Systembolaget:
In Sweden, there is only one chain store where you can purchase alcohol (over 3.5%), which is called Systembolaget. It is opened during the weekdays and during the morning on Saturdays and is closed on Sunday. Their website says that the purpose is "to minimise alcohol-related problems by selling alcohol in a responsible way, without profit motive." And alcohol is expensive! For example, I paid $30 for 0.7L of Bacardi rum, while in New Hampshire 1.75L of the same rum goes for just $24.
Recycling and waste:
Sweden is very progressive when it comes to waste, although they still have a long way to go. For example, my apartment complex has two separate recycling rooms for plastic, paper, cardboard, glass (coloured and clear), e-waste, lights, metal, etc., and there is a nearby sorting center for larger objects or less common materials. Sorting properly is extremely important, and if done correctly almost everything can be recycled. In an apartment of four college students, we produce a small bag of landfilled waste every couple weeks. They even have games in school teaching students how to recycle.
Expensive:
Sweden is expensive! I may have mastered budget vegan cooking in New Hampshire, but food in Sweden is usually 2-4 times more expensive than what I am used to in the US.
Huge:
Sweden is a really long country! In February, I travelled to Norrland from Skåne (northmost from southmost Sweden) and the trip was 20 hours each way by train, or 1,800 km (over 1,100 miles).
Not as mountainous as you think:
People often assume Sweden is as mountainous as its neighbour Norway, but this is not so true. Norway is hogging most of the mountains in the Scandinavian Peninsula, but there are some large mountains in Sweden just on the border to Norway. Instead, Sweden is rather flat, good for farming, and has a lot of lakes and islands. Fun fact: Sweden is the country with the most amount of islands in the whole world (almost 222,000 islands!).
Coziness
Swedes love their coziness. Fires, comfy clothes, small delicacies and coffees ("fika"), good aesthetics and vibes. I have never appreciated being cozy enough until coming to Sweden.
Winter Bathing and Saunas (Vinterbad och Bastur):
I wasn't foreign to winter bathing before coming to Sweden, as there exist many "Nordic Spas" in Quebec some of which I have been to before, but, man, are they cool! Swimming in a frozen lake or even in the sea during winter and then relaxing in a sauna (especially a wood-burning sauna that you have to tend to). While I was in Norrland, we stayed at a camp where the sauna was on the frozen lake and there was a hole to the lake within the sauna to dip in. Additionally, a group of students and I went to the Kallbadhus in Malmö, where you swim in the ice cold Öresund and relax in saunas. All fully naked (surely a great bonding experience).
Language (språk):
Swedish is Germanic language which has been greatly impacted by modern German, French, and currently English. Since the country is quite large and sparsely populated and has been influenced culturally by a variety of countries throughout its existence, a variety of different dialects and even pitch accents have emerged throughout Sweden. It resembles its sibling languages (Norwegian and Danish) and less so to other languages that originated from Old Norse (Icelandic and Faroese).
