"I come from the land Down Under, where beer does flow and men chunder..."
I’ve now been here in Sydney for about four days, and now that my jetlag is gone I have managed to do so many things! Jake, the oldest son in the house that is the same age as I am, has taken on the task of showing me around Sydney, and teaching me more about the Australian culture. In return, I tell him and the rest of the family and their friends about the life in Sweden, and I can tell you that there are some pretty funny prejudices about Sweden! For example, one of the first things that Adam asked me (the youngest son) at dinner the first night, was whether we had polar bears in our gardens often or if they just come around occasionally, just as they have snakes. Unfortunately we don’t, I answered him, but we do have reindeers up North just like the ones Santa has! That seemed to get his mind off the fact that we don’t have polar bears walking the streets, but instead brought us onto the topic of climate. Many of the people I’ve met are astounded by the fact that we manage to survive in the cold here up in Scandinavia. I, on the other hand, am blown away by the fact that the Aussies survive in the heat that’s down here! They also seem to think that all Swedes are blonde (which many of us are), that we’re complete freaks about our health, and that we’re very quiet, friendly and almost a bit scared of being angry, and definitely scared about doing anything wrong! It was very interesting to hear these thoughts, and to share my own as well. We had many great laughs at some of these prejudices, and we shattered some of them as well! I will most definitely not see myself and Swedes in the same way again…!
I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
//Alicia
