Swedish laundry room, slow TV and motivational speeches
A quirky guide to Swedish culture
Hi,
Welcome to my very first newsletter!! :)
Since moving to Sweden in 2024, it became my hobby to learn about Swedish culture. Particularly the things that are considered common sense among Swedes my age (30+), such as which tv shows they feel nostalgic about, how concepts - such as ‘‘friday coziness’’ (fredagsmys) - are closely connected to daily life, or just the fact that the most babies get born exactly 9 months after Midsummer (Midsommar).
This monthly newsletter is dedicated to all those specific Swedish cultural things I notice. For me a way to document my integration process, and for you - hopefully - some fun insights into Swedish culture and society!
This month I have 5 Swedish topics I’d like to share with you, including a tip on how to bring some Swedish forest into your home and a few motivational speeches from my spinning instructor.
Let’s start off with the Swedish forest:
🫎 The Great Moose Migration (Den stora älgvandringen)
Every spring, the moose migrate from the north of Sweden to the south. Since 2019, SVT (the Swedish national public television broadcaster) has been live-streaming the migration. They set up a bunch of cameras in the forest so we can spot moose right from our living room. It’s the ultimate slow TV. In Sweden the livestream is even used to help children in school focus better.
Unfortunately, the livestream ends on May 5, 2025. But you can rewatch previous years’ livestreams and compilations here on SVT. (A good reason to get a VPN service so you can watch TV abroad!)
🥪 I’m being sandwich shamed
So far in my career in Sweden, I’ve been sandwich-shamed. A lot. The combination crackers and peanut butter is shocking to some. And two slices of bread with a bit of Gouda cheese in between doesn’t look very appealing to my international colleagues either. Some even referred me to this Instagram account full of sad Dutch sandwiches. Recently, a Swedish colleague commented: “As long as you’re happy, Fenna.”
(For those of you who’d like to give their sandwich a Swedish touch: make yourself some toast with skagenröra, a salad of tiny shrimps.)
(And, no, this is not going to be a newsletter full of recipes.)
🚲 Motivational speeches about social pressure
It wasn’t a surprise to me that some motivational talks are included in the spinning classes I take in Östermalm (a rich and posh area of Stockholm). You hop on a bike in a dark room with disco lights and techno music on. The instructor pushes you to your limits, and just as your sweat is dripping off your forehead and you want to sit down, they launch into a motivational speech to keep you going. Nothing surprising, so far.
What struck me, though, were the topics of these pep talks: social pressure.
One time, my instructor talked about spring and how summer is approaching. Winters here are long and dark, and most people live a quiet, introverted life during these months. Summer is the opposite – people go out and live bubbly, social lives. The transition from winter to summer can be stressful because suddenly you have to deal with all the social expectations that come with it. And so, my instructor said: “You have to see family and friends, and there is so much pressure to be everywhere. Don’t forget to take some you-time.”
A couple of weeks later, when spring seemed far away as it was a cold, rainy day, she said: “I love these rainy days. They give me the feeling that it’s okay to stay inside and read a book. I don’t feel any pressure to go out.”
I never felt more understood by a spinning instructor.
💘 Swedish dating culture
I’m reading ‘‘Half of Malmö consists of guys who dumped me’’ (Halva Malmö består av killar som dumpat mig) by Amanda Romare. I might share a review later, but for now, I just want to share this sentence, which might say a lot about modern dating in Sweden:
“I usually say that I have the three D’s: die single, die lonely, die dumped.”
“Jag brukar säga att jag är de tre D:na (dösingel, döensam, dödumpad)”
FYI: In Sweden, single-person households without children are the most common.
🧺 Angry Swedes in the laundry room
In most Swedish apartments, you’ll have to share a laundry room with other residents. You book a time slot in to use it. And what if I tell you that this is exactly where you’ll see a completely different side of the usually very calm and reserved Swedes?
It’s, for instance, a common practice to leave an angry note when your neighbour didn’t completely follow the laundry room rules. Search for ‘‘arga lappen tvättstuga’’ and you’ll find many notes similar to this one:
This angry note says: “You stole my towels, but left my panties…. WHY!!! Didn’t you need them...?? Thieving asshole of the neighbourhood!”
I made a YouTube video on these angry laundry room notes and my own tvättstuga-experiences – you can watch it here if you’re curious.
See you next month!
Tack och hej,
👩🏻🦰 Fenna