Swedish men and a little story of mine

I wanted to write another post about school. But seriously it's friday. That isn't a nice thing to think about on fridays.
 So we had this fun discussion today, when eating dinner and I had an experience today that triggered me to write this post.

Swedes are considered to be the prettiest nation in the world. No doubt. It is actually true, in my opinion. Like most people look way better than the average German. German people are also considered to be one of the uglier nations, so I guess I am not really objective. I would probably have a different opinion on it, if I was from Norway for example. I guess no point of view in this topic is objective though. So yes, the average Swede is handsome. And many of them do have in fact blue eyes and blonde hair. And really many people, in all ages, go to the gym. They are quite fit in general I'd say. Compared to what I'm used to from Germany.
But enough of these superficial things.
Now I'm gonna tell you the story that happened to me today. At lunch, there is usually a long queue. So today was just like every other day. You usually take as much food as you think you will need. Because if it is too little, you cannot really go back and take more food. It would just take too much time, you need to go to class and hey, it's raining outside! And the queue usually ends outside of the cafeteria. So there is just no way you can get more food. But today, we were really still starving after the first time we took food, so a friend and me decided to do something, that is a big no-no in Sweden. It probably is everywhere. But Swedes are very patient people. They stand in line without moaning. And if someone dares to cut the line, nobody will say anything. But the person will be killed with their looks, that stare him or her down. Knowing this, I was really, really scared. But I was also really hungry and my hunger was stronger than my fear and my willing to be a good Swede in this moment, So my friend and I found a good place where we thought, we could just sneak in. And we share our cafeteria with another school, that people who are not born in Sweden go to. So this guy from middle-east sees us trying to cut the line as sneaky as possible. And he just says in the little swedish he knows: Go ahead and he tells us with a hand gesture that we can have the place in front of him in the line. And his plate was still white and unused while our plates were dirty.
Seriously, I was so impressed. This is the nicest thing a stranger has done for me in a loooooong time. Cutting the line is like the rudest thing you can possibly do. My swedish friend was stunned as well. She said: "Wow, now I get why everyone says, Swedes are rude. No Swede would have ever done this." And she's right. I didn't understand why it is like this in the culture of Sweden. Why are there no gentlemen? And when we had a discussion about this with my family today, they said it is probably a result of equality. They have another image of women in middle-east. But in Sweden, everyone is equal. So why should men treat women like real gentlemen would? Doesn't that make them unequal? I was found it really delighting. And you know what? This is a point where you can see that refugees, that come from another culture aren't a threat to our culture. In fact, they might have the power to change it someday, being so many. But gentlemen are wonderful and I would be happy to have more of them in Germany or Sweden.

Back to Swedish men. Most of Swedish men are feminists. Yeah, it's not like they would have a choice, growing up in this culture that sees equality as its most important principle. But I think that is pretty good.
They are also well educated and the huge majority is interested in politics. Well, I haven't met a single person yet, that is not interested in politics. In Germany I know a couple of people who just don't care about it at all. How can you not care about it? About your rights as a person and your freedom?

Another thing that seems a little odd to me, but not in a negative way is, that if a girl and a guy go on a date, everyone pays for themselves often. I am saying often. Not everyone does that. Not everyone does that all the time. Whereas in many cultures (German culture as well) it is more common, that the guy pays. I am thinking, that that is also the result of equality.

I mean sure, gentlemen that pay for your food are great. But that restricts equality in a way. And we don't want that, do we?

Sportslov, february 25th 2016 and the week after

Hey. I wrote this text on february 25th during the vacation. I didn't have internet access for a while and when school started, I was really busy. But today it's friday :) 

It is sportslov right now, sportvacation. Yes, Sweden has a special vacation for winter sport. We came to Dalarna last Saturday, we live at the grandma's place. It's very nice. We do something everyday, but we also rest a lot, it's the perfect mix between both. We do some sport, we meet some people, we eat good food. We went skiing twice. It was the first time for me. In the beginning it was a total failure and I fell like 40 times. But after an hour, it went quite well J and I had lots of fun. We were super lucky with the weather. The sun shone on both days and I even got a little tan. We went out with the sledge. But got tired of it pretty quickly, because we had to climb the hill all the time. After skiing the day before, that was exhausting. So we had a little BBQ with the family and ate some sausages. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Swedish sausages, I'm used to the German sausages. But we had a really good time, it is so cozy having a BBQ in the snow. Today we will go ice skating and do something else on the ice. I forgot what it's called. [it is called spark] I might post pictures later. J

Have a good day everyone

Franziska

The day after we went to a nice swimming bath in Dalarna. It was nice and somehow calming. They had pretty cool slides also. Oh and we took the cat with us to Dalarna. She was in the appartment the whole time. We had to put her in the car and that wasn't an easy thing to do. And she is not a nice cat. She scratches us with her claws and bites. My poor hostsister Eva had to carry her on the way to the car. 

Going back after the holiday wasn't a fun thing to do. The vacation was nice. Some sport, some time off, spending time with the family. But now everyday life starts again, which means I have a lot to do for school, I am more stressed and I have less time to enjoy things.

But that's just life. Oh and the weather. I always talk about the weather, right? Well a couple of days ago it was really pretty. It was not really cold, and the sun shone a lot. I felt so much more energetic, the sun is so powerful. Especially after all these months without sun. But now it's bad again unfortunately. The snow and ice is slowly melting. So there is ice and there are puddles. And the combination of both can be really dangerous. The sky is gray and it's raining. Not fun. But seriously? I have seen worse. Sweden made me become inured to cold weather. 

The weather isn't really good in Germany either, is it? We all need spring to come. Very soooon. Like right now!