If you still are in Sweden at spring and summer you will for sure get an other view of Sweden overall. I would say that Summer in Sweden is the best, the country comes alive during spring but really blooms at summer. We swedes also change when the sun comes out :)

Great video Ilyssa! Fun fact - did you know that Nordstrom was founded by two Swedes in 1901, John W. Nordström (actually Johan, born in Luleå, Sweden) and Carl F. Wallin (born in the USA by Swedish immigrants). The company’s CEO today is Erik Nordstrom, a descendant of John.

You are so natural and flowing in your speech. Open and honest. Great traits and really refreshing. Hope and know that you will love Sweden during the rest of the year! Just you wait and see!

I love your videos! Glad I discovered your channel! Also, this is just my request, but if you can share more about friendship in Sweden, your experiences? Maybe you can get a couple of your Swedish friends in your vlog and talk about your friendship, the cultural differences, share the story of how you met, maybe you can talk more about the language, whether it has been a barrier, etc. Keep it up!

A week from now we are celebrating Lucia. Your mind is going to be blown by the beauty of the Christmas carols, the candles and the festivities. I really hope you take the opportunity to see, and hear, a Lucia choir somewhere, like in a church.

These vlogs are so much fun and interesting!:) Happy vlogmas!:)

Such a helpful video as I am moving to Västerås in less than two weeks! I've visited a few times already and love it there but I'm definitely worried about the cold and the dark but you've put my mind at ease a bit so thank you :)

Happy Vlogmas!!! I absolutely love your videos, I started watching cause it was about my home town and that Logan plays for "my" team but I find myself enjoying even the fashion videos and I am not into fashion at all. You just keep being honest and your channel will keep growing. Oh and if you do have any questions about Sweden just ask us I'm sure we will be happy to give you advice. Looking forward for tomorrows Vlogmas.

Keep fighting Ilyssa, It will get warmer and brighter the closer we get to summer. Me and my friends just love Logan, our favorite player. As a Swede and lifetime fan of VIK we want him and you on this ride towards the SHL

Winter solstice is on December 21, so just in time for Christmas the days will start to turn longer again! Come spring, in March, when we approach the spring equinox, you'll see a huge difference with each day, just like you did this autumn i'm sure. The change in minutes of daylight is greatest around the equinoxes.

I live in Västerås aswell and god damn the weather changed from being around -5 for the last few weeks to -18 today but on the bright side, the sun is going to start staying up for longer at the end of the month. And sooner then later spring is here 😊👍

Trust me, after the winter with the darkness and cold, you will LOVE the spring! When you start to feel the sun warming you up. The first day you can leave the coat at home and put your sneakers back on. Going down the street and hear the sand/gravel under you feet...and smell it when it's dry enough to give off that dust cloud when kicking it. Hearing the birds again, eat the first ice cream in the sun and picking the first flowers. It's like being reborn. You'll see what I mean in march/april. And late may to june it's the best. When it's warm but not hot. When everything is green and lush...it's the best time of the year for me atleast. As a floridian, I might suspect that you prefer the hot over the warm though =) Keep us updated and PLEASE make an "impression video" when the spring is here =)

Are you eventually going to do a video about Swedish and your journey learning it? I would love to watch a video like that, and I think many other Swedes will too!

Thank you for sharing your experience! I'm an American whose partner is Swedish and I'm always curious to see how the experience is moving to Sweden!! Also from your mention of working at Nordstrom, the founder is actually Swedish too!

Sweden has the most islands in the world, over 260,000! I would recommend you to go to Stockholm and take a ”ferry” (old wooden boat from the 1930 etc) out to the island of Sandhamn and discover the Archipelago, eat there in a cozy restaurant and spend the day there. The island has nice old wooden houses and car traffic is forbidden there. During the boat trip you will see a fantastic landscape even in winter. Lots of islands, red houses on rocks and more. Very romantic as well!

Love this. Good on you. ♥️😇

6:11 Sweden is on the same level as Alaska but the gulfstream makes it warmer than there. Use a lamp when sleeping or a solarium from time to time.

I really love your videos. And yes its god that you are honest about your feeling. To find beautiful and wonderful things in life is a power you have. You only become stronger with experience. And yes i want to be to a beach also. But soon it is Christmas. And you maybe will se a white Christmas to. Take care and keep up the god work

The long winters and the darkness is what makes it difficult for some people to live here. I as a Swede am somewhat on the opposite side of the spectrum. Having lived in South America a few years, I had a hard time dealing with a tropical climate, which was just too hot for me. The constant struggle to avoid the sun and heat made me appreciate colder climates. I'm also the kind of guy to complain about July in Sweden when the weather often becomes too warm. I do think winters in Sweden could be shorter though, but then, the south of Sweden has milder and shorter winters, but I don't live in the south. On a different note, I can relate to the feelings attached to living in another country, far from loved ones and without everything you're accustomed to. I say thank God for the Internet as I can't imagine how much harder it must have been back in the day! But knowing it's temporary makes it easier to seize the opportunity of experiencing something different, and once you're back home and everything turns into memories, you're not going to want to look back with regrets, particularly when you know that you're probably never going back there again. The memories will stick with you for the rest of your life, so make them good! And now I'm probably rambling. Anyway, thank you for sharing.

You should visit Kiruna and the ice hotel in jukkasjärvi. It would make the daylight in västerås seem endless ☺

You are not alone for feeling down or having anxiety problems, I think its good people talk about this stuff. So you should not feel alone. Changing florida too Sweden is a huge step and far away. I think anyone would feel anxious about that :) I prefer snow over rain and darkness. Snow lights everything up. D-Vitamin pills is also good too take. Like your videos. Thanks.

Keep up the good work!

In Sweden we say “there is no bad weather, only band clothing”. Actually, November is the worst month in Scandinavia, dark, windy, cold, so we meets inside. However, when you come to February, the sun is coming back with the light, still with a lot of Snow, but even if lower temperatures, the humidity is much lower and the cold bite your skin, not like in November when the temperature is close to melting point and the humidity is higher, you froze through your bones. However, if you stay over summer, you would have your lovely sun from 3 am until 10 pm ☀️👍

I haven´t seen any vlog when you are in the north of sweden. From what I seen yuo and your boyfriend has only been in southern sweden or around Västerås. It would be here your opinion about what you think about travelling in Norrland, it is after all the half of Sweden. From Sundsvall up to Kiruna. When it comes to food from that part of Sweden I suggest you taste rein deer meat. Like "renskav". Rein deer meat has a "wild" taste, some like it som don´t. But I do suggest you try it. the meat has a very lean taste. there are hardly no fat at all in it.

In november and december 2020 my town had 5 weeks with 0 hours of sunlight, which was least in the whole country. This year was much different thank god. 😂 But on the other hand we have almost 24 hours a day of sunlight in june and july to make up for it. ☀️

Nordstrom (Nordström) came from Sweden. How's your Swedish coming on? Emerge yourself in something to keep any dark thoughts at bay. What are you doing to learn about Sweden? Are you going back to your own hair colour or have you not found a good hairdresser yet? I really hope you hold on to your positive attitude and you can pat yourself on the back when spring is here and you have gone through a Swedish winter.

@Ilyssa .. i know so many people that has an exaggerating idea about Sweden in term of Weather, Society, etc.. When people lives here, they discover what they heard was totally BS, also it's different from a region (within the country) to another, if you live in Northern Sweden is different than middle and south or far south of Sweden. It's so good that you discovered things by yourself. I wish you visit us in the far south of Sweden (Skåne) or Scania in English.. especially Båstad, Helsingborg, Höganäs, Malmö, Ystad, Simrishamn , etc.. It's also great opportunity to be totally self independent in Sweden, learn a lot how to take care of ourselves without being depended of others. I guess you gonna love the spring here, especially when you see the various colors of fields and i hope you are not so much allergic for "pollen" because of the trees and plants .. Summer time you should enjoy it most!! An additional thing to mention, you should take advantage of being in Sweden to visit many European countries in the neighbourhood, you are so close to Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, UK, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, etc..

GREAT VLOG VIDEO LOVELY THUMBNAIL THO YOUR BEAUTIFUL SELF NICE CHEEKS STRUCTURE HAPPY BLESS WEEK TOO 😇😇BE SAFE ALWAYS😇😇

Why not try a daytime cruise with Rosella from Kapellskär to Åland and try the Swedich/Finnish Julbord. You Will also have som time over for shopping (alkohol, Perfumes, Fashion, outlet and more) and perhaps som Dance. If you are more for party you can take Cinderella overnight cruise from Stockholm. You can taket the bus directly to the ship from Västerås.

Native to Sweden and i still hate the darkness every year. Live a bit further north so its even less sun. We have a Alvarez in our team too, great player so i support every Alavarez willing to play hockey in Sweden ;) .

How long are you going to stay in Sweden? I think Västerås might be pretty nice in the summertime.

What is the "local team"?

Only 4 more months until spring 😁

Nordstrom Inc. was actually founded by a couple of swedes called John Nordström and Carl Wallin. Mr Nordström was born in Luleå in northern Sweden but migrated to the US at the age of 16 with $5 in his pocket.

Have you meet any other american vlogger here in sweden.. I follow some..

I dont like the cold or the darkness either. But the snow and also the winter landskape can be breataking ❤🇸🇪But The spring and the summers is perfektion❤😉🇸🇪I do LOVE to travel to warmer countrys if I can in the winter like Greece. My parents has a apartment there and I spent alot of time there as a child. Love there friendness and the food and the weather. ❤

A swede founded Nordstrom, a connection to were you live now.

Our average swede (not to speak of the quiet ones from the northern Sweden) speaks 456 words per day. You just gave us 14387 words extra, thank you! ;-) Just kidding of course! I love listening to you, but I´m not quite sure why you can not chill some, relax in the sofa.... (sorry I´m not a KZfaqr)... Speak your mind there, calm and assertive...(as Cesar Milan would say). Maybe you have some sort of time limit to talk?

Oh my, you are a fast one! I´m fairly used to english, but your tempo is FAST! 😊 I can only wish my english were that good... And the whole situation with uprooting your whole life and switching continent and climatezone WITH anxiety is no small feet, I take my hat of for that feat and bow!!! I don´t know if you have been told by annybody, but since you are registered living here in sweden you have the right to our healthbenefits, i.e. you can get a doctors appointment and you don´t need anny insurance to pay the bills, a visit costs 150-340 kr depending on what doctor you need, the rest is payed by our taxes! Me myself are somewhat lucky, I have more or less outgrown my anxiety with age, but I am allso quite a bit older than you are, so hopefully it goes the same way for you as you grow older! Cold and gloom isn´t easy even for many swedes, but as you allready figured out, friends and family helps, and so do a good hobby, black coffee and sweets! 😉 Hope you continue being well and can keep up the vloging, they are nice to watch and of good quality! Don´t hesitate to reach out to friends and or the byreaucracy of sweden if you ever need help, it´s bad enough having anxiety and feeling like chewe up kebab, but facing it alone is more than needs be! Take care and remember to have fun doing so!