Earlier today, a guy looking to move to Sweden found my contact information and asked for some tips on getting himself over here. In the course of our conversation, he asked for my "uncut ideas about life in Sweden," so I figured I'd share them here, as well:

Aside from the difficulties I've had with figuring out self-employment here, I don't have any real complaints. I suppose it's maybe a little too easy to get by here speaking only Enlish, which makes it hard to pick up much of the language without actually taking classes, but the SFI language classes are free, so, if I never learn Swedish, it will be my own fault for not signing up and taking them.

It's definitely a beautiful country and, being from Minnesota, the geography all feels pretty familiar to me. Not having a car took a little getting used to, but it's not an issue living in a city (Lund) where nothing is more than about a 40 minute walk or 20 minute bike ride away and there are plenty of trains for when you want to go elsewhere.

I absolutely love the history of the place and the character of the buildings and the streets that have been here for centuries. We live on the outskirts of the city, with apartment buildings on one side and farms on the other, giving easy access to both the city and the countryside.

The main things I miss here are the less-mainstream (sub)cultural phenomena that I took part in back in Minnesota, but don't really exist in Sweden/Europe. At the moment, I'm acutely aware that the Minnesota Renaissance Festival is in progress (well, on weekends) and I'm not going to be there at all this year, after a dozen years of having season passes and practically living there for the duration of the run.

Lund also seems to be pretty light on general nightlife, but that's not something I've ever gotten into much myself, so maybe I'm just not seeing it.

Anything else, feel free to ask, but that's all of what comes to mind at the moment.