Living in Sweden

Sofa_King Good

Uppsala (?) to be precise. Lucky enough to have a business opportunity there and somebody arranging an apartment as I write. So none of that is the issue. However, I don't speak any Swedish. I was wondering if anyone has any experience of living in Sweden/Scandanavia? I've visited lots of times, but in terms of differing cultures & assimilation what problems they encountered.

biko

You'll find lots of experiences on www.thelocal.se.
Big expat community there.
Forums on http://www.thelocal.se/discuss/viewactive.php

You'll find Swedes mainly good at English but shy to use it (in case they make grammatical errors)

Zatman

Swedish is difficult language to understand but they all speak very good English better than most of the people in Dublin. Try the Snus when you are there

Sofa_King Good

thanks, potentially I am there for the long-term, so hopefully in time i will learn the language. Going to get lessons over here, started them in the Sandford inst' didn't get much from it. So thanks again.

knoxor

Hi,

I lived and worked in Stockholm for about 7 months. Loved it. Everyone speaks English so you will not have a problem with language at all. They have a great life style there and a very good work/life balance.

Weather is better than here in Ireland. They have late 20's to early 30's in the summer and snow all winter, perfect weather really.

Skitbra

I lived in Sweden for about 2 years. Gothenburg to be precise but I've been all over Sweden. Had a Swedish gf for 5 years. She was studying in Uppsala. Lovely city, close to Stockholm but without the madness of a huge city. I loved Sweden and i think with a little bit of immersion into their lifestyle you can pick up on the language. Lessons are a must.

The problem is that most TV, Movies and life are all in English and subtitled into Swedish. So it's very difficult to practice. Even if you use basic Swedish in coffee shops etc...they usually recognise that you're not Swedish and speak to you in English. Pretty tricky.

The place may seem quiet at times though. Mid-week boozing is not really a thing that they do over there. Weekends after 2 on a Saturday can be sometimes a bit bleak. Shops close and it's really family time at the point of the weekend. I'm used to living in Dublin now so it's bit different.

On the upside Uppsala is a student city and so will be full of students during term times.

Like all new places it'll take some time to get used to, but if it was me, I'd be very excited and I think you're lucky to be going to such a great country.

Woden

Hi,

I've been living in Stockholm for 9 months now experience has all been positive. It is lovely here at the moment enjoying the christmas feel without the madness of dublin. It gets dark quick early at the moment although it does not seem to bother me. What difference does it make if it gets dark at 2.30 or 5.30 if you are in work til 6 anyway I think!

With regards to immersion I have personally slacked on this point my work is such that I can leave on short notice so I lack the motivation to start learning a language only to find I am going elsewhere.

As mentioned they usually spot I'm not Swedish from my first "hej" and just deal with me in English.

Good luck with the move!

gary the great

Just a quick question to the people that have visited - which would be better in terms of sights and nightlife, Gothenburg or Stockholm?

Thinking of heading over with 2 friends in january

Zatman

i was in Gothenburg and thought it was really good if a little steep. Nightlife better than Dublin but thats not hard

KTRIC

Been in Lund (south of sweden) a couple of times, my company is half Swedish. Very nice place , reminded me of Ireland without the hedgerows

anladmór

its pretty cold like in most parts, and well outdoor activity is kinda tough, unlike ireland during winter where more often its much milder.

stolkholm is generally much drier than dublin, but dublin on average receives less rainfall in july(marginally)

id say it be cool living there, considering your not a muslim or a minority(in terms of race)

Fjällräv

I've been living in Stockholm now for 2½ years and assimilation into Swedish life is a little difficult. Swedes are really nice people but it can be difficult to get to know them. So the easy option is ending up in the expat community when you start out in a place you're not familiar with.

One thing for sure is a good positive attitude will get you far. Jump into the language and it will open doors for you. Try SFI "Svenska för invandrare" which is a government run free language course run i every komun. I haven't done it myself as I completed the 4 levels of Swedish at the Sandford Language Institute before coming here. I've heard varying stories about the quality of the course ranging from complete sh!te to very good. Hey, it's free and a start I guess.

If you're working, register with www.skatteverket.se (tax office) where you'll receive a personnummer. Basically you can't do ANYTHING in Sweden without it. Then register with www.migrationsverket.se (migration office) It's just to let them know that you'll be living in the country. Shouldn't have any problems if you're an EU citizen.

As another poster mentioned... www.thelocal.se has a good forum with a lot of information. As of late, there's been a lot of trolls posting umpteen threads on the Israelistinian war, Bush Vs O'Bama, Muslin Vs whoever, ad nausium. If that's your thing, you'll feel right at home. The site mods are looking at doing a clean up at the moment, so hopefully it can go back to being a Swedish forum. You'll probably see me on there from time to time...

Eh, well that's just a little information. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll answer them best I can.

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/Fjällräv