Weird Cultural Differences: A Californian in Sweden

I'm Lisa I'm Lauren and you're watching this colorful world and today we're gonna talk about the cultural differences in culture shocks Lauren has experienced as an American moving and living in Sweden number one sweets are very very good at English they start learning English from the time that they are very young in school they are not speaking English the same way that you're speaking English in America the main difference that I noticed is their non use of superlatives oh this is like the best pizza I've ever had it's like so amazing right now yeah and they would look at me like oh it's I mean it's good but it's not I wouldn't call it the best so good rules these are pretty literal it's even in Swedish so like here in California it's so much about you know oh my god that's amazing and as a sweet like I still have to be like amazing it's good but I mean it's it's so funny it's a daily thing it's a daily thing what's number two clapping at events okay it's always like are we gonna clap or are we not gonna clap so like sometimes I'm the only one clapping and then nobody else joins in it so I'm just like loud clapping by myself happy I don't know laughing American I don't know when it's appropriate to clap and knock like I haven't figured that out yet then put yourself into a moment when the Swedes actually are clapping so everyone starts clapping and everyone's excited and happy and then at some point something happens where everybody starts clapping in unison I don't know I think we're shy I mean Swedes are shy they get nervous to like stand out too much so they better just clap in the same rhythm and then I have one more point with the clapping all right what is it okay so now the Swedes are all clapping in unison somehow they all stop at the exact same magically exactly and I was just still clapping the only one clapping oh when I missed the memo that we were suppose Hoppa is it sixty-two claps I don't know like what oh hell what are we clapping - no Swedes are very reliable in general very reliable people if you set a date with a Swede you don't have to reconfirm you don't have to check-in you just have to show up when you said you're gonna show up and in California it's basically the opposite you have to kind of figure out when people are seriously gonna be there and not and even if they're serious you better check call them text them a couple of times three or four times even if it's the same day the questions that we say in English in America hey how's it going today when like you walk into a store or you're you're getting waited on at a restaurant how's everything going it's so funny if you ask that to a Swede they will assume that you're asked actually asking how their day is going so you might get an answer like oh it's it's okay this morning was a little rough didn't sleep so well you know I a new puppy at home but it's good I feel better now and five minutes later you're like oh I was just saying like hello hello here's something that I noticed and I thought this was just Stockholm and then now as we visited other cities around around Sweden I can say with factual evidence that everybody looks like they have stepped out of some sort of magazine usually like Vogue people are just nationwide cool-looking fika yeah okay so at about what 3 o'clock in the afternoon mm-hmm Swedes take a break they have a coffee break but with the coffee break happens also have like a sweet sugary little thing little thing that's just part that that's just it and you don't mess with it you just go along with it and you say yes please I would like the coffee one of the weirdest things is a phenomenon called law dogs foodies okay and that means that's translated literally into Saturday candy la does notice oh yeah Lourdes Goldie's on Saturdays people kind of let themselves go a little wild and but if Sweden has let itself go a little wild with candy in general it's true they have like the bowl in handy yeah candy in grow every grocery store in every convenience store Oh God that you could and not just like oh here's a couple things of book and it's a a whole wall of the store is different what do you think how do you feel about that what's your reaction to that it's just crazy you came back from a trip to Sweden with just eight pounds of candy potentially I just can't stand when you mix the salty liquorice with like all the other things you should keep that poison out and away from all of the delicious cake were like who likes salty licorice comment below have you not tried salty licorice make sure you do because it's it's a once-in-a-lifetime flavor it's like unlike anything else maybe sardines without the fishiness is that a good compressor that sounds gross sounds really gross if you go to Sweden the chances are good that they will stuff a salty licorice in your mouth and say that oh it's candy this all Swedes love it even babies and it's pretty true but it's also that doesn't make it taste good as easy as it is to get candy in Sweden it's equally as difficult to get alcohol in Sweden so no alcohol is government regulated it's only at one store called system below get now they have like 2% beers in the grocery store but it's like water you have to plan in advance because opening hours of the stores are they're really limited yes give you the positives of it are that everything in there is good because it's government regulated and it has to pass a bunch of tests that's true I'm happy you pointed out something good about it yeah right we can go on we're definitely gonna make more of it about our our bike continental life and Sweden and California because we're discovering a ton of funny differences in similarities so tell us what you think have you been traveling and like this experience culture shocks and strange fantastic things on your journey have you visited Sweden or are you a Swede did we miss something add to the list in the comments below alright guys like subscribe and comment and do sign up for the weekly friend letter where we discuss all kinds of topics maybe more cultural differences but a bunch of other deeper topics as well so if you want to hear more from us then definitely subscribe the link is below alright we'll see you next time bye he wants some salty licorice no I only have some turkey pot pie left it's like gooey kind of do you remember when we first met and you kept trying to sneak it like sneak it like I wouldn't smell it on your breath I was like no please don't like have it around me it makes me a little bit nauseous and she's like okay I won't I won't and then she would leave the room this is never one in her mouth come back and sit next to me on the couch and it would like waft like a salty liquor in ever had or a bubble around and bye guys

Channel: This Colorful World

Views: 123,309

Keywords: Sweden, usa, california, america, culture shock, cultural differences, between, fika, clapping, swedes, lgbt, married women, funny, swedish, lordagsgodis, quirky, differences, best, expat

Id: 6KTGlRGZU7Y

Length: 7min 58sec (478 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 16 2018