Yoohoo! Big Summer Blowout! Sweden: Expectations vs. Realities

Hey there! How are you? 

Sweden is good! I've just finished my first class, Focus on Scandinavian and Swedish Film. Woo! Just a few more to go; tomorrow I'll be starting International Democracy and Human Rights, and Advanced Digital Video Production. They should be fun! I've also been working on designs and fun stuff like screen printing in another class called Patterns and Configurations. 

Screen printing is fun.

I haven't been up to too much this week, but my sweet fiancé went trail running with me on Saturday! We got to experience Sweden's beautiful woods (okay, kind of the woods, just outside of city limits counts right?) firsthand and got a great long run in. I know that he loves me when he runs with me ;) cause I'm pretty sure he doesn't enjoy every single moment of it haha. 

We also attended a celebration for Sweden's Våffeldagen (Waffle Day). I got to present a bit about the good ol' U.S.A. and Texas and we ate some yummy waffles! Mmm.. 

This week I'd like to share with you some of my expectations and lessons learnt so far in my semester abroad. I don't know who may be reading this blog, but when I was researching Linnaeus University and the town of Växjö I didn't find much. There was one old blog from a previous exchange student that I did read though, and I wished there had been more like it! I wanted to get to know the city and university a little bit before I came here, so I'm hoping that maybe this blog could help any potential exchange students. I also hope to entertain and teach what I've learnt to any of my other readers! That's you, my wonderful friends at home ;) love y'all! I will start with my expectations before coming here and then follow up with the realities. So here goes:

Expectations

I'm assuming almost everybody on this planet has seen Frozen, right? The cute Disney movie with the talking snowman and silly reindeer? Okay, do you remember the scene where Anna stumbles into "Wandering Oakens Trading Post"? Yeah, well that scene pretty much sums up my first expectations of Sweden. Listen for the guy behind the counter. If you somehow haven't seen the movie, or if you want to watch it again, here's the clip:

It didn't help that when I called the Swedish Embassy in Washington the lady answered "yoohoo". I had to cover my mouth as I laughed. I know, I'm awful, but I couldn't help it! She had a very thick accent, and all that came to mind when thinking about preparing for my semester abroad was how would I be able to have a conversation with someone who had an accent like the man on Frozen and not laugh. It would be a hard task. 

Another aspect of the clip that made me think about Sweden was the intense cold and snow. If you know me, you know that I absolutely hate cold weather. I am a Texas girl; summer is my favorite season by far! I gathered my cold-weather clothes with angst as I packed. 

Before coming to Sweden, I thought that you would be able to walk outside your door and see the aurora borealis, the northern lights, at least a few times a month. It's so far north, I thought, right?

When I pictured Swedish houses I imagined them to all be this cute yellow with white trim. I imagined it to be more like a countryside rather than a city. I also expected the people to love pickled herring and other weird fishy things. Ick. I had heard about the amazing Swedish coffee and chocolate, though, so I was definitely looking forward to trying that!

I expected the classes to be very difficult, as they have a different, more "self-study" focused form of classes. 

I also expected to get to meet a lot of Swedish people.

Lastly, I expected this semester to be a great adventure. 

Realities

Well, sadly, the people do not all sound like the guy from Frozen or the lady from the embassy... I have a Swedish family and buddy here, and they both speak very clear English! I'm so grateful for this! Most people seem to speak English here, except for the older people. No one has said "yoohoo" to me yet... :( haha. :) 

My fears about the weather being cold were true. Växjö is probably the most rainy city I have ever experienced, too. Each day the forecast has rain. Rain rain rain! It is quite dreary here, and the sun is not out often. When it is out though, everybody is outside! The parks are so crowded with kids; I wish America were like that! 

It's actually getting quite warm here now! 

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to see the northern lights yet! 

This brings me to another reality. Though I didn't know what to think before I came here, I quickly noticed how fit the Swedish people are! Each day, rain or snow, they are out running around the lake. Moms, or dads, push their cute Swedish babies in strollers around the lake, all while it's pouring down snow. Even though it's dark and cold, runners put on their reflective vests and lights and go for jogs around the beautiful lakes. I'm still in awe of their discipline! 

I also didn't expect to have to ride my bike in this cold, wet weather every day. That has been a fun one, haha. Sometimes it can be so enjoyable, but other days I am asking myself why I chose Sweden of all places, as I'm soaked by the time I get to class. They have a great public transport, but after a while it can get expensive to take the bus to campus. They have such nice bike paths here and they are always heavily used. 

Cars also stop for bikes! You will not get run over if you ride out in front of them, they actually expect you to do so. 

I also have noticed how safe Växjö seems to be. At home I do not run at night and in the day I usually bring pepper spray along, especially when venturing into Cameron Park :O haha. Here I have never felt unsafe. All of the paths are brightly lit, and it is perfectly okay to go out by yourself at any time. After having imagined the "Taken" movie scenarios, I was relieved to have experienced this!

I'm not sure what I expected the people here to be like (other than having silly accents). I've found them to be very helpful to a stranger in grocery stores and welcoming of Jonathon and I into their homes for a warm meal or fika. Everybody here says that they are typically reserved, but good people when you get to know them. I think that's true, being a loud American, haha. I find myself talking much more than them in conversations, but I genuinely like the Swedish people that I have gotten the chance to know. 

Speaking of grocery stores, I hadn't expected anything different, but America has tons more options. Yes, they are probably mostly processed meals, but I'm not going to lie, sometimes I like those. It's weird for me to actually buy cheese in the block and to have to grate it myself. Meat here is also super expensive! 

Food isn't all fish here, though I have tried a shrimp sandwich that can be found in nearly every restaurant/bakery here. Let's just say that I'm not a fan... :/ I do love the Swedish pastries though! Too yummy! I'm a bit worried I'll come back to Texas a few pounds heavier haha. 

Though I expected a countryside, the city is more like a downtown area from home. It is much more compact, but I really like having everything so close together. Here's a video of walking down the street in town. There's a man who is always out playing his accordion whom I just love.

Sorry for the shakiness, just a walk through town!

Classes here are so laid back! For me, at least. I only go to class once or twice a week, and there aren't many assignments. It's kind of nice, but I miss having things to do! Jonathon's classes are harder here, though, so I guess I just got "lucky"? 

Lastly, I haven't actually met that many Swedish people! :( All the non-European students are put into housing off-campus together. I wish I were able to be more immersed in the culture by communicating with Swedish people more often, but I've also had a wonderful time getting to meet the people in my apartment building from other parts of the world. 

Sorry to have made this such a long post! But I think I've learnt quite a bit :) All of my expectations just go to show how ignorant I was of this country before I came, but it has been such a great learning experience to get to see what Sweden is really like. 

Sincerely,

Laura.