Brit Reacts to 2 Years Living in Sweden | MY Experience 

😂😂😂 we didn't notice any difference during covid. 2 meters apart was not so hard

Yeah It's called Personligt Avstånd

​@@sabinalarsson3215what is that covid thing you're talking about?

This! I think he mixed up berg (mountain) and borg (castle).

Yeah fort is the correct translation. If it existed in an English speaking country, I believe they would call the town Fort Gothia or something like that :)

Yeah I was like what the hell is he talking about.

Thank you for letting me know, I’m always hesitant to believe all the facts when it’s someone from another country lol!

"Gothenburg isn't beyond saving. There's still some people here". - Sven Wayne.

Fresh chicken spoils quickly, that is why it's so expensive.

Ahh ok it’s not as bad as I thought. It’s actually pretty close in price to what we pay in the UK.

When I lived in the Uk a few years ago 2016-2020 I think the food was so much more expensive there than in Sweden. Especially the living cost, too.

Canadian dollar isn't half of a US dollar. It's a 30% difference. So 70 cents on the dollar.

​@@dwaynesview and in sweden we also have more regulations how to treat the animals most of our chicken are free range indoors and not in cages.

Indeed.

Concurs!

Håller med! I agree!👍

Your an id!ot then becasue most of the taxes is force-feed to SIDA ergo 51 billion crowns and the list goes on with retarded amount of money just pissed away on sh!t. Don't open your mouth about stuff when you clearly have no clue about 'what' you are talking about.

Hjärntvättade kommunist. Staten har hur mycket pengar som helst, men väljer att slösa bort allt på JAS-plan och pensionärer och annat skit.

What he meant was that our steering wheel are on the left side in the car 😊 not that we drive on on the left side.

I thought he said right? Or maybe I already new that was the case lol!

Yeh I think in general Swedes dont like to "just meet". There has to be a purpose. It might be to go out to have a few beers at the pub, or go see a movie, or just to go to have a fika. If you are really good friends you can just go for walks with a friend that need to vent for a bit but in general there should be a "purpose". I've also realized that the Fika at work is kinda like a designated time to be social. You meet up in the lunch room and you talk general stuff so that when you return to work you are focused on your job, instead of pausing in the office corridor whenever you meet someone to ask what they did during the weekend or if they watched the latest sports on TV. That stuff is saved for the fika break. It is also a way to have an lot of informal meetings. The mechanic will meet with the manager and can inform them that one of the machines is starting to misbehave more than usual, meaning they can schedule a meeting to talk about a longer maintenance, or some other exchange of important informatino. I also think that Fika is a bit overrated, at least when everyone says it's such a Swedish thing. To me it is not really different to Americans meeting at the Watercooler and start to talk.

I think our fika is a bit like afternoon tea in England.

One pastry you really have to try while in Sweden is Prinsesstårta = Princess cake.

I think maybe what afternoon tea use to be a very long time ago. We do have a lot of tea, but not an actual allocated tea time. Tea can be drank at any point to be honest. Although Tea is always offered if your upset or have had bad news. Fika sounds more of a allocated break time to socialise. Which I love. Do you guys have milk in your coffee?

@@dwaynesview Some people have milk in their coffee and some people don’t. My husband does not have milk in his coffee and I do on those very rare occasions I drink coffee (I prefer tea).

I have never heard it being called that lmao, its called Lil/little Apple after being like New York and never sleeps is what ive heard from living outside of it for my whole life lol

@@sweman48 Try a simple google search on both, you will find that I'm right and I couldn't find anything about it being called anything about apples or New York. I'm from Gothenburg and believe I know my home town rather well. Not sure where you got that from but it must be very regionally nicknamed in that manner, the rest of Sweden don't call it that.

it's also a bit too small for a subway to make any sense. You'd get like four stops at most if you ran a line from Brunnsparken to Tynnered, while the two existing tram lines have... honestly, I can't remember, but at least 20? And they take different paths through the more central parts of town while a subway line most likely wouldn't I don't think anyone would want to trade that flexibility for shaving 10 minutes or so off their commute.

"but we seldom use it" Speak for yourself tbh. A lot of swedes speak English daily.

But when its snowing in Stockholm its caos

He has never been north of Stockholm so he has not really experienced the true nature of the north :)

@@Jonke75 True. If you want nature, you need to go to the north and meet the mosquitos XD Where he lives, Varberg, he got good beaches though.

​​@@Jonke75 there's plenty of nature in the south, and it's far more exciting nature than 1000 km of forest.

@@usernaames By your comment I can tell that you have never been up here. We have fields for kilometers (usually green or with animals, we dont have the colorful fields of the south). Where I live we have mountains inside the cities with ski-slopes on them. A lake incide the city and within 1km of the city I have several wide areas of old and cared for forests. We have rivers and streams with water so fresh and cold that they could bottle it and sell to americans for top dollars. We do have a lot of forests up in the north but to say that we ONLY have forests is to say that everything around stockholm, malmö and Göteborg is just concrete and everything outside in the south is just boring plains with hardly any trees. All flat and no hills for kiles. Swedens biggest strength is the diversity of the land. But I have visited almost every "län" in Sweden and love the nature. Every län has some beutiful places to visit. I personally loves Smögen but nature should be wilderness and not just a rural area between cities. And since we keep dividing sweden in three parts where the north is represented with 2/3 of swedens area. We do have the best nature experience you can get. Please visit and I can show you around.

@@Jonke75 I have been up there. Fields? I'm from Skåne. You don't have fields.

Yes, I feel the same. Taxes is a good thing

Well of course you don't mind taxes when you are on the receiving end of things, for the people paying millions and getting very little worth it's different though. Smugness aside, I don't really mind paying for health care (including your heart related of course) or like infrastructure, a basic "safety net" and of course police/courts/military etc. It's that other half of taxes that is the real issue, like art projects, the ethanol fiasco, public service propaganda TV/Radio, the immigration chaos, excessive welfare, "green" projects like paying for half of peoples electric cars, wind farms and so on. I could go on and on and on... It gets really frustrating when you go to work and for every hour you work you get to keep like 20 minutes of your salary, 20 goes to the ok stuff and then there's the 20 minutes that goes to waste or even directly harmful "investments" for everyone.

Thts way we like taxes

I don't like working 3.5? hours a day where I see no return. I don't mind helping pay your medical care, seems like you needed it, but most of our taxes don't go to that stuff. With a decent job today you'll pay off everything you cost society by your mid-late thirties. I really hate the fact that I'm forced to pay for things I find immoral, like payouts to dictators, or salaries for terrorists, or so that Rwanda can give money to Arsenal. That's a huge part of where our taxes ends up, and when I say we should lower our taxes I say we should stop doing that not stop providing medical care for those who need it.

U don’t know me then lol

Mostly we don't see the taxes as the employer sends that in for us and we get paid what's left over. And in the store we pay what's on the price tag not thinking about the fact that a quarter of the price is actually tax. So most taxes are kinda hidden, we don't notice it because it's not something we have to take action to pay. Unless you're good enough with money to have investments you're making profits on, then you'll be paying it yourself. And when we do our taxes, we just log into a website and see it all pre filled in, all we have to do is confirm it.

Swedish taxes suck balls, I didn't like them before I left Sweden and I sure don't think the level is reasonable now either. If you don't know anyone that complains about taxes... you're either a child or talk to far too few people. (I don't think high taxes are bad, if they are used efficiently and without too much waste which they are not in Sweden.)

well, the right wing does. They always want to cut taxes

@@-_Andreas_- You do not like free school, good healthcare etc??

A berg is a cliff , a remnanse of a cliff , a naked rock etc. My guy said a mountain 😂😂😂

@@makiavellii No, a "berg" is a mountain.

@@SteamboatW Synlig grunnfjell, f. eks. svaberg eller en bratt fjellvegg. #definition

@@makiavellii That isn't Swedish. I have a degree in Swedish and have spoken it for over fifty years. I once sat on a little cliff in Sweden called Kebnekajse, in the district of Jukkasjärvi, and I really thought it was a mountain at the time. Maybe because *it still is*.

@@SteamboatW swedish, danish, norwegian. Doesnt matter. Its wrong. Berg is never a description of a mountain.. but ok. Im just born here. What do i know. Thou ill give you, berg can be on a mountain. Or a shore, or a garden etc

Yes, thats a key. If we would have lower income, the taxes would feel much different for sure. I have a normal job (almost) anyone can get, with a very humble and normal salary for a worker. But still i can pay me rent, i have a car and can afford the 2$/litre gas prices, i can buy food, eat out a couple days a week. Travel to the sun in the winter. Also i have 5 weeks payed vacation every year, usually i take it in the summer and spend it here in the Swedish summer. I do have some healthproblems that i need to see doctors for regularly and have medication for every day. For my medication i pay 220$ myself and then its free for a year. And to see the doctor there is the same system, i pay 100$ or something like that myself and then i get my "Frikort" from the healthcare system. Free-card in english. About the rents... Yes, if you want to live in central Stockholm you will have to pay 1000$-1500$ for a small apartment. I live about 15-20 mins from the central parts of Stockholm and i have a contract on my apartment with the local big company that owns many of the apartments in this neighbourhood and i pay about 330$ a month. For a small apartment 28m2 with a balcony, bathroom with bathtub and i have a small kitchen with sink, oven, refrigirator and cupboards. I hear the subway/metro from my balcony and can walk to the station in 3 minutes and take the train and be in the central parts of stockholm in 20-30 mins, depending on wich part of the city i want to go to. So.. if you´re okey with 20 mins subway to the city center, it can be even cheaper than 4-500$. I pay 330$ for my aparment and this is still the municipality of Stockholm... The 1500-2000$ rents is apartments in second or third hand. And of course, its diffucult to get your own contract even in the suburbs, it takes time and the que for the central parts is about 30 years i think. But.. You CAN find a contract in the suburbs, their are companys that you can rent from that dont use a que system. You just have to go to them/call them and tell them that you need a stable apartment too live in because you have your job and life in the area and show them your economic situation and proof that you are a serious and stable person without economic problems or being unemployed and so on and if you are lucky they tell you "yeah we actually got a 2-bedroom apartment in Solna empty today that maybe could fit you, would you be interested? In that case we can book a day when you can go take a look at it". That example is from the real life :-). It can happen. Young people here believe that it is impossible to get an apartment here in Stockholm and that your only choice if you dont have the years in the que is to pay 2000$/month, and that belief in itself drives the prices up. It IS possible to find a contract in Stockholm if you try hard and dont give up. The companys also sees you and know that you struggle and if you just keep callling them and being polite asking if something has came up, they WILL remember you and have you in mind. "The systems" are cold structures in themselves, but remember that the ones running the systems and working in them is Humans. Noone wants our young people to work double jobs just to pay rent to some dirtbag who just keeps his apartment to make money of it. The people working with renting out apartments WANTS to help you, they want to see you happy and to have a happy customer who works and lives in their apartments. If you are a good person, they want you in the community, they need you. Remember that. Sorry for this being so long.

Are you kidding? Of you cant work for some reason like you have a chronic desis you font get much money

Thanks, yeah I thought it was a lot more expensive. But actually food is quite similar in price to London

I’m just a very curious person, I love travelling and learning about different people and cultures. It generally interests me. And when I traced my own ancestry back and I matched DNA with a lot of Nordic countries. It made me even more curious. 😊

You are soo correct in this, 100%

Income taxes are fine up to $4k/month or so. But the marginal taxes are awful, just truly awful. The marginal tax is the worst tax in Sweden.

Haha! I think we understand in the UK. We are very similar. I think it’s an American and Canadian way to be so foreword and forthcoming to strangers.

In the north half of Sweden (Norrland) we often talk to strangers. I have been stuck in the supermarket for at least 30 minutes talking to a stranger( more often than not they are older people)

The taxes go to good things like schools . Free food in schools. Almost free health care. Well fare. Cleaning the streets . Free Sports and spare time interest for children Infrastruktur. Exc. .

@@sannakarjalainen4 If only.

That’s a great and positive way to think about it. I do think it’s a good thing. As long as your government is looking after you and spending the tax money correctly. Which it seems for the most part they are. So that’s great!

Ignorance is bliss.

@@vertitis truly 🙄. Imagine not wanting to live in a welfare state

@@not0228 Yes, you are truely ignorant. In Sweden we don't have to imagine that soon, our government are only increasing the taxes and are pissing it away. And that's why our core socity functions today are failing and breaking down. For example how well do you think that the police handles criminals these days in Sweden? The only government instance that is truely cared for is the tax collection. This is what happens when socialists are in control and they'll do anything to stay in power. And they'll always keep increase taxes until there are no more work in the Private sector. The Private sector is what really stands for production, production = better living standards. The Public sector doesn't produce anything. And we have too many people working in the Public sectors and too many people living off the welfare state.

Yeah I think free healthcare is so invaluable. Also the quality of the care as well. I’m thankful for that in my own country. I use to work in a hospital in England. The food was terrible though lol! I hope you’re doing ok now and your back to health. 😊

In US, that would have been 100k+

@@tevlar As i wrote: The cost was (off course) higher, but that was what i payed. Since it is tax financed, it is monitored. That means that the doctors does not need to worrie about how rich they can get, the patients does not need to worry about afording it because the government makes sure that they do a OK job for a reasonable cost.

@@dwaynesview No problem. They go in via a vein in the arm and in to the heart. Three hours lying on a bed wathing on a TV what they do to you, then done. They wanted me to stay at home for two weeks (fully paid - Its not USA), But i went to work after four. Because i am not a communist.

cheaper then a hotdog at circle K!!

I think it´s kinda like this with Swedes... If you approach me just becuase you "should", i will feel disturbed and like "come on man, what whazzuup?? What do you want? Go away and mind your business." But if you talk to me with a reason. Kinda like "Hey, i like your car, Volvos is the best!" or with a real reason, "Hi im your neighbour" we will respect you and invite you to be a friend." We dont like people who´s smiling without beeing happy, (Americans) :-). We´re not afraid to talk or offended if you do talk to us. We´re not used to it so if you do with good intentions we will open up immidately. Or first reaction may be "what is this? Why does this person speaks to me? Am i getting robbed or something?" Where are you from and where in Stockholm are you living? Im also a introvert. I live in Hässelby.

Ha yeah, Norther Ireland Is a confusing one. A lot of people don’t know that it’s not part of Ireland. Also that it’s not in the EU like Ireland too.

Yeah the the tone was wrong but so was the prononciation of some words, but that's ok swedish is not easy.

Yeah exactly, when he said semla when he wasn’t trying to say it in Swedish but in English it sounded like it actually does, not forced like it did the other times. He got the melody right on that occasion. 15:37 is the time stamp when he got semla correct.

Swedish sounds very melodic, it’s a tonal language right? I would love to learn a few words. Maybe I’ll do a video of me learning a few Swedish words and phrases. I don’t know how well I’d do though 😂

@@dwaynesview It's a two tonal language, so not a true tonal language. But there are words that are spelled exactly the same but mean two wildly different hings.

@@dwaynesview I saw a video about it recently, maybe I can get you the link.

Netflix and Hygge?

Haha I bet, do you think in your opinion. That they’re spending tax payers money fairly?

@@dwaynesview Somewhat so. More is going to the military, and will do so in coming years. But we do need more to the healthcare, its not good at the moment.

@@BerishStarr(respectfully) I do kinda agree but idk what u mean with more focus on healthcare cus like the new karolinska is built and military is needed for safety. But I kinda agree with u, (taxes should be lower tho in my opinion )

@@Axel_28728 In Värmland we lack doctors and nurses. Karlstad lasarett have even paid some to move their vacations to manage the summer.

@@BerishStarr This has been the case literally forever. The issue is the money isn't spent on nurses, doctors and other real medical staff, it's used on administrators working ancient and illfit systems. Look at Sundsvalls IT department, they're developing custom systems at lower cost than just maintaining current ones, this is very much the situation in the medical fields too.

Lisebergstornet was quite high wasent it? before it got replaced with atmosphere.

Nice, so there’s more in the town now and new development and construction. Awesome, I should make it one of my stops.

Exactly. The name Göteborg comes from the fact that Göteborg used to be a old castle-like town that guarded the entrance to Göta Älv (Gota River). Has nothing to do with a mountain.

I bet it's magical at Christmas time. Do you get a lot of tourist at that time of year?

😂 that’s so funny, we say that in the UK. Rats of the Sky lol!

So the Kebab Pizza isn’t from Sweden?

@@dwaynesview I do believe it originates from Sweden because 20-25 years from now nobody heard about it abroad. Can't say for sure this since I did not visit the entire world. Ask Italians about and you get smacked on the head. :) But yea, the origin of Kebabpizza is sweden. Until someone contests otherwise. If you visit the region Tingsryds kommun I'll set you up with the best Kebabpizza known around. It took me some time but in 16 years Ive managed to cover 289 pizzerias. Some close some changes owners but so far I found my No.1.

Invented in Malmö

I've had korv med räksallad. Not my favourite combo... At least if you're sober. 😄 Räksallad is better as a sandwich filling ! At least Brits will agree to that... Shrimp sandwiches are quite popular. Regarding weird hot dogs ; In south eastern Norway they eat "PÖFFEL". Wich is a hot dog wrapped in a (Scandinavian type) waffle... Condiments optional ! 😋

I think prawns and shrimps are the same thing, just different races or sizes? Or maybe different accents of English? In Swedish we have one word for both of them: “räka”. (The ä is pronounced almost as the a in “travel”, or in “mad”, it’s a long, “flat” sound.) When combined with another word it’s “räk-“; räksallad (shrimp salad) or räkost (shrimp cheese).

Skäm inte ut dig själv kompis, du e helt ute och cyklar😅 mil och mile är inte ens i närheten detsamma😅

I think he means "allspice" (kryddpeppar).

@@SteamboatW yeah, that sounds about right. around christmas there is sometimes cloves in there aswell

Where in Sweden is that opening?

@@dwaynesview Gothenburg

Arbetsgivareavgiften är inte en skatt - det är en bortförhandlad del av lönen som är öronmärkt för bla. barnomsorg, a-kassefinansiering, begravningshjälp till medellösa osv... Alltså välfärdssystemet. Arbetsgivarna och facken hittade den lösningen för att det gynnade båda sidorna finansiellt. Om den skall tas bort ska den läggas på lönerna!

Yeah looking back at the video, I’m not a fan of the angle lol! I’m not use to using that type of mic. I had a clip on Bluetooth mic but it broke on me 😩. I had this mic stored in a cupboard somewhere and I had no clue I could use it. But I actually think the sound quality is better. Oh so you’ve bumped into him before. Do you live in Gothenburg? Have they finished building Karlatornet?

We have free school meals too in the UK but the food I don’t think is good lol

Fika backwards is Akif 😜

@@mazeknox dropped syllables

I have learn that the word "fika" comes från "knallarnas" (market traders in old days) secret language "månsing". They used to shift the vowels in a word so from "kaffi" (dialect) you get "fika"

It sounds a lot like London in the things to do aspect. I think it depends on what type of person you are and whether or not you like big cities.

That sounds just like chicken in Britain, its full of water. YUK! It's pretty clever yet criminal to make it look and feel heavier than it is LOL!

I say hello, but I don't chat. In the US, the cashier always asks me if everything has gone well with my shopping and how I am today. Half the time I freeze up because I'm a super introverted Swede, and suddenly I have no idea how to make words go, nor how I am today. 🤣

It sounds like a more serious version of our Tea break. We have Tea culture here but it’s much less regimented. It’s often not observed as part of the day. You can have tea at any point of the day. But we do have Afternoon Tea which is an actual thing. I much prefer coffee, maybe I should be living in Sweden lol!

@@dwaynesview Well, you can have a coffee or tea anytime. Fika is difficult to explain. Litteraly it means coffee, but culturally it's a social thing. I think of afternoon tea as, more of a family thing, while fika is more like going to the Pub.

@@matshjalmarsson3008 Like going to the pub? In what universe is a Fika even remotely equivalent to going to the pub?

@@johanpersson6288 Perhaps you don't have much experience with Pubs? (and I mean British pubs, not American bars or something). Pub stands for Public House, it's a place to meet friends, bring your children and pets and socialize, perhaps do some work on your laptop. It's not a place to get drunk at (allthough you can)

@@johanpersson6288 Sweden: You meet a friend and says lets have a fika, this café has really good grilled sandwiches. UK/Ireland: You meet a friend and says let's go to the pub here, I hear they have really good Shepard's Pies there. Very different, nothing in common! I know that I'm flogging a dead horse now, but I mean, come on. If you have an argument come up with it