#I HATE MY VILLAGE CRACK#

the food is boring, the country is boring, the people are boringвЂ¦ I have to leave soon before I crack upвЂ¦ Sweden has to be the most boring place on the planetвЂ¦. mostly moneyвЂ¦ we have been here for 1 year and every single day has been tough, every single day I have wanted to leave. I think the Swedes are taking some mind control drugsвЂ¦ they are all the same, show no emotions, so boring, they all talk about the same crap. However, I have given up trying to make friends with swedes a long time ago. I empathize with what you are going through, even though I am an expat living in Stockholm. I found your blog in the midst of a fit of rage for the people of this country. My strategy is to move when I am financially able, to a country where I can feel human and involved in at least a small part of what is going on. Until I read your blog I really thought it was me and my new-found inability to fit in with the the zombie like behavior going down here. I live in one of the larger towns in Sweden and it feels like social Siberia. I have lived in 8 different countries and this is the first time I have found it impossible to have a social life and friends outside of work. I would say, though, that it isnвЂ™t small town living that makes it difficult, it is Sweden itself. I really appreciate your вЂrantвЂ™ вЂ“ it is exactly on point about what it means to be in Sweden. See here some of the responses to the above post (just a selection): Now, was this an isolated experience? It seems not, there is an astonishing number of people with the very same experience. This sign should be put up in huge size at Swedish airports! Swedes are suspicious of and/or uncomfortable around anybody who is different. Extended family has little value, and neither does staying home with oneвЂ™s children. They think everything about Sweden is automatically the awesomest and are incurious about everywhere else. They donвЂ™t value education beyond trade school, which they sometimes call university even though it is not.

Adults are rude and unfriendly and children indulged and undisciplined. Swedes hate change and innovation unless it relates to their iPhone.

Everybody wants to look the same and do the same things (preferably in a group) and buy the same crap and itвЂ™s boring as fuck. ThereвЂ™s a fair amount about Swedish culture I just donвЂ™t like and now IвЂ™m going to make some big assholish generalizations here in discussing them because I am in a bad place about Sweden at the moment and donвЂ™t feel like being fair. nobody wants to be my friend, at least nobody Swedish, and thatвЂ™s disappointing. We were supposed to come to be near HusbandвЂ™s large extended family, but we hardly ever see anybody except his parents. Much of my expectations have been met with disappointment. IвЂ™ve never had trouble fitting in or getting along with people before, and I really like socializing, and I feel very alone out here in this village, so this bit is very hard for me. This is a very strong phenomenon in a rural Swedish village and my therapist advised I straight-up give up trying to be friends. They are comfortable with known entities, and donвЂ™t want any new friends or even acquaintances. ItвЂ™s probably not that the ladies in the village donвЂ™t like me (especially since they donвЂ™t really know me) rather theyвЂ™re not interested in making the extra effort to communicate and connect with me, given my foreignness and my accent. There are also a huge amount of comments on this post, all of them saying вЂќI have exactly the same experience!вЂќ. She seems miserable, goes to a therapist and writes about it.

The following is an excerpt from a blog of an American woman living in a rural village in Sweden.

I hate my village