Hello, I’m Olaf Schneider from Germany and have been living in Skelleftehamn in Northern Sweden since 2010. In my blog way-up-north I’ll write and show photos of landscape, weather and nature in Northern Scandinavia and a bit more.

1. Why did you move abroad?  
Since 2003 I’d been in Northern Scandinavia quite often, mostly in wintertime doing ski tours or other holidays. I just loved the nordic landscape and the real winters up here with coldness, polar lights and much snow. I wanted to live here and stop being just a tourist.  After som years of consideration I decided to make this step, travelled to Swedish Lapland and was lucky to find a job in Skellefteå/Sweden. Two month later i moved to Skellefteå, then to Skelleftehamn

2. How do you make a living?  
I’ve been deployed as a web developer in a small, but great company since I came to Skellefteå. Just now I’m starting my own company to be able to focus more on photography, travel, and music. And perhaps even other things I don’t yet know.

3. How often do you communicate with home and how?  
I use Skype to ring home or to talk to my friends, once to twice a week.

4. What's your favorite thing about being an expat in Skelleftehamn?  
Great and open minded people, a fantastic nature and a more relaxed and balanced lifestyle are some of my favourite things – yes, and warm woolen mittens, too, since I love snow and winter.

5. What’s the worst thing about being an expat in Skelleftehamn?  
Probably the health system. It can take efforts and more than three months waiting time just to see a doctor. That’s definitely the worst part of living in Northern Sweden to me.

6. What do you miss most?  
My family and my friends. Full stop. And German bread … . I can by quite chauvinistic when it comes to bread. Ah yes, German bread! Zat’s vunderful!

7. What did you do to meet people and integrate in your new home?  
I was really lucky, since I could stay with an extremely nice couple the first two months. They introduced me to many people, asked to join every invitation and party and smoothed my way. But then I have many interests, too. For example I joined the chamber choir, a discussion club and the association “Happy Friends of Cold and Darkness” where I got to know more people.  So I’m glad, that my worst fear of not getting any contacts, mates and friends didn’t come true at all.

8. What custom/ habits do you find most strange about your adopted culture?  
Probably the consensus culture. Almost all decisions shall be made unanimously, which sometimes can take ages. Sometimes tiring and hard to stand for me who comes more from a disputing culture.

9. What is a myth about your adopted country?   
I’m not good with such. Tell me a myth, I’ll tell you if it’s true or not.

10. Is the cost of living higher or lower than the last country you lived in and how has that made a difference in your life?  
Hard to say. Wages are lower than in Munich where I lived before, so I have less money. On the other way I lived in an expensive one-room flat in Munich, while I own a whole house now. For me that’s much better than just a larger number on a bank account.

11. What advice would you give other expats?   
Try to start learning Swedish, before you come. Almost all people are great in talking English and you hardly will have any problems with communication, but almost all Swedes are much too polite to correct your language glitches, even if you ask them for that.

12. When and why did you start your blog? 
I started a German blog [still online] in April 2010, wrote more than 800 articles and showed more than 3500 photos. Last autumn I decided to start a new blog in English, so that all my non-german speaking friends are able to read and participate, too. The new blog focuses mostly on landscape, weather and photography in Northern Scandinavia. But that may change, new topics may appear. Stay tuned…

Olaf's blog, way-up-north

Guide to Stockholm

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