[Winterflow3r]

I did and I regret it deeply. I was working remotely even pre-covid times and I decided to leave London (where housing was becoming a nightmare) to move to Sweden. I have never been this deeply lonely in my entire life. I love the nature, I love the winter, even the darkness, but socially this was a very bad move. Working remotely when you live close to a big city where you are very fluent in the language is not even close to being the same as working remotely when you live in a foreign country alone and far away from everyone.

[danieka]

I'm sorry to hear that. I think Sweden can be a difficult culture to integrate into. If you live near Stockholm and would like to meet up I'd be happy to introduce you to my group of friends. My e-mail is in my profile.

[digianarchist]

Having friends in Denmark and Norway this might be a Scandinavian thing.

[dougmwne]

Did you move there on your own without knowing anyone? How did you choose Sweden? Do you feel like hosting some HN nomads?

[kharak]

Out of curiosity, why did you choose Sweden?

Why not move back?

Is there an expat community you could mingle with?

[Winterflow3r]

I did a pros/cons analysis and figured out that it would be my best bet since I knew the language at a around a B2/C1 level and there was no other EU country that spoke English (my preferred language). However, I severely underestimated how difficult it would be to establish a social circle without very fluent Swedish and without existing connections. There is certainly an expat community that I've tried to interact with, but sadly covid has made in-person social gatherings almost non-existing (restrictions have not been very severe here but many groups like language cafes have been cancelled or moved online). Hope things get better in the spring!

[yoyohn]

> there was no other EU country that spoke English (my preferred language)

you've missed a whole country named Ireland which is in EU

[BerislavLopac]

And another named Malta. Much smaller, for sure, but with way better weather.

[epage]

In visiting other countries, I realized how little I interact with the people around me because of the language barrier. I know there are places its worse and some where its better. Still, made me reconsider to another country.

[rowanajmarshall]

Maybe try somewhere like Scotland, especially the Highlands? You'll get similar-ish weather and nature, but you'll speak the language and it'll be easier to work remote for London companies.

[knarkmacka]

Yeah, that's a thing with us swedes in general, and perhaps also with tech people in general. Combine the two and...

[siva7]

Why not move back?

[Winterflow3r]

Not a UK citizen and Brexit has effectively made moving back much much harder than it was before when you had automatic right of residence based on being an EU citizen.