An American's point of view

I wanted to talk to an American about what he thought was the differences between our two nationalities, so I met up with Michael Zdarsky. He is 25 years old and was born in Chicago, but moved to Los Angeles four years ago. He has never been to Sweden, or Europe, but he have met a lot of Swedes since he moved to LA. I asked him how he pictured Sweden;

“Sweden's a country? I thought they were a tribe of hunters and gathers,” he said and laughed. “I pictured it being a lot smaller, and I thought they were less industrialized than the rest of Europe.”

I was curious of what he thought Swedes were like before he had met any.

“I thought they would be a little more mean and stuck up then they were, didn’t expect them all to speak English so well,” he said. “They do tend to stick with almost all Swedish friends, even though they wish to have American friends. I think this is because they lack to find things in common with Americans so they stick with what is more comfortable.”

It sounded like he agreed that we are different at some parts, but which ones?

“Americans are very mixed in the sense that we don't really specialize in one thing, like fashion, cars, home appliances, but we adapt and take things we like from each culture. I feel that Swedes tend to eat and live a healthier lifestyle and tend to dress a certain way. But other than that the only difference is the blonde hair!” he said and laughed again.

I have to say, I can see why Americans here in LA thinks that we Scandinavians are all blonde though. I think I have met maybe five brown haired, Swedish girls since I came here.

I guess that’s why there are so few blondes left in Sweden, they have all moved to Los Angeles.

A lot of Americans don't know that much about Sweden (just read Michael's first answer) but if you want to read some more fun facts about the unknown country, you can always look here.

The blonde, Swedish bimbo

I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked “Are all Swedes blonde?” since I came here. The answer is, of course, no. If I would make a guess, I would say it is approximately 50 percent blondes and 50 percent brunettes in Sweden.

I found a blog post from a man who has a blog about the Swedish culture, and in this post he writes about this “dumb blonde” stereotype. He posted the picture below.

Even if we have all the different hair colors in Sweden, I can usually tell if a person is Swedish or not, only by seeing them across the street. I don't really know why, but it’s a lot more than only the hair color, that’s for sure.

I thought that the picture above clearly shows what I was talking about. The girls in the picture are two of my best friends back in Sweden. One has blue eyes and blonde hair, the other one has brown hair and brown eyes, but they are both equally Swedish. 
So even the brunette bimbo exist in our small and cold country!

treasure hunting on the Internet

I have been looking around on the internet for sites where they talk about different stereotypes, good and bad, and also found some videos that I thought were interesting.

I found a list of common stereotypical phrases at this web page. I have never heard some of them, but a couple of them are something you (or should I say I) actually think. It didn’t list anything about people from Sweden, but I found it pretty funny anyway.

I also found a blog by a French girl who wrote almost about the same thing as me, but she is writing about Americans and the French people. She is posting a couple of myths and writes about if she thinks they are true or not.

In this video the guy talks about how it is to be black in America, that so many have their thoughts about how "all" the black people act.

A few days ago I saw a video that is called “Do we really want to change America into Sweden?”. Many of you maybe already have seen it, but I hadn’t and I think it’s hilarious. This video is based on some facts, but mostly stereotypical thoughts about Sweden and Swedes, and it is definitely making more “false thoughts” about how it is in Sweden. Yes we give a loooot of our income to the government, but I wouldn’t say that Sweden is a sad country of socialism. I hadn’t really thought about it that much before I saw this video.

It is in two parts, Part 1 & Part 2. I just love it!

Let's go to America!

I am borned and raised in a city called Uppsala. It is located one hour north of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, if you go by car. We are almost 300 000 people living and breating in that little town, that actually is the fourth biggest city in Sweden. Yes... Sweden is small...

After 21 years in Sweden I decided to try to live somewhere else, even if it would only be for a limited time. I had never been to America before and I have always wanted to see Los Angeles and California, so I decided to study at Santa Monica College. I came here two months ago and was excited to see how America was and what the Americans were like. Was it going to be like in the movies? Would it be a Mc Donald’s in every corner? Back in Sweden we don’t know that much about Americans.  The only Americans you’ve seen are celebrities like people from movies and reality shows, and signers. This is because it’s not that many Americans in Sweden. So I had my thoughts of how the Americans were like. You’ve heard that in America they eat a lot of junk food, a lot of people have guns and a lot of them smoke weed. I also knew that they got a lot of shows with “fake laughs” in the background, like it would fool anyone that the show actually is funny. And of course everyone knows about the blue and red cups that are in all colleges’ movies. To drink a beer in a red plastic cup at a college party is just sooo much America to a Swede. We don’t even have that cups is Sweden…

I knew that I was going to Los Angeles, a city where the people maybe are different than from other places in the USA, but I was definitely looking forward to meet “real” Americans.

I don’t really know if the Americans I’ve met so far have been like the stereotypical American that we talk about back in Sweden, but they are definitely different from Swedes. Americans are a lot more outgoing and social to people you don’t know. It is very rare that someone walks up to you in Sweden and starting to ask questions about you, your life and what you do for living. That kind of freaked me out when I first came here, although I like it better than the quiet Swede that would die if someone would start talking to you at the bus. Or even worse, sit next to you! I guess I just wasn’t used to it. But that is definitely a good side of the Americans. I have also noticed that here the guys are more “taking care of” the ladies than the guys in Sweden. It wouldn’t be strange at all if the girl paid the bill on a date in Sweden, but it seems like it’s a bigger deal here in Los Angeles. I didn’t know almost all the American guys were so short though.

The people here eat out a lot more often than we do in Sweden. It is more expensive to eat at a, let’s say, sushi place in Sweden than it is here. It always costs around $15 (100 Swedish kronor) for nine pieces. That means that here when you pay maybe $7 for nine pieces, I’m in heaven. Everything is cheaper here though, except alcohol at the nightclubs. That’s a shame.

After meeting a bunch of Americans I would say that some rumors are true and some others aren’t. Not here in Los Angeles anyway. Not all are fat, not that many at all actually, but yes I would say that weed is definitely more common here than in Sweden.

I am absolutely sure that I like the “real” Americans better than the stereotypical Americans.