Thank you!

@Erik – I know Ikea produces the world’s greatest stuff of short lived furniture but I disagree with their company structure. They are the worlds biggest charitable organization (on paper for tax reasons of course) valued at over $35 billion but give $30 million dollars in charity. There’s really no other company that has a more complicated and unethical way of managing company operations, apart from gambling/poker companies.

But Ikea’s corporate structure sham is for a book and not my short comment.

Ditto on the Down’s Syndrome statement. To be honest, I haven’t met a Swede on the street with it, so I wonder if they’re being hidden in the country?! :Gasp: (JK)

First, answering/countering @Excalibur

1) There is truth to conformity in the way apartments look. You can see conformity in fashion and furniture. Much of Sweden is influenced by jantelag where people are expected to conform (not necessarily be equal but NOT be different from each other). Couple that with a small market to sell in, you have limited variety.

You do really have to search around to get more than the 50 standard herbs/spices at the ICA. And finding more than Santa Maria to sell tortillas is near impossible.

2) Today it doesn’t matter what color you paint your house but 100 years ago, it did matter. The famous Swedish red is called Falun Red because the color comes from Falun in Dalarna. The color results from mineralization of copper, iron, silica and other metals.

When burned and ground up, a fine red powder was created. This could be mixed into paint, hence the red houses. The large deposits from the ores made the red paint cheap and affordable for lower class (peasants) people, especially those living in the countryside.

As a result, the availability of cheap, red paint signified a lower class family while colors that were expensive to create (e.g. yellow and white) were for wealthier families.

Obviously today, you can buy 50,000 different paint colors but 100 years ago, paint color was a sign of your social class.

3) Good California wine (Ravenswood and Gnarley Head notwithstanding as good basic wines) and good American beer (Sierra Nevada, Liberty Ale notwithstanding) are impossible to find at Systemet. I blame Systemet for perpetuating the myth that America produces shitty beer and wine. Of course the country does if all you can buy at the store is Miller, Bud, Fetzer, and the garbage known as “California Wine.”

However, several US states forbid the transportation of alcohol into and out of state border. Most notably, New York did not allow for private shipment of alcohol. You can however send wine to Sweden, it will be declared and taxed to death before reaching final destination.

4) As Erik pointed out, there’s no shortage of beer drinking, alcohol consuming events at parties in college. And driving after drinking like that, tragedy. Going to college in the United States, I can attest to the amount of beer people consume – outrageous.

Perhaps, what I find most striking is the need/want/pressure to drink and get smashed on the weekends as 30 year old people. Company parties revolve around a significant amount of alcohol and being wasted is for the most part, acceptable. There’s a reason at Swedish company parties you never bring your family: everyone is too drunk. (Think Julbord, Kräftskiva, Sommarfest…)

The Christmas party in your office in America is far different. You bring your family, kids make little decorations, parents drink punch, wives/husbands mingle with the bosses, and then everyone goes home.

Maybe this is what your son felt, the desire to “get wasted” on the weekends when one goes out.

5) You don’t talk to strangers unless you’re crazy or they’re crazy.

6) No idea about Down syndrome in Sweden. The epidemiology of Down’s Syndrome indicates it is on the rise in most countries, especially the United States. I do not know where Sweden factors into this.

7) For a city the size of Stockholm, the selection of food is poor. You have Thai, Kebab, Pizza, Thai, Kebab, Italian, Pizza, and very expensive restaurants that I cannot dine at on a regular basis. I hate not being able to find a great restaurant at a reasonable price. And I hate even more not being able to find a “to-go” restaurant where you buy healthy but delicious food for cheap.

Granted, small cities will have a very limited selection of foods but that’s the case anywhere in the world. For example, when I lived in North Carolina, I had friends who never had sushi until they went to college.

8) I do hear a lot of “America is fat, America is stupid” but we are the world’s most powerful country and have a very big mouth. We are bound to take shit from everyone, even if hypocritical.

It’s unfortunate that you had an asshole girl stay at your place. She seemed like an ungrateful bitch and that is her parents’ fault, not Sweden’s.

Swedes may not tip in Sweden but it’s absolutely necessary to do so in the United States. One can consider the system unfair or wrong, but one cannot punish the waitress for this and not tip.

Don’t ever invite that girl again to your home!

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@Marcus, I’ll say this for the nth time, but have you tasted real American beer? Can you please name five delicious Swedish beers that doesn’t taste like piss water?

Please avoid using the F word. I have redacted your comment to remove the word.

I don’t know where you get 18 to have sex, but that’s only true in a handful of states. Most ates it is 15 or 16. And you know what, I don’t think 14 year old girls or boys should be having sex.

I have no idea where your ignorant statement of rednecks come from. You do know it is legal in Sweden to marry your cousin? You may also marry your half-sibling if you get approval from the government.
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In the meantime, enjoy the lovely day folks! Get some sun in your brains and then come back here. =)

Okay, I’m honestly confused. I’ve contributed a few choice words (that was sarcasm; I know I can be rather verbose) and feel like the metaphorical horse has been beaten to death so thoroughly that there’s nary a speck of dust left. I also generally take issue not so much with your original posts, which seem occasionally misguided but also appear to have been written with some degree of humor, but instead with some of the rabid commenters bashing Sweden like Swedes were personally responsible for the Holocaust, colonialism, the San Fransisco earthquake of 1906 as well as each and every natural disaster plaguing our world in recent times.

The above quote, though, baffles me. I’m not going to go into why I disagree with you that immigration is an inherently abhorrent concept, but – correct me if I’m wrong on this – aren’t you, in fact, an immigrant yourself? If Swedes as a people are lucky because millions of people aren’t running through the borders as you so melodramatically phrase it, should we Swedes then count ourselves unlucky because you, for whatever reason, decided to up and move here? Are you confessing to some bizarre mode of self-hatred, or can you just not see how contradictory you’re being?

It’s a good thing I’ve met such a lot of wonderful, intelligent, kind, rational and logical Americans. Had your blog posts been my initial introduction to that nation’s people, I’m not sure I could have restrained myself from giving into a range of pejorative stereotypes and assumptions about the people as a whole. This is where I’m going to pat myself on the back: even though your writing indicates that you lack any and all argumentative tactics, effective rhetorics, empathy for your fellow human beings no matter their nationality, open-mindedness and an understanding of any culture other than your own, I am not going to assume that all Americans are like this, or wonder whether all Americans are not “mentally okay in the head”, even if this post does leave me curious about your own psychological state. There’s my apparently trademark Swedish bitching and whining for you! I didn’t know that was part of our national identity, but now that you’ve informed me of this supposed right, you bet I’m going to exercise it.

Plus, I’ve been to a lot of parties in the US with collage kids and I’ve never seen people drink (or smoke weed for that matter) as much as they did there. I mean beer pong with vodka and smoke a plastic bag full of weed, really? Oh and after that they got in to the car and drove. And I’m sure your son tells you he only has an “occasional beer” sometimes and he felt “obligated” to participate in those parties in Sweden. He would probably never lie to you since he has made a lot of “acute” observations about the country he lived in.

And about the IKEA store, they are formed as a maze so it takes a lot longer for you to get to “the end” of the store and you will probably end up buying more stuff. Why do you think the dairy products in a grocery store is always placed in the back? Cus you always need it and you will have to go through the entire store and hopefully pick something up on the way that you don’t really need. Common logic that apparently passed you by. And hate all you want at IKEA, but it’s still the worlds largest furniture company so they must be doing something right.

And the fact that you judge an entire population by a spoiled brat is pretty hilarious. It’s like saying that Paris Hilton (which btw together with the rest of the Hollywood population is experts at pouting their lips in front of a camera) is representative to the US population, or Bill O’reilly for that matter.

If you have these many prejudices and questions about Sweden you should come here and visit. That’s why so many Swedes travel and study abroad. They want to know how it feels like and answer questions they might have. After that you have the ability to compare and judge. Before that you just draw conclusions from other peoples experiance.

I had a lot of questions and prejudices about the US, so I hopped on a plane and went there. I now know that the US is not for me cus some of the prejudices I had about the US was confirmed, but I also met a lot of great people and there are a lot of things I miss as well after my visits there. All countries have pros and conds, it all depends on how those pros and cons suits you.

(And really again, more people with Downs syndrome? Are you seriously asking that questions? That’s hilarious!)

Some things i hate about America ( sorry for the grammar )

1. Every f***ing movie i see the f***ing flag all over the place. I know you are patriots of doom but come on?

2. Most people are so disgusting fat.
3. Healthcare sucks but most of you agree on that.

4. It’s me me me all the time and not “we”

5. rednecks and their family f****.

6. Making justin bieber famous all over the world wtf?
7. 16 to drive but 21 to drink :s almost forgot, 18 to have sex, holy shit.
8. Going to war all the time, do not act like world-police so grow up and don’t think you decide everything.

Wellwell, nuff hating, i love you for many things also (:

1 – It’s true that many homes (but far from all) looks kind of the same. If you know where I’m sure you will find many different spices, at least in Stockholm.

2 – ??? My local hardware store has a lot of different colors, and I have NEVER heard anything about those colour representing social status. I don’t know where you got that from.

3 – Many Swedes can be that way, but please note that this is because our culture are not the same as yours, and I’m that person never meant to be rude. It’s just that our culture is different then yours. Also, please take note that far from all Swedes are like that.

6 – I’m not that well-informed in this matter, but I haven’t heard anything that Sweden have a high rate of people with Downs syndrome.

7 – Stockholm have a quite good selection of international restaurants for it’s size. Remember that most cities in ain’t that big, and there might not be enough demand for a lot of international restaurants. Which city was he staying in?

About that student staying at your house: You must have had very bad luck to have someone like that at your house. You should not think all swedes are like that.

1 – I don’t really understand this question. Persons who are like that are hardly a local phenomena. There are people like that anywhere in the world, and I don’t think that’s common in any country.

2 – I personally think most Swedish foods are boring, but I love Chinese food (not the westernized Chinese food, I mean something that can be found at my local restaurant in Beijing, where I lived for 3 years.) And there is a lovely Ethiopian restaurant in Stockholm that I like to visit.
Don’t believe that all Swedes doesn’t like foreign food. Although, I’ll add that it might be more common at the countryside, where people might be more unfamiliar at the countryside, where people might seldom dine out, and therefore have little experience with foreign food.

3 – As I said, you must have bad luck with that women! Most Swedish people say thank you.

4 – I can’t belive that your son heard this from a number of young people in Sweden. I definitely hope that this isn’t as common as you described it. I have never something like that from any of my friends, but on the otherside, the reason that they are my friends is because I know they would never say something like that. I just want you to know that is from common, and I’m totally sure that more then 99% of young Swedes love their parents and they would defenitly not want their parents to die. Do you happen to know if that “number of other people” was a big number of people?

5 – Well I can say that I would be surprised if this behaviour was common of touristing Swedes (I don’t know, as I don’t know how the rest of the Swedes do when outside Sweden.) I think you might just had bad luck here (I know I have been repeating that, I’m going to stop now)

My conclusion is that I generally find Swedes to be friendly people, especially on the countryside ´where people aren’t as stressed. There are of course exceptions like that girl you met. We Swedes generally tend to be a bit shy, so some people might think we are being rude, although this is not the case.

Have a good day everyone!

But to those americans who complain the swedish attitude, i have to say, swedes become very happy when they see a tourist and are helpfull if they asked for help and the good point is they all speak English. Fly to Italy, Spain if you really want to see an anti-american attitude.