Stockholm was my first love at first sight. I moved here in 2006 after a particularly long and cold winter. The day I arrived, it was a bright blue sunny sky, with a temperature just around freezing. I walked around these incredibly beautiful snow covered islands and over the frozen lake mälaren. I almost crossed over the ice between the islands of södermalm to kungsholmen, about 300 meters or so, but I chickened-out about half way through and turned back. I could have made it. There were fresh tracks from other people who had made it across that I was following. I’ve never seen the lake in kind condition since - Just one of the small regrets in life.
I work in IT and Stockholm has been fantastic for my career. The Scandinavian countries are well-known for their advanced digitalization. Being a foreigner with a particularly non-Swedish approach to problem solving has helped me a great deal.
I grew up in Australia but I’ve also lived and worked in London, Copenhagen and Singapore. One of the things I learned after living in as many places as I have, is that it’s as personal as your taste in music, or food, or anything else.
Stockholm and Sweden is not without it’s problems though. Immigration is screwed up, taxes are high, and there are parts of the city I avoid. But no where is perfect. I know the problems here and I prefer them to the problems I’ve had living in other places.
One of the things I was most surprised with when I visited there was that it seemed like it was a vastly lower percentage of cigarette smokers, I kept walking around wondering somethings different, and then I realized, people weren’t smoking! I later looked up the statistics online just to see if I was just imagining it, it appears that I was not.
16 years, also knew about it. Although didn't know it went past Arlanda. I'm married to a Stockholmer. They are not as fun as us anglo-saxons, but have different qualities.
