'Building Ikea furniture': The best things about dating a Swede
We asked The Local's readers to tell us what their favourite things about dating a Swede are, and here are some of their responses.
Gender equality
Swedish society is egalitarian, with both partners expected to work and take equal responsibility for running the household. Many of our respondents - both male and female - mentioned different aspects of gender equality as being their favourite thing about dating their Swede.
"They don't believe women belong in the kitchen," Vicky wrote.
"The mentality: it’s OK for men to be the main cook at home," Alex said. "It’s OK that women can be breadwinners in the family."
"Gender equality!" Elena wrote. "I am Italian, he is Swedish."
"I love that too," Karen added, "but he wants to put ketchup on my homemade spaghetti sauce!"
Despite their habit of putting ketchup on spaghetti, many people also praised Swedes for "cooking so well".
Swedish gender equality can also be seen in the habit of splitting a bill 50/50 in a restaurant, something a lot of men commenting on our post were pleased about.
"As a straight man... splitting the bill!" Lachlan said. "That doesn't happen in the USA!"
A number of respondents also praised Swedish men for being "masculine but not macho", or being "masculine but not toxic", with one person saying they "become great dads".
Learning Swedish (or getting citizenship)
This may be an obvious point, but dating a Swede is a great way to improve your Swedish.
"If your partner is a Swede then you are using a cheat code to learn Swedish faster than all of us SFI-noobs," Taha said.
According to John, the best thing about dating a Swede is simply "an EU passport".
Living with a Swedish partner does make it easier to get Swedish citizenship by shortening the period of time needed to qualify - although we should point out here that you still need to fulfil other requirements in order to get Swedish citizenship.
Swedish culture
Many people responding to our question mentioned various aspects of Swedish culture as positives when dating a Swede.
One of these was Scott, who said Sweden has a "fantastic culture to be welcomed in", with "humble, pleasant and generally honest people".
Other aspects of Swedish culture that were greatly appreciated by partners of Swedes included, unsurprisingly, Swedish exports like Abba, Ikea and Volvo.
"They know all the lyrics to every Abba song," Jim wrote, with Lee adding that "they're not ashamed about it, that's the key".
"They can assemble Ikea furniture without a manual," Mike said, with Bella adding that the best thing is their ability to "translate all the names of the items from Ikea!"
Mahmoud said that Swedes "come with a Volvo by default", and Keely thought the best thing was "being introduced to Marabou [a chocolate brand], of course".
David wrote that his favourite thing about dating a Swede is "separate duvets". People sharing a bed in Sweden will usually each have their own duvet, rather than sharing a double duvet.
Derick said he appreciated the fact that you "always get the last slice of cake" most. Swedes will do whatever they can to avoid taking the last piece of cake on a plate, instead cutting it up in to smaller and smaller pieces until only a tiny sliver is left.
Calm and rational
Loren, who has been in Sweden for three years, said that, dating a Swede, there is "no drama and no pretensions, what you see is what you get", and Imra Lundberg from northern Sweden said that Swedes in that area are "usually very calm, don't get stressed easily and know how to party without going to the pub".
Gabriela added that it is "easy to have deep, interesting and smart conversations" with them, and Tim, from London, living in Stockholm, said that his partner is "open minded and non-judgemental".
One woman married to a Swede said that being with her spouse is great because of their "reliability and respect for my autonomy," and that they are "not loud, arrogant, or disrespectful".
Amanda from the USA praised her partner's accent, and the fact that "he seems to almost always remain calm, even during arguments".
Joanna, also from the USA, living in Skåne, wrote that her Swede "is willing to communicate with me when we are in a stressful situation. We find solutions together rather than trying to 'win'".
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Gender equality
Swedish society is egalitarian, with both partners expected to work and take equal responsibility for running the household. Many of our respondents - both male and female - mentioned different aspects of gender equality as being their favourite thing about dating their Swede.
"They don't believe women belong in the kitchen," Vicky wrote.
"The mentality: it’s OK for men to be the main cook at home," Alex said. "It’s OK that women can be breadwinners in the family."
"Gender equality!" Elena wrote. "I am Italian, he is Swedish."
"I love that too," Karen added, "but he wants to put ketchup on my homemade spaghetti sauce!"
Despite their habit of putting ketchup on spaghetti, many people also praised Swedes for "cooking so well".
Swedish gender equality can also be seen in the habit of splitting a bill 50/50 in a restaurant, something a lot of men commenting on our post were pleased about.
"As a straight man... splitting the bill!" Lachlan said. "That doesn't happen in the USA!"
A number of respondents also praised Swedish men for being "masculine but not macho", or being "masculine but not toxic", with one person saying they "become great dads".
Learning Swedish (or getting citizenship)
This may be an obvious point, but dating a Swede is a great way to improve your Swedish.
"If your partner is a Swede then you are using a cheat code to learn Swedish faster than all of us SFI-noobs," Taha said.
According to John, the best thing about dating a Swede is simply "an EU passport".
Living with a Swedish partner does make it easier to get Swedish citizenship by shortening the period of time needed to qualify - although we should point out here that you still need to fulfil other requirements in order to get Swedish citizenship.
Swedish culture
Many people responding to our question mentioned various aspects of Swedish culture as positives when dating a Swede.
One of these was Scott, who said Sweden has a "fantastic culture to be welcomed in", with "humble, pleasant and generally honest people".
Other aspects of Swedish culture that were greatly appreciated by partners of Swedes included, unsurprisingly, Swedish exports like Abba, Ikea and Volvo.
"They know all the lyrics to every Abba song," Jim wrote, with Lee adding that "they're not ashamed about it, that's the key".
"They can assemble Ikea furniture without a manual," Mike said, with Bella adding that the best thing is their ability to "translate all the names of the items from Ikea!"
Mahmoud said that Swedes "come with a Volvo by default", and Keely thought the best thing was "being introduced to Marabou [a chocolate brand], of course".
David wrote that his favourite thing about dating a Swede is "separate duvets". People sharing a bed in Sweden will usually each have their own duvet, rather than sharing a double duvet.
Derick said he appreciated the fact that you "always get the last slice of cake" most. Swedes will do whatever they can to avoid taking the last piece of cake on a plate, instead cutting it up in to smaller and smaller pieces until only a tiny sliver is left.
Calm and rational
Loren, who has been in Sweden for three years, said that, dating a Swede, there is "no drama and no pretensions, what you see is what you get", and Imra Lundberg from northern Sweden said that Swedes in that area are "usually very calm, don't get stressed easily and know how to party without going to the pub".
Gabriela added that it is "easy to have deep, interesting and smart conversations" with them, and Tim, from London, living in Stockholm, said that his partner is "open minded and non-judgemental".
One woman married to a Swede said that being with her spouse is great because of their "reliability and respect for my autonomy," and that they are "not loud, arrogant, or disrespectful".
Amanda from the USA praised her partner's accent, and the fact that "he seems to almost always remain calm, even during arguments".
Joanna, also from the USA, living in Skåne, wrote that her Swede "is willing to communicate with me when we are in a stressful situation. We find solutions together rather than trying to 'win'".
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