Expatriating

[sanginmychains]

I am moving to Sweden. I am excited about this, but watching the opening night of Melodifestivalen is making me concerned for the entertainment options in this place. It's like the first rounds of American Idol, without the satisfying mockery and disbelief from the judges.

Comments

[kel_reiley]

HOLY CRAP! You should look up my relatives while you're there. I don't know who they are, but I like to think I'm part of the royal family.

[sanginmychains]

Well, the entire population of the country is 9 million, so I can probably just start asking people and I will meet them eventually. I will take your tip, and start asking at the palace.

9 million. That's, like just over two Torontos. Two Torontos and a Windsor.

[kel_reiley]

That's... that is not even twice the population of Metro Detroit.

Just tell them their long-lost cousin is waiting for her royal summons.

[sanginmychains]

Thank you! We have a ton of help, since its a company relocation, so it will definitely be easier than if we were handling all the logistics ourselves. A it is, assessing a foreign housing market, foreign schooling options, and all that other integration stuff is enough work as it is, so I am grateful that some of the heavy lifting, both literal and figurative, is being handled by others.

[verasteine]

Wow! Welcome to Europe :)

[sanginmychains]

Thank you! I will be sure to occasionally wave from the air as I pass over your country.

[gommyommy]

And I will miss you terribly. But we still have chat!

As an American who grew up on the east coast, I always had an exulted idea about Europeans, that they were somehow more progressive, more tasteful, more enlightened than us. Then I met a Belgian boy whose idea of good music was weak covers of current pop hits, met two British girls who thought my friend with only half a beard was "too weird" and ... encountered Eurovision. Hear that? The sound of my ideals crashing to the ground like so many tea cups.

[sanginmychains]

I can be the person you can Skype in the middle of the night when you can't sleep. It's good to have friends in other time zones.

I hear you about the illusions. A big part of why I'm excited for all this is because I had the same thing, all the really sophisticated, global-minded people I'd known growing up were European or had at least lived there for a bit. But the idea that all Europeans are like that, it's probably as wrong as the idea that all Americans are boors. Neither stereotype tells the whole story. So I'm going into this with the idea that I'll get to turn my fuzzy ideas into actual experience, and experience is always richer and harder to explain than a story.

[sanginmychains]

Heh, that's good to know about Melodifestivalen. I was worried!

I hear you about not seeing Europe as one big whole. I mean, as a Canadian (who is most definitely NOT an American), I am already aware that you shouldn't tell a New Zealander that they're basically like Australians, a person from Portugal that they're basically like a Spaniard, or a Swede that they're just like a Dane. Just because these groupings seem like a whole to outsiders, doesn't mean the insiders feel the same way!

Actually that's something I find so intriguing about Europe, and am looking forward to exploring - even though, geographically, the area is rather small, the individual cultures and histories are so distinct, the whole area is so deeply textured, to the point where Northern Britain is not like Southern Britain, Eastern and Western France have noticeable distinctions, etc.

Thanks for the offer of messaging - I may well take you up on it. We'll be arriving in just over a month, eek so much to do before then!!