An Introduction....

[Wyndweaver]

Salutations, I'm Heather, 24 who hails from Glenview Illinois(just north of Chicago).

Just last eve I met Suzanne at Swedish class and she told me about this site so I came by to check it out and found it interesting. Since it feels so good to not be alone...I met my Swede online on January 3rd and we've been talking ever since. He's my best friend first though when we meet on New Year's Eve we hope there is more to come. <smiles>

Mike(Mikael) and I met in a MMORPG, a computer game called Dark Age of Camelot. <www.darkageofcamelot.com> The interesting thing about this game is that it is based on mythology, Albion(Camelot), Hibernia(Elves/Celtic), and Midgard(Norse). We met in Midgard since I had for some reason kept leaving this area and kept returning since I liked it the best. Go figure since I'm Scottish/Irish/Welsh and NA? <grins> I am glad I did come back that night since I met my Swede, he whined at me, I corrected him, and he apologised and we've been talking ever since. Though for a note since then he's been correcting me. <giggles>

So enough about me unless there's any questions. <grins>

"To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough. But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be."
-Anna Louise Strong #nosmileys

[Carolyn]

Welcome to PS, Heather. You would not believe how many of us there are out there. I would say that meeting your Swede in real life before the internet is the exception, rather than the rule anymore, right, Natooke?

Anyhow, hope things go well for you and your Swede. I've been happily married to mine for 3.5 years now and don't regret a second. The Swedish classes will really help too.

My son and his wife play Dark Ages of Camelot too, but I don't know what their names, kingdoms, etc are.

[Sabeine]

Howdy,

Have the two of you met?

With regards to the subject of meeting your SO online, this is not unusual here at all. Many of the members here met their SO this way. I personally did not, but I have met many that did and they seem to be happy and in great relationships with wonderful people.

[Sabeine]

Carolyn,

It is so great to see you writing about your son. I am so glad for you, and him. You already know my story so you have an idea why I am so happy for the both of you. Yeah!!

[Wyndweaver]

No, we haven't met yet but New Year's Eve we will. I am going to Sweden for a week, arriving New Year's Eve and we will celebrate the new year together and also celebrate our first year of knowing one another by being together with each other an exact year after we first met. I can't wait. Though I would not rush it for anything because that trip signals a great turn of events. Ten days after I leave Sweden, Mike will go to Arvidsjaur for fifhteen months of mountain Hunter training. So the time we have left is precious and very important. Since he tells me he will be very very busy for those months.

[Debbie]

Hej Heather,

I am from Buffalo Grove. I met my husband online also and have lived here now almost three years.

Welcome to PS!

BTW GOOOOOOOOOOO CUBS!

[Aussie]

Hi Heather,

I too met my man on-line and saw him for the first time the day I arrived in Sweden (nearly three years ago).

I have to say that I am reluctant to tell people that L-G and I met on the Internet. Maybe because it is a new medium or just so unusual that I am afraid people will think I was trolling the net for a husband. But neither of us were thinking of a romance. We were simply friends with shared interests who enjoyed chatting to each other.

I have lost several friendships over this - people were aghast that I flew across the world to be with someone I'd never met. But, as far as I'm concerned, they were friends not worth having in the first place. My true friends, although shocked, were happy in the end that I am happy. I do wonder, though, just how judgmental I would have been if I hadn’t actually experienced it myself.

And yes, you do hear horror stories, but I think a lot of those cases are people who are a bit gullible and vulnerable. After several years working in law, I’m hardly gullible. In fact I am somewhat of a cynic. ;D

An internet romance does definitely still have a large stigma attached to it! But hey, who cares when you find true happiness

I arrived here knowing absolutely NOTHING and after almost three years I feel totally at home and adore my new country and the life I have here.

I'm hoping that your experience will be just as positive! Welcome to Positively Sweden.

[Wyndweaver]

Thanks for the welcome, Aussie and everyone else. Yes, when my parents learned that I was going to visit yet another friend from the internet it was fine. I've done so several times but Mike is the first international friend though he's more than a friend but it's hard to define that when all you know is his voice and watching his webcamera. <still finds it interesting when you are taking a nap and you can be awoken by a phone in Savar Sweden> Most of friends are online now since I lived in Florida and when I came back home they had all flown the coop. My mother is absolutely abhorred at what I see in a Swede. She keeps suggesting that there are some fine TEXTAmericanTEXT men out there too. Well if there are I haven't seen them or I have they are taken. And besides when you have your childhood daydream of a best friend/partner walk through your door(at least online) why would you want to walk away from that? I'll take that gift thank you. <grins> Anyways, I'm off for some more studying of Swedish so Mike can tutor or is it torture me when he gets back. <giggles> It's not my fault I can't roll my r's.

~Heather
"To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough. But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be."
-Anna Louise Strong

[Suzanne]

Hi Heather and Welcome!

Like I said, I love this site and I don't feel like such an oddball since I found it! I don't understand the stigma attached to meeting on the internet. My oldest brother (who is 57) met his 2nd wife on the internet. He had been divorced about 8 years. He's an architect who owns his own company in Denver. I'm an accountant but anyone will tell you I'm a little nuts anyway. I've only told certain groups of people how me met and will fess up after he visit.

I'll be leaving Sweden about the time you arrive and that will last until I get my reisidency permit so I'll be back in Swedish class for the spring.

See you Tuesday!

[Natooke]

Hi Wyndweaver ;D
Welcome to PS boards

Yes I'm one of the few that met their Swede in person ... not the norm but what the heck when it feels right it feels right.

I too had friends who questioned my involment with (then my BF) truly I went with my heart

After nearly 13 years ... two kids ... a house ... a bilingual dog & cat and a Volvo ;D I'm very happy.

see ya around
Cheers Natooke.

[Sabeine]

Molson is bi-lingual? Who knew.

I guess he speaks meow/mjau right? hee hee

I think it was Aussie that wrote that some friends dropped off by the wayside after moving here to Sweden. I had a similar experience too. I had a really good friend that I had known for nearly 20 years. I thought he was a great person, and though we were of the opposite sex we got along really great, and in a platonic way. When I told him that I was moving to Sweden he called me unpatriotic and anti-American! He told me that I was going through a phase, indecisive in life, and that I would regret it after I moved here. I told him that he was wrong but he wouldn't listen. A few days before I moved he told me that we couldn't be friends anymore. Once things in Sweden didn't work out, and I had "gotten my priorities straight" and moved back to the States, then maybe we could be friends again. Who says that?

It's been 3+ years for me here and although there have been ups and downs things are going well now. I don't regret moving here at all.

I went to the States this past January after my mom had a stroke. I saw my friend then and he apologized for the way he acted. I am willing to forgive him, but I don't think I can ever really view him as such a "good" friend again.

On the plus side, I have gained some truly great friends here in Sweden. Several are from this site, and others are Swedes that I've met.