Swedish people

Well I’m going to stick my neck out and talk a little about the behaviour of Swedish people that I know from my experience.

To start, what characterises the Swedes is their lack of spontaneity and that they don’t show emotion. It’s a culture that’s very different to Spain and one that you don’t appreciate until you actually live there. In Sweden, men and women are educated on being equals, to have the same opportunities despite biologically not being the same. In Spain women have earned many rights and are on par with men. There’s still work to be done though, and the older generations are still anchored in the old fashioned model in which the women doesn’t even work!

It’s said that the women’s revolution comes from the north of Europe. Although there are advantages there are also disadvantages, such as boys having certain sexual identity crises. Often they are quick and abrupt with women, I mean they don’t create a camaraderie before dealing with something. A good thing is that, different to Spain where the man usually has to make the first move, in Sweden it’s the contrary, a woman can ask you to dance or ask for your number, it’s the most normal thing in the world.

I even remember when I told Carolina that she looked pretty she was quite puzzled. According to what she told me Swedes don’t usually tell a girl she’s pretty. She also told me was that what she liked about me was that I was masculine. I mean things like inviting a girl to coffee, opening the door and letting her go first and so on. I think the people are too cold, I don’t mean that they are serious or bad people (it is one of the most secure countries, thanks to the fact that the state can offer more help due to the high taxes. And not like in Spain where there are a lot of gypsies). It means that especially the women who are more emotional love the culture of South America and when they have the opportunity to go they don’t hesitate.

As this anecdote will tell you I went to the doctors (which you have to pay for, unlike in Spain, not much though, I paid 10 euros) in order to remove an hearing aid filter which had got stuck in my ear. I’m in the waiting room and the doctor came in, walking from his room up to where I was, he looked at me and without saying anything invited me to follow him. I’d hardly entered the room and he waved a hand to make me sit down. He removed the filter, I said thanks with a handshake and I finally managed to get a little smile from him, albeit a bit weak. However, paradoxically, despite having such gender equality and having a collective mentality, Sweden is one of the countries where more people live alone. This goes hand in hand with the significant concept of being independent (the young, beautiful and strong. ) What’s more, the thing that grabbed my attention is that it’s a leading country in its intelligent use of technology and integrating it very well into society. When you see it you will be surprised.

If you want to know more I recommend that you give this a look. Despite it being a study that compares Swedish societies with Hong Kong societies, it explains it very well. It is in English.

http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ant/hka/vol2/Chapter4_2008.pdf