Vill du ha minneslapp?

Sweden, Sweden, Sweden, that’s the country where I’d most like to be.  Always dancing or fishing, or just watching TV…  First of all, I want to say that Sweden is pretty awesome.  It would be incredibly fantastic if I spoke Swedish and had lots of money. 

Good things about Sweden (in contrast to Russia):

·         People seem genuinely happy here.  I don’t know if I can point to any specific instances to back up this claim, but it just feels happier. 

·         Life is slower.  The costumed dinner party we went to (a gasque), went on for 5 whole hours, just for soup, main course, and dessert!  

·         You can cross the road without being in danger of losing your life.  Most times if you are standing at the edge of a crosswalk, the one car in the road will stop to let you walk.  Even if there are no cars behind it. 

·         The sidewalks actually exist, and are in good repair.  I haven’t encountered one loose stone!  The wider paved sidewalks are sectioned into a bike half, and a walking half.  EVERYONE has a bike here, probably because they tax the heck out of gas.

·         People smile at you!  Cashiers, waitresses, people on the street, you name it!

·         There’s recycling!  It feels so wrong to throw glass and plastic away.  Here they have a ridiculously complicated recycling system, but at least they do it.

·         YOU CAN DRINK THE TAP WATER.  AND YOU WON’T DIE.  I’ve just blown your minds, right?  I’ve been much enjoying the freedom to fill up a glass at the sink when I’m thirsty, rather than having to boil water and put it through a filter.  

As nice as all that sounds, there are some not good things about Sweden:

·         It’s freaking expensive.  They tax EVERYTHING to death here, including food!  I thought food was supposed to be cheap so poor people could still afford it.  Apparently there are no poor people in Sweden, because they wouldn’t be able to buy a $4 loaf of bread. 

2. People assume you can speak Swedish.  In Russia everyone seems to know who's a foreigner and who's not.  Everywhere else I've been I stick out as a foreigner, so people automatically speak English to me.  But here, I'm bombarded with Swedish all the time.  I hate telling people I don't speak the language.  It's a little disconcerting to have people shouting "Hey!" at you all the time, until you realize that it means "Hello!"

I have to share the internet with Nyssa, so I'm going to save more info for later and sign off now.