I asked Steve just what he knew about Sweden before he came here. His response was IKEA, Volvo, and meatballs. He knew very little about Sweden the country or its history. When Steve was preparing himself for Sweden he was surprised to be told that it was not as cold as Detroit, where he was living. He finds it wet but not all that cold in Sweden. He was definitely not prepared for the beauty of the countryside and its accessibility. He was impressed the first time he flew over the countryside by the magnificent forests and lakes. He knew very little about the culture but he and Kay did some research in advance. They were given the impression from the books they read that tended to depict people in national costume dancing around maypoles and living in red cottages that the country was quite rural and somewhat backward. Even though this was not the case he did feel it was quite a struggle for the whole family for the first 12 months.
In the US the sports facilities are incredible for children in and out of school. There are a myriad of clubs and societies and the people have a passion for volunteering. The soccer club his son played for was very well organised and extremely well funded. Here his son had no language skills and found it difficult to play soccer with the local kids. They had moved from a society where the consumer was catered for 100% and everything was open 24 hours to one where everything closed early. During their stay in Sweden things have changed significantly in this sphere. Unfortunately, some of these changes have been for the worst, in Steve´s opinion. It is no longer as clean and tidy as it used to be and there is quite a bit more graffiti.
Steve is very positive about his job. He feels he has the best job in the motor industry.
He enjoys working at a large and famous company. It is a larger organisation than where he worked in the US. He likes the independence that Volvo has from a job point of view. His expectations have been met. He found the pace very slow when he first arrived. It was all too nice and the numerous coffee breaks (fika) and socialisation in the work place was a bit of a shock.
One thing that Steve remembers about his first weeks in Sweden is that everyone talks about stress and people who had “gone into the wall". He felt, on the contrary, that they only worked half a week. His manager in the US had very high expectations of Steve but he felt the expectations of his Swedish manager were not as high. In those days he felt that the demands placed on employees were lower but this is also another thing that has changed.
Steve related an amusing story. He started work on June 1st. He was aware that the factory shut down in July but got a shock when everyone said they were going on holiday in July. Everyone just disappeared! “See you in August" they said. He couldn´t believe that some people would be away from work for 5 weeks! He was by himself and Kristina (his PA) worked for the first week with him and after that he had nothing to do. He called Kay and said he was coming back to the US as he was bored. Steve has adapted and now can take 3 weeks off during the summer.
He no longer has any moral qualms about doing this. He has just bought a new boat. He loves to take the boat to the Göteborg archipelago and just read a book or do nothing. They have a lot of visitors, not being far from England. The visitors love getting out in the boat and just bumming around, assuming the weather is good of course. Their first two summers in Sweden were spectacular. The combination of boating in summer and skiing in winter makes Sweden their version of paradise. Steve would definitely recommend Sweden as a great place to live if you like outdoors life. There is easy access to nature and the environment is relatively clean. There are so few people here — so you can be alone if you want to.
One thing you need to learn to put up with is the poor customer service. In Steve´s opinion this has not improved considerably during his 7 years in Sweden. He thinks that this is probably one of the reasons why American find it difficult to settle in here. They don´t like things being so different to home. Their expectations of service are so different.
Being an expat often means that your life revolves around your work and the kids´ school. If these things work then your life is fine. These things must be taken care of. A lot of time and effort is focused on school. It is an important point of focus for the spouse who is often not working. Steve felt it was important to add that moving to another country is often a bigger challenge for the accompanying spouse than the person who is working.
The spouses experience a variety of problems every day — finding their way around, coping with things, filling the car with petrol, dealing with the schools, and generally the practical side of things. They sometimes have too much time on their hands to think about things. The spouses tend to spend a lot of time together and they are very helpful to each other. If anyone has a problem it becomes everyone´s problem. Sweden tends to get the blame when things do go wrong. The person who is busy working does not have time for this type of discussion where minor issues become huge problems. Of course they are not seen as minor by the accompanying spouse.
I asked Steve how he copes with life in Sweden. He said that exercise is important, referring to his cycling. Living an expat life you force yourself to do more stuff. You don´t have your extended family around you. You don´t have to visit parents. You tend to do more things such as having parties and going away for the weekends and travelling more in general. You tend to live a faster pace of life and don´t get into same mundane routines as you do in your home country.
Steve speaks some Swedish but does not feel that he needs to be fluent. It is not a barrier. He feels that most people´s English is very good. He feels it is a difficult language to learn but then again Brits find all languages difficult. He knows very few British expats who have learned Swedish. Kay is better at Swedish as she had a good teacher and this teacher provided not only language training but cultural training as well. The children are, of course, fluent in Swedish. Steve feels that everyone should take language lessons and take advantage of the teacher to learn about cultural issues. Steve did attend part of a cultural awareness course related to Sweden provided by the company. He felt this was useful. He feels you learn by doing what you do rather than by reading and theory.
In the beginning Steve would include anecdotes in his speech. This happens less now. He realised that people didn´t really get what he meant all the time. It is easy to overestimate the ability of Swedes to speak and understand English. English is such a complicated language that it is not easy to perfect as a second language.
Steve´s tips for expats: You need to be aware that an international placement is different and it should be different. Enjoy the adventure and don´t complain about the differences. Make the most of what Sweden has to offer. Here in Göteborg you have access to 3 capital cities. ( Copenhagen ,Osloand Stockholm) Make the most of this. Look for opportunities and the rest will come easy.
