Henrique: Is Sweden that different?

When I first arrived in September 2024, I confess I was afraid of being inconvenient when I was getting too close (physically) to someone. Was a handshake too formal? Do they hug here? Why “hej hej” instead of just “hej”?! Eventually I found some answers that I want to share right here:

Personal space? Never heard about it.

So, I am “paulistano”, a person who was born in São Paulo, which is the biggest metropolis in all Latin America. I was raised precisely in “Freguesia do Ó”, a suburban neighborhood. It may not be as crowded and turbulent as the city center, but instead it is the kind of place where you get used to neighbors yelling “Bom dia!” (“Good morning!”).

Here in Örebro, on the contrary, people don’t look at each other in the street and busses are commonly “empty” (as we say in Brazil when you have a place to sit 💀). I noticed couples don’t walk holding hands and closer friends may just nod their head when they meet.

Brazilians may look intrusive for those who don’t like physical touch, but we are used to being more invasive in the way we care about people. In Sweden the reason why I feel they are more individualistic (or less touchy) is because they don’t want to risk making another person feel uncomfortable. If someone needs help they will provide, but you should ask for it. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Photo: City bus in Örebro

Let’s meet at 3pm… or something like this…

Let’s say you scheduled a meeting with a friend at 3pm. In Brazilian culture this would be translated to “anytime around 3”, meaning in some cases that we could meet even at 4pm and this would be ok.

Here in Örebro it is different. I can get to anywhere in almost the same predictable way, so punctuality is valued. A funny thing, in Brazil we may say “goodbye” a few times before leaving a place, while in Sweden people will just say they are leaving and wave goodbye. ⏰

The study routine at ORU is pretty ‘Lagom’ (how they say). There are plenty of activities to do, and it’ll depend on how you find your own balance (and if you want to know what a student routine looks like, I suggest you watch our video: Things to do on campus at ORU).

So is it that different?

Photo: Örebro, Sweden

There are many different things from a culture that is 8 thousand kilometers apart, yes. But I would say that I love to find out small similarities that we have between each other.

Maybe different doesn't mean better. My Brazilian heart misses the chaos, but my Swedish-trained mind craves silence.