Welcome to Sweden – Photobomb

“A preview of what I’ve been doing instead of writing the blog.”

Alright, let me get this out of the way first: I’m not quitting the blog. I promise. I’m still going to write this and update it as frequently as I can, but the way my life is going right now, I don’t quite have the time to post every week, it seems. So I’m not taking a break, per se, but as you may have noticed, I missed last week, too. So I’ve decided that I will try and post once a week, and if I get back to a regular schedule, great. If there are weeks I can’t post at all? That’s fine, too. Even if it means losing whatever small searchability and non-family audience I had built up with this thing. If a week goes by and I don’t write anything, don’t worry about it. I’m still here, and I’ll catch up with you later. But at the end of the day, the mental toll and stress that I have gone through to try and keep this thing on a once-a-week basis is not worth it. And that’s really the decision that I’ve come to.

Ultimately, this blog is for me, not for anyone else (if that makes sense, since it is, by definition, for other people to read). I write my thoughts here because it’s more formal than a journal entry, but gives me the same level of catharsis. I don’t make any money off this thing. It hasn’t landed me any writing positions or agent queries. It isn’t even something I’d show to a publisher 95% of the time. I keep writing this blog because it keeps me writing, keeps me in practice, keeps me regular, and because I think it’s fun to share what’s going on in my life. And it’s a nice little journal/memory vault, too. I’m going to appreciate having all these trip photos down the line, I’m sure. But after the numerous ongoing debacles this summer with trying to get these blog posts up, after spending hours in a hostel basement or locked in my room when I should be packing, and still not getting it done? I’m not doing that anymore. I’m sick of it. So I’m just not going to worry anymore.

I used to complain about this blog probably once a week, maybe a year or two ago. It was a burden, a self-imposed shackle I had placed on myself for not other reason than maybe I’d get something out of it down the line. Now, I see no reason to burden myself further. I have enough going on in my life right now without having to add something that I don’t care about into the mix. But at the end of the day, I do still care about this blog. And, sometimes, I do still even enjoy writing it. I still like writing other things, of course, and I’m hoping to, eventually, transition back into weekly short stories instead of life updates. But at the same time, now that I’ve been through the ringer of publishing a book and seen how the sausage is made, so to speak, and now that I’m a graduate student in a field that’s not creative writing, writing has sort of taken a back seat in my life. It’s back to hobby status again, and I’m ok with that. I want to live writing, not be burnt out by it. If I’m going to write, and if I’m going to dedicate my limited time to putting words to paper instead of, say, hanging out with friends or going for a hike or even just relaxing, then it better be something damn worth writing about. And some of the stuff I’ve written on here? Not worth it.

That all being said, I still have lots of things to say on this blog that I haven’t said yet. Things that I do think are worth writing about, even if it’s only worth it to me. I hope that whatever I post on here is of interest to you, whoever you are; friends, family, my mother, that strange guy who lives in my mom’s garage, Cheyenne’s family’s friend Matt, or just some stranger on the internet who, against all odds, found their way here. You could be doing literally anything else right now besides reading my blog, yet here you are; I might as well give you something worth reading, then. Hell, I still haven’t even told you about my trip to Big Europe with Nick yet; that’s still coming, I promise. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. We’ll see. But in the meantime, here’s what a preview of what my life has been like in Sweden. Hopefully you get something out of it because, this time around, I’m choosing to write this blog. Not just obligated to write it. Hopefully that makes a difference.

You know, I moved to Sweden with the expectation that things wouldn’t be all that different compared to the US. I mean, at least 80% of the country (although it might be closer to 95%, to be honest) speaks English nearly as fluently as they speak Swedish, Sweden is a Western democracy (despite having a king), and American influence is still indubitably felt throughout the political, cultural, and economic sectors of Swedish life. There is a Circle K on my university campus and just as many McDonalds as any American city, if that gives you any idea of how life is like here. And my expectations were correct; my student life in Sweden has been, in many ways, largely like my student life in the United States, way back when I went to University of Illinois. But there are a few interesting differences that I want to point out, both because they’re fun and because I think the US could learn a thing (or several) from Sweden.

First, obviously, is the public transportation. Swedish buses, trains, ferries, and commuters rails, at least in Stockholm, where I live, are all managed by one centralized network. You can buy one card that works for everything, every day, at all times, and get pretty much anywhere in the city from anywhere else in the city, with basically zero problems at all. But that’s an easy difference; everyone knows that public transportation is better pretty everywhere else in Europe when compared to the US. I’m more interested, however, in the cultural differences.

For instance: student life here is very different to how things were at UIUC. One of the first things I did when student activities started at Stockholm University was join the Faculty of Natural Sciences Club, or NF for short. The NF is part of the SUS, or the Student Union, and this is an officially-sponsored university group that has a student office, a house on the campus called the Green Villa, and hosts student functions with both alcohol and food. Now, I don’t know if this is the case at every European university, or even at even Swedish university, but in this club, undergraduate students and graduate students are all mixed together, sometimes along with people who don’t even go to the school. This was crazy to me, after coming from a school where once you graduated undergrad, it was expected that you would fall off the face of the earth and effectively cease to exist in student life. Or maybe that was just COVID.

I sure am grateful for this club, though, because there aren’t really any other student groups besides the official department ones, as far as I know, so I’m getting all my socializing here or with people I met randomly in class. This NF club is open to every student in the department of natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, math(?), environmental science, physical geography (me!), and geology), regardless of age, and that accounts for roughly 10% of the student population on campus. Actually, that in itself was mind-blowing; my student cohort is maybe 500 people (undergrad and grad), or at least 500 that will show up to events like this? But this school has at least 10,000 other people in the social sciences I’m probably never, ever going to cross paths with. In some ways, it’s suddenly like I’m going to a very small college, which is a nice change after the immensity of UIUC. And immensity is an apt description, because the actual usable classroom/campus space here at Stockholm University is maybe a quarter of what UIUC was, despite not actually being that much smaller of a school, enrollment-wise. But I’m certainly not complaining.

Another funny thing about that; did you know that most undergraduate students in Europe, or at least in Sweden, don’t start college until they’re already in their twenties? I’ve met first-year bachelor’s students who are older than I am, and I already took a two year gap after my bachelor’s studies. Hell, I started college when I was 18, and I’m meeting people who are starting college at 25, and that’s normal here. In America, that’s practically unheard of, at least in the circles I hang around in. You graduate high school, immediately go to college, and then, if you like school, immediately go into graduate school/law school/medical school/what-have-you. It was unusual that I took a two-year gap before going back to school. Not super-unusual, yeah, but still not the typical path.

And yet, here, things are so much slower. Kids are given the time to develop, learn more about themselves, get some real work or life experience before going to college. Hell, they’re expected to travel or work before going to college a lot of the time. And I think that’s an amazing thing. I would have loved a couple extra years before college (well, not really, but I would have liked to have been more mature before getting there), but if I started my freshman year at 21, one of two things would have happened; a), I would have been the most popular guy in the dorm because I could buy alcohol, or b) I would have been a social pariah because I’m “too old.” Not the case here. That’s awesome. I love that I’m friends with people my age, people who just graduated high school, and people who are anywhere from five to thirty years older than me. This is how higher education ought to be, not just the pipeline that it is.

Speaking of things that are different, let me tell you about maybe the biggest general cultural difference I’m familiar with. The way that the Swedes (and maybe Europe in general?) treats its land use and natural access is crazy. So, for background, Stockholm is on an archipelago. In fact, this weird array of islands that make up the city is one of the largest archipelagos in the world (by count, maybe not by area?). A stat I keep hearing thrown around is that 70% of the world’s islands exist in Scandinavia, mostly Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (but also Finland maybe?). There is water everywhere. And not just water, but beaches, too. And fields. And trees! There are forests less than a fifteen-minute subway ride from the center of Stockholm. Sure, it helps that Stockholm, as a city, is pretty small compared to even Chicago, but still! I can get lost in the woods and then go shopping for Luis Vuitton (editor’s note: what?) and catch a show at the opera in the same afternoon. It’s great.

But that’s not all! One of the very first things we did in the SUS NF amogus club was go swimming. In the lake. In the city. Next to the national museum. We took the subway down to the center of Stockholm, walked to a grassy spot in front of Sweden’s world-class history museum, and just got in the water. And nobody batted an eye! This is the equivalent of someone getting into Chicago at Union Station, walking to Michigan Avenue, and diving headfirst into the Chicago river just to go for a swim. Can you imagine? There would be news articles all about it. Sure, Chicago has the lakefront and lots of public beaches and Millennium park and pretty excellent water access as is, so maybe it’s not a great example, but it’s more than that.

When we went swimming, this wasn’t a designated swimming zone. This was just some random spot that the club leaders picked. And you can just do that here! We went camping in the woods behind a major rail station and shopping mall, and we didn’t have to reserve the space or anything. It’s just free to camp there. Free to camp everywhere. We just regularly wandered around the islands, looking for places to go hike off-trail or get into the water, and that’s normal! I can barely comprehend a world in which nature is just free for everyone. But isn’t that incredible? Isn’t that how it should be?

But besides the fact that anyone can go pretty much anywhere at any time and do anything, there is so much more natural stuff that’s developed to be used by people. A nice rock outcropping south of the main Stockholm islands has little paths leading up and down it so you can get a good view. There are bathing houses and changing stations all along the waterfront. There are parks and grassy fields and trails that go right through the heart of old agricultural landscapes, and the only thing you need to watch out for are the cows. The buses will even take you there if you want! And the best part is? It’s all free. I haven’t had to pay for anything except a monthly bus pass, food, tuition, and rent. Sure, if I lived here permanently or had a job I’m sure I’d be paying taxes out my ass, but believe it or not, I’m ok with taxes if I get something out of it. And here, they sure are getting a lot out of it.

Now, this isn’t to say everything is perfect, of course. I’ve only been here about a month, and while things have been great and I love my classes and I’ve made a ton of friends and I’m really enjoying living here and being back in the student life, there have been a few hiccups along the way. For example; Sweden is largely a digital country. But that doesn’t stop them from notifying me about my packages via mail and then requiring me to show ID to pick them up. ID that they gave me and I had to fly to Washington DC and sit in six hours of lines to get. Swedish ID that the Swedish post office couldn’t accept for unspecified reasons. If I want a SIM card for my phone or to open a bank account, I need a BankID. And if I want a BankID, I need a personnumber. And if I want a personnumber, I need my residency permit. And if I want that, I have to wait in line or schedule an appointment in six months at the one migration office in Stockholm.

In all the hoops I’ve had to jump through, in all the lines I’ve had to wait in, in all the weird little intricacies of life that I’ve had to relearn just to function in this new place (don’t even get me started on prescription medication, which also might require a BankID to get), there is something distinctly… hostile? about the Swedish bureaucracy. Off-putting, perhaps? It’s not that the people behind the counter are rude or mean to me personally, they’ve all been very friendly and mostly helpful, but the system is so needless complex and obtuse and opaque to non-Swedes that I can’t help but feel like maybe I’m not as welcome here as I’d like to think I am. Perhaps that’s true of bureaucracy anywhere; dog knows that the Daley Center, Chicago’s bureaucratic wasp’s nest, is a piss-scented soul pit on the outer fringes of Dante’s hell. I just thought things would be different somewhere else. And I’m a white English-fluent straight-passing guy! I can’t even imagine how it would be if you’re seeking refuge from some civil war-torn nation and barely speak English, let alone Swedish. So I’ve barely got room to complain as is. And yet…

Well, like I said, I can’t complain too much. I’m sure that as I learn more about this place I’m squatting in for the next 24 months, I’ll figure out its goods and bads, and hopefully come away from it at the end with a better understanding of what things it gets right, and what things it gets wrong. I’ve barely been here for a month, but I’ve already opened my eyes to so many new possibilities of living. And so many new things generally! I saw the Swedish king and his wife (the queen? the consort? the first lady? I don’t know/care what her title is) yesterday (Saturday, that is) for the 50th Jubilee celebration of his ascension to the throne. That was fun! We don’t have royalty in America, so I went with some friends to see him go by in his carriage and then walk up to the palace. And then I promptly filmed the wrong person for over a minute before realizing, oh shit, the king was behind that guy. Oops. He wasn’t exactly ostentatious in his appearance, we’ll say.

But as I said, I’ve got a lot of time to go. I’ve got six classes, a thesis, two Swedish winters, at least one Midsummer, a trip to Finland, a trip to Norway, hopefully a trip back to London (maybe), and 2 years to go before I can really properly assess my time in Sweden. But things are going very, very well so far, and this has absolutely been the right decision for me. As always, more to come soon (maybe), and thank you all for reading. I look forward to continuing to share with everyone my adventures abroad. Just maybe not on the weekly schedule you might be used to. Sorry about that.