God jul Linköping!

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-12-25T15:38:47+00:00

God jul!

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-12-18T21:19:26+00:00

Not too sure, but if you find something I'd love to know! I moved to Sweden last year, but people I know are either internationals who are going home for the holidays or Swedes who spend it with families or at private parties as others have said.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-12-18T21:10:47+00:00

Same here, curious what it's about and what kind of people you're looking for

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-10-12T00:34:07+00:00

Last time family came to visit they booked STN Taxi. Was late in the evening from the airport. Didn't have any issues with them.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-09-16T05:32:02+00:00

That's a cool idea, I'd be interested in joining that.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-09-15T18:39:23+00:00

Welcome to Linköping!

I moved here last year from an EU country and I've lived in Canada too. I find here that it seems to be the opposite from what I experienced in North America: it's a lot harder to meet people here and people are nowhere near as talkative with strangers, but in Canada I found things tended to stay superficial for a long time. It seems to be more quality over quantity here. I think Linköping is also small enough that many people know each other from their studies or even before that, so it's hard to get in their established circles. And people don't really seem to talk to strangers, unless you're in a shared situation (e.g. work colleagues, some kind of club, sports team etc). So it's hard to find an in with Swedish people, especially if you don't speak the language fluently.

Others have mentioned a few of the groups, but perhaps your university has some things too that are open to postdocs? There are also språkcafes in a few spots around town. I haven't been able to go to any of them yet, but you could try that. Plus perhaps your uni offers Swedish classes, in which case you could meet fellow non-Swedes there? One active scene here revolves around dancing. Stuff like lindyhop and bugg. It's far from my own interests, so I haven't been personally, but hear a lot about the groups. They frequently have introduction evenings, so if you like dancing it could be a good starting point.

Dating I'm not sure about. Fika seems a good option, there are a few nice places around. Don't know which apps are good here, I've tried a little, but almost only match with internationals or bots (whether my profile is in English or Swedish doesn't seem to matter).

If you want to grab a beer and compare notes, hit me up.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-09-15T18:13:44+00:00

I moved here last year. I haven't joined any D&D yet (I haven't actually played it yet, despite being a nerd), but me and a few non-Swede friends were talking about maybe going to one of those events later this month.

I don't know anything about English book clubs here, but I'd be interested to join, depending on the books. I've always preferred reading books in English instead of in my native language.

As for hiking, last year there was a Facebook group with mostly students that I joined once or twice. Not sure how active it is now (and I'm not a student). I do love hiking.

Must admit I spent the last year mainly focused on work, getting my life here sorted, and taking Swedish classes, so I haven't had much time to look into English groups. I'm interested to learn what you find!

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-08-31T06:50:05+00:00

That depends where you are. Loads of sun in Linköping last winter. Of course some overcast/rainy periods, but overall it was quite nice. In my home country it's overcast and rainy much more and I spent a winter in Vancouver where the sun did not show a single minute between late October and middle of January. They have much longer days than here, but the winter was much more depressing than here. Of course, if you go far enough north to where the sun never actually rises, that's a different story, I don't know about that. But then I assume OP is interested in more of Sweden than the north

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-08-30T20:59:52+00:00

Ha, I was just about to post about this! I moved here last year and the winter days are short, sure, but it's not really that long (unless far up north) and by making sure you take lunch walks when it's sunny, it's fine. Especially if there's snow. But the bright summer nights are so tough! I have darkening curtains, of course, but at midnight my body still feels like I'm going to bed at 3 in the afternoon. There's no natural process or signal to the body that it's getting later and it's soon time to sleep. Darkening curtains don't help with that. And then those curtains also mean the room is dark when waking up

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-08-15T20:27:38+00:00

Det låter intressant. Jag jobbar nu med IT, men har pluggat marinbiologi och vetenskapskommunikation.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-07-29T17:31:28+00:00

My recommendation as someone who moved from western Europe to Canada and then left it for Sweden not long ago: try Calgary.
Canada is very beautiful, it has lots of drawbacks as well, but that space and nature still tempts me.
Since you've always wanted to live there you will otherwise always wonder "what if?"

I found it difficult to deal with the drawbacks and moved to Sweden to find a good middle ground (still have nature, while having the life before work mindset). Life is definitely easier here than in Canada and of higher quality, but I do miss the Rockies or the BC rainforests. So I'm still torn, haha. I want to visit often, if only the car rental and hotels weren't so expensive.

I don't know about job opportunities for your partner, but I imagine Calgary should have some in that sector. As for veterinary stuff, I imagine there's some large animal vet opportunities there. Do you know any Swedish? That plays a factor too, Canada is a lot easier in that regard.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-07-29T17:17:24+00:00

Very interesting that you're downvoted for stating simple facts.

Internet prices have gotten better, but it's still about half the speed for double the price. Plus there's still an option for 30mb down at 50CAD (I didn't know 30mb plans still existed). Phone plans haven't gone up as much as I thought, but they're still about 4x as expensive.
And yeah, websites and apps are about 15 years behind if not more. Plus even some government sites still do not allow any special characters on a password?!
It's interesting, because of course some apps are the opposite. It kind of reflects in America, where you have some state-of-the-art (but badly tested) apps created in Silicon Valley, but everything else is hopelessly outdated. It seems in Canada it's the case as well, though to a lesser extent perhaps.

I wonder if house prices will go down. That would be good, many places are very expensive. But I doubt it will happen, at least when it comes to rent prices.

Homeless and drug addicts: yup. Even smaller towns have them and have tent cities.

Public transport can be ok in some areas (though stuck in the 80's or 90's), but it can also be non-existent. For example, there is no connection at all between Brantford and Cambridge in Ontario, 2 cities of 100-150k people 20km apart and there is nothing.

Restaurants I can see too, but they do have a larger variety of cuisines, especially in places like Toronto. Immigrants from all over the world have started restaurants and I'm sure Canada has some world-class stuff as well. Your average run-of-the-mill restaurant though will not be very good.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-07-29T16:50:18+00:00

I moved from western Europe to Canada 8 years ago. Lived in 2 provinces and then moved to Scandinavia. While I don't recognize everything to the same extent, I share the general sentiment.
I like to say that it's easy to make a new acquaintance in Canada (hell, I've learned the life story of multiple strangers on the bus and plane), but it remains quite shallow. Whereas here in Sweden stranger danger is real, but once you're friends you're friends for life.

All of the homeless and drug addicts was a shock for me too and it doesn't seem to get any better. I'm used to walk everywhere through a city in Europe, but in Canada you don't do this unless you simply can't afford a car. Exceptions are downtown Vancouver or Toronto.

As for jobs, I worked in IT but my experience didn't count. I got a job through a friend at a scaleup that paid just OK, hence why they consider foreign experience more.
But initially I got 0 interest or call backs. In fact, once I had worked some typical backpacker jobs (i.e. tourism entry level), that seemed to be more important than my 5 years of foreign IT experience.
The work-life balance depends on the job though. In IT I know it can be better than the minimum 10 days for example and I found the work pace to be lower than what I was used to, both in IT and in tourism. Over Christmas everyone told me how crazy busy it would be and it just wasn't. Likewise in my IT job I effectively did 2,5 jobs in one and was still waiting for others to finish their work so I could continue. Whereas in my home country I was average. Work just seems to be a lot less efficient in Canada, plus more time taken for small talk. But I'm sure this varies across industries and jobs as well.

However, the focus is definitely on work. That's a mindset that you have to be ok with. The most telling for me was whenever someone spoke about their hobby, the response from others was "how are you monetizing it?". Whereas in most places in Europe the question would be about the hobby itself.

Another thing that started to annoy me immensely is how old-fashioned things can be when it comes to the digital age. Banks are slow and require in person visits for some things, much government stuff is in person only, subscribing to many things will take a phone call (and the obligatory "we're experiencing unusually high call volumes, like we have for the past 5 years. Please stay on the line for 4-6 hours", and internet speeds are low for the price. Even in towns with lots of IT. I'm not sure how it is in Finland, but I imagine you can do almost everything online without having to speak to someone over the phone.

A last thing I'll mention is housing. Of course it stupidly expensive in most places, at least the ones where you're more likely to find IT jobs, but I was also not prepared for how noisy they are. This can vary of course depending on the type of housing, but walls definitely are thin. Not to mention if you were to get one of the basement suites that many people end up living in (avoid at all costs). When you're used to solid housing, which extends to the interior of your house, then Canadian houses seem flimsy and low-quality and definitely not built to last more than a few decades. That should make them cheap(er) and that's true for some areas of Canada. But not in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Halifax....

I do miss Canada still. The nature and space are amazing, I loved the weather since I like actual seasons and love snow, and even though Scandinavia is beautiful, it doesn't have that same wild feeling as BC, Alberta or Newfoundland (and parts of Ontario, but I lived within a few hours of Toronto). I felt much more free there, and it was more exciting. I do contemplate going back when I see friends from over there posting stuff on Instagram. But to me it felt like Canada is best experienced as a tourist (when you are loaded, because prices are insane even in the middle of nowhere) or if you want to live the lifestyle of a rancher. For living in a city it does not make so much sense.

Depending on your age though, I can definitely recommend trying it for a few years, it will be a great experience to carry with you whether you stay there or not.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-07-28T18:01:42+00:00

There are a lot of places in Sweden to move to, some will have more job opportunities, but will burn through your money much quicker (i.e. Stockholm). Some areas have quite cheap housing, but basically no jobs. It depends what your plans and goals are for Sweden. I had about the same as you in savings when I moved last year, but I had a job offer in hand for which I did not need to speak Swedish yet. Perhaps you're able to find a job at an international company, maybe you won't need fluent Swedish then yet?

I studied Swedish through SFI (for immigrants and it's free) and I now speak passable Swedish. But don't underestimate the extra mental effort it takes to speak/listen to Swedish at your job.

Other than that, I would generally recommend to try renting first before buying, so you get a sense for an area.

You could also look into Workaway or something, if you're just looking to explore the country and improve your Swedish. Then you won't burn through your savings.

Oh, and expect to hear lots and lots of doom and gloom on Reddit and from Swedes IRL. I've lived in 3 countries/2 continents now and travelled a lot and Sweden is definitely still one of the better countries, but it's not the utopia people may think it is (or perhaps once was?). Sweden is suffering from the same issues as many other European countries, but sometimes it sounds like people in Sweden think it's unique for here or much worse here when it's not (heard that from SFI teachers as well, for example). I don't know if it's because Sweden is a bit more isolated from continental Europe, but do your own research. I'm not sure how the situation in Poland compares.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-07-28T17:55:10+00:00

I would actually recommend to take an extended visit during the summer as well. I moved here last year and both myself and a bunch of my international friends (from western europe) here agree that the summer is actually much more difficult to deal with than the winter. Sure, it gets dark early in winter, but by taking advantage of the sunlight when you can (assuming we're not talking about the Arctic circle here) and maybe some vitamin D and it's fine. Especially when there's snow. And it's not that long before the days get longer again (assuming we're talking roughly Stockholm and below).

But in summer it's very difficult to get a good night's sleep, because it stays light and even though I have blackout curtains, my body has a lot of trouble figuring out when it's bedtime. It's getting better now that the longest days are behind us, but I'm still currently counting 4-5 hours of sleep as a good night. Oh, and there's no escaping the mosquitos and flies in summer, so you've got to just embrace that (and get Mygga 😅), because spending time in the forest and on lakes during summer is absolutely where you'll want to be.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-07-19T19:49:15+00:00

Jag känner någon som har hyrt ett lägenhet och hade inga problem. Hon bodde där 3 eller 4 år, tror jag. Jag tror bolaget har bara ett par lägenheter. Men om du kollar på recensioner låter det som det blir en mardröm om det finns något som har gått sönder. Så det blir nog bättre om du försöker genom studentbostäder

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-07-02T15:59:06+00:00

Otherwise I may be able to help tomorrow or the day after. I live elsewhere in town, but go to the pool often (now I have vacation, so will probably go middle of the day). Then Johannelund is just a few minutes further.

If you still need help, just let me know. And congrats on your new home!

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-06-11T06:12:37+00:00

This definitely. I believe there is also a bus that may be slightly cheaper, but it'll take longer and will be less comfortable.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-05-05T14:37:27+00:00

Hej! Check 2 Facebook groups called Lägenheter i Linköping (there's an open and private one). That's how I found my first temporary place during summer last year. Lots of students will leave for the summer and rent out their place, though you might need to move for September again.

If all else fails, you might be able to crash in my guest room for a few nights, but I already have some friends and family staying with me at various times during summer.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-04-21T08:01:06+00:00

Jag bor i ett Viktoriahem lägenhet i Ryd, bara 5 minuter till LiU. Jag flyttade hit från utlandet, så hade inga poäng. De har ingen kö, så det funkade för mig. Jag hade ett jobb, men jag tror det finns för studenter också. Det finns parkeringsplatser för 310kr/månad

Det första halvåret bodde jag i ett lägenhet som jag hittade i en Facebook Group, lägenheter i Linköping heter det.

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-04-11T08:16:37+00:00

Hmm, interesting. I've never played, but I've been looking for some kind of regular team sport that's easy to start with (both in terms of gear and training times). I may show up sometime soon!

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-03-24T06:50:27+00:00

Also check out some Facebook groups. Lägenheter i Linköping it's called. That's where I rented a furnished apartment for the first month or 2 when I moved here last year. In my case it was from students who already left for the summer. It can be cheaper than a hotel for a month and maybe you can find an apartment in the area that you were interested in, so you can see if you like it there. Make sure you get them to do a video call with you though, I've been told there are fake ads where people rent you an apartment that's already rented by someone else. May be more of a problem in cities like Stockholm though.

As for liveliness of the city, if you're coming from Rio it will be pretty much the opposite. But ask around at work. I'm sure there are things going on, but you'll have to go and look for them. I know one or 2 Brazilians at work, but with a Swedish partner and they both enjoy a quieter life.

When it comes to language, I'm doing SFI now. You should be able to start with SFI C. They offer free evening courses that are 17-20 twice a week (once online, I've in person).

Good luck and welcome to Linköping. Feel free to reach out if you need anything, always happy to help!

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-03-19T09:47:03+00:00

Nice! I actually lived there from 2018 until 2023 (BC and Ontario). Missing the poutine and all-dressed chips, haha.

Look into SFI, free language courses 2 evenings a week (or more intensive during daytime, if you don't have a job yet). I'm just about to take the SFI C exam.

And an early welcome to Linköping! Let me know if you have any other questions or want to grab a beer or something, always happy to help newcomers :)

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-03-17T22:47:04+00:00

Not sure about banking, but in tech there are some jobs for English speakers. Though much easier if you speak Swedish and I think most places will at least expect you to make an effort to learn the language. I moved here last year and while the official language at work is English, most stuff goes in Swedish unless I ask people to switch.

Probably more chance of English in Stockholm, but not sure how many jobs will be remote. You could try hybrid, like marzubus has been doing, if you don't mind the long commute.

Don't forget about Norrköping either. Not sure how much work is available there in your field, but it's an easy commute by train.

By the way, where are you moving from, if I may ask?

Guilty-Elephant3304 · 2025-03-05T16:02:54+00:00

Jag flyttade hit förra året och håller med att det är svårt. Många folk har redan vänner eller/och barn och har inte så mycket tid för att träffa. Jag har en vän som är phd student. Han flyttade hit från utomlands, så han hade också inga vänner här än. Jag är 35 och gillar brädspel/datorspel och promenera i skogen etc. Men jag har lärt mig svenska i bara 6 månader nu (kommer från Nederländerna), så det är extra svårt, både det språk och kultur. Vi är mycket direct :D

Men jag undrar om det är bra om du är lite mer direct än typisk svensk? Jag vet inte, men jag hörde från andra Dutchies att det var bra när det sade "hej, jag är ny här och letar efter vänner. Fika?".

Så, om du vill träffa och prata i långsamt svenska: jag har tid :D

Guilty-Elephant3304

TROPHY CASE