It’s usually the case that when people ask me where I’m from, it’s followed by

Oh, how’s the situation there now ?

It all goes back to the unfortunate fact that whenever Lebanon is in the news, it’s probably because something bad happened, and so people formulate this crazy theory (yeah, right) that there’s a war going on in Lebanon. (note: there isn’t one)

But this post is about Sweden, not Lebanon.

More specifically, this post is about Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, and if one was to extrapolate from the news, the city where you are most likely to end up getting shot.

You see, Stockholm is always on the news, for its festivals, royal weddings, beauty, you name it. Göteborg also gets that kind of privilege. Of course there’s always the occasional terrorist attack in Stockholm, bomb threat in Göteborg, but they’re very much diluted in good news.

Malmö is an entirely different story. Whenever Malmö is in the news, it’s because someone (often enough more than just one) got shot, set a few cars on fire, or did something altogether criminally outrageous.

It kind of gives you the impression (a false one, really) that there’s a small war going on down there.

On that note, I met a girl from Malmö the other day, and I couldn’t help asking

Oh, how’s the situation there now ?

Cheers !

[Big thanks to Linda for inspiring this post]