Hi! My name is Vanesa and I am one of the new volunteers at Alvesta exhibition hall. I am from Spain, so as you can imagine my first challenge in Sweden was the weather ☺. Before coming to Sweden I expected that Alvesta would be full of snow everywhere and it would be terribly cold, but fortunately the experience has been much better. In spite of it, thermal shirts and trousers are now part of my daily clothes though ;).
Another challenge was to buy food in the supermarket, especially because I am not able to tolerate gluten and I need to read all the ingredients of each food item. It was really crazy! I spent two hours in order to buy only 6 foodstuffs. Now I am faster in buying, although I am still confused about some foodstuffs occasionally… (why there are Filmjölk and Komjölk so near to each other on the supermarket shelf?)
It was also complicated to understand Swedish coins during the first days, especially if you come from a Euro country. In Sweden cents don’t exist, although they appear in article prices (I know it, it is strange).
But not everything was difficult at the beginning, I have quickly got used to the kindness and politeness of Swedes. It is incredible, they always help you, although you don’t ask them for help. Even if you want to cross the street, but you aren’t on a pedestrian crossing, they always stop their cars in order to allow you to cross.
Fika is another habit that I really love about Sweden. At first it was strange for me to have fika, but now I think I am becoming an addict to fikas ☺.
Now I have a new challenge for overcoming: Swedish language. And I think it will be my challenge during a long time…
