i need my space

personal space is very important to the swedes. you can see it in any place their PS might be challenged. for example outside the ATM there are clear yellow lines giving the swedish cash withdrawer his PS.
you can see it very clearly on the subway where, to my amazement, people would prefer to stay standing rather than sit next to a swede they don't know. for me it's wonderful, since there is always room for me to sit, but still i am always surprised to see more vacant seats than people standing.
the saying goes that a swedish personal space is about 1 meters.

another part of PS is the fact that you don't communicate with your fellow swedes on public transporation. they truly are a strange bunch sometimes. I once almost gave a swedish girl a heart attack when i asked her where i should get off. she was mumbling incoherently and was very uncomfortable. when she got over herself she was very nice and curtious, but before she did she was just being swedish.

another fine example of the so much needed PS would probably be rent. people in sweden don't really share flats with anyone. only recently it has become more common, and only if you have very good references from friends (see "how to hit on swedish girls" to read more about references and their importance), but you would hardly see that a few years ago. people would rather get their own flat, or pay more money, and not share a flat with someone they don't know.
sweden is actually spacey enough already - it's the third largest country in europe, with only 9 million people, but i guess as they say, you can take a swede out of sweden, but you can't take sweden out of the swede.