This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Olivia Tapper, 29, who currently lives in Austin, Texas. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Apart from vacations, I first stayed in the US in 2019. I was researching a master’s thesis as part of my degree in my native Sweden and lived in New York for a year.
I wanted to venture out into the world and experience somewhere else. Everything about the US compelled me to live there permanently.
Five years later — after splitting our time working between Europe and America — my husband, Thomas, 33, made the big step of immigrating permanently after finding a house in Austin.
We run two online companies. We interact with many clients stateside, mostly business owners who market goods as diverse as candy and activewear.
They are dedicated to building their personal brands. They hustle. They’ll ping me on WhatsApp over the weekend if they need something done. It’s a different career mindset. Like them, I enjoy working at that tempo.
I had a great job in Sweden — I was a strategic business developer in the IT department of a global company — and loved my boss. I didn’t really need to move anywhere.
I was quite happy, but I felt as if things moved slowly. Sweden has a big consensus culture. It takes a long time for decisions and projects to be made, and I felt like I was a little bit stuck in that.
My job is my passion
In my experience, Swedish society is not as individualistic as in the US. It’s less focused on the person and their achievements. For example, when I graduated from college, there was no valedictorian at my school. There was no top of the class. You either passed or you didn’t pass.
I’ve found that there’s a different cultural mindset in Sweden. Standing out or talking about achievement is often frowned upon. Tall-poppy syndrome — where pride is thought to come before a fall — is common. Tall-poppy syndrome is a term that originated in ancient Rome and refers to wanting to cut down someone who stands out from a crowd.
But I go into things quite intensely. My job is my passion. I feel as if I’d be hindered if it wasn’t.
When I was employed in Sweden, one of my former companies would practically shut down for four to six weeks over the summer. Everybody would be off at the same time. It’s the traditional way that things have always been done.
You’d get a lot of out-of-office messages, which I found frustrating. My ex-boss said he thought it was odd that I wanted to work over the summer and take my vacation time when it suited me and was less crowded.
Meanwhile, in my experience, Swedish people are more guarded and reserved. Social interactions between strangers are rare, especially in public places.
I feel like I’ve outgrown my home country
Sweden is quiet. Thomas once said that if you were at the airport and dropped a penny on the floor, everyone would hear it. In Austin, public places are usually full of chatter.
People are friendly here. When we moved into our new house, the neighbors came around and introduced themselves. They brought goodies such as cupcakes. I never got to know my neighbors back home.
I don’t want to knock Sweden. I come from the beautiful city of Stockholm. People walk everywhere, especially in the summer when it really comes alive.
Stockholm is part of an archipelago with 30,000 islands. I miss having water around me. And, of course, I miss my family.
But after traveling a lot and then moving abroad, I’ve changed a lot. I dream big and am not ashamed to say so. I feel like I’ve outgrown Sweden, and it’s almost claustrophobic for me to go back.
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