I never really thought about how physical relationships in different countries might be or how our physical interaction with each other takes place.<\/p>\n
In my case I was born and grew up in Sweden, so I took the way I had always been doing things to be the \u201cright\u201d way. At school my friends and I, while waiting for the next lesson,\u00a0 would hang out in the corridors and since there were never enough benches that meant we sat on the floor most of the time. Our way of entertaining ourselves was to, amongst other things, sprawl on top of each other, or lie with your head on somebody\u2019s lap while they would have their head on yet somebody else\u2019s shoulder etc.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Most, if not every morning when I got to school I would hug and be hugged by somebody. The same thing when going home. If I had a bad day there would be a hugs throughout the day because my friends knew that a tough day might become just a little easier with a couple of hugs. Or if somebody was just feeling happy then our physical interaction would mirror that too.<\/p>\n
\u00a0I would say that when young people get together they don\u2019t hesitate at all about lying all on top of each other, actually a lot of jokes amongst teenagers in Sweden are quite physical. Physical interaction is a natural part of communication and just being. There doesn\u2019t have to be an extremely deep relationship between the people involved, nor does the actual contact have a deeper significance.<\/p>\n
\u00a0I say all this because I took it for granted that teenagers all over the world were as relaxed about touching each other as Swedes were. I was in total shock when I went to Japan for a one year exchange, and realized very quickly that the people I met very rarely hugged each other goodnight, or showed affection in a physical way. This felt like being starved for physical contact. For me that contact was like proof of people’s feelings, and that we had a working relationship. To me people felt a little cold and very distant when hugging wasn\u2019t used in everyday life. After my experiences I started thinking about why we in Sweden are so relaxed when it comes to interacting with people and if it is a good or bad thing that we are. Is your impression of Swedes one that they are carefree and relaxed when it comes to physical contact?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I never really thought about how physical relationships in different countries might be or how our physical interaction with each other takes place. In my case I was born and grew up in Sweden, so I took the way I had always been doing things to be the \u201cright\u201d way. At school my friends and…<\/p>\n