Fear and Falukorv

What does it take to become Swedish? Forget the legal requirements for citizenship. What are the films to watch, books to read or places to visit to become one of the locals? Tomas Spragg Nilsson pitched exactly these questions to complete strangers on Twitter. And when the tweets came flooding back, Tomas put them all on his #BecomingSwedish bucket list. A list he had just ten months to complete before applying for citizenship. To get a real sense of why certain activities were suggested, he sought the company of random Swedes to help cross items off the list, and help him better understand why they were considered ‘Swedish’. The resulting adventure had Tomas travel to Gothenburg, Falun, Roslagen and the northernmost point of the country — but not to Thailand. He ate surströmming, falukorv and far too many semlor. He sang the national anthem live on radio but missed his chance to sing in a choir. He made new friends, challenged his own perceptions and stepped out of his comfort zone