Three autumns ago, as the cool air began rushing into the archipelago and Nynäshamn was painted gold, yellow and red by the impact of the changing seasons, I joined the small but growing world of blogging. In my first post, which poor Kate had to publish because I couldn't work out how to do it, I spoke a little about myself and what I wanted to write about. Later I explained the origin of this blog's title and expanded on the theme of living in a foreign land from an Aussie perspective. Over the intervening three years I have tried to share some of my thoughts and my experiences with you.

According to the webmistress of Australians Abroad, who is clever with stats and technical things, I have several loyal people who visit this blog each day and although I am sure that some of them scream and run out of the room as soon as they get a peek at what is going on, there are a few who stay. Even so, it's really hard to believe that it's been a full three years since I started this blog. But the calendar doesn't lie.

Speaking of stats, I am amused by the blatant competitive element in blogging and the ease with which people choose to ignore how easy it is to inflate one's figures artificially. I am not at all interested in number of "hits", though I did come across this the other day and filled it out for fun. This was the result:



Now, if I take my glasses off and squish my eyes up a bit, it looks like I’m a 'B-cup Blogger'. Yeah, right, in my dreams….

On a more serious note, through this blog, I have come into contact with some lovely people from all over the world - warm, witty and generous people, many of whom I know I'd be comfortable with nattering over a cup of tea if I met them in real life. Some of my readers I have been fortunate enough to meet and those encounters have also enriched my life. So thankyou one and all for being here with me on this journey.

I have enjoyed presenting Sweden to you and I hope that generally I convey the positive qualities of living here. There are so many vicious, negative blogs out there that I wanted to do something different and tried to retain a wide-eyed awe, an openness to new things and an almost childlike enthusiasm for the next experience.




While one can argue that I sometimes generalise a bit about my new homeland (and I tease my long suffering husband relentlessly about the joys of Australia) I wanted you all to know that I have the greatest respect for the Swedish people, their culture and their stunningly beautiful land. Thankyou to all the Swedes that I have met here and who have gone out of their way to welcome me and ensure that this feels like home.

And thankyou to everyone who reads and enjoys the writing here. It has been a roller coaster ride of leaning so far, but I'm game to keep on going. So onwards towards year 4.....