Canadian Woman Moves To Sweden, Lists The Culture Shocks She Experienced In A Viral TikTok Series (15 Culture Shocks)

My salary is actually higher this month since I took some vacation. Yeah, you always get paid a little bit more on vacation days to incentivize you to take the time off.

My son is sick today so I'm actually going to stay home and VAB. Oh, no, no, no, it's not a problem. I still get paid to stay home with him when he's sick.

Speaking of vacation, I was thinking I'll take four weeks off this summer. Actually, my employer is making it mandatory take at least three weeks of paid time off to reset. But I thought a month would be really nice

I've actually been thinking seriously, I might go back to school. I mean, why not? The tuition is free, of course, and the government pays you an allowance while you're studying. And then I'll just take a loan for my living expenses because it's basically interest free.

My friends just bought a house in the countryside, so I'm heading out there to visit them today. Oh, no, no, I still don't have a car but since you can get anywhere by public transit, I'll just take the bus.

I just got back from the doctor and they are recommending that I try new medicine. But I was shocked it is so expensive. Thankfully, we only have to pay a maximum of 2,400 kr ($220) per year for prescriptions.

I think the hardest part for me is the darkness, you can not really understand the darkness unless you've lived through a winter here, it's about five hours of peak hear in Malmo, and this is the most southern city in Sweden, it is hard. So if you're someone who is heavily affected by the weather, this is probably not the place for you to live.

Oh no, I don't have an education fund for my kids because university is free, but I am saving up to help them buy their first apartment.

Now, Swedes are known culturally for keeping to themselves and being a bit more reserved, and taking a long time to warm up to people. So I know a lot of people who said they really struggled to make friends in Sweden. When I first moved here, I hung out in the international community a lot, because that was an easy way for me to make friends. Over time, I have made Swedish friends. But it has been an effort, you really have to put yourself out there. And that's something to consider if maybe you're a shy person, because I've heard of a lot of people feeling very, very lonely here.

The next one is language, which may seem a bit obvious, but I think people underestimate how hard it is to exist in a new country, when you don't feel comfortable in the language. Swedish it's just really hard to learn. And I truly feel anxious and insecure about my language every single day. So living with that every day is actually really, really challenging. And something that people don't talk about a lot, but something to consider if you're going to move to a new country

A lot of people talk about the cost of living in Sweden. And I think that the essentials are quite fair, considering how much people make here. But it's the cost of the extras or the non essentials that are really expensive. So things like going to a movie, grabbing a drink, staying in a hotel, that can be really, really pricey. And seeing that there's a lot less consumer choice also makes things feel a bit more expensive.

When you go to a formal dinners, Swedes will actually like to encourage you to sit with people you don't know. This isn't applied to all dinners, of course, but I've been to weddings, work events, dinner parties, where the host actually made a seating arrangement that encourages you to get to know someone new.

Did you hear they changed the cafeteria food at the kids school? I know I should be thankful that it's free but my kids are just not fans of "vegan Monday."

This inflation is the worst my daycare bill just went up from 1,000 to 1,200 kr ($92 to $110).

One of the biggest downsides, it's the weather. Here in Malmo rarely snows in the winter. So it's really gray and really rainy, almost all the time, which is a really hard adjustment.

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