My Swedish experience

grenache · 24-10-2013 09:31AM

Zulu wrote: »

Why stay with the same people if you didn't enjoy their company? You know what they say about insanity, right? "Repeating the same action..." and all that?

If I do go back, it probably won't be to stay with them, I agree that would a stupid idea. Gothenburg is a very pricey place though, so I'd have to think long and hard about it.

lufties · 24-10-2013 09:32AM

bluewolf wrote: »

Not yet Friend does. The locals are always telling her how cold and unfriendly they probably are... when they're apparently actually quite friendly

worked there for a year and a half, met more rascist, cold, boring, abrupt people than i care to remember

tin79 · 24-10-2013 09:34AM

Zulu wrote: »

The word is "tack" and is often used.

Like the rest of your post, you're talking utter horsemanure in my opinion.
My brother married a swede and lives over there, and I've worked over there in the past. Lovely place, I visit every year, and would move there at the drop of a hat.

The people are sound.

Oddly enough I just dropped my hat. Let us know how the first year goes.

Muilleann · 24-10-2013 09:34AM

Relative of mine worked in Sweden for a while.

He found that the Swedes were (a) dead boring & (b) obsessed with what other people were earning.

BillyMitchel · 24-10-2013 09:35AM

Obviously got turned down by every Swedish chick you tried it on with!

I know a few Sweeds and they are nothing like the ones you described. Maybe just unlucky this time around.

BillyMitchel · 24-10-2013 09:39AM

iDave wrote: »

I wonder how long a 'My Nigerian Experience' thread would last before the OP would get hounded by lefties and mods saying hes racist.

I'd love to go Lagos for a wk end! This crazy Nigerian taxi driver told me some crazy messed upcstories about the place before. The city sounds like nothing but mayhem morning noon and night.

Go to Nigeria he said, be grand he said.

grenache · 24-10-2013 09:39AM

BillyMitchel wrote: »

Obviously got turned down by every Swedish chick you tried it on with!

I know a few Sweeds and they are nothing like the ones you described. Maybe just unlucky this time around.

Im spoken for

Didn't try it on with any of them. They're really not my type! Looks will only get a person so far. 50% of the attraction is in talking to someone and discovering their personality.

Zulu · 24-10-2013 09:40AM

grenache wrote: »

If I do go back, it probably won't be to stay with them, I agree that would a stupid idea. Gothenburg is a very pricey place though, so I'd have to think long and hard about it.

Its expensive alright, but I'd consider giving it another shot. What you described is at complete odds to my experience.

tin79 wrote: »

Oddly enough I just dropped my hat. Let us know how the first year goes.

Wut?

BillyMitchel · 24-10-2013 09:40AM

grenache wrote: »

Im spoken for Didn't try it on with one of them. They're really not my type! Looks will only get a person so far. 50% of the attraction is in talking to someone and discovering their personality.

Agreed, they are a pretty nice looking bunch of folk though!

MurdyWurdy · 24-10-2013 09:42AM

Sweden is number one on my places I want to visit at the moment. It just fascinates me. I've never heard people say that Swedish people were like in the op. Would love to see for myself though.

SAS have one way flights to Stockholm, Copenhagen and one other place at the moment (can't remember where ) for €52 at the moment. If only I had some money !!

listermint · 24-10-2013 09:45AM

Zulu wrote: »

By asking the obvious question? Oh dear.

Ah yes the obvious question

Zulu wrote: »

Like the rest of your post, you're talking utter horsemanure in my opinion.

Not defensive and condescending then no....

long range shooter · 24-10-2013 09:48AM

Muilleann wrote: »

Relative of mine worked in Sweden for a while.

He found that the Swedes were (a) dead boring & (b) obsessed with what other people were earning.

Yes,thats because of the Jante Law thats carved into the Svandinavian culture,maybe more in Sweden than any other Scandinavian country.
But it makes the term Swedish jealousy shine brighter.;)

http://www.swedishfreak.com/2012/who-do-you-think-you-are/

artvandelay48 · 24-10-2013 09:51AM

Banjo String wrote: »

TLDR.

did you ride a Swedish bird or not?

Its pretty obvious he didn't

holystungun9 · 24-10-2013 09:52AM

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

I have a small sneaky feeling that Sweden sees the rest of Europe like Europe sees the Middle-East.

Small? Or far away?

General General · 24-10-2013 09:54AM

Swedes were always the scum of Scandinavia... Goth' is nicer as there is a Danish influence.

Most pleasant thing about Sweden is to think of how they felt when they found out that who they regarded as their country bumpkin, dopey cousin, Norway, found ALL that OIL...

jaykay74 · 24-10-2013 09:59AM

The OP absolutely has some elements of truth to it and some over simplistic or simply wrong generalisations.

lufties · 24-10-2013 10:07AM

General General wrote: »

Swedes were always the scum of Scandinavia... Goth' is nicer as there is a Danish influence.

Most pleasant thing about Sweden is to think of how they felt when they found out that who they regarded as their country bumpkin, dopey cousin, Norway, found ALL that OIL...

Someone told me the danes are like second hand germans:eek:

Smiles35 · 24-10-2013 10:07AM

Much better to take a Sweede out of his/her natural envoiroment then. I found the Sweede I knew to be brilliant at talking sh-ite, but in a pracitcal, logical way.

And was a real trooper with the cans aswell!

grenache · 24-10-2013 10:11AM

General General wrote: »

Swedes were always the scum of Scandinavia... Goth' is nicer as there is a Danish influence.

Most pleasant thing about Sweden is to think of how they felt when they found out that who they regarded as their country bumpkin, dopey cousin, Norway, found ALL that OIL...

Another thing I didn't understand was the hatred towards Denmark, not so much Norway. A couple if girls I chatted to had some really nasty things to say about the Danes. The folk in Gothenburg don't seem to be fond of Denmark or the southern region of Sweden, Skäne, in general. They think they all talk funny and sound stupid.

Overflow · 24-10-2013 10:15AM

grenache wrote: »

I agree with you to an extent. And if I do go back I will use this to my advantage. But I think people can be reserved without necessarily being rude and unhelpful. My problem was that I came across too many of the latter during my visit. Having someone ask you politely for directions and just ignoring them - I don't see how this can be described as anything but rude and ignorant. In any culture!

Take my word for it

I've been in Norway 7 years. People say the same things about Norwegians and it just isn't true. I felt the same way you did when I first came here.

With regards to people ignoring you when asking for directions. They are not used to it. Swedes or Norwegians don't approach strangers for help like we do.

But, if you are in need of real help, they can be the warmest and most helpful people. For example, i was driving through the country side here in winter, the road were covered in snow and ice. I lost control of my car and drove into a ditch. Now i was not hurt at all and my car was not badly damage or blocking the road what so ever.

Every car that drove by stopped. Everyone got out to help me, I'm talking about 10+ people. Without asking for help they all started trying to push the car out of the ditch, while one was trying to get it started. My phone was dead and i could not call a tow truck so a woman asked if i wanted to use her phone.

Then a guy in a big jeep just pulls up and talks to the other guys. Within minutes they were hooking my car up to a winch this guy had and they pulled my car out. They got my car started for me and then one bunch of guys said they would follow me home to make sure i got there ok.

This forever change my view on Norwegians.

You know the old saying, dont judge a book blah blah blah, well yeah dont !

maninasia · 24-10-2013 10:28AM

Well I had a similar experience, but it was in Norway not Sweden :pac:

snickerpuss · 24-10-2013 10:36AM

Went on a road trip around Sweden during the summer and found everyone so lovely from cities to tiny villages. Might be biased cos I got engaged over there so lots of good memories but really didn't have one bad experience!

Also people in shops were full of eye contact and 'hej' and 'tack' even when they realised I had no Swedish.

Legs.Eleven · 24-10-2013 10:37AM

iDave wrote: »

I wonder how long a 'My Nigerian Experience' thread would last before the OP would get hounded by lefties and mods saying hes racist.

Oh deary me.

Overflow wrote: »

Take my word for it I've been in Norway 7 years. People say the same things about Norwegians and it just isn't true. I felt the same way you did when I first came here.

With regards to people ignoring you when asking for directions. They are not used to it. Swedes or Norwegians don't approach strangers for help like we do.

But, if you are in need of real help, they can be the warmest and most helpful people. For example, i was driving through the country side here in winter, the road were covered in snow and ice. I lost control of my car and drove into a ditch. Now i was not hurt at all and my car was not badly damage or blocking the road what so ever.

Every car that drove by stopped. Everyone got out to help me, I'm talking about 10+ people. Without asking for help they all started trying to push the car out of the ditch, while one was trying to get it started. My phone was dead and i could not call a tow truck so a woman asked if i wanted to use her phone.

Then a guy in a big jeep just pulls up and talks to the other guys. Within minutes they were hooking my car up to a winch this guy had and they pulled my car out. They got my car started for me and then one bunch of guys said they would follow me home to make sure i got there ok.

This forever change my view on Norwegians.

You know the old saying, dont judge a book blah blah blah, well yeah dont !

This is it, isn't it? I mean, people are decent wherever you go and people mean well. Logically speaking, most people can't be arseholes in a country. It's too easy to view things that way and not an attack on you, OP as I've done it myself but it's a very simplistic, irrational way of viewing things when you step back and look at it from afar.

I did the very same when I moved here to Madrid when I mistook their directness for rudeness but they're just different and their idea of politeness is different to Ireland. People here, on the whole, are lovely and decent but it took me a long time to see it. I was too busy slapping labels on groups of people and instead of trying to understand them; I took the lazy way out and blamed them instead for simply being different.

Savoir.Faire · 24-10-2013 10:37AM

Was there last winter for a couple of weeks. Fantastic place, if not a little pricey. Incredible looking women as well, a couple of whom I had the good fortune to get intimately involved with during the course of my stay.

long range shooter · 24-10-2013 10:48AM

maninasia wrote: »

Well I had a similar experience, but it was in Norway not Sweden :pac:

Me to,one time in Sweden,one time in Singapore,one time in the Us,One time in China,one time in Brazil,and one time in Ireland.:rolleyes:

General General · 24-10-2013 10:48AM

lufties wrote: »

Someone told me the danes are like second hand germans:eek:

Nicht wahr.

grenache wrote: »

Another thing I didn't understand was the hatred towards Denmark, not so much Denmark. A couple if girls I chatted to had some really nasty things to say about the Danes. The folk in Gothenburg don't seem to be fond of Denmark or the southern region of Sweden, Skäne, in general. They think they all talk funny and sound stupid.

Easy enough to explain: Swedes are full of it on the topic of Denmark (& to a lesser extent on the topic of (very) southern Sweden).

I think that the Danish 'Knowledge Economy' (IT, Medical, Genetics &c.) is about as far ahead of Sweden as Sweden is behind Norway is oil production.

Ah well, at least Nokia wasn't a Swedish company. They have that.

Mousewar · 24-10-2013 11:05AM

Went to Stockholm last year.
Had pretty much the complete opposite experience to the OP.

constance tench · 24-10-2013 11:06AM

grenache wrote: »

Another thing I didn't understand was the hatred towards Denmark, not so much Denmark. A couple if girls I chatted to had some really nasty things to say about the Danes. The folk in Gothenburg don't seem to be fond of Denmark or the southern region of Sweden, Skäne, in general. They think they all talk funny and sound stupid.

That's true..they laugh at them...

They do look good, but the whole 'jante law' attitude becomes a little tedious and ugly.

H3llR4iser · 24-10-2013 11:09AM

I don't know OP, I have no doubt you experienced things the way you did, but what's likely is that you simply had cultural shock. As simple as it is, you kind of expected Swedish people to behave like Irish people would do and be entertained by the same stuff, which is clearly not the case.

The point about "talking money" is an iconic one: for Irish people, the only time money talk is acceptable is when it's to moan about being broke or boast about their new car/house; talking about how much they earn is the ultimate "no go" area, as they are afraid to be judged, "sized up" or being "reported". Other cultures are much more open about it, see money as one of the building blocks of modern society and aren't afraid to talk - Swedish being one of them.

Last but not least, 9 out of 10 Spanish/French/Italian tourists coming to Ireland say the same exact things you say of the Swedish...about Irish people, right down to point of ridiculing the bee lines at ATMs.

biko · 24-10-2013 11:11AM

grenache wrote: »

Another thing I didn't understand was the hatred towards Denmark, not so much Denmark. A couple if girls I chatted to had some really nasty things to say about the Danes. The folk in Gothenburg don't seem to be fond of Denmark or the southern region of Sweden, Skäne, in general. They think they all talk funny and sound stupid.

Sweden and Denmark has been at war with each other many many times.
They can be considered to be the two nations with the most wars fought between them.
http://satwcomic.com/art/nordic-brothers.jpg

My Swedish experience

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