[hankmander]

Stockholm native working as a dev for 5+ years here. I'll just add the only two things I see missing from previous posts:

You won't make any friends among the natives. We'll have a beer with you after work but don't expect anything serious. None of my friends have foreign friends. Can't really say why this happens though. We are pretty reserved.

Nightlife is not snobbish as somebody else said. There is the whole range from dive bars to upscale to any kind of nightclub you can think of. It's similar to most bigger western cities. Also, I've noticed the variety and quality of restaurants are outstanding in Stockholm when comparing to most places I've been.

[wingerlang]

> You won't make any friends among the natives. We'll have a beer with you after work but don't expect anything serious. None of my friends have foreign friends. Can't really say why this happens though. We are pretty reserved.

I think I want to chime in here that this makes it sound like some form of xenophobia. I suppose this -is- prelevant in Sweden (especially for the last few years with the rise of Sverigedemokraterna), but I would also assume that in this scenario, it has more to do with the fact that working people are in their mid 20s and up and their social circles are quite knit together already. Combining this with the reserved nature of Swedes (as you say) is not the best combination for getting "new friends" more than (as you say, again) beers after work.

For some perspective though, I am Swedish but I work abroad. Even when there have been other Swedes working here, the same would apply to them. I'll have a beer with them, but other than that, unless something clicks, it is merely a colleague.

[michaelleland]

I lived and worked in Sweden for a bit more than a year (I'm an American) and one thing helped me get native friends: learning the language. Everybody speaks English well, but I found that the Swedes I was around were much more open when I started the relationship in their native tongue. I really noticed this about 6 months in when my Swedish had attained a certain level.

Now, I'm married to a Swede, and we moved with the express intent of learning the language to speak it to our children. It is a commitment, but as languages go it is close to English.

[toddan]

I think the reason why it is hard to get native friends is that many swedes truly are racist. I am a native swede my self and i know how swedes talk to each other when alone, and the rise of the swedish democrats is also a big proof of the racism(that also is getting bigger) in sweden.

Its not impossible tho and the racism here is more similar to the one in japan, its not visible on the surface but you will never be a part of the community. But! there is good people everywhere you go, you just need to look for them.