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Five ways to cure homesickness as a German in Stockholm

Sweden is beautiful and Stockholm a lovely and exciting city to live in, but for foreigners it can still feel like it's missing something from time to time. Thankfully German The Local contributor Nicole Zerrer has figured out how to cure her homesickness while studying in Stockholm.

Published: 12 June 2017 11:11 CEST
Five ways to cure homesickness as a German in Stockholm
Moving from one capital to the other can be as exciting as challenging. Photo: ultrakreativ/Depositphotos

Moving from Berlin to Stockholm was not a culture shock, but sometimes I still feel like a foreigner in the wrong place and have the need for a homey feeling from time to time. I actually met some of my close German friends here in Stockholm while buying pretzels at Lidl. But I figured out other places to meet Germans or get some German culture while still living in Stockholm. Here’s a free prescription to cure the homesickness.

READ ALSO: Eight ways Germany and Sweden are miles apart

Shopping at Lidl, Media Markt and finding Club Mate

As soon as you enter Lidl the chances are high that you’ll hear some German, and you can finally get a proper pretzel, which could be a nice alternative to all the cinnamon buns and kladdkaka you’re having on the other days during fika. A nice side effect: it doesn’t just feel like going grocery shopping in Germany, it also almost feels like paying a bill in a German supermarket, money wise.

On a personal note, I’m just as happy to have discovered a reliable source to get Club Mate, a caffeinated mate-extract beverage: the Ica supermarket at Folkungagatan is officially saving German hipster reputations (other Stockholm supermarkets also stock the drink). It's just across from Lidl, which can’t be a coincidence. People who are more enthusiastic about electronics than food should try Media Markt for a similar effect.

READ ALSO: Five irks and quirks for a Czech in Sweden


Make Lidl your comfort zone. Photo: Hasse Holmberg/TT

Find likeminded Germans online

For some general small talk, more advice on how to survive as a German in Stockholm, and to find out which pub is showing your favourite football team’s game, try the Facebook group “Deutsche in Stockholm” or “Tyskar i Sverige.”

READ ALSO: 14 things that shock French people about Sweden


Through the “Deutsche in Stockholm” Facebook group Germans are connecting within the Swedish capital. Photo: Leif R Jansson/TT
 

Enjoy a traditional German dinner

Returning to food, to get a German meal like bratwurst, spätzle or schweinshaxe served along with a weissbier and a schnaps for dessert, visit to the Bierhaus on Tegnérgatan in Stockholm’s Vasastan.

For a quicker fix, visit Günter's korvar, a traditional bratwurst stand founded by a German and also located in Vasastan.

READ ALSO: Eight strange things that surprised this Brit about Sweden


Traditional German Bratwurst and Sauerkraut at the Bierhaus in Vasastan. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT
 

Connect with back home during the summer months

The easiest way to cure homesickness would be to just book a ticket and travel home to Germany. Though that might sound like letting the homesickness take over, during summer it can be a good idea since most of your Swedish friends are going to be off on vacation for a whole month anyway.

READ ALSO: Ten Swedish phrases you only hear in summer


Several Airplanes leave daily from Stockholm Arlanda Airport to Germany. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

 

Join a German community in Stockholm

For those in need of a stronger and more long-term German culture treatment without travelling back home, my advice is to get involved with German communities in Stockholm.

The Stockholm German Church, Sankta Gertruds kyrka (or St. Gertrudes Gemeinde in German) offers German language services and a lot of opportunities to volunteer and attend events.

To find a German community not based on religion, events organized by the Goethe Institute can be attended if you want to meet other Germans or at least people that are interested in German culture and language.

For university students, it’s important (and easy) to join the student union and their international programmes, chances are around 99.99 percent that you’ll meet fellow German students.

READ ALSO: Ten ways being an international student in Sweden changes you


Meeting up with other Germans to chat and laugh in the mother tongue. Photo: Simon Paulin/imagebank.sweden.se

For members

PROPERTY

Should you buy a home in Sweden this summer?

Considering the fickle trends in the Swedish housing market, prospective homebuyers might find themselves at a crossroads this summer.

Published: 4 July 2024 14:41 CEST
Should you buy a home in Sweden this summer?

After a period of falling prices driven by increased interest rates, the Swedish housing market is seeing a rebound, particularly in the biggest cities.

However, it’s also taking longer to finalise home sales.

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Recent data from Swedish property listings site Hemnet indicates that while home sales – and housing prices – are on the rise, the time to complete transactions has notably increased.

For instance, the average sale time for an apartment in Sweden increased to 27 days in the first half of the year, up from 22 days during the same period last year. Similarly, houses now take an average of 31 days to sell, compared to 30 days previously.

The slowest market is in the Gävleborg region, where it takes an average of 44 days to sell a home. The fastest transactions occur in Stockholm, with apartments selling in just 16 days and detached homes in 23 days.

This variation in market activity across the country calls for a deeper look into where the best opportunities might lie for homebuyers this summer.

Renewed market confidence in Sweden’s biggest cities

The confidence in the Swedish property market is on its way up in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, Erik Holmberg, a market analyst at Hemnet, told The Local.

“I would say that we have seen a weaker market in the last couple of years, almost everywhere in the country, since the Swedish central bank started to increase the interest policy rate, which affected the market a lot,” he said.

“But in the last half of the year or rather in the last year, the confidence has come back in bigger cities – in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö… When we look at price developments last year, in three of Sweden’s biggest cities, we see prices increasing again.”

However, the analyst warned that the opposite is currently true in other areas of the country, which have seen a continued decrease in market activity and flatter developments in the same time interval.

A new trend emerging in Stockholm?

As Hemnet’s analyst explained, in Sweden, housing market trends usually start in Stockholm, when the market begins to change, causing a ripple effect.

“And that’s what we have seen. Now, market activity and prices are increasing again in the bigger cities. Usually, when the market changes, other areas in the country follow, and that could be the case now,” said Holmberg.

“When the rates and inflation situation become clearer, other parts of the country might follow the market in the big cities. Our main scenario is that we will see this spread,” he said, adding that prices in Stockholm have picked up quite fast in the last year but that the demand is still affected by the high interest rates.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw swift price developments in some areas with the highest demand, such as city centres.”

The effect on the rental market

Another aspect to consider is the rental market, which could see significant changes in the short to mid-term.

Holmberg pointed out that properties which fail to sell might enter the rental market.

“What we’ve seen is that it’s harder to sell properties today, so, probably, more people who own homes and can’t sell them will put these unsold homes on the market for a while. This could affect the supply of apartments for rent and, in turn, prices,” the analyst said.

INTERVIEW:

What different types of homebuyers should know

For buyers, the current market presents a mixed bag.

“In Sweden, we often talk of having a seller’s or buyer’s market. Today, it’s good for buyers that they have a lot to choose from; there’s a record-high supply almost everywhere in the country. That means it’s easy to find something,” said Holmberg.

However, he also cautioned that the slow market makes agreeing on terms with sellers challenging, with sales times at record highs.

“Sales take some time in today’s market, and that’s important to understand for both sellers and buyers, especially for homeowners who are changing homes, meaning they’re both buying and selling something; it’s a tough market for them.

“Today, this group often chooses to sell their home before they buy something new. That makes up a big part of record high sales times; we have people waiting for the right bid before moving from the selling to the buying side…” Holmberg said, noting that the market is different compared to two to three years ago when it was “very hot”.

“So, remember that even if prices grow, it’s still a tough or slow market.”

READ MORE:

On the other hand, first-time buyers might find a silver lining in the form of lower prices compared to a couple of years ago, making it a potentially favourable time to enter the Swedish housing market.

“First-time buyers are in another situation, which may be better because the prices are lower than two years ago, of course, and if you’re just buying something, you don’t need to worry about the selling part,” Holmberg told The Local.

“That’s why this could be a good situation to enter the housing market this summer, but even so, despite supply being really high, it could still be tough because many sellers have put down a listed price but don’t necessarily plan to sell at this price.”

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