Henrique: Is Sweden that different?

When I fi rst 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 the “Freguesia do Ó”, a suburban neighborhood. It may not be as crowded as the city center and more overpopulated area, but it is the kind of place where you get used to neighbors yelling “Bom dia!” (“Good morning!”).

Here in Örebro, on the contrary, the public transportation is 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.

In Brazil it may look intrusive and uncomfortable for those who don’t like physical touch, but we are more used to being more invasive in the way we care about people. In Sweden I would say people are more individualistic because they don’t want to make another one feel invaded. If someone needs help they will provide, but you should ask for it. 🤷

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.Also, in Brazil we can be invited to stay for long periods of time in someone's place, while here people will just say they are leaving. ⏰

The study routine in ÖrU is pretty ‘Lagom’ (how they say). There are plenty of activities to do, and it’ll depend on how balanced you can make yourself about balancing your time (and if you want to know what a student routine looks like, I suggest you watch our video: Things to do on campus at ÖrU).

So is it that different?

There are many different things from a culture that is 8 thousand kilometers apart, yes. But I would say that I love to fi nd 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.