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To tell you what i had to confront in Denmark would take a book, but just let me say that values related to what we know as individualism, social responsibility, loyalty, and many other things vary greatly from the US. These differences have a profound effect on work and personal relationships and take time to accept and/or work around.
Could you elaborate a little more on that? Also, two of the biggest things that have had me a little worried are that it seems hard to get a job (note that I have a lot of time before this hypothetical move and could probably make good progress in learning the language) and that the housing system seems like a nightmare. Can anyone tell me a little more about that?
Sweden is for me the symbol of earthly hell. Cold weather, politically correct totalitarian state, submerged by mass immigration, cuisine bland, Ikea bland, Volvo-Saab bland cars, everything expensive, and Swedish girls puritan (nothing in common with their danish counterparts). A country to avoid in all cases.
I doubt that very much. Sweden has a strong industrial/export base and a fast growing immigrant population.
If i were to talk with anybody about permanently relocating to an EU country (as i relocated to Denmark), i would point to the issues of employment and culture shock/cultural adjustment as the major hurdles one has to jump before becoming fully integrated.
It's easy to look at the small EU countries where a lot of English is spoken by a lot of white-skinned people, many of whom are in the US on business assignments, and infer from that these people are not that different than Americans. I did. I was dead wrong. I had a job waiting for me in Denmark and i was fortunate in that regard, but I was not at all prepared to deal with unobservable cultural differences (until after I got there).
To tell you what i had to confront in Denmark would take a book, but just let me say that values related to what we know as individualism, social responsibility, loyalty, and many other things vary greatly from the US. These differences have a profound effect on work and personal relationships and take time to accept and/or work around.
It would be the same in Sweden.
Why is this a good thing? I mean it would be if they were getting productive and intelligent people who wanted to peacefully integrate and add to the economy. It seems that what they are getting is a self segregating population that makes demands and just wants hand outs.
Sweden is for me the symbol of earthly hell. Cold weather, politically correct totalitarian state, submerged by mass immigration, cuisine bland, Ikea bland, Volvo-Saab bland cars, everything expensive, and Swedish girls puritan (nothing in common with their danish counterparts). A country to avoid in all cases.
Thank you! I doubt you would do anything good anyway.
Also, two of the biggest things that have had me a little worried are that it seems hard to get a job (note that I have a lot of time before this hypothetical move and could probably make good progress in learning the language) and that the housing system seems like a nightmare. Can anyone tell me a little more about that?
This is a real problem and not pseudo scare crap that some other people in this topic seem to highlight...
We have a relatively high unemployment rate for young adults and having some sort of university degree helps out in terms of finding a job. It will be a lot easier for you if you speak the language but there are a lot of work places that is fine with english too.
Finding a place to live is even harder, of course it depends on where in Sweden you want to live, but in Stockholm it is very difficult. The city grows too fast so we can't build new houses fast enough. If you have a lot of money to buy your own apartment it's ok, but if you just want to rent you will have to settle for a little place a long way from the city centre. There are some places in the city you need to wait for 20-25 years before getting a place to rent in that particular part. Obviously it all depends on whether you want a place of your own or if you are fine with renting a room, that might be easier.
I would encourage anyone to pursue their dream and if Sweden is it, go for it. The fact that OP doesn't speak Swedish and doesn't have a job or independent means of support means, he's pretty much like most of the immigrants to Sweden and would need financial support from government. To fit in, all you need to do is criticize American culture and government and you should be fine.
Sweden does have an enviable lifestyle but I'm not sure it's sustainable with the immigrants they are bringing in who will be a large drain on the systems for decades. The climate is surprisingly good considering it's 59+ degrees northerly latitude but still the super short winter days are really difficult on most humans.
Sweden does have an enviable lifestyle but I'm not sure it's sustainable with the immigrants they are bringing in who will be a large drain on the systems for decades. The climate is surprisingly good considering it's 59+ degrees northerly latitude but still the super short winter days are really difficult on most humans.
The short winter days are indeed difficult to cope with, however, as you say the climate here is a lot better than given credit for. Average sunshine hours in Stockholm is more than 1800 per year which is more, on average, than Paris or many other cities south.
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