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.