So I am beginning to see some major differences when it comes to personal interactions with Swedish people. Swedish people are not as openly friendly as Americans, not to say they are not nice. On the contrary, I find Swedish people to be very nice and very polite. They just are not as approachable as we loud Americans. The first example that comes to mind is last week when I went to pick up my ID card. I approached the desk of a disgruntled looking government worker and said, “Hi! How are you?” She looked at me suspiciously and responded finally cracking a smile, “Nobody ever asks me how I am. I am fine, busy.” After that ice breaker, she was very sweet and pleasant. I thought to myself, I use “how are you” as part of my greeting, not to say I actually want to know how you are, but as an extend form of “Hello”. But if someone wanted to tell me how they were feeling, I would listen and be interested. So I tried this again, but this time at the bank, I approached the banker and said “Hi, how are you?” She looked at me curiously and hesitated before saying, “Fine, thank you”. I wonder what they must think of me when I say this. Daniel and I have been on walks through the neighborhood and we can cross paths with the same person several times, but nobody says hello. I find that to be quite odd. I say “Hello” to strangers all the time back home, but here they look at you with suspicion and don’t even dare stop to pet their dog…it isn’t allowed. It’s definitely a different world here in Sweden.