Update: Scandinavian Trends

Here are few updates on trends I've observed over the last week or so:

• Smoking: A surprising number of Scandinavians smoke. I find it especially surprising given the advanced state of socialized medicine in all these countries and the generally progressive and aggressive proactive social policy programs that seem to be the norm. I was in a bar over the weekend to watch a World Cup match and I think it was the first time that I saw people smoking inside a bar in I don't know how long.
• American football: It took me a while to pick up on this one, but I've seen people in all three countries we've visited attempting to toss a football around. For the most part they've failed miserably, but you have to give them credit for trying, especially since most Americans can't throw a decent spiral themselves.
  

And an important revision...It seems that the Chuck Taylor fad is limited to Norway and Sweden. After seeing them on every other pair of feet in those two countries, I've barely seen a single pair since we arrived in Denmark. I suppose this is one more reminder of the fact that while one can certainly group these three countries together, they are far from monolithic culturally, geographically or in just about any other way.