Six steps to starting out in Sweden

Now, about four months down the line, I thought it a good time to offer a round-up of what I have learned during the move here and initial weeks of settling down to life in Sweden. 

1. I think the most important tip I can give is to learn the language. I know that everyone says this over and over again, but the importance of being able to join in a conversation and not be left standing around like Billy-No-Mates cannot be overestimated. If you are able to, sign up for language classes before you leave, as this will give you a good grounding for your arrival. This is one piece of advice that I did follow – although I did not stick with it so well after I got here – but it certainly helped that when I arrived I could handle the basics of conversation.

2. Sort out immigration issues as early as possible – even if you have the easier time of it as a citizen of an EU country. If you are, you can apply online before you arrive, and then you can make one more tick on your checklist. Once Migrationsverket have approved your application, you are on the road to beginning your new life in Sweden, because then you can…

3. …register at Skatteverket for your personnummer (folkbokföring). Nothing, and I mean nothing, can happen in Sweden for you until your have these magical 10 digits. So get thee to a Skatteverket office with your papers and apply for this as early as you can.

4. The first door that opens when you have a personnummer is the ability to order “personbevis” on the e-tjänster area of the Skatteverket website. These documents are sent to you through the post and allow you to set up a pension, apply to SFI language school, or order an ID card…

5. …which is the next step. I went to Nordea to apply for mine, taking a friendly Swedish citizen (my boyfriend) to vouch for me. Unfortunately, you will need to get yourself back down to a Skatteverket office beforehand for your “sponsor” to pick up their special personbevis for this purpose. About four weeks afterwards you will have your shiny new ID card. My biggest piece of advice here is to use a photo of yourself that you like – you show the ID to so many people in so many places that you really want not to be embarrassed by it.

6. The final piece in the admin puzzle is to register with Försakringskassan, the state health insurance providers. The best way to do this is to phone them up, give them your personummer and ask them to send you an application form. Of all the processes and forms when I arrived, this was proved the most challenging. But now, five phone calls and two submitted applications later, I am registered. I think that means –crossing my fingers and toes – that I have now signed up, applied and registered for everything that I need for my life in Sweden. But hey, you never know…

Now that you have reached this stage, it’s time to take the SFI personbevis that you applied for and, if you live in Stockholm, to get yourself down to Hornsgatan on Söder for the SFI placement test. SFI stands for Svenska För Invandrare (Swedish For Immigrants) and is a free language course offered by the Swedish government. The classes, teachers and times vary by location, by all accounts, but it is free, making it a good place to catch up with your Swedish after practising on all those application forms.

Of course, some stages of the process will be easier than other, and some were simpler for me because I come from an EU country. I heard horror stories about immigration from my Australian friends living in Denmark, but Sweden does not seem to provide the challenges for newcomers. Or perhaps I am just blissfully unaware of how challenging it can be? Has anyone had a dramatically different experience?

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Death of a laptop

Been offline for what has seemed to me to be a very long time because of computer woes. My laptop decided to go out in style last week, so we had to scramble to extract all the files from it in Safe Mode. Despite being pestered for many months, I still had not backed up the hard disk onto our spare hard drive - I mean, was that really necessary? After all, the laptop was only three and a bit years old...

But three years marked the end of the warranty and so it has been in slow decline for the past few months. Then on Tuesday, I came to do an update of iTunes and it had a funny turn. Its punishment is to have been packed into a box destined for the basement - we'll see how it likes that.

Anyway, the upshot is that I am now transferring my many, many files onto the boyfriend's lovely HP (not quite two years old). But I think I am making myself at home on here now. I am just now sure how I have managed to accumulate so much in just a few years.

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Strawberries

Despite the snow in Stockholm earlier this week, it seems as if spring is truly on its way: today one of my colleagues had a punnet of strawberries on her desk - mmm, delicious! 

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Hard work

On the website of Swedish business daily Dagens Industri this week is an article (in Swedish only, I'm afraid) entitled "Drygt arbete att få jobb i Sverige", which (very) roughly translates as "Hard work to get a job in Sweden".

It quotes three highly qualified Europeans who came to Sweden for varying reasons and attempted to find work.

One of the three, an English woman who spent two years seeking a job to suit her IT consulting background, makes what I believe is a valid point when she says that she believes even Swedish companies whose business language is English would rather employ a Swede who speaks English than an English person who speaks Swedish.

A second says that, in her view, Swedish firms mistakenly say that they want people who think differently and think outside the box, but that when it comes down to it they don't, and I can see that this is an area where any people from outside Sweden can lose out on jobs. I think that often our cultural differences are most apparent in the way in which we work and how we handle situations that arise in our working lives.

I am glad to see a widely read newspaper (at least in Sweden) taking up a story like this and I only hope that things begin to change.

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Book Mooch

Book Mooch is a site that I stumbled across some months back and it proved incredibly useful when I was living in Denmark.

The idea behind the site is that you list the books that you are willing to part with on the site, stating whether you are happy to send them anywhere in the world, or just within your own country. Each book that you register on the site earns you one point. People interested in a book you have listed contact you through the website to "mooch" the book. If you agree to send it to them, two points are deducted from their total and are added to yours - or three points if they do not live in your country. You then post the book to them, paying the postage costs yourself. But with the points that you have earned first from listing the book and then from sending it, you can "mooch" books from others on the site.

The joy of Book Mooch is that no money is involved between members, eliminating the disputes that can arise on other sites For me in Denmark there was another, quite considerable advantage: VAT in Denmark is 25% and books are liable for full VAT, whereas in Sweden, which also has 25% VAT, books are only taxed at 6%.

Having now been a member for more than six months and had total success, so far, with all my mooches, I can highly recommend the site.

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Spring is in the air

It seems as if spring might have arrived - even if only temporarily. The temperature is rising, the sun has emerged again and all the cafes along our street have their tables and chairs outside... with rugs included!

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Skiing trip to Åre

We have spent the past few days over the Easter break further north in Sweden at the ski resort of Åre. We were lucky enough to be staying in an apartment only about 50 metres from one of the main lifts and slap-bang in the middle of the town. Åre is filled with a great number of superb restaurants and bars. As we only stayed from late on Thursday until midday on Sunday, we were no able to check out too many, but I can highly recommend Twins - a great place to warm up with a hot chocolate by the fire after a tough day of skiing - and Werséns - for the reindeer meat pizza!

Friday was spent skiing all day, which was exhausting but immense fun. On Saturday, I just skied in the morning as my knees and shins were really feeling the pressure. Our flight wasn't until Sunday afternoon, so we were able to ski again in the morning. 

Now, all I want to do is get back out there on the slopes...

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World's most expensive cities

Swiss bank UBS has released the results of a survey into the most expensive and the cheapest cities in the world and, predictably, the Scandinavia capitals score high on the list. In fact, Oslo ranks as the world's most expensive city excluding rental costs, with Copenhagen in the number 2 spot and Stockholm coming in at number 6. Including rental costs, London jumps from third most to the most expensive city. The results can be found in Swedish on the Dagens Industri website.

Cultural imperalism?

A Danish newspaper has - with its tongue stuck firmly in its cheek - accused Ikea of bullying Denmark and committing "cultural imperalism" by naming its low-value products after Danish towns. The story has been picked up by Business Week in the US and by the UK's Independent newspaper.

Interestingly, this seems to have kicked off a comments debate on Swedish daily Aftonbladet's website about returning the Skåne region to Denmark, 350 years after Sweden took control of it.

Tree

Treated myself to a new ornament for the apartment (something that has been prohibited because of the vast number cluttering up the place), but I argued for its practicality and so now it is sitting on the bedroom window sill displaying my jewellery.

I had spotted one of these trees when we were at a viewing at an apartment a few Sundays ago, and then I found a great little interiors store called Tidlöst near Skt Eriksplan that stocks them.

My new second home

This weekend I went along to Stockholm city library - Stockholms stadsbibliotek (limited website in English, full site in Swedish), which is only about three blocks away from where we are living, and I found a fantastic place of refuge should I ever need to get away for an hour or two...

The fiction section of the library sits in the centre of the building, in the rotunda. I had seen pictures of it before but it still wowed me when I walked in. Also, the English-language fiction section is pretty large as well: I only got as far as L but I had already grabbed three books and seen a handful more that I will go back for.

For those living in Stockholm, all you need to do is fill in the online form, pop down to the library with some id and they'll give you a library card and you're ready to start borrowing - simple!

Alla Hjärtans Dag!

Jag önskar dig en riktigt trevlig Alla Hjärtans Dag!

I just wish that I could enjoy this evening more, but I am still trying to shake off a bad cough and so dinner plans are postponed until Saturday...

First visitors

The weekend before last, our first visitors came and we had a great time showing them around the city and celebrating a slightly late Christmas. It even snowed on Saturday evening while we were having 'Christmas dinner', so it really did seem like a White Christmas for us!

We spent Friday wandering around Gamla Stan, then for lunch at a great place on Gustaf Adolfs Torg near the front of the Opera house, called Naglo - highly recommended. We then headed over to the Hallwylska Museum on Berzelii Park, which was something of a treat. Wilhelmina von Hallwyl was possibly the ultimate hoarder - she kept hold of everything, right down to her children's milk teeth, a cutting from her husband's beard, and one year she kept all food receipts and recorded every meal that was served in the house. It was a pretty fascinating place. Dinner was in the basement of Den Gyldene Freden, which was a real treat.

Saturday was spent at the Vasa Museum in the morning, which never fails to impress any English people who have seen the disappointment that is the Mary Rose..., followed by semlor at Gateau, and then a belated Christmas dinner back at our place and present opening and watching the snow fall outside.

On Sunday, just before they left for the airport, we walked over to the city hall (Stadshuset), allowing me the opportunity to take a couple of photos...

Beating the laundry room blues

Tonight is washing night, an event that I struggle with - it's not so much that I mind doing the laundry, but what I do have a problem with is booking the three-hour slot to do it and then going back up and downstairs, backwards and forwards, between the washes, moving the clothes from one machine to another until they are finally dry.

I guess that means that I am lazy. Most probably. However, there is one thing here that makes laundry day that little bit easier - and that is the drying cupboard. I think they must be particular to Sweden (I have certainly not seen them used in either England or Denmark), but I want to spread the word of the drying cupboard.

Rather than bundling as many items as possible into a tumble dryer and then retrieving small crinkled little parcels of cloth, you can lay them out flat on the shelves of the cupboard or hang shirts up to dry. Then you just switch the machine to the correct temperature and it gently blows warm air on your clothes until they dry. Bliss!

New banner

As you can see, I have put a new banner up, which I was really proud of when I created it. But I have had some problems making it fit across the whole page on the blog. If anyone has any advice on what I can do to solve it would be greatly appreciated!

Back to reality with a bump

Now that everything is unpacked and I have begun to find my feet in the new office (although, luckily, not a new job), I have found that I am in a similar situation to seven years ago: starting over again in a new country and knowing very few people.

Alright, this time I am here because I came with someone, but he has been in Copenhagen for the past three years and many of the people he knew here have come and gone.

So I just need to get out there and meet people; hence, this weekend's main activity of searching for social groups here in Stockholm and signing up for any and everything that seemed even slightly interesting. Back in Copenhagen, the only one that I stuck with was one for young women that had attracted me with its regular cafe evenings and cocktail nights. The majority I have found for Stockholm, however, fall into two categories: business networking, or serious expat organisations with committees and annual membership fees.

Here are some that I have found:
English Speaking Community Club: a social and cultural organisation that has a couple of events coming up soon. (200kr annual membership fee.)
Eurocircle: a number of European networking groups in a large number of cities. I am not sure how active the Stockholm group is though...
Expat Contact: four expat groups (Paris, Los Angeles, Milan and Stockholm) for professionals aged 21 to 45. Another that might or might not be active.
International Friends of Stockholm: a forum for discussions on topics such as issues when moving to Sweden, out and about in the city, meeting up, resources, and tips on learning Swedish. (Registration required.)
Lost in Sweden: Another forum with similar topics but also a debate forum. A couple of the topics can be viewed by visitors, but the rest require registration.
Swedish-British Society: A cultural society founded in 1919. Has a Youth Section for 18 to 35 year olds. (250kr annual membership fee, plus a 100kr joining fee for new members.)

The last piece in the admin puzzle?

Last week I completed what I hope is the last piece of admin to be registered in Sweden by applying for my ID card.
I had heard all different stories about the paperwork needed both for me and the person supporting my application, who must be a Swedish citizen. There is also some confusion about whether an ID card from a bank is an "official" identification card, or if only those from Svenska Kassaservice are "official".
But I decided to take my chances on getting a card from Nordea. I took all sorts of paperwork with me - confirmation of my "right to reside", personbevis from the tax office (a form needed to apply for official items), work contract, personbevis for my boyfriend as my "sponsor" - but they only asked to see my personbevis and my boyfriend's ID card. It seems that the procedure varies from place to place and from person to person; it is better to take too much than too little...

"The advantage of living abroad..."

"The advantage of living abroad is that, coming in contact with the manners and customs of the people along whom you live, you observe them from the outside and see that they have not the necessity which those who practise them believe. You cannot fail to discover that the beliefs which to you are self-evident to the foreigner are absurd."

Of Human Bondage - W. Somerset Maugham

The Danish language

Norwegian comedy series "Uti vår hage" has its own take on the Danish language, which should be appreciated by anyone who has lived in Denmark and tried to learn the language - hilarious, imho...

A rather rainy walk

Today we decided to start the New Year with a long and bracing walk through Hagaparken (of course, like thousands of others, my resolution for 2008 is to get fit and lose a bit of weight...).

Unfortunately, however, we did not time it so well with the weather and it sleeted on us the whole time that we were out, melting the little smattering of snow that we had had last night and this morning. So, I took the executive decision that it was too cold and miserable and we came back home without getting to see the Copper Tents. Better luck next time, I guess; they are sure to look better in the sunshine anyway.