Getting to know a new country: Ida’s 4 months in Växjö

Hej,

My name is Ida, and I am a volunteer in Funkibator. Four months ago, I moved from Germany to Sweden. In this post, I want to share some of the things that surprised me the most about my life here, some cultural differences, and some of the things that I really enjoy about being here.

Let’s start with my favourite things about being here. When I checked my phone for pictures that I could use for this post, I realised that at least 50% of the pictures I have taken in Sweden have a cat in them. That is because our neighbours’ cats decided to spend a lot of time upstairs where we (one other volunteer and I) live, and I just love them. So in the evenings I am often enjoying the company of a cat while reading a Swedish book. 

Yes, that’s right! After only six months of learning Swedish, I am already able to read some of my favourite books from Astrid Lindgren. To be honest, knowing German and English is a really good starting point for learning Swedish. There are lots of similarities between German and Swedish, more than I expected when I started to learn. So, if you already know German and want to learn a language I really recommend Swedish. You will have lots of little moments of success.

Something else that I really like about Växjö is the ice-skating hall. I takes me only ten minutes by bike to get there and you can go ice-skating for free. And if you don’t own ice skating shoes, that is no problem at all. An organisation called Fritidsbanken lends them out, also for free.

This brings me to the surprising things and cultural differences, because fritidsbanken is one of them. I have never heard of an organisation that lends all kinds of sports and outdoor equipment for free. In the summer, I am going to use it as much as possible. 

One cultural difference is that basically everybody calls each other by their first names. And Christmas time came with the realisation that baking Christmas cookies isn’t a tradition in Sweden, I naively thought everybody who celebrates Christmas does this. One Swedish Christmas tradition that I was not aware of is the Julbock, translated to English a “Christmas goat”. In the picture above, you can see the one that is standing in front of the building where I work. 

I am looking forward to the next eigth months, that will probably come with more interesting discoveries. 

Vi ses,

Ida