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Five ways to cure homesickness as a German in Stockholm

Sweden is beautiful and Stockholm a lovely and exciting city to live in, but for foreigners it can still feel like it's missing something from time to time. Thankfully German The Local contributor Nicole Zerrer has figured out how to cure her homesickness while studying in Stockholm.

Published: 12 June 2017 11:11 CEST
Five ways to cure homesickness as a German in Stockholm
Moving from one capital to the other can be as exciting as challenging. Photo: ultrakreativ/Depositphotos

Moving from Berlin to Stockholm was not a culture shock, but sometimes I still feel like a foreigner in the wrong place and have the need for a homey feeling from time to time. I actually met some of my close German friends here in Stockholm while buying pretzels at Lidl. But I figured out other places to meet Germans or get some German culture while still living in Stockholm. Here’s a free prescription to cure the homesickness.

READ ALSO: Eight ways Germany and Sweden are miles apart

Shopping at Lidl, Media Markt and finding Club Mate

As soon as you enter Lidl the chances are high that you’ll hear some German, and you can finally get a proper pretzel, which could be a nice alternative to all the cinnamon buns and kladdkaka you’re having on the other days during fika. A nice side effect: it doesn’t just feel like going grocery shopping in Germany, it also almost feels like paying a bill in a German supermarket, money wise.

On a personal note, I’m just as happy to have discovered a reliable source to get Club Mate, a caffeinated mate-extract beverage: the Ica supermarket at Folkungagatan is officially saving German hipster reputations (other Stockholm supermarkets also stock the drink). It's just across from Lidl, which can’t be a coincidence. People who are more enthusiastic about electronics than food should try Media Markt for a similar effect.

READ ALSO: Five irks and quirks for a Czech in Sweden


Make Lidl your comfort zone. Photo: Hasse Holmberg/TT

Find likeminded Germans online

For some general small talk, more advice on how to survive as a German in Stockholm, and to find out which pub is showing your favourite football team’s game, try the Facebook group “Deutsche in Stockholm” or “Tyskar i Sverige.”

READ ALSO: 14 things that shock French people about Sweden


Through the “Deutsche in Stockholm” Facebook group Germans are connecting within the Swedish capital. Photo: Leif R Jansson/TT
 

Enjoy a traditional German dinner

Returning to food, to get a German meal like bratwurst, spätzle or schweinshaxe served along with a weissbier and a schnaps for dessert, visit to the Bierhaus on Tegnérgatan in Stockholm’s Vasastan.

For a quicker fix, visit Günter's korvar, a traditional bratwurst stand founded by a German and also located in Vasastan.

READ ALSO: Eight strange things that surprised this Brit about Sweden


Traditional German Bratwurst and Sauerkraut at the Bierhaus in Vasastan. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT
 

Connect with back home during the summer months

The easiest way to cure homesickness would be to just book a ticket and travel home to Germany. Though that might sound like letting the homesickness take over, during summer it can be a good idea since most of your Swedish friends are going to be off on vacation for a whole month anyway.

READ ALSO: Ten Swedish phrases you only hear in summer


Several Airplanes leave daily from Stockholm Arlanda Airport to Germany. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

 

Join a German community in Stockholm

For those in need of a stronger and more long-term German culture treatment without travelling back home, my advice is to get involved with German communities in Stockholm.

The Stockholm German Church, Sankta Gertruds kyrka (or St. Gertrudes Gemeinde in German) offers German language services and a lot of opportunities to volunteer and attend events.

To find a German community not based on religion, events organized by the Goethe Institute can be attended if you want to meet other Germans or at least people that are interested in German culture and language.

For university students, it’s important (and easy) to join the student union and their international programmes, chances are around 99.99 percent that you’ll meet fellow German students.

READ ALSO: Ten ways being an international student in Sweden changes you


Meeting up with other Germans to chat and laugh in the mother tongue. Photo: Simon Paulin/imagebank.sweden.se

For members

READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

READ ALSO:

Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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