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Diana Naumenko 1 ICC

Joint paper.

It is always challenging to get to know something new about people, cultures, counties, the way

they live, behave and react in different situation. y general knowledge about !weden could be

described in several tag words" #I$%&', #(olvo', #!ony %rricson', #)aindeer'. *or sure I knew

basic information about them" they belong to !candinavian nation and ethnic group native to

!weden and Nordic countries, climate is more or less stable +warm in summer and cold in

winter, also I had superficial knowledge about their -oy and pride music and film industry,

literature and architecture, but that/s not enough to say # I know what it is like in !weden',because I had no idea who are those people, who live in the country where &lfred Nobel and

0ippi ongstocking were born.

2hen firstly finding out about peculiarities of !weden I found out a lot of information about

traditions, various celebrations and fancy things that actually form country/s culture as it is.

!wedes are nature romantics, as they call themselves. 3hey are very concerned about preserving

the ecology and recycling. It is obligatory to sort out your garbage in to 14 different types of

litter. 3hat seemed a bit weird to me, until I reali5ed how much they care about environment and

ecology.

I also found a lot of resources evidencing that !wedes are reserved as most of the northern

cultures. 3hey do not tend to be very openminded and friendly, like !panish or Italians are,

especially with foreigners. 3hough it is considered to be shortcoming, I found it nice, because to

all of us sometimes it seems a bit hard to get ac6uainted with something new. oreover, as they

tend to say, with a help of alcohol !wedes turn to be more outgoing and easy to chat with.

!wedes generally do not buy houses or apartments, but rent them, as they tend to move all

around !weden or even %urope throughout their life. !ome !wedes even move to 3hailand,

when they are retired and usually tired of cold !wedish winter.

%ating habits do not differ a lot, rather than !wedish people try to eat healthy as much as

possible and they do eat a lot7 3hey also have a fancy tradition called #*ika', which is a cup of

coffee and a cinnamon roll. 3his coffee breaks are made all the time throughout the day, for

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e8ample when you are stuck with an essay or a pro-ect. 9ou can also ask out anyone for #fika',a

friend, a girl you/ve -ust met or even a teacher.

It was also interesting to find out that !wedes usually pay a lot of attention to the eti6uette. *or

e8ample" being invited, make sure you are on time, dressed properly, try not to show that you are

curious+ if they want, they/ll tell and show everything to you themselves don/t be pushy. 3hey

consider essential that a person knows table manners and accept the fact that they care a lot about

their personal space. oreover, a person should be careful with presenting !wedes with a gift. It

is suggested to take practically the same gifts you would give in :nited $ingdom + flowers,

bottle of wine, bo8 of chocolates, but one should keep in mind that white lilies and

chrysanthemums are usually given at funerals.

*inally, I would like to say how !wedes spend their leisure. It usually depends on the city, townor countryside. In big cities like ;othenburg people + specially our peers prefer to spend their

free evenings clubbing or visiting various concerts that are held every single day or sitting and

en-oying themselves in cafes, pubs and restaurants. I should also point out the attitude of

!wedes to their famous )ock festivals and concerts +almost every genre is presented there,

cause since the second half of ow we spend

our days >ow we spend our lives'. I found these things a lot like they are in )ussia and that is

always very nice not -ust to notice differences, but also common things.

3o sum up, I can say that it was a real pleasure to discover a new culture which is far from

)ussian, but yet has many things in common.