Anna Åberg
was @Sweden (2012-03-05 to 2012-03-11)

Anna, 30 years old that moved from the ocean to live in the fields of Linköping because, well, I got a job here. So that’s what I do, work fulltime as a firefighter, and on my free time I work as a lifestyle photographer and indulge myself in all the other fun things there is to do when I’m awake. And no, that doesn’t mean that I get up early in the morning, I just have longer evenings then most people.

All other fun things? In no particular order: Crossfit, muay thai, the little french bulldog Bernie (trust me, you will meet him), tech nerd, fascinated by social media, love to read books, you know the ones made of paper, travelling, watch an unhealthy amount of TV shows every week, and if I would leave the apartment without my iphone I would probably explode. And now you have a full week of getting an insight in my life, I wish I could tell you to buckle up for the ride but that would be putting the bar a bit high. But welcome, this will be fun!

Normally I tweet under @mandalaya, and I am a big fan of Instagram as @mandalaya which is an account I will be frequently using during my week as @sweden.

@Sweden March 11, 2012 20:46

Working smokealarms is the best lifesaver out there, so now please go and try them! One on each floor, and working batteries!

@Sweden March 11, 2012 20:44

If you cant turn out the fire in your house: close the door after you, make sure everyone is outside and then call for us!

@Sweden March 11, 2012 20:43

Some final reminders: always call your countrys emergencynumber when in distress! But no fakecalls, Viktor gets sad then! ;)

@Sweden March 11, 2012 20:40

Since I do have an exciting spring ahead of me I will post atleast the pictures with english subtitles for you guys ;)

@Sweden March 11, 2012 20:24

We worked out together! We did crossfit, badminton, swimming and pullups. There was even time for thaiboxing! Well done tweeps, well done!

@Sweden March 11, 2012 20:18

I gave you a guided tour of my firestation, and then blocked myself from twitter when replying to all your questions when I had the time

@Sweden March 11, 2012 20:13

We talked about what happens in the world around us, about the importance about finding a cause that is important for you

@Sweden March 11, 2012 20:06

Okej guys, time to start and sum this week up in these last two hours when I have the honour of controlling this ship.

@Sweden March 11, 2012 16:39

But do not worry! I will be back, summarize the week and ntroduce you to the new swede that starts nex week, that will be fun!

@Sweden March 11, 2012 16:38

Okej tweeps, I blame you for not letting me take the time to clean my apartment this whole week, so I need to leave you now for a while.

@Sweden March 11, 2012 16:14

And if you are not outside, you are reminded everywhere what a bad person you are since everyone posts on social medias how good they are

@Sweden March 11, 2012 16:13

After three hours in the sun I feel energized! Thats a compulsive disorder for us swedes, if the sun is out we have to be outside!

@Sweden March 10, 2012 15:49

About the tattoo: It is a japaneese-inspired clasical koitattoo, its the flowers and water that is the new part, it has taken some time…

@Sweden March 10, 2012 10:09

But here’s my idea now: I enjoy seeing pictures from what people are doing right now, so how about we all share?

@Sweden March 10, 2012 10:08

I have been sharing my week with you, and had a great time in doing so, even though we had some trolls lurking around.

@Sweden March 10, 2012 01:43

Two more days left as Sweden, an amazing experience, and tomorrow we will fokus on fun, and Im gonna ask you for help, ok? Ok!

@Sweden March 10, 2012 01:42

I hope I didnt miss replying to anyone, please ask again if you didnt get an answer! And thankyou so much for all the #ff all fun!

@Sweden March 10, 2012 01:41

Thankyou guys for today! Its been fun, lots of photos, swimming, à fire, hamburgers for late dinner, and lots of friendly people!

@Sweden March 9, 2012 22:07

Recent studies show ff’s have à higher percentage of cancer, and we are starting to see female ff’s having misscarriages

@Sweden March 9, 2012 22:05

Because someone asked: we wash our protective clothes after every fire, we bring them home in plastic bags so not to –>

@Sweden March 9, 2012 00:00

Okej tweeps, you know what time it is. Bedtime. Even tough this is my time of the day, I do have to get up for work tomorrow

@Sweden March 8, 2012 23:30

Why do people do that? Feel the urge to tell someone they suck? I dont care, Im just fascinated by the whole thing….

@Sweden March 8, 2012 18:31

Sitting waiting between the two boxclasses I teach at a local gym, and one girl has been frantically on the crosstrainer from –>

@Sweden March 8, 2012 15:56

Thankyou guys for the kind words, I wasnt fishing, I just got tired! And fascinated by why people feel the urge to tell things like that

@Sweden March 8, 2012 00:30

But today has been so much fun, even though even twitter has douchebags! But thankyou for all the kind words and support! It helps, alot!

@Sweden March 8, 2012 00:29

Okej tweeps, the little project I talked about this morning dissapeared in my “rant”, so I will have to do it another day

@Sweden March 8, 2012 00:15

À typical 24h: floorball with the other station, buy food, clean all the trucks, gym, and other areas, cook food together, lunch –>

@Sweden March 8, 2012 00:13

And no, you dont snooze when the call comes. Lights turn on, beeper goeas crazy and à voice says the call 4 times…

@Sweden March 8, 2012 00:12

And we have sleeping nights, so if nothing happens from now to 07 I will be sleeping. If something does happen: 90sec!

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:50

For all of you that says this is not the place for a rant, and that I take up to much space, I will go to work soon and then I will shut up

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:12

And to help people that follow that, dont spit on them, dont doubt them, dont question them, support them and belive that they can do…

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:11

All I’m saying that tou have to open your eyes to a world where gender isnt supposed to stop you from doing what you want

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:10

And ofcourse this is the same as supporting the little boy that wants to be a prima ballerina/nurse/ whatever.

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:09

Support her and tell her that yes you can, you can be whatever you want when you grow up as long as you are happy doing it.

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:08

And when a little girl says that she wants to becone a firefighter when she grows up, dont laugh at her and say that girls dont do that.

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:08

And that sha does know what she is doing, and that she has the strength to pull you out of a burning building, that is why she is there.

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:07

..that there has to be a certain % of females in the rescuesevice, but that she sits on that spot because she wants to help you.

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:06

It is also important to not take for granted that the female firefighter you meet is sitting on her spot because of the government saying…

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:04

But it is important to make a difference between having a opinion of someone as them in person, or take things for granted because of gender

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:02

And I really enjoy the variety of the calls. I work with some great people, in a group where we do discuss all these things that I –>

@Sweden March 7, 2012 15:01

Ok lets summon this up a little! I have a fantastic job, where I get to help people when they need help. i never know whats gonna happen

@Sweden March 7, 2012 14:49

Okej I’m back after todays crossfit, thankyou for all your questions, nice words and interesting discussions

@Sweden March 7, 2012 12:05

Okej I have to take à break for crossfit, i’ll be discussing this more when I come back, feel free to ask questions!

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:43

And this is the battle I was thrown into, very unprepared, 8yrs ago. Yes it is worth it, I have the best job, but yes, I get very very tired

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:42

So to conclude this, all battles around the world to make the world a better place is important, but I can only fight my battle

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:35

They can turn to a guy that is just doing their training and ask them, they say please talk to her, she knows, and they refuse because –>

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:33

What amazes me the most is that after getting my job, doing everything plus more to prove that I can do this, people that arent even

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:31

I have been asked, sitting in my group of ff’s on watch what I do there, what my role is, but none of the guys was ever questioned

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:30

I have done tests over and over to prove that I can carry someone, and then come in to the fika having the old guys saying they cant do that

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:29

And then started 2years of people (guys mostly) doubting in you, saying things you wouldnt believe, and a school that didnt know what to do

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:26

I started school 8yrs ago to study for 2yrs to become a firefighter, because I thought it seemed like fun, something I would enjoy to do

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:25

I get very tired sometimes of the discussion around female firefighters and their (our) right to be or not to be

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:16

And yes, this is the same battle that all people has to do when they break the norm, when they dont look like society wants them to

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:12

To keep your salary when you get pregnant. To get something else to do since when you are pregnant you are not allowed to smokedive

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:11

I’m part of a network that works for equal rights for all firefighters, and its sometimes the easiest stuff that needs to be done

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:10

I can tell you that it is not, and I wasnt even one of the first ones. But I was one of the first in Linköping.

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:09

I’m a female firefighter. 15years ago in sweden we were almost nonexcistent. Do you guys think it is easy to be a pioneer?

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:09

In my world, you know the little bubble we all live in that is important to us, I have my own battles to fight

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:01

I have a ton of more political views, TON, but this is not the stage to adress that, in my opinion and that is not what I’m here to do

@Sweden March 7, 2012 11:00

–> that people kill eachother because of their religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or just for looking different

@Sweden March 7, 2012 10:59

I’m also very upset over the way we treat the animals that we eat, that bananas that are a little damaged gets thrown away–>

@Sweden March 7, 2012 10:55

I was only being ironic over the fact that what was all over my personal twitterfeed this morning was about facebook being down…

@Sweden March 7, 2012 10:55

–> but also, children was born, someone smiled, someone fell in love, a loved one died, life happens all around us all the time

@Sweden March 7, 2012 10:54

Okej to make things clear: tons of things happened while I was sleeping, weapons were sold, dictators kept ruling, children starved –>

@Sweden March 7, 2012 09:49

Scanned my feed to see if something happened when I was sleeping, well, facebook is apparently down, other then that nothing happened

@Sweden March 6, 2012 17:33

Floorball is the most common fhysical training with swedish firefighters, also the biggest cause of injuries…why warm up and have rules?

@Sweden March 6, 2012 17:16

We do what the police and ambulance doesnt do, that why 112 (in sweden!) is à good number to call, someone will come and help

@Sweden March 6, 2012 17:15

Gets stuck we come, all the automatic firealarms we come and check so there is no fire, if someone is drowning we come…

@Sweden March 6, 2012 17:14

We practice alot, so that we know what to do when the call comes. We dont just turn out fires, we help in carcrashes, if an animal–>

@Sweden March 6, 2012 12:36

Ok lets clear things up: the yellow clothes are just new clothes, and you get them when you have worn out the black

@Sweden March 6, 2012 12:18

There are only around 115 female ff’s working fulltime in Sweden, of about 4500 fulltime ff’s in the country

@Sweden March 5, 2012 23:07

My goodness. Ofcourse I love my hometown, stockholm is a beautiful place where I wouldnt mind living, but traveling is one of my fav things!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:51

Fact: the best camera is the one you have with you, because that is the one you will use…therefore: instagramjunkie!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:50

And yes, I still bring the camera to work sometimes, but since the mighty iphone entered in my life it is less frequent

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:49

Next time it is en Belfast! We put together a group, and next week we will start planning how to earn money so we can go

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:48

Oh, for you who didnt know: the world police and firegames is huge! Its like the olympics, we were 18 000 in New york competing!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:45

And that is enough marketing for this week! i just wanted to tell the stories, and a good story always works better with images…

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:43

Anyhow! I started to bring the camera to work, for practice, so the guys there helped me evolve into a better photographer.

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:42

When I started to take pictures with my pentax, I rather quickly grew tired of taking pictures of bernie. Weird,because he is now ..>>

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:36

I don’t know if this counts as marketing your own buisness, but if you want to see some of the images from the competitions, hold on!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:34

Me, I came at place 11th in my group, I’m very pleased since I ran crosscountry, and I hate, no H A T E running!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 22:31

And everytime I see something from New York I wanna go back, that could be, in my opinion, one of the most awesome cities in the world!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 17:54

Olej please help now: I dont use google translate very often, but how do you translate a whole webpage or article from an ipad?

@Sweden March 5, 2012 14:47

I found that bike last year in a snowpile, it was broken and abandonded, I passed it for a couple of weeks until I felt bad for it..

@Sweden March 5, 2012 14:40

And: I live in a universitycity, bikes dissapear here, I dont want to have my nice mtb when just going to town or work

@Sweden March 5, 2012 14:39

And yes, I do have a nice bike to, my mountainbike, but I don’t use it in the winter since all the salt on the roads kills it!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 14:38

To make things clear with my bike: yes it was stolen. No it was not a fancy bike, it had no gears, barely any brakes, was rusty and old..

@Sweden March 5, 2012 11:06

I have à rather ironic look at life, I love geekhumor, and find sentences like “I tweet in the voice of Morgan Freeman” hysterically funny!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 11:04

My plan for this week: join me and Bernie in our sdventures, come workout with me, and yes there will be firetrucks!

@Sweden March 5, 2012 10:39

Today: à day off, perfect to get myself going with this project! I did just come home from 24hours at the firestation, all went well

@Sweden March 5, 2012 10:30

Okej it is on! Let me introduce myself: Anna, 30yrs old, work as à firefighter in Linköping, and this is my week!