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Random blog about Sweden:
Growing up in Colorado in the 90's, this was basically the first exposure to Sweden I had:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/qipHGCG.jpg)
Peter Forsberg. Easily one of the greatest players ever, and even more so, one of the most entertaining players to ever play the game. So naturally I loved Sweden from an early age. But it was really only ever a hockey thing. In the Olympics I would root for Sweden until they played the US or Canada and I'd keep an eye out on some of their other prodigious talents in the NHL (i.e. The Sedin's).
Then around high school, simultaneously I started to grow into my own musical taste and get into eSports a little bit. Getting into the Swedish bits of these things a little more every year. I seem to remember a friend in high school showing me a CS tournament where a Swedish team was crushing, but it was a long time ago and I've never really been a shooter guy, the Swedish eSports scene didn't really get onto my radar all that much until SC2, but music... I FUCKING LOVE SWEDISH METAL. It took a bit of getting used to, and I by no means love anything that comes out of the Swedish scene simply for it's heritage, but there are enough gems in there to make me want to take a trip up north to visit the scene.
I saw Opeth in concert two nights in a row in Boulder, CO in May and HOLY SHIT it was amazing. They played with another incredible band o' Swedes: Katatonia. And they put on a hell of a show. Opeth is forever one of my favorite bands after that. Mikael Akerfeldt is simply one of the coolest guys on the planet. If you haven't seen them live, or ever even listened to Opeth, I HIGHLY recommend them. If you're lazy: + Show Spoiler +
Opeth is so solid man, flawless live, epic scope, sweeping mood changes, prodigious technical skill. I could go on and on. Listen to Opeth. SWEDEN. Fuck yeah!
Along the same vein I also just saw Cult of Luna in concert for the first time a few days ago. And I must say, it was the greatest live set of any band I've ever seen. And that's not an easy list to top. They were so fucking good. The atmospheric quality to their music was insane. It was actually life changing, and it was also the inspiration for writing this blog about how cool Sweden is. I got to meet their singer after the show and he was such a cool guy. Just like a lot the other Swedish fellows I've met. There's so much cool Swedish music, especially of the metal variety.
There's also a few really cool people in eSports that hail from Sweden. You might already know some of them. Throzain and Naniwa are my two favorites. I've met them both at MLG and I was really impressed. Thorzain is so quiet and chill, and really quite nice and easy to talk to. Naniwa, I talked to right after he lost to Flash in the Nov 2012 MLG, and his response to my compliments to his play: looking me in the eye and apologizing for letting me down, that he should have played better and then he promised to do better in the future... As polarizing and mean as Naniwa tends to be sometimes, that meeting forever solidified my being a Naniwa fan no matter what. So yeah man, Swedes are cool people. I like them a lot.
This blog doesn't really have a purpose, I'm not trying to say that Sweden is cooler than Norway or Finland (I like you guys too!) or anything like that. I just really, really like Sweden. And I thought I'd share. Jave a good day! Go listen to some Opeth and CoL, watch some Forsberg highlights on youtube, and root for Naniwa next time you see him. There's a lot more cool stuff about Sweden, but I'm no expert there so If you know some other cool Swedish stuff let me know!
Random Swedish movie that I really liked: "The Sound of Noise" VERY entertaining. It's on Netflix fun fact :D
If you're from Sweden, here's a big high five from the USA <high five>. Maybe I'll see you at a Dreamhack sometime. [/Random blog]
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Well, that was unexpected. Cool that our country gets some random love from the US.
You should come over here, we don't get all that many american visitors.
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I agree! I want to go to some hockey games, a few shows, and to a Dreamhack. Sweden is so cool man. Also: there are Swedish ladies.
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On October 07 2013 05:38 wingpawn wrote:Stina Nordenstam! + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQIowXjGGMI Carbon Based Lifeforms! + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_8G0zHMuwg Solar Fields! + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNiD9M59FQE Sickoakes! + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGqr4PEBj6Q Ingmar Bergman! + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVVlrM0hic Henrik Larsson! + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v230UBDYriQ
Someone that knows Solar Fields... that makes me glad.
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I agree with you, it's awesome here! If you want to know anything from the perspective of an American who lives here, just ask :D
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On October 07 2013 06:28 Erik.TheRed wrote:
I agree with you, it's awesome here! If you want to know anything from the perspective of an American who lives here, just ask :D
It seems like a ton of people know English there, so I've always thought that it would be a good place to visit as the language barrier would be less of a hurdle. Is that accurate at all? Or have I just been exposed to a few exceptions?
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Yeah, I have that question too. Is it ok if you only know English if you are just going to be in Sweden for a short duration? What if you are working there?
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I don't know the exact statistics, but I'm pretty sure at least 90% of the Swedish population speak English to a degree you would consider fluent, at least if you stick to people below the age of 60. You will have zero problem using only English even if you stay here for a year or more.
As for work, that's a different situation. You are expected to speak Swedish competently at most workplaces, even if it might not actually matter for the work at hand. Even worse, we have pretty big unemployment issues at the moment, so it's really hard to find work here regardless.
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On October 07 2013 06:41 Kommatiazo wrote:Show nested quote +On October 07 2013 06:28 Erik.TheRed wrote:
I agree with you, it's awesome here! If you want to know anything from the perspective of an American who lives here, just ask :D It seems like a ton of people know English there, so I've always thought that it would be a good place to visit as the language barrier would be less of a hurdle. Is that accurate at all? Or have I just been exposed to a few exceptions?
Yeah the language barrier is practically non-existent when it comes to just surviving on a day-to-day basis. And as someone in a masters program with a lot of other international students, almost everyone I spend time with speaks English quite well.
I've noticed that most of the times I'm forced to understand some Swedish are when there is some kind of written instruction/alert/news that happens to only be in Swedish. For instance, if you want to read a daily newspaper, read the instructions on the laundry machine, follow a recipe on the back of the box, etc. Most of these things are not intrusive enough to bother anybody who is just visiting here, but if you plan on staying for any length of time you'll probably want to work on being able to read some Swedish. It may also benefit you to learn some "Swenglish", because every now and then a Swede will try to translate something directly into English and it just won't really make any sense due to cultural differences.
Of course all that being said -- just like any other culture the language is still an important aspect of people's lives and identities. You will no doubt cast a more positive impression on Swedes if you show that you are trying to learn/speak the language during your time there. If you ever want to jump from the feeling of just being a tourist to actually being a resident, I think that being able to speak fluently (even if it's with a strong accent) is still a good idea. Even if you're working for an international company, a lot of people will still speak Swedish with each other at work/ during fika (coffee time), etc. Sometimes they will even switch to Swedish in the middle of a group conversation but they aren't trying to be rude -- they just are afraid of messing up the translation or don't think you would be interested in hearing what they are saying. Either way you can decrease your chances of encountering these awkward engagements if you just learn enough to be conversational 
Now, that's not to say that there aren't times when speaking English with an American accent will get you some extra attention/street cred (especially don't forget to mention your friend/cousin/professor/band-mates from Brooklyn)... but you probably don't want to be that guy who doesn't bother to learn the language after some years of being here.
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On October 07 2013 06:44 Chocolate wrote:
Yeah, I have that question too. Is it ok if you only know English if you are just going to be in Sweden for a short duration? What if you are working there?
Lots of people in Sweden know English, so if your are here for a shorter period (like turisting) you shouldn't have any problems only using english. With works it depends on what you're working with.
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EPT
