I had an idea of what to expect moving here from reading a lot. But there have been many surprises; here are a few from my first few days...
- Time change + long daylight = no sleep: I've never had trouble adapting before, but I can't fall asleep before 3AM here. Eli is having a lot of trouble too, but I expected that.
- Nothing is written in English, anywhere. Nothing. While everyone here is fluent in English, I can't read a thing. Even commercial websites never supplement Swedish with English, and google translate sometimes struggles.
- I wasn't expecting everything to be so expensive. For example, rather than pack worn-out shoes, I figured I'd buy a new pair here. But I haven't found any brown shoes less than 1200 kr ($200 USD) yet.
- Because of those two things, I haven't purchased a phone yet. If I'm going to pay a lot for a phone, I need to know I'm getting the best value.
- Swedes stereotypically keep to themselves to the point of being rude, but I've found exactly the opposite. Whether I'm looking confused about bus routes or chasing Eli around a grocery store, I've had a lot of people start conversations.
- Living in 30 m2 (300 sq ft) with a toddler is possible.
Well, staying up 'til midnight writing a quick blog post isn't going to help with that sleep thing...
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