What I first noticed when i moved to Sweden

There was once Beauty of Simplicity. . .

Which has now been lost, unfortunately.  I see young pretty girls here who go a little over the top with makeup. (Just a little).  Something which goes around everywhere nowadays.  From the teenagers to the young women in their mid 20s. 

I see many young girls wearing so much makeup as if they were ready to go clubbing, or do some kind of beauty contest, but in reality they are on their way to school or work.  I see this during the DAY time, so lets not even talk about saturday evenings.  Whatever happened to the thought, "Beauty is imperfection".  Guess nowadays it's meaningless.

Instead of hiding your true look with makeup, emphasize the best parts of your face with just a little makeup.  Not so hard.    I see loads of fake eyelashes and  mascara and thick foundation.  Too much.

This is also something i got from several guys who moved to Sweden. "Girls here wear way too much makeup."  I agree.  I think they look so nice the way they are, it's absolutely unneccassary for them to do all that to their face.  It looks very FAKE.  Nowhere near attractive.

Lacking enthusiasm.  I say "hey!" and they say "hej":

This will take me some time getting used to.  How to say "hej" the right way.  It is almost pronounced the same way as the english hey but there is a difference in the tone. 

When a swed says "hej" to you, they are very subtle.  When I say "hej", i sound way too lively, i would sound normal in the US, because that's how normal people there greet eachother, but here, theres something missing.  Not just in greeting, but everything in general.  Sweds do not express themselves so much, i guess they do if they are really close with you, but that's it.  They seem like introverts.  Which is not a bad thing at all.

They don't really get excited.  I have hardly seen a swed laugh.  The way they react is a bit different to how an American or a Bengali would act.  Very dull, introverted, quiet and reserved people who usually open up more on saturday nights.

The only time i find it lively and loud is on weekend nights when sweds show their outgoing, energetic side.

Costumer Service - nothing like the US:

America is all about excellent costumer service.  It's about offering as much service and information as you can for the costumer to be comfortable with what they are paying for.  After being to many different types of stores and warehouses here, I've realized that I don't always feel 100% confident about a product i am confused about even after I am given service.

It's like i ask a question and i get a yes or no answer in return with no explanation or alternatives. 

There was an incident when I went to the Apotek (Pharmacy) and asked the Pharamacist for a hand cream.  This is how it went:

Me:  Excuse me, can you help me?

Pharmacist:  Yes.

Me:  I was looking for a hand cream made for extremely dry skin.  By any chance is their a cream that would heal both my dryness and discoloration of my hands from the dishwashing detergent i use?

Pharmacist: (staring at me with confusion)  No we don't have bleaching creams.  We only sell regular hand creams.

We both just stood there for a few seconds.  I thought she would say more, but she only nodded and smiled.  It was very akward.  I felt like asking a stupid question would be pointless.  So i left cream-less.

On the bright side, I think salepeople on the electronics and technology area are more helpful and informative.  Media Markt located in Kungens Kurva,  for example, has very good costumer service.  I got my awesom straightner, new samsung tv, and ps3 from there.


No free bathrooms:

Unless you are in some fancy restaurant, if you gotta go, make sure you have your 5 crowns of change with you or else you won't be able to open that door. 

First time i found out about this was early August in 2009 when i came to visit Stockholm for the first time in my life.  We were all walking and all of a sudden i got really sick to the stomach.  It was hard finding a public restroom since we were in the middle of the city.  Boy, that  is a day to remember.  I will save that for another time.

Your personummer is how you start EVERYTHING:

The first question you will be asked when you are about to start something, apply somewhere, make an appointment, go to the doctor, make a bank account, get involved  anywhere, pretty anything, you need to give them your personummer.  A 10 digit number which is your identity.  Basically, in American terms, your social security number. 

You tell them just those 10 numbers and boom!  All your information pops out and you are no longer a stranger to the representative. 

The day i got my personummer from the skatteverket, i felt like a real swedish resident.

It's nice to live in a well-organized, safe, systematic, calm country that consists of only 9 million people.