Discovering Swedish Identity: What Does A Typical Swede Look Like To Me? | Living in Sweden 

Let me tell you a story from the northern, most desolate areas of Sweden: A couple of friends of mine were doing a journey through these parts. The road, E45, are nothing but forest, forest, forest. It's 100-150 km between the small communities, or more. Travelling that road, they stopped at a small parking pocket to drink some coffee and eat sandwiches they brought with them. As they sit there, in the total silence of the forest because there is no other traffic, a very old car suddenly appears from far away. As it approaches the place my friends are sitting down, it slows down, and then stops in the middle of the road, maybe 100 meters away. The car just stands there, my friends get curios about it and waives to the driver to approach or pass by, "all is fine". The car starts moving, slowly, and turn in to the parking pocket and stops. An old man steps out, my friends offer him some coffee which (always) breaks the ice, and the man tells them that he use to come to this place once a week, he lives a couple of kilometers away alone in a cabin so this is the nearest place for him "to get in touch with civilization" he says. My friends ask, why is that? The man says that he has no TV, radio or newspaper, so to find out the state of the world, he parks his car in this pocket once a week and wait to see if the long-distance bus route still works. If it does, the world must be still turning, he said. Soon enough the bus passed by at high speed and the man said "Now I've seen it, everything is as it should be" looking very pleased. He said goodbye and went into his car, turned around and slowly drove away. 1. He waited to approach out of courtesy, as "the place was taken" but there were no other place to choose within miles. He needed to be invited by the occupants before disturbing their peace. 2. We are, to be frank, poorly trained in social interaction, because some of us never see other people except faces in a bus passing by at high speed once a week. 3. We are independent, we mostly don't need eachother to survive, therefore we don't have to interact. 4. Those we have to depend on, we form very strong bonds with, often based on mutual interest. 5. There are nearly no in between, either you're family or a stranger.

Absolutely agree! 👍In actually all modern countries the constitution guarantees the freedom of speech and also the freedom of religion. And it is upon the government to find the right balance in between those what shall be allowed and what shall not. ⚖ In Sweden the equilibrium seems to be more at the side of freedom of speech than in other countries, maybe this is why the international media have been focussing more on our case? However, I support the Swedish way because basically just someone has burnt printed paper. Nothing else. In this context I just want to add that "in certain countries" they will confiscate your bible at the airport when you travel there...

Quran isn't a book, it's a holy scripture, if you support burning it you're as bad as the ones doing it. Furthermore it has nothing to do with Freedom of speech, it's about political statements and to provoke others into taking counter meassures against political decisions. I for one is agnostic but i still respect 2 billion people's beliefs, as i hope they respect mine.

Yup. If you only allow freedom of speech and of press for views that are comfortable and sanctioned by the government you no longer live in a free society. Either you have freedom of speech or you don't. There's no such thing as 99% freedom of speech.

OMG that is hilarious! What a small world 😅 It is a great place, isn't it? 🥰

@@LivingSwedish It sure is. I was surprise of how great it was. It was a lot of people but still I do not think it is famous enough in Sweden since the level of quality of that place many times out weighed other famous family places like Kolmården or Junibacken for that matter.

Thanks for watching! That is a very good question and one I haven't thought about before. As far as I can see, seniors are treated well. But I might have too little information about it to truly answer your question. I have written it down and will see if I can find out more about it 😊

Is it rare in Sweden to see young men or women who are single sharing a rented house with their parents to save money ?

Young people are forced to live longer and longer at home because of housing shortages, not to save money. When there were more apartments, young people moved away from home and it was very common to move away from home when you turned 18. The mistake is that the government does not ensure that housing construction takes off, but the new government that came in 2022, instead removed subsidies for building housing. In 2015, there was a large influx of refugees to Sweden and many have had to stay, but this has made it even more difficult to get hold of rental properties and rental properties are becoming more expensive.

​@@waelfaraj6705Yes very. However, as someone else also pointed out - due to a shortage of affordable apartments, especially in and around Stockholm - it has become more common that young people stay with their parents a little longer. But it is very much a last resort, young people here value their independance way too much.

(Something to ask out of curiosity...) Do elderly people visit or talk to their parents and take care of them when they get older ? Or it depends ?

Of course, adult children talk to their parents, so to speak, and also go and visit them. Me and my siblings are helped to take care of our father who is demented, although it hasn't completely hit me that he is completely gone, but it is moving more and more in that direction. Dad has some help from the Municipality, but it is with him, giving medicine, making sure he eats, washing him. But he lives in a house so we take care of the house and everything else with dad, make sure bills are paid, drive so he can visit his friends. But he is unable to go and visit his brothers or sister, as it is too far away. As we do, many do with their parents. BUT this is not the case with all adult children and their parents. I have worked at a dementia home and there are many people who are visited by their children. They come when the parent dies. I myself have adult children who live in other parts of Sweden and they come to visit me and one has grandchildren who also come to see me. With me, my children can talk about everything.

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I think she knows that she hasn't seen the whole eisberg yet and that she can only talk about her personal impressions of certain situations. So I guess she is going to explore the country more and more in the future and find out the differences between the North and the South, the city and the countryside: how people live, think, speak,... what style they wear...! 😉 This will certainly also be the case in every other country she has been living before and maybe she will be telling us about the differences she will come across?

It's Turkey and the NATO application that makes the difference. Or I shouldn't say Turkey really, it's Erdogan.

@@jonashansson2320 Yes. Of course it's politics. And for personal political gain of some. But it's not portrayed as such. Rather that this is only happening in Sweden and that Sweden is this lawless nation filled with religiophobes. This is now the growing image of Sweden abroad.

@@johanribaeus True. But the reason for all this uproar all over the world is that Erdogan started screaming. Without him, nobody would have noticed. So all this is really because of Erdogans personal political ambitions But also, quite ironically, and unfortunately, this might also be what Sweden needs right now... :/

No, not really. Culturally it’s not done. Living with friends sure and sharing a flat or a house maybe if you are young if you have no money living with your parents until you are able to get a flat but it’s considered quite suspect if you live at home after 25 tbh … if you have work =you move out. Living with your parents also means that you are not as attractive as a partner most people will draw the conclusion not independant enough or able to take care of oneself basically. It can also negativly effect your possibility of getting a job or a good job for the same reason. you need to have a very good reason and that it’s not something that is planned to go on for long and doesn’t. It’s considered something to be ashamed of.

yes it happens more and more as rents are increasing theres a lack of apartments and its more difficult for young people to buy their own apartment because they have increased very very much in price since early 2000s

Yes, it's possible 😅 When I can afford it I will upgrade. Thanks for the feedback! 🙏🏻

Haha that"s the nicest most Swedish way of saying "Your mic sucks!" 😂

yes the infrastructure and things like post deliveries, repairs, healthcare etc work very smoothly for the most part, and low corruption. but for how much longer? time will tell. edit: also environment, not dumping trash everywhere, not killing animals

I watch videos of Brazilians living in Sweden, they say it's a great country to live in.

@@hansenlima9306 yes except that 6 months are cold and very dark! must be a difficult adaptation for brazilians

For sure the long days and nights of the Swedish winter is like being on another planet for a Brazilian, but it is a beautiful country.

:)