Books I Like: North (How to Live Scandinavian)

What I learned from this book:

Danes are seen by themselves as laid-back – no state-run alcohol shops, freedom to drink at seven in the morning.

Norway is the most beautiful of the three – and the one most in touch with nature.

Sweden is the most tech-savvy, forward-thinking and entrepreneurial of the three. The business-savvy big brother, very organised (in every aspect).

How to be more Danish
If someone asks you how you are, make sure you tell them. In great detail.

How to be more Swedish
Queue like a Swede. At bus stops, ensure at least two safety metres between you and the closest stranger to you. Do not make conversation, not even about the weather.

How to be more Norwegian
Avoid looking directly at your fellow citizens in all urban areas, including pavements, public transport and shops. But remember to say ‘Hei hei’ (hello) to everyone when hiking.


To the average Swede, IKEA represents exactly what they want: practical, clean, attractive. Just like the average Swedish person, really.

Go to IKEA, and you will be told the Swedish national dish is meatballs with mash and gravy. Also sort of true. Sometimes, it’s even sill, potatis and köttbullar (meatballs), but combined, it is known as smörgåsbord.

A favourite pastime of Scandinavians is to make people from other countries eat salty liquorice.

One thing many foreigners find amusing when they get to Scandinavia is the notion of Saturday Sweets. Known as Lördagsgodis/Lørdagsslik), many kids are only allowed sweets on Saturdays.

Cheese in Scandinavia is often eaten with jam. This is a perfectly reasonable accompaniment to all kinds of cheese. Simply add butter to bread, a thick slice of your favourite cheese and a good dollop of jam on top and you have a great mellanmål (‘afternoon snack’).

The word smörgåsbord comes from the Swedish word smörgås, meaning ‘open sandwich’ or ‘buttered bread’, and bord, meaning ‘table’. Translated, it basically means a buffet made up of many smaller dishes: ‘a laid-out table’.

While Scandinavians will never, ever talk to you at the bus stop or in the supermarket, once you have sung a few merry tunes around the smörgåsbord, you’ll be making new friends in no time. Smörgåsbord really is where Scandinavians open up the most and where you find our joy of the big, shared, happy table crammed with delicious food.

Aquavit is one of those things that can loosen up the hardest soul. It is the anti-freeze to our Scandi souls.

Hiking in Norway
To recap: smile, comfy clothes, maps, hot beverage, chocolate, orange. Happy hiking!

All Scandinavians have been brought up knowing there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

If you can’t deal with directness, don’t go near a Scandi. It is not a rude thing, it is a cultural thing. Scandinavians in general do not beat around the bush. A spade is a spade.

For this reason, if you are thinking of a long-term relationship with, or of marrying, a Scandinavian, you should probably read up on your equality basics.

Scandinavian couples have two single duvets on the marital bed – it is practical and it avoids duvet fights.

Around fifty per cent of marriages in Scandinavia end in divorce. Is it because they don’t fight to save their marriages? Perhaps, but some of the reasons behind this are that divorce is not a stigma.

Sweden tops the list with 480 days paid leave for parents. This leave can be shared between the parents, taken by both simultaneously, or used by only one parent.

It is not unusual for a Scandinavian child not to be able to read until around eight years of age.

The Scandinavian method allows the child to find their ‘thing’ later on and not feel pressured.

Scandinavian kids swear in English a lot – not because they are allowed to swear but because English swear words don’t mean anything to them.

In Sweden, Norway and Denmark, laws exist about what you can and can’t call your child as a first name. For example, you can’t name your daughter Ikea or Pluto in Denmark, you can’t name your son Elvis in Sweden, nor Veranda, and you can’t use a surname as a first name in Norway.

By and large, we hang quite left of left, even when we’re right.

In general, governments in Scandinavia are considered to be for the people, by the people. There is a trust in government and the system not often as strong in other Western countries.

And lastly, we’re really good at hygge. To make time to do things together, leave the technology behind. To find that little space in our daily grind where only friends and family exist

In Denmark, if you’ve said something to tempt fate, you knock three times under the table (under, never on) and say the numbers ‘syv-ni-tretten’ (‘seven-nine-thirteen’) – one number per knock.

Of course, you say ‘prosit’ if someone sneezes. That goes without saying.