7 Signs You've Lived in Sweden Long Enough

The next thing I knew, it is September already, which means that I have abandoned my blog for almost half a year lived in Sweden for a little bit over a year now.

Before coming to Sweden, I had no expectation on how I would change on a personal level. But to say that I expected no changes would be a complete lie, because as Kelly Morgan said, "changes are inevitable and not always controllable." But that personal changes talk is a bit too deep, and my brain is not capable of producing anything near that at this time. Instead, I have compiled a few things that have changed about me after living here for a year.  

Being an IKEA model is sadly not one of the changes. It's just a test to see if you've been in Sweden long enough. I assume those who have should know how I got this photo already.

Disclaimer: I intentionally picked out the ones that are most relevant to most people in general. Hence let me start the list by this saying - you know you've lived in Sweden long enough when you:

1. Become an expert in talking about the weather. Perhaps most of us can work at the weather forecast channel. No, not as the forecaster but as the ones who present and discuss how the weather is outside. Weather makes up about 70%, if not 100%, of the small talks we have with our classmates. Also, if you ever see me in class bored, chances are I am looking at my phone - not texting, but checking out the weather app.

This was sent from my friend via Whatsapp because talking about the weather is inevitable. 

2. Become an expert in recycling [advanced level: get annoyed at people not recycling]. I must admit I like recycling. I have only been here for a year, but I already get super annoyed when I see cans in the trash can. Anyways, recycling deserves another post.

Just look at how many recycling bins there are here.
One most truly learn and master the art of recycling their trashes in Sweden.

3. Own a pair of waterproof shoes. Because you just cannot live without them here. When it’s autumn, it rains or drizzles nonstop. When it’s almost spring and you think the weather will get better, it instead snows. It’s pretty for about a few days or a week then the temperature rises and the snow starts melting #thestruggleisreal. And so again, waterproof shoes come to the rescue!  

Hands down the best investment I made last year!

4. Start caring about when the sun rises and sets. They say you do not realize what you love until you lose it. This expression cannot get any truer about my love for the sun. Honestly, I used to take the sun for granted. I mean in Jakarta or even in Texas, there’s plenty of sunlight. I never missed the sun until November came in Sweden. 

This was taken in March and not in Sweden.
I had to escape to California to get some sunlight.

After being sunlight deprived for over 5 months, the one and only Devita Gunawan, who would usually shun the sun, sat down to sunbathe every time she saw the sun. This would have never happened if she did not move to Sweden.

5. Start taking vitamin D. This is, of course, not true for everyone, but most people take vitamin D. I’m not sure if I ever got the winter blues. All I know was that I was super concerned and probably spent half of winter trying to prevent myself from getting depressed. So I’m never really sure whether I had it or not, ha-ha. But I did notice how sleepy I got and how I basically had zero motivation to do anything due to the darkness. That saying “winter is coming” in Game of Thrones becomes super scary when you live in Sweden.

My Swedish readers, is this true? :")

6. Start seeing water bottles and cans differently. Because guess what- they are money! I see Swedish kronas whenever I see abandoned cans or bottles. It’s so tempting to pick up and recycle them. I’m sure people do that all the time because I sometimes spot bottles/cans and the next time I pass, they are gone already. It is also quite a common sight to see people collecting bottles from the (mixed) trash cans here.

Feed this machine bottles or cans, and it will give you money.

7. Become cashless and ditch your big wallets. This is something I super love here. Some of you who know me well should know how germ-phobic I am. I dislike touching money. (Before any confusion arises: please do not get the wrong idea. Touching and having mean different things. I love having money, but I dislike touching it). I don’t bring any wallets now. There’s even a point when I owned no cash (but thanks to some people who are swish-less, I have cash again now). You do not need to have cash in Lund, Sweden unless if you’re getting Lundafalafel, which is an important part of some people’s caloric consumption. I personally only carry around 3 cards: debit card, student ID, and ID card.

Why carry your ID everywhere? Other than the obvious fact that you need it to identify yourself... but also because even when you want to buy Strepsils, you need to show that you are at least 18 years old. I figured this out when I was trying to get some Strepsils for my sick corridor friend. I did not bring my ID and was denied by the cashier. Ever since then, I always carry my ID card around.

Well the list can still go on, but I'd rather keep them for my next posts and wrap things up here. I know I've been so horrible at blogging, but I will try to post more this academic year (let's try to be hopeful here). 

For those who have made it to this line, thank you for reading and stay tuned for more updates!