Great things:

1. I get to see snow. I haven’t seen snow anywhere else in the world yet, just in Stockholm (apart from flying over places… but that doesn’t really count)
2. The language is cool, a lot of people speak English (to varying degrees) and it’s not that hard to pick up enough to get by (especially since TV programs as subtitled… so watching Buffy on Swedish TV will educate you in enough Swedish to save the world from unspeakable demons)
3. We have MySQLers here (including a good number of Cluster developers)
4. They have the Internet here. Not like Australia, stuck on the arse end of the internet – oh no, 5Mbit is considered slow here.
5. Stockholm really is a beutiful city.
6. public transport is frequent and close by (at least for the Stockholm area… which is where I am). Further into the center it’s even better, but here it’s good (where here is about 15-20mins via bus and subway to Liljeholmen, where the office is)
7. R&D is (again, unlike Australia) valued highly here, with a good amonut of high tech industry and a seeming respect for academia.
8. There’s a chemist in Gamla Stan that’s been there for about 400 years. I haven’t bought anything from there, but I feel I should – to go with that beer from that pub that first got it’s license nearly 400 years ago that I had while in London.

And not so great…

1. The only way to buy beer stronger than 3.5% is to go to the government run System Bolaget – which is closed at about any time you’d consider buying alcohol. Aparrently the locals get around this by going there and just buying heaps at once – so completely defeating the attempt to get people to buy less. Oh, and if you like any decent liquor – it’s probably cheaper to drive/fly to another country and bring it back. Aparrently that’s what people do… with vans. Lucky for me I picked up some Laphroigh on the way through London
2. Some things are expensive… and there are relatively high tax rates… although you seem to actually get something for that, so it’s not all bad (unlike in .au… where you seem to get nothing).
3. It’s a long way from Melbourne, especially in economy seats… urggh. Not exactly a company policy I agree with for such long trips.

for now, hej då