Any Scandinavians?

[Thor Henning]

I don't see any Scandinavians here, others than Anna and myself. Are there any?

[ryberg]

Hey, I raise the total by a quarter Swede!

There are others.

I suppose liking Björk does not really up that total any...

Steve

[birdman]

my dad was full blooded married a german swede scott mix so guess I'm in there somewhere

[Anna]

Strictly speaking, Björk isn't Scandinavian. She is from Iceland, which is a one of the Nordic countries but not a Scandinavian one (Scandinavia consists of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland). But you're doing just fine without her, Steve, with your fine Swedish last name and your (somewhat limited) Swedish vocabulary.

[Nerak936]

I'm 50% Swedish (Dad was full blooded Swede) but I think the other 50% (English/Welsh) makes me say "Yuk!" to that raw herring that Dad used to love!!

But when you get right down to it, I'm 100% American!

[Thor Henning]

I hoped to meet some people now living in Scandinavia and either knowing Playa or planning to go to Playa. I don't have anything against you Americans. Just wanted to hear the experiences from Scandinavians.

I saw there were some Swedes here in 2001.

[ryberg]

Hej, Anna,

Although your chops in this area certainly way outweigh mine, and I wouldn't want to challenge them, I'm also wondering if this may be one of those fuzzy definition things that varies by origin of the person. You can have very interesting discussions with people in the U.S. about what does and does not belong to the South or the Midwest, for example, or with those from other countries/cultures about how many continents there are. Americans (at least in my day and in my part of the country) were always taught that there are 7 continents, but you get varying numbers from people from other countries. Friends in Spain considered it silly that North and South America might be separate while being virtually offended at the suggestion that Europe and Asia might not be.

I always thought Scandinavia consisted of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, plus possibly some small stuff in theire like the Faeroes. When I checked dictionary dot com just now here, I got a different and somewhat surprising answer, to wit:

A region of northern Europe consisting of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Finland, Iceland, and the Faeroe Islands are often included in the region.

I for one would never have questions Finland's membership! But what do I know -- I'm just a quarter Swedish!

Do you know which countries are/were in the agreement, prior to the existence of the EU and all that, to allow freer transit between each other (and possibly even working without special permits)? I was under the impression that the five I first mentioned were part of this -- a kind of mini EU, a Scandinavian Union of sorts. I even remember meeting a Norwegian on a boat from Harwich through a stop in Denmark before arriving in Oslo, and try as he might, he could not convince the Danish immigration officials to stamp his passport, even though they stamped mine. They explained that they didn't need to and in fact shouldn't, given that agreement.

Well time to go put it all to bed now...

Steve

[Thor Henning]

Betegnelse dels for den skandinaviske halvøy, dels for Danmark, Norge og Sverige. Upresist brukes Skandinavia også om Norden.

Scandinavia has not anything to do with a membership. It refers part to the Scandinavian Peninsula, part to Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Not precise it refers to the Nordic countries (Quoted from Store Norske Leksikon (Norwegian dictionary)). See above.

[Anna]

Like Thor said. Scandinavia is a geographic definition, sometimes referring to the Scandinavian peninsula and sometimes referring to the countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark (and sometimes Finland). 'Norden', which are the Nordic countries Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark (including the Faeroe Islands and Greenland) and Finland (including the island Åland), refers to a political agreement that allows the citizens of said countries to travel without passports and work without work permits in any of the countries in this, as you said, 'mini-EU'. Of course there's much more to this collaboration than this, but maybe this is (more than) enough information for most...

[CalifGuy]

Originally Posted by ryberg

Hej, Anna,

Although your chops in this area certainly way outweigh mine, and I wouldn't want to challenge them, I'm also wondering if this may be one of those fuzzy definition things that varies by origin of the person. You can have very interesting discussions with people in the U.S. about what does and does not belong to the South or the Midwest, for example, or with those from other countries/cultures about how many continents there are. Americans (at least in my day and in my part of the country) were always taught that there are 7 continents, but you get varying numbers from people from other countries. Friends in Spain considered it silly that North and South America might be separate while being virtually offended at the suggestion that Europe and Asia might not be.

I always thought Scandinavia consisted of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, plus possibly some small stuff in theire like the Faeroes. When I checked dictionary dot com just now here, I got a different and somewhat surprising answer, to wit:


I for one would never have questions Finland's membership! But what do I know -- I'm just a quarter Swedish!

Do you know which countries are/were in the agreement, prior to the existence of the EU and all that, to allow freer transit between each other (and possibly even working without special permits)? I was under the impression that the five I first mentioned were part of this -- a kind of mini EU, a Scandinavian Union of sorts. I even remember meeting a Norwegian on a boat from Harwich through a stop in Denmark before arriving in Oslo, and try as he might, he could not convince the Danish immigration officials to stamp his passport, even though they stamped mine. They explained that they didn't need to and in fact shouldn't, given that agreement.

Well time to go put it all to bed now...

Steve

Dang, and I thought Minnesota was part of Scandinavia too, and my mom was from Denmark!

[Thor Henning]

So there can't be too many Scandinavians in this forum?

But there’s lots of Americans.
You Americans don't have so far to travel to go to Playa. That must be one of the reasons. It's also expensive to go from Europe to Mexico.

This is a great site. I'm puzzled not to se more Europeans here.

[Swede]

Kudos to the people responsible for managing the site.

I mean it is just loaded with valuable information for my upcoming HM trip (now just over a month away).

My only "problem" after spending some time here is how I can squeeze as much of the fantastic suggestions into the trip without passing out from exhaustion.

Joakim

[Lotita]

it's me a nordic girl...I think but I am not sure if Holland is a nordic country...anyway it's close to Scandinavia.
Thor when are you planning to go to Playa? I'm gonna be there in 4 weeks....I'm so glad because it's getting very cold up here... yes I'm going to skip the winter!!!!

[james]

my wife and daughter are Swedish. does that count?

[Heather]

I'm Norwegian, too, so James moves in a world full of Scandinavians!! (Granted, I am Norwegian-American, but my grandpa has always stressed the Norwegian part!)