Moving to Sweden- request Info

Apples1982

Hi All,

I am moving to Sweden in a few months and would love to obtain some information which i am finding hard to find on the web. Moving to a place called Eskilstuna, which is about 1 hour from Stockholm. If there is anyone out there who could provide some info on the below topics, I would greatly appreciate it.
is there an equivilant of daft.ie as i would like to see how much rentals are etc
Social scene, is it upbeat, are there many Irish living in this area?
Is Swedish a necessasity to get around, would english suffice?
outdoor lifestyle / Gym membership costs?
Is it possible to commute to Stockhom from Eskilistuna? Do many people do this
Public transport - is it easy to get around.
Alot of basic questions here again appreciate any info i can get on the above.

Thanks

jaykay74

I've lived here in Stockholm nearly 3 years but have been in Stockholm on and off since 1998.

Below is the website for Train service which does Eskilstuna to Stockholm. Just put in your to and from and click "Gå Vidare" button. Seems to be a service every hour.

http://www.sj.se

The tbana which is the underground system in Stockholm is www.sl.se

Rentals at least in Stockholm area are extremely tricky. I can give you a few links. The first link is more of a sell everything swedish ebay type of link but a lot of people offer rentals on it.

http://www.blocket.se/
http://www.bostaddirekt.com/?utm_expid=38007003-0
http://www.remax-sverige.com/Default.aspx?Lang=en-US
http://kvalster.se/

You should use google chrome browser and it should offer to translate pages from Swedish to English automatically.

I've never been to Eskilstuna so can't really tell you anything about the place. In Stockholm Swedish is not really required at all for day to day living and meeting people, dealing with people in shops etc. Public transport in Stockholm works very well so people who live near Stockholm can manage without a car handy enough. I would say though that sometimes Swedish might be a required for a job or definitely job hunting but maybe you have that prearranged.

Social scene, no idea, wife and kids restricts that these days! There are a couple of decent irish pubs in the city centre where I go to watch gaa/rugby, soccer etc. The liffey, the dubliner

http://theliffey.se/
http://www.dubliner.se/stockholm/pub

Strong outdoor lifestye, no idea of gym prices but the link below is the main chain of gyms I think.
http://www.sats.se/

Apples1982 wrote: »

Hi All,

I am moving to Sweden in a few months and would love to obtain some information which i am finding hard to find on the web. Moving to a place called Eskilstuna, which is about 1 hour from Stockholm. If there is anyone out there who could provide some info on the below topics, I would greatly appreciate it.
is there an equivilant of daft.ie as i would like to see how much rentals are etc
Social scene, is it upbeat, are there many Irish living in this area?
Is Swedish a necessasity to get around, would english suffice?
outdoor lifestyle / Gym membership costs?
Is it possible to commute to Stockhom from Eskilistuna? Do many people do this
Public transport - is it easy to get around.
Alot of basic questions here again appreciate any info i can get on the above.

Thanks

Apples1982

Thanks a million for the information. It will make good reading .

ciagr297

I've been living here in Stockholm for 2 years now. As regards commute between Eskilstuna and Stockholm, its just over an hour.
Accommodation is incredibly difficult to find here in Stockholm, and rents have just increased. The rental market is not like in Dublin. My advice would be to move to Eskilstuna or even Södertälje first and scope out the job situation etc. Then if you decide Eskilstuna is not for you to live in, begin looking in Stockholm.

That way there is no panic situation.

As jaykay74 says, Swedish is not necessary to get "around" but you should learn it evenso. If you have organised a job, then your employer may be willing to sponsor you a course of some sort.

Socially - it is quite different to Ireland. That said, it's about attitude. I have a mix of both Swedish and international friends. My Swedish friends refer to me as the "sista minuten"/last minute. I'm not really, but compared to them, I am

SATS(http:www.sats.se) is a big gym network here in Sweden. I think their membership is about 500k a month, depending on the type of membership.

Generally speaking, public transport is quite good in this country.

Feel free to PM or post here if you have more questions

Apples1982

Thanks

I was considering Södertälje. It seems to be quite close and from my research its 25 mins to stockholm, and 40 to Eskilistuna so could be a good choice.

I have checked out google maps to see what Södertälje looks like, and it seems to be quite picturesque.

Do you know much about this area? Do many people commute from Södertälje ? Wikipedia does not mention English as a common language spoken, actually it is not mentioned at al. See snipet from wikapedia:
'The most spoken languages in Södertälje besides Swedish, which is the national language, are Syriac-Aramaic and Arabic. To a lesser extent, Finnish and Serbian are also relatively common second languages.'

I will be taking the swedish language up 100% but the above made me think whether this is a place i would be able to get by in.

Thanks again for the above infoormation.

ciagr297

My honest opinion is to move to Eskilstuna first, get sorted out with the job, change in work culture and then decide whether or not to remain in Eskilstuna. Make your transition a tad easier

Spending a minimum of 2hrs a day commuting between Eskilstuna and Stockholm really means you have no life in either place. It's manageable, but do you really need to do that to yourself?

Stockholm is a very nice city, but I started off my Swedish life in small town Linköping. I learned Swedish there, and then later decided to move to Stockholm for my job.

Is there something in particular which is telling you to move to Stockholm as opposed to the place you will work in (Eskilstuna)?

Södertälje has a high majority of Syrian immigrants, but a large majority would speak Swedish far better than English so if total immersion is what you are after, then you would be forced to get to grips with the language far faster than living in downtown Stockholm! People do commute from Södertälje to downtown Stockholm on the pendeltåg (sort of like DART).

Apples1982

Thanks ciagr297,

I presumed job opportunities may be less of a challenge in Stockholm city, hence the reason for the move to Sodertalje which would mean half way point for my partner to Eskilstuna.
Thanks again for information, the more info the better.

penzo

Is it really that easy to move without a job secured? I would have thought that is one thing you would need to sort out before you could move.