I am aware of them. They’re about as Swedish as Papa Doc’s right big toe, though.
here, Ikea is a marvelous store for browsing and picking up gadgets you didn’t even know you needed (let alone existed!). Or it’s a reasonably priced furniture store where you can bring your purchases home and spend many fun hours with an Allen key.
What’s the impression of Ikea in Sweden?
Is there an outlet or two in every city?
Pretty much the above. You go there to buy something and come out with that and a cartful of things you came across. It’s cheap, good, accessible.
In the bigger cities, yeah.
IKEA is both these things. Every Swede laments the “I only went in for a lamp!” syndrome you describe, but it’s also a handy place to pick up your furniture. Noone I know thinks anything of having to put it together, it’s really not that complicated.
Visiting IKEA is an event, literally that is, a survey asked “what are you going to do on your holidays” and amongst the usual “visit the zoo”, “go to the seaside” one of the most common answers was “doing IKEA”.
With regards to how many per city, a lot less than you think. There are 17 in Sweden, with both Stockholm and Gothenburg having two each. The others are spaced not neccessarily in the largest cities but where they gain most coverage, people are prepared to travel. My local IKEA for many years was the original in Älmhult, which I visited with a sence of appropriate reverence. It was about 2 hours drive away. People living way up in Norrland (northern Sweden) can take specially arranged charter-flights to IKEA in Sundsvall I think it is.
My love IKEA.
Thanks, I was most interested in a general perspective. It certainly sounds like its more popular there than here but, I’m quite surprised that there’s a noticeable difference between in it’s popularity between Sweden and Norway. I may be interested in hearing what your unabashed metalhead friend has to say about that. 
I think sort of highlights something else. As an American, I have to admit I sort of clump all of the Scandinavian countries together as having very similar cultures. Then again, the only places I ever really seem to get any exposure to any Scandinavian county’s culture is where it involves all of it like metal, strongman/power-lifting competitions, etc. The only real differences with which I am familiar is the obvious Viking influence on Norway, and the dark impressions that a lot of people get from the Swedish arts (as with the term “too Swedish” particularly pertaining to films). What do you see as the primary cultural differences?
No question, I just wanted to say that I’m creating quite an itinerary for myself:
Iceland; Scotland; Norway, Sweden and (I suppose since I’m “there” anyway) Finland.
I have to find a way to make more money. 
And may I say this to all our “foreign correspondents”? Your English is beautiful; I envy your easy fluency in more than one language.
ETA: I did think of a few questions: what of the suicide rate in Sweden? Isn’t it higher than other EU countries (using EU to stand for European; I know Sweden isn’t in the EU). What about alcoholism?
[nitpick]Sweden IS in the EU, but doesn’t use the Euro[/nitpick]
I’ll have a go at this one.
Metal is pretty mainstream in Sweden. This means bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden are listened to by all kinds of people in all kinds of ages. It’s definitely not something that will give you a social stigma - rather, I think it has a sort of working class pathos these days. Metal is to people born in the 70’s what Bruce Springsteen is to people born in the 60’s (or something). So, your “regular” heavy metal is probably not quite as popular as mainstream rock or pop, but pretty close. Iron Maiden play here all the time, apparently because they are recieved so well. 
Black metal, doom metal, death metal - that stuff isn’t as popular but it still has a wide audience. The days of moral panic over metal seem to be over. If you show up at school in death metal T-shirts, corpse paint and inverted crosses around your neck you’ll get a snicker from your teacher, at the most (that’s what I got).
I’m not sure how widespread it is in the media since I don’t watch TV or listen to the radio, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s commonplace.
Ah-I took Sunspace’s comment re “joining the euro” to mean the EU, not the currency.
I don’t think there’s more of a Viking influence in Norway than in Sweden, and the perception of the “darkness” of Swedish film is almost entirely due to the international success of one man: Ingmar Bergman. He is not typical.
Take Sweden and Denmark. They’re the libertarian happy-go-lucky types by comparison, selling booze in ordinary grocery stores and permitting prostitution. We sell alcohol only in special stores and have laws against prostitution. They see us as leading boring lives suffering under oppression, and we see them as irresponsible types plagued by social problems. I won’t say there’s no truth in it. For young Swedes living close to Denmark, going to Denmark to get blitzed and make an ass of yourself is a major pastime.
Sweden is actually in the EU. I’ve heard the suicide rate thing many times but I’ve never seen any support for it. When I have time I’ll try and find a cite.
All I’ve ever heard is that we have lower rates of alcoholism than most of Europe. Again, will look for cite when I have time.
Mats Sundin?
I’ll have to ask around. Thanks.
Do you separate ‘physical education’ from ‘team sports’? In my personal experience, ‘phys. ed.’ was a disaster because it did not teach me actual physical education–how to listen to and control my own body–but rather threw me out onto sports fields without teaching me the rules of the game! I’ve spent 15 years and more rebuilding myself from the effects of that disaster, and now I go to a gym regularly. If I had had classes that were the equivalent of that gym when I was in school, my life would have been far better.
It’s interesting that you mention the States in this context. To me, the US President is an example of the bad things that happen when the symbolic Head of State is merged with the practical and political Head of Government.
The President of the United States of America is both a Symbol and a Mortal. As a Mortal, a politician, he should be responsible for the acts of his administration, and should be prepared to take a beating in the halls of power defending his choices. However, as a Symbol, he takes on part of the Majesty of the Nation, and therefore is sacrosanct, and must not be reviled.
Unfortunately, these two traits are in complete opposition. What seems to happen is that it is becoming more difficult to question the president’s worldly political choices. This is very bad for a democracy. Ask an American: if the president called you and asked you to do something, would you do it just because it was The President asking? Would you ask questions? Demand an explanation?
At least in Canada, our head of Government, the prime Minister, gets regularly questioned in front of Parliament. And our de-facto Head of State lives in an estate in Ottawa and goes to other countries and has nice photo-ops. (We managed to get a completely-different country to pay for our monarchy. That has to be up there in the list of Great Political Feats… 
)
Yup. Sweet mother of mercy, is he still playing? Wasn’t he big in like the early nineties?
By physical education I meant everything you did in school that had to do with exercise and sports.
Agreed. There was a smattering of nutrition but very little practical advice, just doing rather than learning.
This is not my perception, but I’m not very close to the situation. I do not believe it’s an inescapable consequence, especially not in Sweden; we’re not big on the Majesty of the Nation and the King is certainly not beyond being reviled.
How is the Canadian de-facto head of state selected? My big problem - well, one of my big problems - with monarchy is that it’s an inherited position. We have one family that has some rights no-one else has and lacks some rights everyone else has.
If you have to spend 6 months in a warm country , where would you go ?? why ??
Might be Italy, because I just love the place. Roman ruins next to modern buildings. History in every square inch. Gelato. Or New Zealand, because I’ve heard nothing but good about it, Xena was made there, and I’ve always wanted to go.
Priceguy, et.al., Very interesting thread, thanks.
I live and work in Texas (Dallas area), but my employer, TAC, is based in Malmö. Have you heard of it? Also, is it true as is rumored around the office, that many if not most Swedes take a month long holiday in the summer?
Also, just to pass on my observations on all things Svenska I’ve made over the years:
All the Swedes I’ve met have been unfailingly polite, helpful, and above average in looks.
I’ve never met an overweight Swede.
I’m amazed and bemused that this one country exported both ABBA and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Swedes really enjoy Texas winters, but really, really dislike the summers. While they are diplomatic about it, it’s obvious that a string of 100+°F (38°C) days is not pleasant for them, although some of the long-term Swedes claim to have adapted to the point that they find our winters a little chilly. A few have even considered buying a coat :).
Your descriptions of the place make me want to visit, in the summer, of course. Now I have to figure out how to get transferred to a department that will get me sent there for training 
.
The World Health Organization has a whole list of reports on suicide by country, including rates per 100,000 over the past fifty years. Here’s a sampling of the latest data:
Lithuania (2005): 38.6
Russian Federation (2005) 32.2
Latvia (2005): 24.5
Estonia (2005): 20.3
Finland (2006): 20.1
France (2005) 17.6
Poland (2005): 15.8
Czech Rep (2005): 15.3
Denmark (2001): 13.6
Sweden (2002): 13.2
Germany (2004): 13.0
Norway (2005): 11.5
Iceland (2005): 11.2
US (2005): 11.0
Netherlands (2004): 9.3
Italy (2003) 7.1
UK (2005): 6.7
Israel (2003): 6.2
Georgia (2001): 2.2
So as you can see, Sweden is nowhere near the highest in the world; it isn’t even the worst in Scandinavia, to say nothing of Europe as a whole.
And yes, Virginia - there are ugly and overweight Swedes.
I have the same problem at my work. Our European office is in the South of France. 
The de-facto Head of State in Canada is the Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, who is selected by the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, ‘on the advice’ of the Prime Minister (the Head of Government). Translation: the Queen [del]does what the PM says[/del] accedes to the PM’s request. The whole process is a direct outgrowth of the British system, and is consequently constrained by centuries of tradition.
The GG serves as the monarch’s representative in Canada, and exerts the monarch’s authority. She grants Royal Assent to laws which have been approved by the Senate or the House of Commons, and summons Parliament to form new governments. These duties are theoretically powerful, but are again constrained by tradition, and are effectively rubber stamps.
We don’t actually think about this all that much. Partly this is because the Queen and the Royal Family live in Britain, and we don’t have any actual Canadian-based royal family or peerage (earls, barons, knights, etc). There is no Duke of Toronto, for example. Furthermore, the Canadian Crown as the source of sovereignty is now theoretically separate from that of the UK, so Canada could choose to eliminate it without disturbing the Royal Family at their other duties in other countries. (Although I presume that the Queen would get a polite letter.) Canada could theoretically set up its own monarchy, set up no monarchy, set up a republic, or do something unique.
Nitpick: that should read “the Senate and the House of Commons.” A bill must pass both houses before it becomes a law–and even if the Senate is encouraged by the Government to just rubber-stamp it, the bill must still pass three votes in the Senate.
Don’t think so, no.
Yes. We have around six weeks vacation per year, and traditionally four of those are taken in a single block during the summer.
You’ve been lucky.
You’ve been hanging around Swedish health clubs.