Margot was already an expatriate: coming from a middle-size city in the East of France, Margot’s only wish was to move abroad, which she did, as she established herself in London. There, in the British capital, this colorful woman and settled down for a while with her British husband. But the call of the north would soon be too strong to resist!
The Scandinavian Dream
Margot is a huge fan of Scandinavia and always had a strong desire to move here: “That’s the dream life… You read these articles about Sweden, Norway, Finland being the happiest places to be and it attracted me immensely”. Having travelled several times to Norway, this is the country she first wanted to move to: “I’ve been to Norway so many times, I love it, and my husband looked for a job there”. Unfortunately, after several failed attempts at finding a job in Norway, this project was put to sleep.
But Margot did not completely abandon her Scandinavian dream and eventually, it’s the dream which found her: “My husband found a job here, well actually the job found him”. As you can imagine, the announcement was received with all the enthusiasm in the world: “we didn’t hesitate one second”. Thus, the first weekend of November, the happy couple moved to Stockholm, and the fantasy became a reality.
Sweden, Sweet Sweden
Her opinion did not change since she has moved here, as she speaks about her current life in Stockholm with sparks in her eyes! Everything, from the weather to the Swedish lifestyle, everything delights her: “it’s actually even better than I was expecting so it’s awesome!”.
The couple was lucky to have a caring company behind them, helping them transition to their new country: “My husband’s company is really good with taking care of spouses”, which is how Margot and her husband became members of the Grow International community.
Margo's Swedish Favorites
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The weather
One wouldn’t have guessed that the Swedish weather could be someone’s favorite but apparently it can: “I love the weather, I like the cold and the sunshine nearly everyday, I used to live in London, this is a massive difference”.
The easiness
Sweden does make it easy for its inhabitants to live here. Margot has noticed that and cannot stop praising it: “it feels like everything was made easy for people […], internet everywhere, everything has been modernized bit by bit because they want to be ahead of everybody and it’s just so easy to be here”. Even when people do not speak Swedish it is easy to communicate as the vast majority of people speak English here “Everybody speaks English which is awesome”.
Settling in
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Settling in, both with language but also socially can be a bit of a challenge in Sweden. Fortunately, Margot got to take advantage of the Grow Internationals’ membership and it’s during her Swedish class that she met her first friends: “in there I got to start a social life”.
Learning the language
Margot’s will to learn Swedish is really strong, she started Swedish language class as soon as she could: “I took my first Swedish class about three or four days after I arrived with Grow Internationals”, which is quite impressive! However, she does find it challenging to learn, as she judges Swedish to be a “very hard” language.
The social factor
Although she loves Sweden and Scandinavia in general, Margot acknowledges that moving to another country is not always easy, and that lacking a social network can be quite tough. She confides that “it’s quite lonely at the beginning”. But as pragmatic as a Brit, Margot adds “But that’s moving anywhere, isn’t it?”. Nevertheless, she admits that it is quite delicate to make friends in general, and especially Swedish friends.
And now?
Now, like a real Swede, Margot is exercising! Between two Swedish classes, she runs: “I run a lot, I joined a running group”. The intrepid women even started her own business: “I’m starting my business which is not so easy because there is lots of paperworks and I’m having some papers that need to come from the UK so that’s taking a bit of time”.
Well Margot, we wish you the best of luck for your projects in Sweden!