"We buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like, and we consider ourselves wise."

I think as a Swede , unions has helped shape our work enviroment alot, and it was early here were workers got actual rights and i think it's good, my friend drove a truck in Costa Rica and he moved to Sweden and he couldn't believe it, shorter work days, more money per hour and having weekends off with 5 weeks vacation, it was heaven for him. I think alot of times we forget how good standard we actually have.

The channel "Just not Bikes", an American expat in the Netherlands does an excellent job in breaking down the car-centricity in America. Basically no one is biking or walking because the infrastructure makes it almost impossible, or at a minimum a danger to your life to try to do so. Can highly recommend it (the channel, not risking your life ;) ).

The world news point is so important. It explains a lot of how almost every American lives and sees the world around them. This I think has several reasons, like its size, its position in the world playing field, its governmental rule, and of course other factors. It's too bad Americans don't get to see the world around them more and in a different way. It affects people's values and thoughts.

As some already have pointed out. In Sweden you get minimum 5 weeks vacation per year. Parental leave is 480 days per child, 390 of them you get around 80% of your salary, the 90 days above that you get 180 kronor a day. They are called lägstanivå. The parents are free to split the days almost as they want.

Hi Kimberly! I'm from the Philippines and had lived in Stocholm, Sweden for 17 years. It's nice to hear that you seem to love Sweden. I remember too when me and my family were in California and Arizona for a month, people stare on us when we were walking in the streets. You will surely love living here. I get a 6-7 weeks of vacation with pay. Hope you had a great time with your mom. Välkommen till Sverige snart!

Hi Kimberly! I really enjoyed this video! I moved to Sweden 13 years ago, and all the things you mentioned are things I've thought about a LOT since I moved here. Living here has really opened my eyes to a lot of things that are considered normal in the US. Which is why I've never once considered moving back. Looking forward to watching your other videos and hearing your thoughts!

I work at the University in Umeå and when you are 40 years old you will have 7 weeks of paid vacation and thats is really nice 👍

I have often thought you guys need a mandatory exchange program with other countries. Let's say you have to be at least one term in Sweden, New Zealand, France or whichever country you want to in high school. Perhaps that would be an eye opener for some and a push for change.

thank you for saying that about the "world news" when I was in the Us (being from Sweden) I was honestly a bit shocked when I saw the news but then Ihought im in the US

You are a brave woman, its not easy to just move to another country and learn all this new things.

Interesting observation regarding the short vacations being a reason to not travel too far.

I definitely noticed the news issue when in the US. I’m from Canada ( your Next Door Neighbour) and I couldn’t get ANYTHING about Canada. Even the weather stopped at the 48th parallel! I was in Kansas City once with my son and important stuff was happening at home and I couldn’t find out anything about it. I almost went crazy! And when in Italy, sometimes the only news I could get was Fox. Other times I could get Fox and BBC from England. I only watched when I had BBC. I actually found it a bit insulting as we are neighbours, each other’s major trading partners and, supposedly “friends”.

Acctually we basically have 6 weeks if vacation in Sweden. 5 weeks of vacation and mostly 100 hours of work time reduction, this differs with the collective agreement that applies to your work, a lot of non bluecollar workers ie clerks do have six or seven weeks of vacation but no work time reduction or overtime pay. But more important things you should mention is parental leave, public healtcare, free education and allemansrätten.

Sverige är ett bra land att bo i så vi får väl hålla tummarna för att du blir svensk🥰

You should mention the free education in all schools from preschoolage to university. Thats amasing! 👍

Swish and bankid is a lifesaver and saves me so much time and effort

Great video, thanks Kimberly! The sad thing about consumerism is that it destroys the planet.. 😥

I am SO lucky to live in Sweden!! I have lived in the US also. I am a nurse, and I have 32 days of vacation/ year! And I can save it, if I want to, so I can have a 2 month of vacation the next year instead if I want! And we have free meals in school, free education, free healthcare, you name it! Welcome to Sweden!

As a night owl I would LOVE to have stores with opening hours like that. Sure. I'm fortunate to live in London where the generel opening hours are not that bad, but I still feel a bit stressed about managing to get everything I need done before closing time sometimes. But I'm so grateful to have night work that suits my natural cicadian rythm, so I can't complain really. KZfaq recommended one of your videos the other day so I started watching (I'm swedish, so I think its quite interesting with an outside perspective of my native country). Really like what I've seen so far. Great videos. 👍

Regarding vacation weeks all I can say is.. UNIONS Y’ALL! Seriously everything good about working in Sweden is due to unions and the work they’ve put in in the past for workers rights.

Labor is cheap in US. So stores and restaurants can have longer open hours.

I´m grateful that I live in Sweden. I don´t have to worry about getting sick, health care is free. I got my education (teacher) for free. I´m proud to be a Swedish viking!!!

I am swedish.. I have heard about the vacation.. Also maternity leave is like 6 weeks. That is crazy to me. I am on maternity leave here in sweden and i get one year. I would die leaving my newborn at 6 weeks =( 🙈🥰🥰🥰thanks for an interesting video. Nice to hear abt differences in living in different countries.

Just a small correction...we get a 5 week vacation, right from the start. Maternity leave is 18 months... :-)

I believe one important reason why Americans drive so much is that most American cities are more or less as old as the automobile, so they were built "car-sized" almost from the beginning. And when you build car sized, all the distances just become too big so you get nothing done if you insist on walking. As a contrast, many Swedish cities are 1000 years old or more, and continental Europe has cities that are over 2000 years (like Rome, tradition says it was founded in 753 BC) old. Which means they are "pedestrian-sized", with streets that are in many cases too narrow to drive a car, because narrower streets means shorter walks. Unfortunately, the outskirts and suburbs of many Swedish cities are of fairly recent date, and are built car-sized. Which really makes a difference, people in the suburbs walk and cycle a lot less than inner city people.

Living within the eu is actually like winning the lottery. Nevertheless I never take anything for granted.

LOL Your cat looked at you when you said "food". 7:20

When I visited the Mid-West (KS/MO area around Overland Park) and walked to burger joints or other places >30 minutes from my hotel I would get honked and/or shouted at by 20-something year olds passing by in cars as I was waiting for a crosswalk to give me the green light. It wasn't mean or anything, I just don't think they were used to seeing people walking there. I saw more squirrels climbing a tree near the hotel in a single evening than I saw other people out walking during my 4 days in the area. Met some very friendly people, though, so it's all good.

It's funny, I'm Swedish-American and I keep getting these super subtle hints of Swedish accent in your English. You sound like a Swede who is reeeeeally good at English, but with the tiniest little grain of Swedish accent peeking out at times. I think maybe, since you've spent so much time in Sweden, you've subconsciously picked up a tiny bit of an accent. Just an observation, haha. As a Swede living in the US (American citizen) I find channels such as yours very interesting, because even though my journey was the opposite (from Sweden to the US) I can still recognize so much of what you're talking about. Just.. in reverse, haha. Thank you for a great video :)

Yep! Swede here living in America, working ourselves to death here!! Get my third vacation week after 5 years! It’s not a whole lot… and wages are not in sync with cost of living at all!! Not sure where that slogan stems from; “usa, greatest country in the world “…. Definitely not!

It's not just in Sweden. It's basically everywhere in Europe this way.

About the super stores and their hours of operation. I think it ties into the fact that in the US there's a LOT of people who work night shifts and/or a crazy number of hours per week. So I think having one store with everything and has broad open hours is to fit the crazy busy American lifestyle. In Sweden people aren't living that lifestyle so I feel like they don't need super stores with broad open hours. As for driving everywhere. I think a big influence on that is that most places aren't built for pedestrians or even bicyclists a lot of the time. Places are built for cars and as a result it can be very dangerous to try to walk or bike to locations. I remember trying to walk home from work one day because my normal ride would be super late and my work location was surrounded by a highway and then a SUPER busy big road that doesn't have any crosswalks. I almost got hit by a car just trying to cross the road and then ended up waiting for a ride because it was super scary. It's sad because I think more people would walk or bike to places if things were set up in a way to make it a safe option like it is in Sweden. Roads are also much larger in the USA with 4-8 lanes being common on normal roads in many cities/towns (2-4 on each side) which also ties into making crossing the road more dangerous because you need to go across more lanes. And not having many pedestrians or cyclists on the roads in USA means people driving don't look for them which makes it more dangerous. It's a vicious cycle :( Just what I think based on having lived in both countries :D

As a swede, i would actually love to have super stores here:) Seems convenient

Before we turn 40, we get 25 days vacation. Once you're 40, you get 30 days. At 50, you get 32 days. 😁❤️💐 You can also save days for several years, so 2019, we went on an around the world trip for 7 weeks! Came home, and saw that I still hadn't taken out all my vacation days.. 😂

Good summary👍🇸🇪

I live in central Stockholm. Within 3 minutes walking distance from my apartment I have Swedish, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Ethiopian, Peruvian, Italian, Spanish, Indian, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Austrian and American restaurants available to me. (Not to mention vegan and raw food) So I think we are pretty global in our dining options here as well...?

Welcome! 🙏😃 Just found your channel 😉

My guess is that in the USA tv stations are dependent on advertising revenue. An average American isn’t interested in what’s really happening in the rest of the world. So if a tv station pays a lot of attention to international news, then some viewers likely are going to switch channels. Less viewers mean less advertising revenue. It’s all about the money.

One of the reasons for USA being so car dependent is the large distances involved. It’s not unusual for me to go 3 to 5 miles to a grocery store and here in summer, 15 miles to a department store or home improvement store. Even the post office is over a mile away and while some bicycle around, it’s mostly always for pleasure and not shopping or business. Some people are many miles from anything other than residential areas so cars/SUV are required.

When it comes to the multitude of restaurants, maybe it's easier to open a restaurant when you don't have to pay your waiters more than tips and maybe a few dollars an hour? If you pay your staff properly you need to be more competitive and can't run a restaurant with few customers without bankruptcy.

Like your videos, i like the part about your world news...didn´t know that...live and learn

You are on the right track. In Sweden we have 4 weeks every year semester. Mvh Joakim

Right after you said: _"...endless food options..."_ a food commercial popped up on the screen... 😂😂😂

We don't need late-night stores. But some of us like to shop at different hours than others. I like to shop late at night. Why are they open late? A little thing called supply and demand. There's a demand, and it's great enough to warrant the supply. Easy peasy! You don't have to take advantage of the convenience if you're still stuck on "why?".

Next time in Sweden you can visit GEKÅs in the small village Ullared if you want something similar to Walmart or Target but a little more clothes

My brother and his girlfriend when visiting Florida in the 90's used to visit the supermarket and laugh at the 150 different types of Milk. 😂

My wife is from a tiny town in the mountains of North Carolina. Her uncle lived next door to the church but, instead of walking across his lawn to the front door of the church, he would get in his car, drive down his driveway to the road, drive on the road to the next driveway which was for the church, drive around to the back of the church, then walk to the front door. Everyone who went to the church, no matter how close they lived, drove to church. No one walked.

In Sweden you need to work one year at the company to get full salary during the vacation. If you just worked there a half year you will just get half of you paycheck. But it is always at least 25 days. Then you usually also get holiday supplement, in reality you get more paid on vacation.

I am Swedish who lived and been many times to the US. I concur on these differences 100%. I enjoyed your apartment video were you wonder why we don't have bug screens in our windows. I honestly have no clue why a mosquito ridden country like Sweden copes without and does nothing about it ...really! We should learn from each other.

I live in Sweden now but befor I lived in Iceland and I could not afford to go on vacation but here i could take 3 weeks of plus one week extra later.

Not only endless options of food. Do you need that big portions? Do you need that much sugar?

Thank you for a good comparison. Most workers have 25 days a year on vacation, I am 53 years old and have 38 days of vacation per year.

You know what? You're a great gal. I'm glad to have you over here in Sweden. :-) God bless your lucky fiancé.

Smörgåstårta!!! Swedish tradition states that a cat's name must have the sound "s" in it so Abbey/Abby is not suitable. When I was a kid the stores in Sweden were all closed on sundays and holidays. No "mellandagsrea" then. At that was good actually.

I'm 19 and live in Sweden, I just finished school and started working 2 months ago and I have 25 paid vacation days a year

I don't know were you stay at in Sweden, but here in Stockholm you can get cuisine from all around the world. And we talk first class versions of said cuisine too. You can even get genuine Chinese food these days, back when I was a kid we only had this horrible swedenized versions of Chinese cuisine. Come to think about it, Italian and french cuisine was also heavily swedenized during this time. Today we still add our swedish touch to the international kitchen but now it's called fusion and it's done with alot of love :)

Kim, it's a size thing, i.e. geographical size and corresponding population. Your country of impending (legal) residence has 10 million citizens, roughly the same number as residents of New York City alone. Most Swedes--87%--live in cities which are extremely small by U.S. standards, so it is easy to walk, cycle and take public transport. Store hours in the US are convenient for huge numbers of Americans working shift jobs. Swedish news is also very heavy on local and national news. Food? In Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö every single cultural cuisine you named is available. Paid vacation here in Sweden? Yes, because salary levels are tightly controlled, the income tax rate is high, and VAT is 25%. Hope this helps. And good luck with your residence permit and move!

We have big shops here in Sweden too. Have your hear about City Gross, Ullared any more?

Love when you foxy Americans admit your negatives lol. Lots similarities just like here in Toronto lol. BTW I subscribed to your channel. You are so charming and open. Hugs.

I lived in Sweden as well for about 3 years (from the US). This was back in earlier actually in the 1989-92. Back then you didn't have to 'travel' back and forth until you got your working permit. I actually immediately got a working permit and lived and worked there, then after two years was able to get my permanent working permit. It sounds like all that has changed though. A few things I want to touch on which you are correct on, but some things I came to a different conclusion as why they were so. One being why Americans drive so much, rather than walk. What I found is that for the most part cities/towns were 'squeezed' together more in Sweden and in the US it is spread out more. In Sweden, the town 'center' is pretty much the only place you needed to go to do shopping but in the US you might have to travel 3 miles to the next store to see if their tv is cheaper, then another 4 to the next place.. etc. The US assumes you will be driving to places, therefor they spreading out stores all over isn't a big deal. Also, I think the reason people don't travel overseas is because it does cost a pretty penny for the trip. In Europe you can travel just about anywhere just as easily as you can go from say Texas to Florida and just as cheap, where as for a round trip ticket to Sweden from the US can cost easily 1500-2000. I really don't think it is as much about the 'vacation' hours, but rather the cost. Americans love travel, ask Mexico, anywhere in the Caribbean and cruise lines. But, you can take 3 of those trips to one trip to Europe when it comes to cost. Just my thought. Great Video though, really cool to hear your story!

I was curious why most Americans wouldn't travel outside the U.S. :O Like you mentioned, even in the "world news" the tv talks about only America. To me, America is kind of living in it's own bubble, It's like a different world apart from the rest of the world lol! Starting with metric system, you have tons of other things that makes you different. However, it is very understandable that life is super busy for most and getting to EU with an airplane is not for everyone besides, there's tons of cool places/states to discover in America as well :)

Why you have to be able to go to the store at 10o'clock at night? You have to remember that people have different sleep schedules. If you work night and then sleeps from 8am - 4pm, you don't have a lot of time to visit stores if they close 6pm like most stores where you can buy all this stuff you can't get in a grocery store.

Most americans are very polite and friendly, and if you behave in a good way, it is easy to have a good time there.

Cute kitty! 😺

Good luck on becoming a permanent Swede soon! Sounds like it's quite the process! Would you be able to give some intel on how the process works? Edit: Americans drive everywhere because they can afford it. If Swedes had American gas prices then we would drive much more as well.

Very intersesting

another big differance is the healthcare system and the parental leave time with pay.

i had 5 weeks wecation payed for construction - but we take a small sum that every month to that and a small sum at from the company - some years when i had worked a lot overtime i could have 60 000 swedish for a 5 week wecation payed out - it good even in eu -

So.. a late Happy birthday to your mum 🎉

Great video..... got really distracted by your cute cat =)

Hi again Kim. Listened to this vlog again. About that that americans always take the car instead of walk to the shop that´s 5-10 min. from the home. I haver heard from american´s that lived somewhere in europe and when they compare what´s like walking there vs in the usa. They all say they don´t feel safe if the walk in the u s. But they did that in europe. and they also say the cops is nicer in europe

I wish more shops were closed on sundays in Sweden.

I’m trying to do the same - is it easier to get a permit if I was to buy a apartment in stockholm, how are you applying for residency permit as, or long term stay visa

Tell WallMart to start sell Kavli Räkost 😅👌 Good vid again 🤗 Keep up the good work

I'm assuming, as good as a lot of vacation sounds, in the end, you pay for it with the work, or they don't hire you. So, with a week of vacation a year, they give you more money per hour. Of course, in the US, a lot of that extra money goes to insurance companies and doctors.

Its embedded in the system. If you never go anywhere, how would you know there is a better way to manage things...? Hope the younger generation coming into play will be able to change it all. From Sweden btw

My old job you get 5 days of 8h paid vacation even though we worked 12-14hrs a day after you worked a year.

I have a question for u, kimberly. About american alcoholconsumpsion advertising. In sweden we have systembolaget reklamen. They promote that the kids come first before alcohol. I mean have teenagers, learn as a parent to say no to ure teenagers to give em alcohol. Or at major hollidays kids want their parentes to be sober. As a comersial. Do u guys have that?

Fyi, Swedes work about 1800-1900 hours, 226-232 days a year. That's full time work. And as you know we manage pretty well on our salary. How many hours and days does an american work? By the way, look forward to more of your videos and I hope you have a nice stay with your family:)

Swedes get 25 "Workdays" as in mon-fri for vacation so its 5 weeks.

That there exist no supestors is not quite right. Typically Ica maxi and there us to be a Coop superstore that went bust a few years back. While you can´t by bikes and beds on Maxi (while you use to be able to do this in coop) they do sell TV, tools, garden stuff, toys and well a lot of things. They have removed some stuff since Coop went bust so the sometime is a bit narrower than it use to be. The reason why they don´t have pharmacy is because that was banned until a few years back, so they typically only have a mini pharmacy. That is also the reason why they have no alcohol, that is banned to sell in stores. Now the open time is usually 08-22. So a hours or two shorter than in the US. The reason for that is that the longer open time is traditionally done by smaller shops. Smaller shops in larger cities is usually open 06-23. But there is one more reason why superstores is not quite as large as the one in USA. That is due to gallery stors. While they usually have a bit shorter open hours, typically 09-20, those are the one that have everything. Those are really huge. To get a perspective, some of the larger one have a full size IKEA inside the store. There also some standalone Superstores like GK that are sort of one of a kind stors. But they typically carry pretty much everything. So i would say the non existans of superstores in Sweden is a myth. Now a diffrance is if you live downtown, you typically don't go to the super store, they you go to the minimarket or gallery in stead. If you live suburbally its kind of a tossup, depends on what is the closest. If you live rural, you usually go to the superstore. The news in Sweden really don't cover what happen around the world. It really just covers what have an effect on Sweden, but not only that, they usually only cover half the story. While that is true in the US as well. Because its more of a indirect connection, it might not be that obvious. So, its not the same as in the US, true, but it don't cover the whole world equality, not even weighted. The covrage is based on the effect of Swedish policy. Typically Swedish news covers UK. USA, Southern Europe, China, Some parts of the middle east, typically war torn regions.. And well.. Swedish news really loves to report about wars that we have nothing to do with. Something you will never see on Swedish news is about market economy in Africa. That is just a black hole subject. SO most people in Sweden still thing that Africa is in the stone age, while really large part of Africa is about the same developmental rate sweden was 50 years ago. The statement that people drive in USA and walk in Sweden is a oversimplification, i would say its directly wrong. Typically in Downtown people walk, regardless of its in the US or in Sweden, In suburban areas people drive, and so in rural areas. The diffrance that make this partly true is that Suburban areas in the US generally contain a larger part of the population than downtown, for similar size towns and cities. If you live suburban you really can't walk. you can´t walk 45 minutes to by a liter of milk, its just not going to happen. Now you will see people taking the bike from suburban areas to the shop, that is fairly common in the summer. If you got to somewhere like Maxi, you will se like 5 bike in the bike rack and 200 cars on the lot. If you go to a convenient store downtown its typically 5 cars and 20 bike and 40 people walking in. There is also one more diffrance. Usually houses close to downtown area in Sweden are very expensive, hence, rich and upper middle-class people live there. This might give somewhat of a false impression. Again biking to work is something people live downtown do. You might not think of it like that, but that is a luxury commute. People how can't afford to live downtown have to take the car or even worse, the train.... or even worser... the bus. The food choice is really a big or small city thing, not a USA or Sweden thing. If you go to cities like, specially Upsala or Lund and of cause also the three big cities.there is probobly a restaurant from half of the countries around the world. Now eating out is a bit more expensive in Sweden than in the US, sort of limiting the food in smaller cities and towns. So there is a diffrance, but the diffrance certainly get larger the larger the city it gets. The vacation thing is true, but its also about personal responsibility.. to an extent. In most work (well most, not all) you can take additional days of. While that will effect your pay, its doable.

Acctualy, in sweden we get 5 weeks of vacation per year with full salary plus vacation bonus with a couple hundred dollars. Starbucks and other big american companies have tried and failed several times in sweden. The reason is because it was not as tasty as advertised.

Most of these points were pretty expected. But the food? It's of course different depending on where you live, but that is true also in USA. I live in central Gothenburg and I can walk :) to more different types of restaurants than I could possibly need.. From pretty much every country I can think of. Except british of course. :) Even food from the US, although you don't go to them for the taste.. EDIT: The difference in worldwide travel is probably also because of money. Most Swedes can afford a big travel holiday each year while that is probably reserved for the richer people in USA.

Kimberly Source ❤️

*HERE IN BULGARIA* you get 20 days holiday to take when you want PLUS 13 days that are national holidays AND... 2 YEARS parental leave if you have a baby.

You can say a lot about the driving culture in the U.S. But why do you drive everywhere? The most fundamental reason is the early establishment of the car as a personal right, transportation, and status symbol. The U.S. was built around roads and the car and it has never changed. It's ingrained in your DNA, in a way.

The vaccation in Sweden is atleast 5 weeks.

In Norway everyone have four week and a day vacation, with us over 60 getting a week extra. A part of your wage are earmarked for this, but that's yours anyhow.

As you drive everywhere in the US instead of biking or walking, is there a big difference how the Americans (not) think about the environment issues compared to the Swedes?

Sadly, we have lots of "walmarts" too (since the mid 1960s, when "we" stole the idea from you ;) It's exactly the same car based concept. Before that all shops were small and cosy, and located close to where you lived (like in the same building, or quarter). Nobody livning in a Swedish town/city needed a car.

I did not wade through all 413 comments (as of the time this is being written) but I have one counterexample to your claim at 7:33 - Surströmming. Have you tried it in Sweden? Have you ever heard of it being sold in USA? I do not see Walmart making space in its shelves for it!

Hi Kim😘I think most Swedes working has 5 weeks of semester every year?🤔

The difference in vacation days is basically between Europe ( or EU) and US. You don´t have to compare specifically to Sweden

One thing that annoys my as a swede when I´m i America is that alla prices are listed without tax. So annoying! But i love the right on red thingy!

Well Sweden have 2 different news one local that focus local and sweden in general and only the BIG things world wide and on that focus on world wide at least thats how it used to be last time i had a TV

How did you find the metric system?

Have not read every comment . But yes when you are Swedish citisen (if i spell that right? ) Work is 25 day vacation in the private sector . Statefinanced / State work have 25 then 30 days later on as you become 40 + . And you have NO insurence to be sick thats not needed all have the right to get a doctor & all medicare surgery that are needed thats include in the taxes so to say . And a normal work week is 40 hours & you dont need 2 3 works to stay afloat and survive We dont have 1980 s payment minimum vages as US have someplaces . Yes you have some stores bigger ICA food etc that have 6:00 - 23:00 opentime . not everywhere but some places . :)

yes, usa is built for the car.

Sweden or USA? That is the question. I would go back to Namibia or South Africa. But my girlfriend want's to go to Spain. So ok for me. My home country is Belgium. I have visited more than 70 countries.