Can a Minnesotan survive in Sweden?

Off-topic
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(Phil had a great idea in asking everyone about travel to Australia. In typical american fashion, I plan to steal a good idea and pretend it was my own :wink: )

I’m applying to grad schools right now (biomedical engineering), and some of my friends suggested Uppsala, Sweden. Before I apply, there are a few concerns I have about relocation and I was hoping some people with experience could answer a couple questions for me.

1: What are the extremes in daylight hours? I’ve heard that near Uppsala you get down to only two hours of sunlight each day in winter and two hours of dark in summer. Is this true, and if so, does it affect people’s personalities?

2: How well is the terrain/weather suited for unicycling? I prefer cokering to Muni, and I’m worried that long winters could force me to change styles.

2a: Are there any unicylists near Uppsala or will my unicycling cause people in that part of Sweden to develop odd stereotypes about americans?

3: How similar is Swedish food to American food? I spent four months in China and the food was good, but by the end of the trip I would’ve killed for Taco Bell food or a good cheeseburger.

4: Are the winter’s very harsh? Uppsala is farther north than Minnesota, but it’s also located near a coast. Will I freeze to death or will it feel like spring all year round?

5: How long must I maintain residency in Sweden before I get access to those Swedish Bikini Teams from the old bear ads.

Thanks for any insights. Right now I’m probably going to stay in my hometown (there’s a pretty good school here and I’ll be close to my family) but there’s a part of me that wants to go to Sweden, so I thought I’d let you guys argue about it for a bit.

Thanks,
Rob

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People of Swedish decent represent the second largest immigrant group in Minnesota. (Germans are the largest).

You’ll be fine.

3

Can you speak Swedish?

David

4

From what I know most Swedes speak better English than many of us Brits…:o

5

Re: Can a Minnesotan survive in Sweden?

1: What are the extremes in daylight hours? I’ve heard that near Uppsala you get down to only two hours of sunlight each day in winter and two hours of dark in summer. Is this true, and if so, does it affect people’s personalities?

No way, it ain’t 2 hours, i live about 500 km north of uppsala, and we have more than 2 hours of sun in the mid-winter, i guess we have… calculating about 4 och 5 hours, and that’s around christmas of course.
It should be like 5-6 hours in uppsala, but they don’t have wery much snow there…

2: How well is the terrain/weather suited for unicycling? I prefer cokering to Muni, and I’m worried that long winters could force me to change styles.

As i said above, they doesn’t have much snow in uppsala, and by much, i mean snow that lasts for a while, but they have some snow each winter. And it shouldn’t be that wet or slippery on the roads that much.

2a: Are there any unicylists near Uppsala or will my unicycling cause people in that part of Sweden to develop odd stereotypes about americans?

They won’t hate USA because of you, many already is, in a voting of kerry vs bush in sweden, kerry won with about 90% of the votes.
But seriusly, sweedes are nice, they’ll just be happy to see something diferent.

3: How similar is Swedish food to American food? I spent four months in China and the food was good, but by the end of the trip I would’ve killed for Taco Bell food or a good cheeseburger.

Don’t know if it should be a problem.
And of course, we have McD, BK, Pizza hut and some others.
And btw, the swedish food is the best!

4: Are the winter’s very harsh? Uppsala is farther north than Minnesota, but it’s also located near a coast. Will I freeze to death or will it feel like spring all year round?

[B]I guess it’s not that harsh
This is a map of the average temperatures in january in sweden! When you freeze to death is pretty personal!

This is in april!

Uppsala is in the middle of the big “bump” 2/3 down the right side.[/B]

5: How long must I maintain residency in Sweden before I get access to those Swedish Bikini Teams from the old bear ads.

You’ll get your acces to them when you deserves it!

:smiley:

Edit: And btw, I’m only 16, don’t speak that good english… yet.

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The only Swedish I know is “My Grandfather has a tank”. It was a favourite chat up line taught to me by a swedish DJ by the name of DJ Sven.

Kit

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A friend of mine moved from Singapore to Luleå (WAY further north than Uppsala). If she could survive the winter there, so can you.

A student at Uppsala Universitet (University of Uppsala) had this in his account.
The Secret Files about Sweden It is supposedly based on forigners impressions of Sweden and Swedes. It may not be THE descirption of all things Swedish, but it’s fun to read.

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When you said it to me, it seemed more like German…

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That is a vera good description of Sweden, you really should read it.