Swedish culture

This might be the most shocking part of moving to Sweden.
When you might have met Swedes abroad of they have have moved to your city and your thinking ummm I wonder how Sweden would be to live. You have to understand Swedes behave different when abroad. Ok I will get a few basics you need to know, otherwise you will be considered the weird foreigner.

1) 'hej hej!' Learn it, practice it, you will be saying this allot. This is all that is required when you accidentally bump into your neighbour. No how you doing? come in for a cup of tea? and most certainly do not introduce yourself omg, they will call the police on your ass.

2) Most Swedes do not even think about being social, unless they are drunk. Yes you read correctly. Without alcohol they are going to be shy, cold, empty, etc etc etc and many other stereo types you have heard about Swedish people.

3) Summer time Stockholm is ghost town. The Swedes will ALL take their vacations in the summer, which means the majority of people walking around in Stockholm are tourists thinking ooooh isnt it calm and beautiful here? Yes! people nobody is there! They are all in their summer houses.

4) Closed and shallow. Yes the Swedes are very closed people, you cannot ask for someone elses number for example as in Sweden when another local knows their telephone number you can find out where they live, how much they earn, how many pets they have, how many houses they own, what car they drive what their income is ect ect. Yes you read correctly, there is NO privacy in Sweden, in fact its in the countries constitution NOT to be allowed privacy. You can understand how spotify came from Sweden now? They first started copying and making publicly available what people need to pay, then they got shut down and they came up with the charge per month idea and rest is history.
Anyhow, the result in this no privacy law makes everyone closed and scared to socialise.

5) Women. The Swedish women can appear to the outside world as extremely flirtatious, inviting in fact. You will no doubt at some stage if your a man get talking to a woman and get the impression this woman is highly into you and its time to make a move on her. Well sorry guys think again. Swedish women are naturally flirtatious but it doesnt mean they want you. Its just the way Swedish women are. This i have heard from many people is the biggest misconception.

6) Thinking of finding someone in Sweden and settling down? Think again. Its not uncommon for people to be 3 to 5 years single. Why? Sweden has even a word for being together without marrying due to the lowest marriage rates in Europe. In Sweden, even if your not married, if a woman lives with you and you break up your relation after a year or so, she is entitled by law to 50% of your home. YES even if your  not even married! How about that for being different? So again you can understand why people are even more careful who they allow into their lives.

7) Feminism isnt a concept here its the strongest here than anywhere else in the world. The government is mostly women, leaders and influences are mostly women. Most companies have at least 50% women and often more in the workforce.

8) Fika is important. Sweden takes pride in taking breaks at work and places an emphasis on family and work life balance. The most highest taxes in Europe reflect this.

9) Learn Swedish. Without being able to speak Swedish, there will only be so far you can socialise, even when surrounded by drunken Swedes

10) Take care of your appearance. There is no other place in the world that places such a high importance on their appearance more than Sweden. Go to the gym, eat healthy, talk clean and be a good upstanding citizen, you will be judged heavily on how you behave here, its a small city and people talk.(even more when they drunk)