potentials it has yet to unlock. The next interesting discussion would be about, how are we going to start unlocking the potentials and advancing Indonesia?

I’m going to leave that for you to answer.

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Written by

A serious-minded millennial who’s passionate about gender-related issues, contemporary media, and modern day philosophy.

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