American Influences

During a week in which Americans are commanded by the Constitution to eat obscene amounts of food and show our gratitude for all that we have, I think I should give thanks to America and all the ways that it influences my life, as well as the life of the average Swede, here in Sweden. First off, US culture has a more significant influence on Swedish culture than I expected. Yes, they like to make fun of me for being ignorant about other countries and not speaking other languages, but this is mostly in jest and they understand that for a country the size of Europe, it's really not needed to speak another language and we have enough geography of our own to learn. I could equate me not knowing the name of the political leader of Denmark to them not knowing who the governor of Alabama is (not that I actually know or care who the governor of Alabama is, but it's kind of the same idea). Movies, television, and popular music (no country music, unfortunately) are pretty much exactly the same here as in America (i.e., made in Hollywood), and movies and television are almost always shown in English with Swedish subtitles. There are a few Swedish TV programs, but I don't think they are very popular compared to American shows. A surprising number of the Swedes that I've met have spent some time in the US studying, and as a result of this and the non-dubbed television and movies, there are a lot of Swedish people who sound very American when they are speaking English. Not being much of a cinephile myself, I usually find that the Swedish people I talk to know a lot more about American TV and movies than I do.

I mentioned in an earlier post that the American election was all over the news here, and for the couple of months leading up to it, the first question people would ask me upon learning that I'm American was what are my thoughts on the election. As an American, I'm obviously an expert on it, right? Well, this led me to want to satisfy their expectations, and I followed the election and the news coverage pretty closely. A few days before the election I learned about a "Democrats Abroad" chapter here in Gothenburg, and they hosted an election night "watch" party, which I thought would be fun to check out. I went there around 10pm (4pm ET), expecting to only stay for an hour or two, but I ended up staying all night until an hour after the networks called Ohio (like 6:30am our time). The party had lots of food and drinks, and they even had an American trivia game to help us pass the time in the early part of the night. There were probably around 25 people in attendance - they were not all American, but that night I think I met more Americans than I had in the previous six months of being here (which was probably about 5 - there really aren't many of us in Gothenburg). Most of the people who were there have lived here in Sweden for a long time and moved for a spouse or a job - there were probably 3 or 4 people around my age, but I think only one of them was actually American and the others were either very interested in American politics or were friends with other people there.

One of those people was a Swedish girl who went to college in Oregon, and a couple of weeks later (i.e., Thursday) she hosted a big Thanksgiving dinner and invited me. It was really nice - she and a friend spent a day and a half cooking and had everything one would expect for Thanksgiving. There was turkey and gravy and stuffing and sweet potato casserole and vegetables and cranberry sauce, and for dessert there was apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, bread pudding, and apple crumble. I ate entirely too much, and it was delicious. I think there were three of us there from America, and about 15 other people from the host's masters degree program at the local business school. So, for those of you who asked if I celebrated Thanksgiving, the answer is yes. In general, though, Swedes don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and many of them don't know much about it as a holiday.

Speaking about holidays, I should mention the Fourth of July and Halloween. No, they don't celebrate July 4th here (duh), but I certainly did. My friend Jenn from Michigan was visiting that week, and we had a little barbecue in my front yard to celebrate America. It was actually really nice - we made hamburgers and veggies on a grill and drank some American whiskey and played some patriotic music. We went out to a bar afterward and I wore my American flag and Jenn wore an awesome American flag shirt that she found at a mall in Budapest (where we were traveling previously). All in all, it felt like we did July 4th right. Regarding Halloween, from what I've heard this wasn't really celebrated in Sweden until a few years ago. Now, due mostly to American TV and movies (I think), the Swedes are starting to celebrate it, and there were a few parties around town the weekend of Halloween. I even heard about one of my colleagues with kids taking them trick-or-treating. I didn't go to any of the parties or dress up myself, but it is notable that this holiday (which doesn't actually deal with America like Thanksgiving and July 4th) has caught on over here.

Well, I think that's enough patriotism for now.  Go USA!

Steven