Written by Andaç Baran
13 Nov 2015
I do not know you had a chance to read my very first blog post about Sweden’s fun fact. Apparently, the blog post found good readers and went viral, at least in my network. If you did not have a chance to read it before, you may take a look here. Because of high reading, I have decided to write the second one.
Here is some fun facts about world’s the most generous country:
89% of People in Sweden speak English
If you are scared about language of Sweden, you don’t need to be any more. When an international student decides to move another country, language barrier is the most important criteria for him/her. However, people in Sweden has overcome this barrier and they can basically speak English very well. Swedish people are the best non-native English speakers in the world, according to the largest global ranking of countries by English language skills. So if you have some questions in your mind about this, just come here and experience international atmosphere.
Sweden has run out of trash so it’s importing garbage from Norway
Every day, thousands of trucks arrive at plants outside of cities in Sweden. They carry garbage, but they are not there to dump the cargo. Instead, they deliver it to the plant’s special ovens, which burn it, providing heat to thousands of local homes. Ecology and sustainable life are taking very serious here. Some plants only use waste as fuel. Swedes recycles almost half (47 percent) of their waste and use 52 percent to generate heat, less than 1 percent of garbage now ends up in the dump. Swedes are so good at recycling that there’s no longer enough garbage to meet the heating plants’ needs. Sweden now imports the trash that most other countries are trying to dispose. Last year, Sweden imported some 800,000 tons of garbage from neighbors.
Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce standardized time, which was necessary to make understandable train tables.
Currently, I am reading A Scent of Sweden by Kristina Kisthinios. The book itself clarifies a lot of things about Swedish culture and practice, however standardized time factin the book is one of the most impressing ones. Swedes are very punctual and they also want you to punctual. Courses, exams or seminars always start on time, buses and trains always leave on time. For me, it is completely impossible to be that much accurate. When I was living in Istanbul, I was besotted with unplanned and unscheduled life because of uncertain traffic conditions. However, now I live in a world everything is well-organized and planned. If you think that you need some break from chaos, Sweden can be a good example 🙂
