Ex-Expat Day 1

So … where to begin? Well, it’s day one as an ex-expat back in Sweden after 35 years in the States. I grew up here, but I’ve been away for so long that I have to refamiliarize myself with pretty much all aspects of life in Sweden.

Sure, I’m obviously fluent in Swedish, albeit with an American twang, apparently. But even the language has changed. There are so many more English words that have been adopted and adapted.

Life in modern Sweden is almost completely digital. Literally everything is online, and almost all services are accessible on your phone. Of course, the flipside is that you cannot really function without a mobile phone (with a Swedish phone number!) or a digital ID. That then leads to some interesting Catch-22 situations.

For example, to get a regular phone plan, you need a so-called Bank ID, for which you need a bank account, which requires a physical address, which requires a bank account and a Bank ID. Yes, there are ways around this. There’s something called a Freja ID, and you can get prepaid phone plans. But, not having a Bank ID signals that you don’t have a bank account which means you’re less likely to get access to other things and on and on. Oh, and forget cash.

As with so many societies, once you’re “in,” things work fairly smoothly. It’s getting “in” that can be very frustrating. I’m lucky that I have family here, and things are a lot easier. I have to admit, though, it’s interesting to observe this modern society as an outsider again. And when you ask a Swede to explain how to do things or which rules apply to this or that, you can get them to realize how circular certain aspects of life in Sweden are.

Now, there’s one more thing that at least for a while, will throw me for a loop: I think in English, but I obviously speak Swedish when I talk to Swedes. This then sometimes results in my speaking Swedish with American sentence structure and wording. But it also messes with my English. Fun times! 😉