Ah, now why Stockholm is the next question? I have been working on this response now since November 2009, and the best one I can give is as follows: An opportunity to move back to Europe presented itself in the form of a job offer and I took it.

So here I am in Stockholm and what is my initial response? Well, the job is great, the city is beautiful and when you meet a Swede who has lived outside of Sweden or done some travelling, they are wonderful. Swedes who haven’t, especially the girls, are not so wonderful.

Case in point: if you are at a party and try to talk to a Swedish girl who doesn’t know you, you know to make friends, or to chat to the person next to you at dinner, try as you might, in English or in Swedish, you will get nothing. These girls only want to talk to the girls they have known since birth. Which is strange, because most of the time their friend is engaging in conversation with other party go-ers, like a normal human being would. Its ridiculous! So instead of taking the opportunity to have a good time at a party, they will sit in a corner, moping. It’s very odd.

Which leads me to my conclusion that Stockholm is a very lonely city. Whether you come here as a love refugee (moved for a Swed-e as my friend calls her boyfriend) or for a job, its very hard to make new friends. You have to work at it and you will probably end up with mostly ex-pat or well traveled Swedes as companions and that’s not so bad in my opinion. At least, they have something to talk about at a party.