From Chaos to Kanelbullar – My Swedish Journey Begins

If you had told me at the beginning of August 2025 that by the first of September of the same year I would be living and working in Sweden — a country I had never been to in my life and whose language I don’t speak at all — I probably would’ve thought you were joking.
Turns out, it’s not a joke at all, but actually the reality I live in right now.

But before getting into the details of the chaotic start of my year abroad as a volunteer — chaos that was, admittedly, self-inflicted— I think it makes sense to introduce myself at least a little bit.

Hallihallo! My name is Maria, I’m 19 years old, come from Germany, and moved to Växjö 71 days ago — over two months now. (Wow, time really flies when you’re having fun…)
Back when I was in Germany, I just finished my high school degree (the so-called German Abitur) this summer.
And I think that’s pretty much all you need to know about me to understand what question has dominated my life ever since:
“What do I do now?!”

After 12 years of school — with pretty much the same people, the same subjects, and the same routines — I suddenly had to make a decision about what to do with my life (or at least the next few years of it) once all that “same” was over.
The only thing I knew for sure was: I wanted to go abroad and gain some experience. Any experience.

So, of course, I started searching. A lot of searching. Everywhere and for everything.
And if you’ve ever been in a similar situation, you probably know how frustrating that search can be — especially when you can’t find anything that actually fits your expectations.

The months flew by, application deadlines slowly started to run out, and my frustration kept growing.
But then, on August 19th, fate (or whatever you want to call it) opened a little door for me:
“Volunteering project in Växjö, Sweden.”
Creative work, social environment… conclusion: sounds perfect!
Only problem: “…project starting on September 1st.”

Still, I thought, “Why not just try? I probably won’t get in anyway.”

One application email, a FaceTime interview, and two (very long) days of waiting for an answer later —
I actually got in!

After half an hour of excited and relieved celebration about finally finding something that fit me and my expectations, the realization started to sink in: I had just 10 days left to prepare before moving to a foreign country.
Ten days of planning, saying goodbye, packing, and (at least kind of) mentally preparing myself to move abroad.

The only things I knew about Sweden at that time were: cold winters, little to no sun, lots of rain, and — after a quick Google search — the word “Fika” (which turned out to be much more important than I thought).

Those 10 days in Germany flew by even faster than I expected, until I suddenly found myself on a train to Hamburg, where I was supposed to meet the other two German volunteers with whom I’d travel the rest of the way to Växjö.
By that time, the internet had provided me with some more information about Sweden — and, of course, even more stereotypes than I had before.

In my head, Sweden looked like an open zoo with moose running around everywhere, being chased by cold and reserved Swedes, holding a hockey stick in one hand and a Kanelbulle in the other.
So, as you can probably imagine, I had my doubts about my decision.
I was scared of the country, the weather, the workplace, the other volunteers, and the Swedish people — who, according to the internet, weren’t exactly eager to meet new people or befriend a random girl from Germany.

Luckily, those first doubts disappeared soon after meeting the other two German volunteers, which gave me hope that my decision to come here wasn’t all that bad after all.

As I said before: I’ve now been living here for a little over two months, and a lot has happened since.
I’ve gotten to know all the other volunteers (who I’ve already grown very fond of), my new home, my work, and at least a bit of the city where I’ll spend the next ten months living.

And all I can say for now is that I’m more than happy with my decision to come here.

Even though I still have to wait for the winter to fully arrive to see whether my prejudices about the weather are true (which they probably are, to be honest), most of my other preconceptions haven’t turned out to be right.
From the little experience I’ve gained so far, I haven’t seen any moose yet (and probably won’t anytime soon), and — even more importantly — I’ve had almost entirely positive experiences with Swedish people, who, contrary to what I’d read online, seem warm-hearted and simply put, just super sweet to me.

The obsession with Fika, though, is even stronger than I expected — but that’s something I’m more than happy to deal with, considering that Kanelbullar truly are an amazing invention.

Apart from the fact that Swedish grocery stores are also open on Sundays and sometimes even until 11 p.m. during the week (which I absolutely love), and that people here tend to have dinner a bit earlier, not much has really changed — except that Swedes seem to party a little differently and less than Germans do.

Other than that, the culture shock has been pretty mild, and I sometimes even forget that I’m not in Germany anymore — if it weren’t for the language chaos caused by the mix of all the volunteers’ languages: Finnish, French, Spanish, German, and of course, English and Swedish…

Still, for the (comparatively) short time I’ve been here, I’ve already gained quite a lot of new experiences. Whether it’s my first months of living away from my parents, my first real work experience in the office and (of course) during my two-week internship with the practical team, or the many weekend trips, movie nights, and hangouts with the other six volunteers — there have been a lot of new impressions.

I think this short time has already led to a lot of personal growth, which I’m very happy about — and, to be honest, also a little proud of.

(…and sometimes being thrown into cold water isn’t as bad as it seems at first!)

Well, anyway — I hope you enjoyed my little recap of my journey so far! I definitely hope we’ll “read” each other again a few months from now. I’m already curious to see what else this adventure has in store for me!

Best, Maria! 🙂