Three years ago I arrived in Sweden with my native girlfriend hoping to lay some foundations for our 2 year old daughter, to realise some hopes and dreams for a better life for ourselves too.

My partner had described an idyllic childhood here roaming on snow-capped mountains, which we wanted to give to Maya as any parent would. I was exhausted by my life back in the UK and wanted to explore this rural world that she had enjoyed as a child and knew that there must be more to Sweden than great furniture and meatballs!

After the initial disorientation that comes with emigrating I found myself a student again but this time learning about life. Not ordinary life but ‘urban life’, right in here in Sweden. I had to learn how to speak Swedish, read Swedish, shop in Swedish and convince other people that I could be ‘Swedish?’ (Being of Afro- Caribbean descent, that was no mean feat!). And importantly I needed to find a job.

I felt like a schoolboy again only I was wearing the wrong trousers…

It wasn’t long before I had yearnings for my previous life. There were things I missed from home, my heritage and I began to question ‘would I ever fit in here?’ I feared not least for myself but for my daughter and the same unanswered question she would face whilst growing up here.

In our haste to create an idyllic life here, I had momentarily forgotten how important my own heritage had been and how integral that was to who I am today and how much I wanted to impart that to my child.

That was when ‘urbanlife.se’ was born.