In Sweden

Stockholm Tunnelbana 101

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Filed under: Swedish culture

Here are some quick tips so you don’t embarrass yourself while taking the t-bana the next time you’re in Stockholm. I learned these only after extensive t-bana use.

1. It is perfectly acceptable to stand directly in front of the train doors so that people have to walk through you in order to get off. Yeah, this makes complete logical sense to me. Thankfully I have stealth powers.
2. You should never sit straight across from someone else if there is another seat available. This only leads to the awkwardness of having to share leg space.
3. Never let someone see you looking at them. An accidental meeting of the eyes should immediately be followed with a long and studious inspection of the wall.
4. If you see someone smiling or laughing, they’re usually a foreigner. They could be drunk too. This happens on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays!
5. You will always miss the train that you want to transfer to…
6. Sometimes when the sign reads 2 minutes, it really means “Haha, gotcha, it’s already here, and you don’t have the time to run to the bottom of the escalator!”
7. Trains don’t move, which is why you don’t need to hold on to anything, and are always caught by surprise when sudden acceleration causes you to fall into a stranger. Why do people never figure this out? Physics people, physics!
8. It is always best to crowd up in the train doorway rather then spread throughout the entire compartment. Which is why it’s so damn hard to get on the train, but once you move into the middle of the cabin, you have enough space to practice yoga.
9. If you take the Norsborg line towards Alby, you will experience a multi-cultural shock just sitting and listening to other passengers. Arabic, Spanish, Afrikaans! It’s actually really cool, so I recommend this whenever the Swedes just get to be too much!
10. At Slussen and Östermalmstorg there are some really good musicians who set up shop and play. I usually see them on weekends and late evenings!
    

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