very true. Although I live in Sweden now, I'm actually from Bulgaria. In my culture, the norm is to not stand out especially if you're an adult. Tattoos, weird clothing, different hair.. it;s frowned upon. Sometimes it can make certain people lash out of they are a gang for example. Mostly the norm is for behavior and it's enforced by parents and close adults. I have been told to respect teachers no matter what, but when the teacher is on facebook instead of teaching, respect really doesn't come easy. But that is the overall norm: respect no matter what, never state your opinion loudly, and never take a lead in speaking ill about people even if they blatantly deserve it. Sheeple, basically, is the norm. In Sweden it seems to be similar: be quiet and do not show bad mood. People are sugary sweet here, esp. in stores but it's kinda see-through. It must be hard, I'm sure, to have to hide it so much.
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I think in every culture there are certain norms which you should follow and some things that force you pretend to be something that you're not. Lucky for us, they are not always as strict, like even though in Sweden they have some things that you are expected to do - if you live differently, you don't get your head chopped off, like in some other countries it could be possible.
In Finland, it's common that people hide their good mood and happiness, as it might be seen as arrogance and pride ;)
wow, that's the complete opposite of what I've noticed so far in Sweden and what it was like in my home country. I'm the kind of person that smiles at strangers and says ''good morning''. I guess in Finland people wouldn't like that. In Bulgaria, old ladies lke it when I wish them a good day. These are things travel site simply cannot tell you about. Thanks.
Well it's not 100% true, but Finland and Sweden are somewhat different about this. It is a common joke in Finland, that if someone smiles in the streets, the one smiling is either drunk, crazy or a foreigner.
Finland is not that bad, actually, at least not with the current generation. I once smiled to an older woman (60+) and she stopped and asked "Do we know each other?"
We didn't, but I was surprised by the idea that you can't smile to someone unless you know them.
Right @apsu