Culture Shock from Living in Sweden? (Stockholm)
What are the biggest culture shocks foreigners experience while living in Sweden? We hit the streets of Stockholm to talk to people who live in Sweden about their experiences: the good, the bad and the ugly.
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Team:
Ana Luiza Marcal (host):
Ellinor Fristrom (camera/sound):
Foreigners:
Nikki (Canada):
Juliana (Brazil):
Elina (Greece):
Alex (Greece):
Nevena (South Africa):
Raphael (Italy):
Meaghan (USA):
Filmed in:
Stockholm, Sweden
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Hey everyone! There were some issues with the previous upload – so I’ve decided to re-upload. Hope you enjoy this one!
The warmth, the hospitality, the variety of food and fruits, the smiles ….. Brazil is an amazing super-beautiful country where it’s summertime all year long. Not to mention it’s much cheaper than Sweden.
sounds like introverts’ heaven
It is, dude. So calm and quiet x)
It is.
It is but I wonder if they’re introverts by choice.
Even introverts can be bored
One of my first eye opening experiences about how Swedes truly are, was when a dude from work suddenly got very friendly to me during the afterwork after a few beers, we had a good conversation… and then the next day in the morning he didn’t even look at me in the elevator, just awkwardly stood staring at his phone pretending he didn’t see me.
That’s so rudee
Yup. This is Sweden. Also you can work with somebody for 5 years and when you quit and see this person you have worked with in the city, the mall or whatever, there is always an agreed upon “let’s pretend we don’t see eachother”.
It”s just the way the social fabric is.
@ pfffft, you don’t even have to quit, it may be simply a weekend, or a bus to work.
As for not rude, yes and no. They don’t see it as rude, they don’t intend it as rude, that’s why I have long since stopped taking it personally. But in the rest of the world inhabited by regular human beings this will be seen as rude.
It IS rude. No matter how virtuous they pretend to be.
@@zach3965 In sweden it is not considered rude. It is simply normal behaviour here.
Greetings from Cuba, I think always is good to learn more about others cultures. Thank you.
Do you have Internet freedom in Cuba ?
Right questions. Thoughtful answers. Diverse speakers. Nice angles visually. Bravo!!!
As a Swede I kinda feel sorry for foreigners coming here, it must be quite isolating considering how reserved we are
As a Spaniard I find Nordics quite sad societies. I lived in Finland for some years and I don’t want to come not even near any other Nordic country.
In addition the Nordics are experiencing a heavy influx of Muslim immigrants which make them even less attractive.
I am a swede, I don’t feel sorry for foreigners who come here..
I’ve never lived there, but I’ve visited several times and I agree with the American woman (I’m also American). When I’m there, I feel at peace. But I am an introvert haha.
how do native swedes make friends?
@@MarkusSsZ you have no idea. Ten years, and all my friends are another foreigners, all relationships with foreigners. Not for the lack of trying. It’s difficult to get Swedish friends and nearly impossible to get a Swedish girlfriend. Especially if you came from a country I came from. Struggles i never had back home. Thinking of moving on as soon as opportunity presents itself
Interesting, I live in Sweden and I kinda agree with the most in this video.
I feel like I want to move/vacate to other countries during the winter because I feel like the darkness is the worst – not so much the cold.
I just feel so tired during the winter months.
not enough vitamin d
@oz-zy i take vitamin d daily but still tired 😅
Born and raised in southern sweden, as south as you can get. Please for f’ck sake: DO NOT JUDGE MY COUNTRY BASED ON HOW STOCKHOLM IS! Stockholm is a living nightmare when it comes to make friends, if you make any at all there.
Good to know.
True 😂
STOCKHOLM is Boring! imho !
I said it before but it sounds almost culturally identical to Japan, except the Japanese put much more emphasis on work over life balance (sadly)
The part where she said they don’t even say excuse me but shuffle past, and never talk to strangers sounds exactly like Japan.
yup, very interesting. i wonder if there is a breakdown somewhere on the most and least extroverted/introverted countries?
@oz-zy I mean… I’d be surprised if Japan isn’t top of the list for introverts, even beating Sweden.
I remember when me and a friend were sharing a flat here in Japan. We both had girlfriends (Japanese) and we went out to buy cigs and left the two women alone with eachother, saying goodbye to them in the kitchen.
When we returned neither girls had said a word to eachother. They both returned to our respective rooms, sitting there on the beds, separated by a thin wall with the doors wide open, playing with their phones, in this tiny, intimate flat…
It was so odd to see as a westerner. In the UK 99% of people would’ve started chatting– at least introducing themselves or else it would’ve been extremely awkward. Not in that case though.
I’ve seen millions more examples like that, that’s just the one that came to mind first.
@ My God that is absolutely insane. I have to visit Japan, just to experience the culture shock for myself. Wow.
The Brazilian girl is golden
Not according to Swedish Men😂😂😂😂
@@vicepresidentmikepence889 why?
I live in sweden one of the most shocking things even now after so many years living in this country is that women walk like there was nobody around them. There is just zero eye contact with anybody, not even the slightest flirter. People think they are open but it’s totally the opposite.
I don’t think we swedes see ourselves as open, more reserve. Openly flirting with people on public space might be seen as desperate, if you must flirt with someone do it where people wants to flirt or social – like bars, clubs, social places. I wouldn’t recommend flirting in gyms because people wants to be left alone in gyms (mostly).
@@VindensSaga so basically canada.
@@VindensSagaSo if your into a girl and she’s not at a bar it’s over ??
where did you move from?
@@peterp4037 no eye contact. Either a soulless stare at imaginary point in the distance (which you can clearly see is intentional) or looking the other way.
Sweden sounds like an introvert/Incel paradise. Sweden here I come.
yup, like japan
@@MbisonBalrog no. Even introverts need some human contact now and then. The only people who would find sweden a paradise are the kind that would thrive in a solitary confinement
Samee, please take me with you!! 😂😭
2:36 in, aha, then this woman would’ve been shocked to see what it was like in America for years and years, perhaps still is in some places, but it’s not as prevalent these days, when parents would just leave their children unattended in their vehicle. This user has, somewhat fond, memories of being left in the car, playing the likes of Pokemon on their GameBoys, whilst muh parents went somewhere. On multi-state/cross-country trips, this user would prefer to lay back in their old minivan, without a seatbelt on, and under a blanket, with fast food in their lap, while simultaneously watching a movie on videotape or a DVD, usually of professional wrestling, on an old, portable, Phillips CRT TV, which had a built-in VHS player, so, one could set-up their, say, GameCube to it and record, onto video tape, them playing a “Call of Duty” game, like “Big Red One”, which this user did to compile the black-and-white video snippets for a sixth-grade project on WW2! It was, perhaps, this user’s first attempt at video-editing! It could also hook-up to a PS2 and this user would lay back and play “Final Fantasy X” or “Smackdown!: Here Comes The Pain” across the country, while mom-and-dad went antiquing or browsed farmer’s and flea-markets….activities that this user has learned to enjoy as time went on! The “thrill-of-the-hunt” is quite fun, and healthier than lying back and eating fast food whilst gaming in an unattended vehicle! Ha!
Happy Thursday! ❤
I’m always fascinated by those countries where people are considered as Introverts as a moroccan people might assume that I’m extrovert but I’m not and the time I visited moscow I felt like home there
Minnesota 💕
I had a Swedish ex colleague who (surprisingly for a Swede) kept contact with me even after we both stopped working at that work, so we would chat once twice a month and meet like every 6 months and so on.
She seemed and was claiming to be different than the average Swede, like more talkative and expressive but suddenly out of nowhere, she texted me a few excuses such as that she’s depressed and tired etc and told me that she can’t keep up with our friendship (as if meeting every 6-8 months is putting a ton of work..😑) .
You might think that these weren’t excuses and she might have been really depressed but I tried everything to help her and give her either support or space (whatever she would need) but to my conclusion she just didn’t want anymore regardless.
She was my only Swedish friend and she had clearly given me the “message” that we get along really really well.
So when she in a way ghosted me, I was fully shocked.
I cried and was confused and even worried about her but at the same time a little angry because the way she distanced her self from me and without any reason (I aksed her mutliple times if I did anything unintentionally that might have hurt her so that I can apologise but she insisted there’s nothing wrong with me), didn’t allow for me to get any proper closure.
Just a cold and emotionless “goodbye” through a text 🤷♀️ Not a common way of dealing with people, in my culture.
And a few years ago a Swedish neighbour approached me (also VERY surprising for Sweden) and wanted to befriend me. I accepted and we were friends for a year and a half with frequent home visits and everything but when my partner of long distance relationship finally came to live with me, she started attempting to flirt him right in front of me 😱 So disrespectful…
I felt very hurt and betrayed of course and this caused me trust issues to this day 💔 Needless to say that I quit any contact with her after I gave her many times the benefit of the doubt (I was indeed in such disbelief that I was questioning my self even though it was crystal clear and even my bothered husband had warned me discretely to not trust her).
Now, I realise I should have written this story first because it happened before I meet my other friend (the first story of the comment).
Why? Because I want you to understand that despite being betrayed by my first Swedish “friend”, I still made another one later and tried to trust people again and open up.
After I managed that with a lot of internal effort, then this friend ghosted me and this hurt even more..
Now I don’t want any more friends, neither Swedes nor expats since I find it very difficult to trust once again and share a part of me only to be disregarded or even betrayed again.
I just live isolated and act friendly at work etc like everyone else here, superficially. It’s sad.
The “friend” who betrayed me portrayed a trait that can be found globally. Betrayal is not a Swedish thing, it’s universal (unfortunately).
But I believe that the behaviour of my other friend could be typically Swedish. I mean to make you believe that they have great time with you while in reality it’s all superficial for them. Superficial because if it wasn’t superficial, it wouldn’t be SO easy to end a friendship without any pre-existing conflict/misunderstanding.
And I don’t say that judging only by this experience. I see it often at work too. The moment you start believing that you might make a friend from work, the next moment you realise that they are just being polite but not connected.
So, yeah, I believe that most Swedes are very polite and with good manners but at the same time their friendliness is superficial and never gets too deep (unless maybe they know you since the kindergarten 😅), so don’t have your hopes too high up if you recently moved to Sweden or are thinking to do so.
I would say, either prepare to live a very lonely life (unless having fun only when drunk and without much emotional connection is your type of not being lonely) or maybe connect with other expats with similar to your culture mentality and needs.
I don’t like communities creating mini “ghettos” , I prefer to mingle. But this is really really hard in Sweden and I’m not the only one to say this. I’ve read hundreds of posts on Facebook expat groups expressing the same thing. Loneliness, isolation and sometimes even mental struggles due to the two previously mentioned.
I’m sorry if I’m not full of rainbows and pink clouds but I believe it is always better to have a realistic image of things so that we remain grounded and aware and take informed and wise decisions for our lives.
Wherever in the world you are, I wish you all a great 2025 🎉
I wish you to manage to find real friends that will surround you with love, respect and care for each other ❤
I wish health for you and your family, prosperity in all aspects, peace & passion in your romantic relationships, a good promotion at work or getting a job, I wish you ease in all matters, luck and lots of fun! 😊🙏❤❤❤🤞❤❤👋
😯 a long story
@SusantoHalim-e5g Two stories and some insights actually. I’d totally understand if one skips my comment due to its length 🤷♀️😊✌
america is a more extroverted sociable place, if you’re interested.
Living in diffrent country is VERY hard. One have to set lower expectations, and be happy with small wins, and take tiny steps.
This is why you have to be wary while making friends with work colleagues. Business is business and personal life is personal life. If there’s any way to meet sober Swedes in the wild I suspect you’ll have better luck (easier said than done with work.and all other commitments I’m life but making real adult friendships is truly a pain anywhere).
My grandfather was a B17 tail-gunner in ww2 and he passed away this week. RIP Corporal E.T. Flood and bless you for your service.
Another bot.
Wouldn’t life be so boring if we didn’t have different cultures? This is so interesting 🙂
So the people are cold, the place is cold, its always dark, people allocate happy emotions to the weekend with alcohol (which is expensive), then ignore you the next day, the redeeming quality of the society is punctuality, orderliness, safety and essentially the state looks after you. Seems like a bleak existence