Sweden — that idyllic Nordic country known for its impeccable design, sensible maternity leave, and questionable Ikea meatballs — did something daring a few years back: They decided to hand over their official Twitter account to a different person every week and let them go nuts with it. While this would undoubtedly devolve into madness if we tried it in the U.S. (#tcot), it’s been a fun and telling glimpse into the lives of citizens half the world away.
But this week! — this week it’s been taken to its full potential, to the platonic ideal of what this project could be. [Kisses fingertips like the Swedish chef]
This is all thanks to Isabelle Wahlf, a 29-year-old from Stockholm who works as a sexual-health adviser at the Swedish Youth Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Rights.
Isaeblle describes her English as “shaky,” but she’s still better at Twitter than 99 percent of people I follow — mainly because she went buck wild immediately after getting handed the keys to her nation’s Twitter account.
First things first, Isabelle likes cacti.
And fishing crayfish.
She does not like fika, the Swedish concept of having coffee and eating tiny snacks, which seems ideal and not mutually exclusive with those other things, but what do I know?
But mostly, Isabelle manages to reach over the chasm of our cultures, and the Atlantic Ocean, to let us know: We’re not so different.
Isabelle will be sorely missed when her tenure is over, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Give her an HBO deal! Make her the new Alicia Vikander! Put her in a buddy comedy paired with every single American woman aged 18 to 32! The world demands more of Sweden’s greatest.
