Välkommen (Welcome) !
Welcome to the Becoming Swedish website! This project started out to be a way for me to share my own story and experiences, but it will also include forums on topics associated with all aspects of immigrating to Sweden, integrating in Sweden, and Swedish citizenship. I hope that it can be of use to many new people who are coming to Sweden when trying to find themselves here, or of use for those we have left behind to understand what we are actually going through.
This page isn’t just to idealize Sweden, or to vilify my birth country (or any other country). Every country has their pros and cons. I mean to “tell it like it really is” in everything that I write. And I expect everyone on this page to be respectful of each other.
Of course, my experiences will be different from those experiences of other people. In some ways, it is easier for me–I not only LOOK Swedish (white skin with blond hair), but I also have a Swedish last name by birth (although with an Americanized spelling). However, those same factors present me with their own challenges and pressures. We should never judge someone else’s struggles–we can never know their personal circumstances fully. At the end of the day, we are each just trying to find and develop our own identity in this new country that we want to call our home. And in doing that, we are all trying to learn what it means to be Swedish and to become Swedish.
I am a Swedish-American. Every day, I feel more Swedish in some way. But every day, I am also reminded of just how far I have left to go to truly becoming Swedish.