Hello and welcome to Swedish Freak!
You have stumbled (but not so haphazardly, I do hope) upon our Swedish website, which is intended to provide a safe haven for Sweden-lovers, or potential Sweden-lovers, as the case may be.
Do you have an undying love of Sweden, or an obsession with the Swedish culture? Are you as of yet not quite sure if you love Sweden, but are interested in learning more about Sweden, the Swedish language, and Swedes? In either case, you have come to the right place!
The Beginning of Swedish Freak: Hilary
I’m Hilary, aka Missfoster, an American who moved to Skellefteå, Sweden in April 2010.
You may ask yourself, why would anybody want to move to this small town way up north, where moose outnumber people (well, that isn’t completely true, but feels like it sometimes) and it gets -40C during the winter (that part, sadly, is true).
Love, of course! And while love of a certain Swede moved me to this small town, it is the love of Sweden itself that built this website.
This is the second time in my life I’ve moved all of my possessions to a new and foreign country. I didn’t know much about Sweden before I came to visit there, except that ABBA came from Sweden, they are blond and blue eyed, and have something to do with IKEA. But as my experiences grew, so did my knowledge of this fabulous country and wonderful culture.
In January of 2012, while love was still there, it was realized that perhaps a life long partnership was not in our future. So I left Sweden, but I didn’t lose my love for this amazing country and decided to grow this website and have Swedish Freaks from around the world write about Sweden and its complete and utter awesomeness. So while this small site started with my small love, it is growing into a giant love for an amazing country!
About Alessio
Alessio was born in 1985 in the town of Marsciano, in the beautiful umbrian countryside and then he was raised for most of his years in Rome.
He studied high school as an IT and later on studied engineering for a while to then change his mind and start a new career as a professional pilot, which brought him first in Florida and then to Sweden.
He loves cooking more than eating (he has a professional cooking diploma) and he got interested in Sweden because of the big offer in ethnic and vegetarian food.
He is currently living in Stockholm and the only thing he misses of Italy is his Ducati motorbike and his dog, Nikita.
About Leslie
Yes, I'm wearing multiple jackets in the middle of July, but how can I complain when I'm digging into a smörgås or two? My name is Leslie and I'm not Swedish myself; rather, my mother is to thank for this condition of being not Swedish but not fully American either. Like so many of my "second generation" brothers and sisters I'm always searching for those elusive roots! My forthcoming novel, The Bear Wife, is inspired by that search, as is my writing for Swedish Freak. Trevligt att träffas!
About Thomas
Thomas is a retired IT professional, who lives alone with his golden retriever Ziggy Stardust in a small townhouse in a small town in the southern half of Sweden. He has two grown-up kids and at least five grandkids – "as far as I know".
Thomas enjoys daily long walks with Ziggy in the forests around town, he loves cooking for his guests, and he likes to make things with his hands. He says he loves good food, good wine, people who smile and make him smile.
Having spent most of his life developing things, methods and organizations, he's passionately interested in all kinds of technology, natural science, politics,... anything that raises a problem, whether it can be solved or not. Consequently, he is consistently short of time.
While he was professionally active, he lived in San Francisco a few years, working as software engineer down in Silicon Valley. He claims that he did leave his heart in San Francisco, and is constantly planning to go back and pick it up. Quoting Hoagy Carmichael's Hong Kong Blues, he says "... every time I try to leave, sweet opium won't let me fly away... ...i.e. my opium is Sweden, my kids, my dog, my friends, my forest,... you know, I'm Swedish."
Everything Swedish: Pulling Out All the Stops
As we endeavor to do a variety of wild and wacky things here, and consequently encounter the Swedish culture, we will update with Swedish cuisine and recipes, books by Swedish authors, films made in Sweden, or anything else distinctly Swedish.
So far, we have started to add reviews of Swedish books, reviews of Swedish movies, and a few Swedish recipes! For those of you daring enough to learn the Swedish language, we have also put together an amazing list of resources for learning Swedish online for free.
We do hope to hear from our readers, so if you have any questions about Sweden, the Swedish language, or anything else having to do with Sweden, then please feel free to drop us a note or leave a comment. Think we missed something great? Let us know!
How Swedish Are You?
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