Sweden is the country of Ikea, Björn Borg, Pippi Longstocking and Abba. It has a modern and internationally oriented society but it hasn’t forgotten its traditions. Here’s how you know you’re an expat in Sweden:

1.‘Fika’ is cultural heritage
The Swedes love traditions and one of the most important ones is to have fika. It means to have coffee, often accompanied by pastry or sandwiches. You’ll have the fika with colleagues, friends or family. It’s common to have fika in the morning and in the afternoon. Then everybody stops working for at least 15 minutes. One of the most traditional things to eat for fika is a kanelbulle (cinnamon bun). Of course you can try them at your local Ikea. But honestly they do not compare to a fresh one from a Swedish bakery.

2. ‘Lagom’ is (after fika) the most important word to learn
Lagom means ‘just the right amount’ and the Swedes are big fans of it. In a single word, lagom is said to describe the basis of the Swedish national psyche, one of consensus and equality.

3. Happy parents
Swedish social security system is well known all over the world. The Swedes pay relatively high taxes, but also receive a lot of support from the government. As part of this system, parents have the right to receive paid (maternity or paternity) leave. Even if that means you’ll miss them in the office for over a year…

4. Bearded men with strollers
If you walk around in a Swedish town during office hours, you will probably find ample (bearded) men pushing strollers. These men are very likely to be pappaledig (= on paternity leave). The Swedish social security system does not only offer mothers time off with their children – fathers also (pappa) get the opportunity to take paid days off from work to spend time with the children.

5. Everybody speaks English
The Swedes have one of the highest proficiencies in English as a second language in the world. And it’s not only the higher educated Swedes that speak English. This makes living in Sweden, without knowing the Swedish language, really easy.

6. Without a social security number, you are a nobody
The whole Swedish social security system is built around personnummer. A personnummer consists of your date of birth followed by four numbers. You need this number for a lot of basic services, e.g. seeing a doctor, opening a bank account, starting a phone subscription or even to rent a DVD.

7. Looooong summer holidays
Swedes love their summer more than many other nations, probably because of the dark winter months. The summer is considered to start right after Midsommar (last or second last Saturday of June), which is one of Sweden’s most popular and celebrated festivals. During the summer months, many Swedes take very long holidays, often between 4 to 6 weeks depending on the type of business they are in. So if you are working during summer: don’t expect to get anything done in July!

8. Everybody works full-time
The government invests heavily in daycare for children. As a result, almost all jobs in Sweden are full-time.

9. Work and pleasure don’t mix
Work and private lives are rather separate in Sweden. It’s quite common to go out for a beer after work, or drink and dance at the yearly Christmas party at work, but don’t expect your colleagues to invite you to their homes for dinner.

10. Start early, leave early
The Swedes arrive in the office really early. It might be for this reason that many super markets already open at 6 or 7 a.m. Since private life and family are considered very important, it’s really common to leave the office really early as well. And don’t be surprised if the lights in your office automatically shut down at 6 p.m. (since nobody is supposed to be in the office that late anymore).

11. Social dos and don’ts
Like in every culture or society, there are dos and don’ts. So when in Sweden, make sure you follow the weather forecast so you can easily join the discussion at work (for example, during fika). Don’t talk to strangers in public (unless there is unexpected snow), don’t sit next to somebody in bus or train if unnecessary, be on time and don’t forget to take off your shoes when you enter somebody’s house.

12. Swedes love to celebrate
Who doesn’t like to party? Well, the Swedes certainly do. They love to celebrate Christmas, Easter, and Midsommar in a very traditional way. So that means loads of pickled herring, potatoes, snaps and traditional drinking songs. A more modern celebration is ‘Melodifestivalen’ which is an extravagant song competition live broadcasted on national television for a number of Saturday evenings. It’s the best viewed TV programmes of the year and people meet up to watch (and drink) together. The winner of this competition will represent Sweden during the Eurovision Song Contest.

13. Strawberries and mushrooms
The Swedes also love their food. One of the most important food events of the year is when the first Swedish strawberries are ready for consumption. You can’t really miss it, since strawberry kiosks pop-up at every corner and the newspapers write about them, too. Another typical yearly event is picking mushrooms in the forest. Once you get home, you post a photo of your harvest on Facebook as evidence (but you don’t reveal where you picked them since otherwise your secret place might be discovered by others). And on Monday you can brag about it during fika at work of course.

Special for ELM – guest writer Roger Senden

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