Moments in Sweden

Hej friends,

This thursday I had to go to the train station to update my bus card. So, this means I am officially living in Sweden for 4 weeks now. And it is much better than I expected it to be. I am still learning so many new things about this country and it’s not easy to put it into words. However, for my lovely readers I am willing to do that. As you may know, I am from Germany and I have lived there most of the time (besides living in USA, China and Hawaii). Naturally I compare Sweden with the country I am most familiar with. However, referring to the culture shock model by Peterson, I am not experiencing that big of a culture shock, because Sweden is very similar to Germany. Everything is wel organised when it comes to public transportation and school administration. The people are just as private as in German. In the bus, it is very quiet and everyone focusses on their own life. I have to admit that I enjoy the peaceful walks around the city with no one bothering me.

On a Wednesday, two weeks ago, I had a small accident. Running to catch the bus, I slipped on a metal ramp outside of my house. I broke my two nails and had a deep cut in my finger. I won’t go into further details except that there was a lot of blood, a lot… I went back into the house and my housemates took good care of me. Even though we are from different countries, raised in different ways and learned from our parents what to do in these kind of situations, it was great teamwork. The next morning I decided to visit the doctor, just to make sure my finger was okay. I first went to the doctor at the university and then to the doctor in town. What I concluded from this experience is that the doctors and nurses are very confident with their english language. When the doctor opened the wound of my finger to check if it didn’t hit a nerve, he explained to me what he was doing, completely in English using medical words, such as . This would hardly happen in Germany. This pretty scar on my left hand middle finger will always remind me of this ;)

Besides speaking English like a native and being well organised when it comes to public transportation, Sweden also knows how to enjoy food the right way. Tuesday I visited my family in Fagerhult, a small place close to Jönköping. The sun was shining so we decided to walk down to the lake and enjoy some Swedish korv. Swedish varmkorv, similar to a hot dog, is a typical Swedish food to enjoy outside on the open fire. A cup of warm äppeljuice tops it off. Although it was minus 5 degrees it felt really nice because the sky was blue and the sun was shining. I added some pictures, just to make you jealous ;)

Life on campus is great. I love spending time in the library, discovering interesting books and drinking cheap coffee at the library cafe. The courses I take are remarkable. During intercultural communication we work together in a group. This week we had to write an essay about an intercultural encounter and share it with our group mates. I wrote about cross-cultural adaption, globalisation and my personal experiences. It was also really good to talk about it in our group and share our different views on education, politics and globalisation.

Well, as you can see I am having a great time here and I am happy with the decision I made to come to Jönköping. Thanks for reading and till next time!