Agne Blom
I arrived in Sweden in August 2017. It was a leap of faith, I left a comfortable life back home in Lithuania: a nice apartment, an established corporate career, my parents, sister and extended family. I packed up my two daughters to move to Sk氓ne and build a new life with my now-husband.
Settled, But Still Searching
I thought I had things figured out and was well-prepared, the kids had a great school to start at, we had a lovely house, and I got accepted into Lund University鈥檚 Business Management master's program. Things were looking up!
My first year in Sweden flew by in a whirlwind of new experiences for the whole family. The kids adapted beautifully, my studies were genuinely fun, I even barely noticed how dark that first winter was. But in all that rush, I didn鈥檛 make space - or honestly, didn鈥檛 feel the urge - to try to properly integrate into Swedish society myself. I never made time for SFI (Swedish for immigrants), didn鈥檛 build a support network and never found that 鈥渧illage鈥� to lean on.
From Commuter to Community Seeker
Instead, I started working in Copenhagen and began commuting daily over the 脰resund Bridge, three hours a day in the car! As fulfilling and exciting as the job was, this setup just wasn鈥檛 sustainable long-term. Looking back, the biggest challenge was never really landing in any one country. For seven years, I felt like I was suspended somewhere mid-air between Lithuania, Sweden and Denmark. Eventually, I made the tough decision to resign, 鈥渞eturn鈥� to Sweden and finally try to truly settle in.
So there I was, after years of 鈥渋mmigrant鈥� experience with very little to show for it: still not speaking Swedish properly, without local connections or a network and almost as lost as if I鈥檇 just arrived. Honestly, it felt a bit embarrassing to start over, seven years late. But I finally (finally!) enrolled in SFI, breezed through it, started going to language caf茅s, got accepted to Komvux to continue studying Swedish and even landed a new job in Stockholm!
Det Ordnar Sig: Trusting the Path
I couldn鈥檛 have done it without International Citizen Hub Lund. Their support, encouragement and the amazing community of volunteers made a huge difference. Thanks to 嫩草影院, I feel stronger and better equipped for the integration journey that still lies ahead of me.
And if I were to offer advice to my fellow internationals, it would be this:
Your path is your own, and it doesn鈥檛 need to be linear. Embrace the journey, even if it sometimes feels like you鈥檙e moving backward. Like the Swedes say, 鈥淒et ordnar sig!鈥� (It鈥檒l work itself out).
If you would like to connect and battle integration challenges together, find me on LinkedIn.
/Agne Blom
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