The Great People of Scandinavia

One of the things that makes me enjoy being here is the fact that the Swedes are a great people. I was reading my book about Sweden prior to coming here and it talked about the Swedes being a bit reserved. But what it should have said is that the people here are very pleasant and helpful. And friendly. Not in the "Hi-how-are-you-I-just-met-you-and-we-are-now-best-buds" kind of way. It's more subtle, but very sincere and real.

And apparently it's not just the Swedes. The Norwegians are the same. Or at least the Norwegians I got to meet. The fact that practically everyone in Sweden and Norway can speak English very well, so it's quite easy to communicate with and relate to them.

Here are a few memorable stories:

• The first time I had to take the train to Malmo, I didn't know how to use the ticket machine. I asked a couple of women standing next to me if they could assist me. They immediately smiled and helped me work the machine. One of them even helped me count my change when it came out of the machine!
• After I moved to my apartment, I was running out of clean clothes. But I had to wait for my relocation agent to help me understand the washing machine manuals. She passed by my flat before work and I didn't have time to wash my clothes then, so I waited until evening. But when I tried using it, it wouldn't work. I tried calling both my landlord and my reloc agent, but neither were picking up their phones. I was really running out of clothes at that point, and if I waited to call them the next morning, they might not be able to pass until a day or so later, and by then I would've run out of clothes. So I bravely looked for an adjacent room with the lights on, and I rang the doorbell. A guy answered and I explained my predicament - "my washing machine is not working and I can't read the Swedish manual" - and asked if he could take a look to see what I could do to get it to work. He figured out that my machine wasn't connected to a water source yet (I was a bit embarrassed actually), but the fact that he came out of his own room at around 9pm to help out a stranger was actually kind nice of him to do.
• I was looking for sugar in the supermarket once, and I didn't know where it was. I asked one of the employees there if he could tell me where the sugar was. He actually volunteered to walk with me to the correct aisle. Then when I was faced with all the different boxes of sugar, he actually stayed with me for a bit to explain the differences (the packaging was all in Swedish).
• When we were in Bergen, my mom and I were walking from the Domkirke to the Mariakirken. On our way, I looked down at my map to see how much further we had to walk. A woman right next to us saw me look at my map and she said "Do you need any help?" I am pretty good with maps and knew exactly where we were so I told her we were fine, but I was very pleased that she volunteered to help us out.
• My mom told me that on the night she came back to Lund from her Madrid-Lisbon trip, she took the train from Copenhagen and had to switch trains in Malmo. There was a train leaving Malmo for Lund very shortly after her Copenhagen train arrived, and so she ran for the train so that she wouldn't have to wait for the next one that would come after maybe 20 minutes. She had a few bags with her, and while running, several people around her kept asking her if she needed help with her bags. The train conductor apparently even held the train 'til she got on it (it's not like she kept them waiting for so long).

And that's really just the tip of the iceberg. I have two Swedish friends here now, plus all the receptionists in the hotel I stayed in for two months (I pass by there every so often to say hi). Each time I talk or hang out with them, I always have a wonderful time. The conversation is always fun and easy and unpretentious, and not just with them but everyone else. The bottomline is that practically every time I've interacted with a Swede (or Norwegian), it has always left me with a very positive impression. It definitely makes staying in this part of the world a lot more pleasant and comfortable.