What we can learn from the Swedes

Do the fika

One of my dearest friends is Swedish. Although I only see her during vacations (and in the sabbatical year we both took in Rome) in Rome) being stressed, I have never been able to catch her.

Maybe it's the vast land and the abundance of nature, but there is something else that brings calm to the tent. The fika.

In Sweden, you won't quickly see an it-girl rushing to a taxi with a latte in her right hand and a mobile in her left. No, there they take a break in a konditorei or a coffee bar.

On the line, Swedes don't seem to pay attention. I seem to only know slender Swedish folks It must be because they walk so much and stuff... During coffee, the mobile goes on silent mode and there is a moment of focused conversation. With each other, that is. We could learn something from that.

Recently, a mutual friend from Italy visited my friend in Malmö. She had spent a day shopping and looking around and said that the best part was the high concentration of gays who apparently all sat in the café with their kids.

So those weren't gays, but the so-called latte daddies. Trendy, very well-dressed Swedish men who also get six months of parental leave and then spend their time fika-ing in Swedish coffee shops.