Remove another brick in the wall — Part 1

It’s been a little over a month since I moved to Stockholm. Despite having warned by people about the reserved and socially-inept Swedish people, I decided to experience it on my own. While I did experience moments that can be categorized as awkward and may be embarrassing, I decided to write about the people who I met as strangers and they made me feel at home. It’s about the goodness in all of us, we just need to get a lil drunk :-)

First in my list is my colleague Rebecca Holm. We met during the Intro days at Spotify. Ten minutes into our conversation and she invites me to her midsummer celebration in one of the islands in archipelago. She calls her mom and asks if she can bring one of her friends to this traditional midsummer celebration, to which her mom responds: “Of course but do we need to arrange for an extra bed?”

And that’s where and how I celebrated my first midsummer in the company of three generations of Swedish families. My favorite part was listening to the 70+ beautiful women singing the snap songs while taking the shots of aquavit.

My other favorite moment is when I asked this guy, who was enjoying eating ice cream with strawberries while sipping coffee, “Why alcohol is so important part of Swedish celebration?” He first looks at me like I am an autistic person and then breaks into a big laughter followed by a silence and then ponders over my question. After exactly 90 seconds he responds: “I think we want to get drunk and be completely uninhibited, that’s why.” Such a cute answer, I felt like kissing him.

Rebecca is a close friend now, but I’ll always remember how we met!