Are Swedes cold and boring? - my insight on Sweden (1)

Already!? autumn scenery (last week taken)

Lakeside at sunset

What and how much do you know about Sweden?

You have probably heard some of the names of Sony Ericsson (where I work at! well, it's actually headquatered in London though), Ericsson, Ikea, Volvo, Tetra Pak, H&M, Abba, Bjorn Borg etc.

What I knew about Sweden before arrining here were Viking, aurora, ice Hotel, vodka, hight taxe rates and a strong welfare state, and my images of Sweden were the girls are beautiful (which is true), people are tall and blond ( for some peole yes but not everyone), suicide rates are higher (not sure if this is really true : but it is locally said so too) and pornography is widespread ( not ture - unfortunately, Joaquim - : we sometimes confuse nakedness with sex, Swedes are simply nature oriented and less prudish, I think).

Chatting with, for example, taxi drivers who are often immigrants from warmer climates, they quite sometimes say Swedes are cold, boring people, who don't know how to have fun.
From my point of view, I feel that to describe Swedes as cold is absolutely unfair. They are very warm, kind and sincere but it takes time to get to know them.
People's life, even everyday life, seems to run on the basis of organized plans and agreements. Here is an extreme example, but some people make their holiday plan 1 year ahead on where to go and what to do, and book flights for next year!!
I wonder how successful "lastminutes.com" is in this country (he he...).
A lot of planning certainly bring you securities, but at the same time impromptu surprises might be missed in life, which I personally appreciate to be happened.

(to be continued)