Preparing yourself for Sweden may include understanding a few societal norms that are distinctly Swedish – some quite basic, others more subtle. When you’re invited home to a Swede, you’d better be on time and take your shoes off…
#1 Swedes love their coffee
Few people drink more coffee than the Swedes. In Sweden, coffee drinking is fostered through a tradition called fika – in which friends, family or colleagues meet for coffee or tea, often with something sweet on the side. Most Swedes will enjoy at least one fika a day as an opportunity to bond.
Read more about Swedish fika.
#2 Get in line
From the pharmacy and tax office to your local grocery store’s meat counter, you’ll be forced to exercise patience as you wait to be served in a numbered queue. Many businesses have a ticketing system – usually a small hard-to-find machine hung on a wall that dispenses number notes. Once you grab your ticket, you’ll have to wait until your number shows up on a screen before you can proceed to the counter.
Find out more about typical Swedish behaviour in this video clip.
#3 Speaking Swedish helps (no, really?)
Chances are you can live here for years without learning a lick of Swedish. Swedes are widely rated as world number two at English as a second language. Therefore it might take you longer to learn Swedish, and the Catch-22 is that fluency in the language is crucial to full integration. Signing up for SFI (Swedish for immigrants) could be a step in the right direction. Learning Swedish might be a challenge, but worth the effort.
SFI courses are offered through each local municipality’s adult continuing education program (kommunal vuxenutbildning, or komvux) so you will need to contact your local municipality. Here’s a contact list of Sweden’s 290 municipalities.
Get an insider’s story of learning Swedish.
#4 Get your shopping done before 17:00, if you can
Many stores close early, especially at weekends. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a store open past ten in the evening that isn’t a petrol station. It’s worth keeping in mind that since many Swedes are done with their regular jobs around five, it’s likely that you’ll be battling crowds to get your shopping done between five and half past six.
#5 You will squeeze food out of toothpaste tubes
To prepare you for your first visit to the cold foods section of a grocery store, understand that in Sweden, tubes are also used to package foods such as caviar, mayonnaise, mustard, and other similar condiments. At some point, you’ll probably squeeze some caviar from a tube onto half a boiled egg for breakfast.
Find out about other, non-tubed Swedish food as well.
#6 You will see fathers pushing prams
When it comes to equality between the sexes, Sweden is one of the leaders, and the men definitely pull their own weight in staying home and raising infant children. In Sweden, couples are entitled to 480 days of paid parental leave, and this time can be shared between parents.
Read more about gender equality in Sweden.
#7 The Swedes are an outdoorsy bunch
Okay, maybe not all of them. But many. In Sweden, all year round there’s at least one activity that can be enjoyed, come rain, shine, or winter blizzard. And the government has made it easy to enjoy Sweden’s nature by giving people the Right of Public Access, Allemansrätten (see left).
Do you want to know how to survive in Swedish nature?
#8 Many businesses shut down in July
It’s not uncommon to find restaurants and stores shut down for an entire month, usually in July, while employees take their four to six weeks of holiday.
#9 Lagom
There is a societal code of conduct in Sweden which really has no direct translation. Loosely translated, the word lagom means ‘just enough’, ‘in moderation’, ‘appropriate’ and other synonyms you can pull out of the dictionary. When used in reference to societal behaviour, it means blending in appropriately without extreme displays of emotion.
Find out how the ‘lagom’ koncept translates into Swedish business culture.
#10 Melodifestivalen – not so lagom
Melodifestivalen – the national event through which Sweden’s representative at the Eurovision Song Contest is decided – unites large parts of the population. Held every February through March, it is a particularly welcome distraction on long dark winter nights. Come May, the Eurovision Song Contest is just as popular – though some Swedes prefer the ice hockey world championships, which usually coincide with the international music event.
Do you know the 8 reasons why Sweden rocks?
#11 Locate your nearest IKEA
There are very few stores in Sweden where you can buy affordable furniture and food at the same time, so it’s definitely worthwhile locating your nearest IKEA. Many IKEA stores offer free bus services from central locations to the store and back.
#12 Take off your shoes!
You’ll quickly notice that shoes are taken off when entering private residences in Sweden. Some explain it with the simple fact that Swedes spend a lot of time outdoors during winter and are prone to dragging in dirt. Others say it’s a sign of respect for the home. Either way, you might want to think twice before wearing full lace-up boots when visiting folks.
#13 Winters are cold and dark
It’s no secret that Sweden’s geographical location makes it prone to cold, dark winters. At the depth of winter in some northern parts of the country above the Arctic Circle, you might get as little as three hours of sunlight per day. (If that sounds a bit gloomy, you might want to follow this link to find 10 reasons to spend winter in Sweden.) So, winters may be rough, but you’ll be rewarded during summer. Long hours of daylight and moderately warm temperatures make Sweden one of the most beautiful places to be in during May to August.
Read more about Swedish weather and nature.
#14 Be on time
It is common knowledge here that ‘time’ should be respected at all times – regardless of whether you’re going for an interview or a friendly fika. Meetings will start on time with or without you. The train leaves on time with or without you. Swedes value punctuality.
#15 The state-owned alcohol monopoly
While you can purchase alcoholic drinks in restaurants and bars, if you’d like to take a sip from the bottle in the privacy of your own home, you’ve got only one legal option of buying stronger alcohol, and that’s from one of the roughly 400 state-run liquor stores (Systembolaget).
#16 Keep that plastic bag
Think twice before you toss out that plastic bag. Most Swedish grocery stores charge you for plastic or paper bags in an effort to keep waste low and encourage recycling. Swedes like to keep it sustainable.
#17 Special days celebrating food
Sure, Swedes celebrate Christmas, Easter, Midsummer and Walpurgis Eve. But almost as important are the days celebrating foods: Shrove Tuesday (Fettisdagen), which in Sweden calls for a semla; Waffle Day (Våffeldagen) on 25 March; and Cinnamon Bun Day (Kanelbullens dag) on 4 October. Feel free to gorge on said food all day long without guilt.
Read up on classic Swedish food.
#18 It is safe to drink the water
Drinking straight from the tap is the norm in Sweden. The water is clean and fresh, so you can save both money and the environment by not buying bottled water.
#19 Business casual means jeans
General everyday fashion in Sweden is simple, relaxed and casual. This same concept has seamlessly seeped its way into more formal business settings. Unless your colleague is meeting foreign clients or attending a high stakes board meeting, chances are they are wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.
#20 Not all education and healthcare is free
While the Swedish healthcare system is largely taxpayer-funded, it’s not entirely free. For routine doctor’s office visits, the maximum amount you may have to pay out of pocket for an entire year is SEK 1,100.
Universities in Sweden are free for citizens of the EU/EEA or Switzerland. Since 2011, students from other countries are charged for studying at Swedish universities. The universities set their own fees, which mostly vary between SEK 80,000 and 140,000 per academic year. Read more about studying in Sweden at studyinsweden.se.
Useful links
- work.sweden.se
- studyinsweden.se
- sweden.se/culture-traditions
- sweden.se/nature
- sweden.se/society
- skatteverket.se (the Swedish Tax Agency)
