Crabski
03-05-2011, 01:53 AM
Hey everyone. I realize that this might be an odd place to ask, but does anyone here live in Sweden, or have significant connections (friends/family) to Swedes? I have a very strong interest in at least visiting Sweden, and possibly moving there entirely in the near future (~a year at the very most). I currently live in the US (Massachusetts, on the east coast), but my desire to leave has been getting stronger and stronger over the past 2 years. I'll write a bit about my reasons below for those who are interested; but if anyone can help, please send me a PM. Absolutely nothing is set in stone yet, but I want to at least start talking to people and trading some names; and I know HoN has a lot of EU players.
So, my reasons. Before anyone asks: no, they aren't political in the slightest. They're entirely about my own concerns with my life; and as such, this will be very personal compared to what OT is used to. I'll try to be as concise as possible.
Over the past few years, I've become much more reflective and cognizant of the course my life is taking; and I slowly began realizing that I couldn't see a point in anything I was doing. I was in college at the time, and everything I was doing there just seemed like a dead end; a road to getting a degree, which would lead to a decent job, which would lead to... what? A comfortable, safe life? I didn't see a point in wasting my time doing that, but I didn't know what else to do. After a few months of being generally unhappy and disinterested, I finally decided to do the only thing I knew how to do; change something. So I left school, came back home, and started working in a small privately-owned piano maintenance workshop. For a while, I thought it might be enough. I was working with my hands and learning stuff every day, and it was really cool to work in a workshop with just myself and my boss (who is a really awesome guy). I hadn't done any metalworking or carpentry before, so it was a huge learning experience. I've been working there for about a year now, and I'm again realizing that it just isn't fulfilling me as a person. Again, I'm having trouble seeing the point. If I stay here doing this, then I think I'll just end up feeling like I wasted another year of my life; and I'm starting to think it's because I just can't find much in common with the people around me. So I'm going to try something crazy.
So why Sweden? Really, it's a bit arbitrary. A lot of my favorite things have come out of there, and I've basically never seen anything bad about the place. I've also never been there before despite having been all around Europe before, so it can be a fresh start. I'm not anywhere near naive enough to think that it will be a utopia where all my problems will go away (and many Swedes I've talked to in the past have had a lot of bad things to say about the country as a whole... grass is always greener, etc.). Still, the people there always seem awesome whenever I catch a brief glimpse of them; not afraid to be different, in tune with themselves, and most importantly smart without being loud about it. It's either the most devious marketing plot ever conceived or it's a hidden gem where I might find something I value. Either way, it's something I have to explore. A strong plus is that there seem to be a lot of decent English speakers there.
Please know that I am 100% serious about this. These aren't just some random words you're reading on the internet; a real person is sitting here and writing this. I don't want to hear judgments or opinions as they won't change my thoughts; please hold back if that's all you have to say. If you are kind and brave enough to help some random guy from the US do something he has no idea how to do, please let me know. Even if you can't help in a more serious way, even having someone I can talk to would be helpful; as of now, I basically only know people (as in, actually know people) from the US and Austria/Switzerland. These are scary and uncharted waters I'm considering diving into. Felt good to write this.
So, my reasons. Before anyone asks: no, they aren't political in the slightest. They're entirely about my own concerns with my life; and as such, this will be very personal compared to what OT is used to. I'll try to be as concise as possible.
Over the past few years, I've become much more reflective and cognizant of the course my life is taking; and I slowly began realizing that I couldn't see a point in anything I was doing. I was in college at the time, and everything I was doing there just seemed like a dead end; a road to getting a degree, which would lead to a decent job, which would lead to... what? A comfortable, safe life? I didn't see a point in wasting my time doing that, but I didn't know what else to do. After a few months of being generally unhappy and disinterested, I finally decided to do the only thing I knew how to do; change something. So I left school, came back home, and started working in a small privately-owned piano maintenance workshop. For a while, I thought it might be enough. I was working with my hands and learning stuff every day, and it was really cool to work in a workshop with just myself and my boss (who is a really awesome guy). I hadn't done any metalworking or carpentry before, so it was a huge learning experience. I've been working there for about a year now, and I'm again realizing that it just isn't fulfilling me as a person. Again, I'm having trouble seeing the point. If I stay here doing this, then I think I'll just end up feeling like I wasted another year of my life; and I'm starting to think it's because I just can't find much in common with the people around me. So I'm going to try something crazy.
So why Sweden? Really, it's a bit arbitrary. A lot of my favorite things have come out of there, and I've basically never seen anything bad about the place. I've also never been there before despite having been all around Europe before, so it can be a fresh start. I'm not anywhere near naive enough to think that it will be a utopia where all my problems will go away (and many Swedes I've talked to in the past have had a lot of bad things to say about the country as a whole... grass is always greener, etc.). Still, the people there always seem awesome whenever I catch a brief glimpse of them; not afraid to be different, in tune with themselves, and most importantly smart without being loud about it. It's either the most devious marketing plot ever conceived or it's a hidden gem where I might find something I value. Either way, it's something I have to explore. A strong plus is that there seem to be a lot of decent English speakers there.
Please know that I am 100% serious about this. These aren't just some random words you're reading on the internet; a real person is sitting here and writing this. I don't want to hear judgments or opinions as they won't change my thoughts; please hold back if that's all you have to say. If you are kind and brave enough to help some random guy from the US do something he has no idea how to do, please let me know. Even if you can't help in a more serious way, even having someone I can talk to would be helpful; as of now, I basically only know people (as in, actually know people) from the US and Austria/Switzerland. These are scary and uncharted waters I'm considering diving into. Felt good to write this.