>Native Swede here. I felt the same way living in the US (minus the kids). Now having moved back, I realize that the problem was not entirely the US, most of it was my own attitude. I won't claim that every country is equal, but there are often good and bad things about most countries, and I haven't seen a perfect one yet. Being an expat in a country though you will notice every little flaw, or anything that's different from what you're used to. Things that annoyed me disproportionatly included paying rent with paper checks and the look and density of US cities. There were a million things like that, along with more serious issues like politics and healthcare. Meanwhile you are partially (sometimes completely) blind to the problems of your home country.
Try to be cognizant of this and try not to be bitter, it's not worth it.
This is a sideline, but I want to be very clear: I don't hangout with expats (I'd say 90% of my friends are Swedes), and I have no illusions whatsoever about the faults of my original country (the UK), which I would never move back to. As a person who grew up in England with parents from Spain who were Basques, I'm actually very critical of 'patriotic' sentiments, and extremely aware of the personal biases that they involve.
I'm definitely not bitter - but I'd say it's typical of you as a Swede to characterize my hatred of Sweden in that negative way.
> I'm definitely not bitter - but I'd say it's typical of you as a Swede to characterize my hatred of Sweden in that negative way.
I just shared my own experience, which I would call bitterness. Basically, I couldn't appreciate the good parts because I was blinded by the bad parts. Maybe there's a better word than bitter, I don't know. I won't assume our situations were identical, so feel free to disregard what I said if it doesn't apply to you...
Then I'm curious, what country would be ideal for you to live in? And have you lived there as an adult? In my experience, you only get a true sense of a country if you live there as a working adult, even better if you have kids. As a student, or short term visitor, there's no way of knowing what it's like. That's why my image of Sweden was so rosy (and also because I didn't know anything else), I hadn't actually lived there as a working adult by the time I moved back. Likewise, my view of the US took a sharp turn for the worse once I entered work life there.
This is a sideline, but I want to be very clear: I don't hangout with expats (I'd say 90% of my friends are Swedes), and I have no illusions whatsoever about the faults of my original country (the UK), which I would never move back to. As a person who grew up in England with parents from Spain who were Basques, I'm actually very critical of 'patriotic' sentiments, and extremely aware of the personal biases that they involve.
I'm definitely not bitter - but I'd say it's typical of you as a Swede to characterize my hatred of Sweden in that negative way.