Category Archives: Success

A newly minted Swede

Hello readers!

I have some big and exciting news! As of October 3, 2013, your dear blogger is an official Swede!  That’s right – I am a naturalized citizen of this country!  Don’t worry, I didn’t give up my American citizenship – nope, all I did was add to it.  I even managed to get my Swedish passport – it only took 3 days.

Being SwedishMost people congratulated me this week and asked how it felt.  My friend Victoria gave me a little “Welcome to Sweden” goodie bag filled with nostalgia-triggering items that apparently all Swedes of my generation owned at some point.  It’s been a week, so I figured I would try to put into words the emotions that have been coursing through my veins these last few days.

Continue reading

An idea worth importing into the US

I love watching movies.  In the US, I also really enjoyed the lead-up to a movie night at a theater: You queue up at the ticket window, hoping that the movie you want at the time you want isn’t yet sold out.  You finally get to the ticket window, and you ask for a ticket for the show you want.  You hand over your credit card and your frequent viewer membership card, and then you wait.  Sometimes you arrive early so you go and have dinner with your friends.  If it’s a big big showing (like the Harry Potter movies or the Lord of the Ring trilogy was), you probably want to get in line right away, even if you are hours away from show time. Continue reading

Why Swedes leave the last piece of fikabröd…

Everyone does it.  You’re enjoying a great fika with your friends or colleagues and you keep eyeing that last piece of fikabröd.  You look at your friends, and they’re all busy in conversation but really, they’re thinking the same thing as you.  They all want it, but no one wants to reach for it.

Guest writer Karin Leman (@le_karin) discusses why it is #TrulySwedish to leave the last piece of fikabröd, but more interestingly, why we should all stop doing it!

Continue reading