How Sweden Has Changed Us (Been Here Too Long?) 

It's so funny when Americans refer to Starbucks as "good coffee", In Europe Starbucks is to coffee what McDonals is to fine dining. Also, those two are so into each other.

I really liked and respect when you said: "She comes from a Mexican background and I come from the US, both of us being North American". Good job pointing that out

I remember when I went to Sweden I was on the plane and the whole plane was full of Swedes, it was only me as a Non-Swedish person and like 3 more Americans, and I realized that the only people being noisy or talking were the 3 Americans hahahaha me and the rest of passengers were quiet during the whole trip. I was like whoa what a difference. You can tell how the cultures are so different. I totally love Swedes. You guys are amazing!

The green chili on kebabpizza that resembles jalapeños are actually "peperoni", although most people call them "feferoni" to not mix it up with pepperoni.

As a Finn I find it funny how you say swedes are reserved in public transit, hehe, just normal here and we think swedes are outgoing and "too" social :)

The diagonal "sitting pattern" is due to the reduced leg space, depending on whether you are sitting right in front of someone. :)

That thing about sitting diagonally across is more about getting more space for your legs, at least it is for me....

I once worked at a place where some girls from Thailand also worked and they told me they moved to Sweden in the summer - and thought it was soooo cold here. They couldn't understand all the swedes raving about sunshine, summer and how nice it was. They basically thought we all were crazy... and then they experienced their first winter! LOL! They said that after THAT they understood (and loved summer, even though it's not as warm as in Thailand ofc) I've wondered if I'd like to live in a country where it's always warm? I kind of like the shifts and different seasons. I guess it's a matter of what you're used to... I can take the cold dark days of winter - as long as everything WORKS - drives me crazy when buses and trains are late (or even cancelled) or the plowing and sanding don't work. We live in Sweden FFS! We should have figured out how to make everything work in winter by now!

Haha! I love your description of the ”code of sitting” on the trains! Spot on! 😄👍

woah!!! Loved this collaboration! I really love Michelle!!! Been following both of you guys for a while! So glad this video happened!!

This was a great video Stefan & Michelle! I enjoyed it a lot.

Two days ago a Swedish guy sat next to at the bar, and the bar was mostly empty. I say high and he was super friendly, no personal space. Been in the military so I got no personal space anyway, so we had am awesome time. Now I hope to visit Sweden soon.

I met a young Swedish lady in Guatemala where we were both attending a Spanish language school. She told me Swedish kids were required to take 6 years of English classes. No wonder their English is so good.

It's so fun watching your videos because I just moved to Sweden (from the US) in June to live with my bf so it's nice to see someone who is further in the journey :)

As a Mexican with cousins in Sweden they insist that if some one were to open up a Mexican coffee and pastry place it would be a hit there. Like imagine Cafe de oya 💕💕💕💕💕💕 even if it was on a truck.

Great show, Srefan! Getting better and better -many thanks!

the train/tram sitting arrangements are just so spot on 😂😂

They say that Swedish people are like an egg, hard on the outside but gooey on the inside, but please don't saw us in half to prove it!!

I think the willingness to travel, if you're from Scandinavia, is also related to our vacation laws - that Swede has 5 weeks of vacation time and asking your employer to run off to Texas isn't a big deal, where asking for time off in Texas might lose you your position.

Asså, det är så kul att titta på dina videor för man ser verkligen progress!

You guys are vibing so well!

Michelle is gorgeous. That needs to be written!

Sweden typically uses peperoni(not the sausage) and not jalapeño, the latter being the spicier one.

I have followed your video before I moved to Sweden for my master. Now I have been here for three months, it is totally different from Asia, but as you mentioned in the video I found out there are so much amazing things which we don't have it or take it as granted in my country(other culture, weather). Though the dark is coming I am still happy to choose Sweden and gonna explore more!!! wish me good luck

Love your videos. I am a Swede who lived in the US from 1995 to Dec 2017, miss some things from the US but happy to be back home. What I wanted to point out is that people in Sweden, even if you work at Mc Donalds, get 5 weeks paid vacation - so that makes it a lot easier to travel and SO many countries are within 2-4 hour flight from Sweden.

I enjoy vicariously experiencing the culture as you take us through your journeys through U.S./Mexican eyes. You guys do a great job of sharing your insights, discoveries, and joys of your new country. I also love that two people from neighboring countries in North America are covering this. I have watched a lot of videos with Swedes sharing their insights about their neighbors and this felt similar somehow! I loved it!

Vill höra Michelle prata svenska nästa gång :D

I hope to see more of the Two of you together in these videos! You two are awesome! What a great combo you two are!❤️

Really enjoyed this conversation with Nikki Amini!

what an amazing video! haha love it :)

Love this. Me and my family traveled every year in October- November time to Gran Canaria. But summers in Sweden is amazing and also when it’s a lot of snow in the winter. I’ve been in the states now 10 years after I moved from Sweden because I fell in love with a women here in the states.

I would say traveling in the summer is mostly tied to "industrisemestern" when most factories closes for 4 weeks. So most people have 4 of their 5 weeks of vacation then.

I am from US and we have a home in Mexico. I love how open and warm Mexicans are - those friendly casual conversations with strangers sure make it easier to learn Spanish! I hope to visit Sweden, but would have trouble with folks being reserved.

I'm so happy that you met each other and that you decided to stay here. You're sincerely welcome, if it is OK to say this to people who has been living here for multiple years. Keep up the good work :-).

I love leaving this place in the winter spending a few weeks in South California or South Florida. It helps greatly during the fall having such a trip to look farward to. Too bad the dollar is soooo expensive nowadays! I couldn't agree more with you about staying in Sweden in the summer. Don't waste that precious little time we're having the chance for some good weather here!

Very informative, thank you very much.

Bra video!!!

Great video!

I loved it! I have a friend that lives in Sweden and am learning all the time of the social and private people they are. I would love to live in Sweden i think.

The seating organization on trains are SO spot on.

You guys are funny :) Great video!

I kinda laughed when you brought up the first point about talking to strangers. I lived in the Republic of Kiribati for two years and those people are SO open to conversation. You can talk to anyone anywhere and they'll stick around and have a full on conversation with you, no matter their age, gender, religion, etc. Coming back home to the U.S., people here are way more private when they're in public. I can only imagine how much stronger that is in Sweden now. haha

I’ve been seriously Thinking of changing things up a bit and moving there. I like to experience the culture shock! Being Brazilian living in Miami I imagine it would be quite a change, especially coming from places where it’s so easy to make friends. Definitely makes me a bit worried when i hear it being said that Swedish people aren’t the easiest to make friends with. Though, Im still just as excited about it as I’ve always been. Maybe you should throw in a few of your Swedish friends in a video and talk about the matter. It would Definitely be content worth watching, especially hearing their perspective on these types of things! Anyway mate, just wanted to say i appreciate your videos a lot!

Great videos! spent the past few weeks watching them. I want to live in Sweden one day, not really sure how to go about it yet. I'm visiting Stockholm at the end of November- any tips on what to do, where to eat/fika or how to shoot some nice footage?

In Sweden it's rude to stare at a person, or just look straight at a person that you don't know, you learn how to look at people without "looking"...

Swiss here..I think that was I liked about the USA the most. It was so easy to have a conversation with strangers which I really like. Very strange thing to do in in Europe and Switzerland.

23:49 ..I totally heard the reggaton sirens in my head when she squeaked and dabbed :-D

God bless you and god bless Sweden and the Swedish people I love Sweden so much Sweden is love 🇸🇪❤️

It’s crazy how I feel so related hearing you guys talking about your experiences in Sweden while I live in Helsinki, Finland 😆. The Scandinavians countries really share big similarities in their culture and how their people behave. I have like 85-90% same experience and self-changing process like you guys’ 😆

You two, do more videos together!

On the switching houses thing: Americans also get much less vacation time on average :( So even if the person has a passport and is interested, they might have work obligations they can't get out of. It's nice that Swedish employers usually give more vacation time. I think it's awesome.

The headphones thing in sweden - many have surprisingly good audio quality in them, overear headphones are fairly common over here (offers better sound quality, reduces the experienced noise of the city (lower volume on the music than the ambient noise is), and discourages people from talking to you. It is a win-win-win)). Personally I like that the overear headphones also works as earmuffs/earwarmers, that combined with the breathtaking nature has lead to me having a winter habit of once a week (usually saturday) head out just before sunrise for a walk until sunset (only is about 7 hours in the late november in stockholm) while enjoying opera or calm electronica. With the sun setting before 1600 that means you have the time to shave, take a bath, and then head out for a beer with your friends.

Regarding public transportation: Within the regions of the five largest cities it works - in the rest of Sweden people are more or less completetly dependant of their cars to get to work, get food and just generally managing their lives.

Really entertaining video to watch since im a swede haha. It really warms my heart the way you have noticed the small things about our culture and the way you talk about them. Btw, the jalapeños on the pizza isnt actually jalapeños, its mild fefferonis :D Also i would really like to add one thing, sorry in advance for being a party pooper. It is so important that we try and live sustainable. If we dont change our ways within the next 10 years and cut our emissions we will have to live in 3 degree warmer world by the end of the century. This is just the average temperature. Here in Sweden (closer to the poles) it will be even higher and most summers will be like last year - filled with forestfires, droughts, lack of water and yield losses. Why im writing this here is because of the way you talked about flying. This is a big debate right now in Sweden about how we all can contribute to lower our ecological and climate impact. One way is to always take the train instead of flying. Thats not possible across the atlantic of course, but it really is important to not talk about taking weekends away by flying in an unproblematic way. Sorry about this last part, i really enjoyed the whole vid and i didnt even notice that almost 30 min passed by :D

Lmao, the diagonal sitting on trains is something I do every single day and still never get used to. When I realize a train car is filling up I start looking around at every stop to see if I need to move over or if there are still other seats available near the aisle. I don't mind it, it's a funny little dance we do, the only annoying part is the leg space. Sitting next to another tall person means you need to non-verbally communicate who will point their knees toward the aisle and who will point theirs toward the window. And every so often you get someone who will spread theirs in each direction and you end up with your knees between theirs, which is always strange.

Thanks for, as usually, a interesting video Stefan Tyroon. I have some thoughts for Michelle in the end of this, just wanted ro express me a littlebit first. Mexico is as well a relatively large country, where there should reasonably be cultural variations. Such as the South of the United States and, for example, New York. Mexico may in many times have a somewhat bad reputation due to drug cartels etc. But Mexico has so much more than that, including a fantastic food culture. I was in Mexico for a couple of weeks just over a year ago, landed in Cancun (which I would not say represent Mexico) slept one night there before moving on to the house we had rented. The house was located in a small village called Chuburná. For two weeks we lived there and hung there in Chuburná, the neighboring village of Chelem or in the nearest town of Progreso and transfered with the colectivo. After that we went to Merida and stayed there for a week. In addition to Cancun, which is what it is, what a fine country and what kind, lovely and friendly people. And I really loved the street food who was everywhere, it was better than anything and just go eating always :). The stay in the Yucatán parts really showed us a nice and also, what I hope for, a genuine Mexico and the friendly people Mexican is. I had wanted to See Mexico more, espacially Merida, Mexico City and also areas for tequila production, but the time was not enough. So now to my question Michelle, where in Mexico are you? What is the most traditionally Mexican area, city or activity to do in your opinion? What characterizes the different parts of the country and is special for different places? Finally, I want to say that from what I saw, you can be very proud of your origins, the Mexicans and Mexico were amazing.

I've been living in Sweden 21 years now and I'm SOOOO different now. I am Mexican but I lived some years in Texas where my family still lives at. After so many years, now I love my personal space. But it was the hardest thing to get used to the first years. Now I can be outgoing but I don't actively seek company. But if I'm at a party I try to be social but no longer enjoy it really. When I do go to USA to visit my family I know I'll have to sacrifice and I get so worn out even if it's very nice.

i spent a month in Sweden. yes, seemingly, Swedes are reserved like you described, but i want to say they are also warm-heart inward. i remember i got a little lost when i just landed on Arlanda Airport, a Swedish family stop their journey and help me to get the right railway ticket, I think they saw my anxious expression, to be honest, at that moment, I even worry what they have other intentions, finally, i reached my destination ,i'm ashamed what i was thinking. what's more, the house-owner and my colleague are so kind. one colleague invite me to her house to have dinner and play with farm machinery on the farm, the other colleague invite me to join her daughter's Singing performance in the Church. I am grateful when i think back to that foreign experience.

Just wanted to say that I enjoyed watching your video and, as a native Swede, I am happy that you are here and appreciate our beautiful country. I’ve lived in the US and could really relate to the Swedish tendency not to talk to strangers... one of the first things that really struck me while in the US was how it was the complete opposite in that regard, basically like it felt rude not to engage in small talk with the person next to you on the bus or whatever. And truth to be told, I wish we Swedes were more like Americans in that regard. But anyway... I wanna hear your Swedish skills next time! 😉 👍

You’re awesomely human being, it’s beautiful to see when you refer of both being from North American. You guys make a beautiful couple and she’s very funny too. It would be lovely to hear you guys talking in Swedish too ❤️

Kul att ni gör en video om Sverige och svenskarna. Hoppas verkligen ni får stanna (om ni vill). Det politiska klimatet i Europa och Sverige blir mer och mer högerextremistisk tyvärr, Och vi måste göra allt för att stoppa det. Trevligt att lyssna på er i alla fall. Ha det bra!

Hi !!! We always go on a tripp in the winter to endure it. Take care

This one time, I sat in an empty subway cart and this person came and sat down diagonally to me. That was creepy AF!

I might be going to Sweden on a university exchange next year. I'm from New Zealand, and it seems Sweden is similar. People in New Zealand are friendly on the streets and when you pass someone you generally say hello, except when you're in a more densely populated area. We have the same unspoken code of public transport where you do not sit next to someone else unless you have no choice.

Also, you are in Stockholm, the place where people are the most reserved in Sweden. Here in Gothenburg it's a little bit less so, and the no eye contact in the elevator isn't really a thing here. We even talk to strangers in the elevator here from time to time. :) That being said, we're still pretty reserved compared to the US, just a little bit less so than in Stockholm.

Since you ask, I can inform you that many Swedes leave Sweden in the summer because the Swedish summer weather is somewhat unreliable, and often people don't want to risk having bad weather during their vacation. Another reason is that it may actually be relatively cheap (or at least not too much more expensive) to have a vacation e.g. in Southern Europe compared to somewhere in Sweden (unless you already have your own summer house or something). Also, many Swedes like to travel, as you have already pointed out.

Kul video! 😄

Whats the name of the series mentioned at 9:30 where they switch families, a Texan and a Swedde?

I’m Swedish and love my coffee but I have to say the best coffee I’ve ever had was Spanish coffee at Huber’s Cafe in Portland😍

Very nice insights

I need my spicy food being Mexican myself! Lol the train seating I found pretty funny! 😆😂

Really nice and fun video. You are so fun together too ☺

I always try to talk to ppl by saying hi, if the respond tells me they wanna be left alone I ofc let them be. The diagonal system as you say is because of the leg space mostly :)

That is actually something that i miss, just jump on Roslagsbanan and put your pods in your ear and just zoom out and look at people and being a little bit nosey... lol Täby was really good when i grew up there but now when i go home for a visit it has changed so much so i don't even recognize myself, i get lost in the big shopping center that they have. But my parents still lives there so i stay with them when i go home. i will actually move back home, maybe not to my hometown but i will move home in a few years so look out Stefan!.... keep up the good work always nice to hear your thoughts and views. We had an exchange student from the states ( California ) when i was in my teens and it was really fun and interesting. Tacos for me is the Shell and " spicy " mince and Guacamole ( make myself ) and Salsa and lettuce an unions and maybe grated cheese. some have tomatoes i don't due to being sensitive to that. Sweden and Finland are the 2 countries in the world to drink most Coffee lol maybe we just drink it to stay warm especially in the winter.

It is a great way to evolve and get to know oneself to move to and learn about a new culture. It is easy to become a copycat to fit in (smtms a necessity to be able to feel the new), but after getting over that, new selves start emerging gradually and we become all cultures as one ... Great video‼️

You guys need to come visit Helsingborg in Skåne! espacially in the summer time! You will love it!

Guys it's an amazing video. Thanks alot.. Could you make us a video about the culture of work in sweden and also looking for jobs?

Heh, I remember my time in Sweden and the coffee was not only black but seemed to have been sourced from an oil well. So, after a few years in southern Europe, I moved back up North to Riga (Latvia). And I quite like the cold weather... I posted a photo of the large frozen river last year and joked about it with Russian friends that I'd met in the South. They shot back that they did not miss that type of weather at all!

Loved this video! I love travelling in the summer and mostly in Sweden it isn't as warm compered to other countries and guessing that's why people travel for summer and also ofc beaucuse of experiencing new things.

It's a ten-hour drive for me to leave me state... 12-hour flight sounds fine to me lol. So far your videos are making me more and more excited to go to Sweden. Getting the viewpoint from someone from Mexico should help my husband so much too. His grandfather came from Mexico to America and now we want to move to Sweden. I will miss my tacos though.

Cringe warning for the old pics but not cringe warning for the dabbing? I was not ready 😂

I liked that you noticed that you were both from North America. More videos of you two guys. Muchos saludos desde México!

You both have great chemistry! You seem like good friends. :)

I beleive you both been in the Stockholm-area. I can't relate to this " not looking in the eye" thing. In Skåne, Lund and Malmö f ex. people are so much more outgoing. I changed moving from Lund to Gothenburg. In Lund we don't hide from each other.

Great video, she has a great personality also !!

Yeah I can identify with a lot on your channel. Grew up in Australia and have been living in Sweden for 17 years. Almost a life sentence 😅😂 Discovered your channel when I went to the epidemic sound creator circle. Bloody good tips! Thanks 😎👌🏻

you need to see the rest of Sweden, go north and learn about 60 % more of sweden

Grattis till 70 tussen du är bra på svenska nu!!

Love your channel, Nice to hear a foreigners view on our lovely country. I love the US, have plenty of American friends and go there every now and then. So I can relate to the culture differences and how different people/cultures stand out. Ha kul och lev livet, hepp hepp. 😉

With the train seating. In Germany we do it too😂 i've never really payed attention to it before.

Stefan,titta på "Allt för Sverige" på söndagkvällar,kan vara kul för dej. Fin video ni gjorde. Tummen upp för er två.

Sitting on the train while watching this video and lade me laugh cause its so spot on 😂

What was the second Mexican restaurant that you mentioned beeing great after la Neta? I couldn't hear what you said.

The things you mention about personal space and sitting in the train is very similar to how we are in New England. A lot of people think we’re cold but we just don’t intrude into others space. We have a phrase here that “Good fences make good neighbors”.

Är jätte intressant å se skilnnaden mellan Usa och Mexico kontra Sverige!. Jag tycker det är jätte kul å höra kommentarer och skillnaderma!. Kram på er! Tack för video! Thomas södra Sverige.

You will ascend true swedishdom when you only never complain on cool spring days and brisk autumn ones.

Damm you also live in Täby!? Cool! Will say hi if I see you in town!

As a person who comes from a country with a very overcrowded public transportation... I really appreciate the empty booths and the diagonial seating!!!

That thing with the buses and trains was so spot on. I don't mind sitting down next to someone if there is no empty "group", but I don't acknowledge the other people of the group. I WILL answer politely if the others talk to me, but I don't make the first move. There are people here that don't move in to the windowseat. They stay in the aisle-seat, blocking the windowseat so that no one can sit next to them. Those people really irritate me, especially when blocked seats are the only vacancies.

Never got that either. I usually take 3-4 weeks in february or march so I get two summers :D