Three years ago, the EU "suddenly" got 10 new members:
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Poland
Slovakia
Slovenia
In January, Bulgaria and Romania joined. But how much do we know about our new neighbours and friends? I must confess: not too much. I'm happy if I remember all their capital cities and have an idea where to search them on the map. When I was a child I wanted to learn all European languages. Now this plan seems impossible to realize, and I'm driving crazy when I have to hear languages I don't understand a word of. But it would be a great dream to be at least able to welcome every European in his mother tongue.

The Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports on a German family from Oranienburg who migrates to Sweden:
"Tyska utvandrare hoppas att framtiden finns i Sverige"

German emigrants hope for a future in Sweden
Neuruppin/Oranienburg. The new life of the Schindler family started on April 30th. They said goodbye to family and friends. The ferry from Rostock goes at 9 am. Sweden is waiting and the house in Sjötofta, Västergotland. "Everyone wants to see how it's going to be for us. We are guinea pigs", says Marco Schindler in Swedish.

The family enjoyed holidays in Sweden over the past years and is now looking forward to the friendly and helpful mentality of the Swedes. Some of their relatives live already in Sweden. So it was quite easy for them to calculate how much life costs in Sweden - electricity, water etc. are cheaper but a lot of things like cloths are a bit more expensive. The language course was paid by the job center, as customary in the Eastern part of Germany.

I wish them luck for their future in Sweden. However, I myself don't think that everything's better in the north. Bureaucracy can be even worse than in Germany, and where they want to settle I would probably miss some bigger cities. I hope the children and their parents will find a lot of Swedish friends and become as Swedish as they wish to be. Lycka till!