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LadyEllen -> RE: 2 new roommates, 2 different countries, 2 different languages! (9/15/2006 2:01:27 AM)
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Sounds like fun!
About the only wars I can think of between these two countries would be the period of the Vikings and the 30 years' war in the seventeenth century (basically protestants vs catholics) where Sweden was a major player, Germany was divided between the two camps and also provided much of the battleground. The Swedes may also have become involved in the disagreements between parts of and then the whole of Germany, and Denmark over the years too as Denmark and Sweden have been one kingdom at times over the centuries. In more recent conflicts, Sweden has been neutral, though it was a major player in the supply of war materials to Germany. Nowadays, both countries are members of the EU; Germany is a founder member and for a long time Sweden (along with UK, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and its Scandinavian neighbours) were members of the rival trading block known as EFTA. EFTA has gradually broken up in more recent years, as its members have drifted into EU membership instead. Sweden joined the EU (I believe) in the mid to late 1990s, though the vote to do so was narrow. The Swedes' best friends are its neighbours, Norway, Denmark and Finland, along with Iceland (also Scandinavian in populace if not by geography), although even so there is fierce rivalry between them due to one or the other dominating the rest at some time in history. Finland was formerly colonised by Sweden and there is still a small number of Swedish speakers in Finland. Amongst its Scandinavian family, Sweden is probably the least liked by the others due to its former power in the region and also because its language though related to the rest (apart from Finnish), is sufficiently different for the others to say that the Swedes "talk funny". Germany meanwhile is best friends these days with its old enemy, France in political terms and these two countries have built a strong relationship despite past conflicts. I will assume you are familiar with more recent history, but Germany was founded as a single state only in 1918 after the first world war (until then Bavaria was still effectively independent). The move to a single state in the mid to late 19th century from a collection of smaller states, is the root of German nationalism and also provoked the arms race and international tensions that provided the fuel for the first world war. Germany is also friends with Switzerland (majority Germans speaking) and Austria (German speaking), although certainly the Austrians tend to dislike the Germans and see them as a domineering bigger brother. Whatever the political situation, the Germans as people do not like the French in particular, east Europeans in general and do tend to be assertive people, which comes across as arrogance to the rest of us in Europe. Meanwhile the rest of Europe still has mixed feelings at best about the Germans.
As many have said, I dont think you will have any problems with language; Swedes it seems must learn English from a very early age as they all seem to speak our language as well as us (only the Dutch outdo them!). Germans meanwhile also learn English from an early age, and though English as a second language is not as widespread in Germany as it is in Sweden, a student choosing to come to the US would suggest to me someone either competent in English already or someone wanting to learn.
Culturally, Germans and Swedes and much of the rest of Europe is a little mixed. There is still a lot of pride in older culture, but young people especially are "Americanised" through television and music, and also receive a lot of media from the UK which is closer in culture to the US than to Europe. Yes, they have MacVomit, yes they know what rap is, yes they wear jeans and T shirts and trainers, yes they have seen The Simpsons etc. I think you will find they are much like you, but with accents! Forget any touristic image you might have of timber frame houses and folk dances in traditional country dress. As for religion its also a mixed bag - assuming they are natives rather than immigrants (both countries have large immigrant populations), they will be broadly Christian. The Swede will be protestant most likely, and the German could be protestant or catholic. Church attendance in Europe is higher than in the UK but much lower than in the US, so you might find you have one or both who do not and will not attend, or t'other way about.
Alcohol. Mainland Europeans have a sensible approach to alcohol - so your German should be no problem. Swedes on the other hand can be absolute horrors! Everything you suspect from their Viking heritage in relation to alcohol is regrettably true! Alcohol has long been strictly controlled in Sweden and with very high prices too, so you might expect your Swede to go a little crazy at the opportunity to get drunk (very drunk) regularly in the freer US. For us in the UK, it wouldnt be anything unusual to how young people are here, but it might come as a shock to you, so be prepared just in case.
E
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