Sticker shock

You might be wondering, how come I sent so many messages at once. The
secret is that tonight we are staying in a very shitty hostel. We got
into this trap without looking because we were lured by the promise of
free 24-hour Internet - a rare and expensive commodity in this part of
the world.
Still we should have looked first, because our room (for US$70, it is
cheap by Scandinavian standards) reminds me of a medieval dungeon. And
Zara said that we would have got better accomodations if we did
something illegal. And in this case it would include free breakfast and
lunch.
So I have no intention of sleeping in this rathole and intend on staying
up all night and getting back my money worth in Internet time.

Talking about cost of living in Scandinavia, this is the first place
ever where I feel like a Peruvian in New York, rather than the other way
around. Well, I already felt like that 13 years ago when I arrived to
New York from Moscow. At that time one way subway ride from Brooklyn to
Manhattan cost as much as taking a plane from Moscow to Odessa and
coming back by train. However eventually I got used to New York prices,
and perhaps I'll get used to Scandinavian as well, but so far I continue
thinking that paying US$4-5 for a small cup of tea is insane. There are
of course unexpected bargains and freebies here and there, but for most
things prices are just as crazy.

I just can't understand what economic forces make tea i.e. in Denmark so
much more expensive than it is in the neighboring Germany. Zara, who's
a tea addict, made an extensive research into the subject. According to
her the hot water here is free, although in some places you might be
asked to pay a krona or two for the cup. The tea bags also cost next to
nothing, particularly if bought in Afgan-owned grocery at the corner.
So it must be the process of making tea, i.e. placing the tea bag into
the hot water, that generates $4-5 of added value?

It just defies everything I know about economics and free trade, the
laws of economics just stop working once you get to Scandinavia.
Perhaps that's why they succeeded in building Socialism in Sweden, the
experiment that failed in every other country. The high prices also
explain why there are so many Scandinavians are traveling abroad, i.e.
somebody from language school in Ecuador noted that after Copenhagen,
Quito has the highest concentration of Danish girls in the world. I
think these girls just can't afford to live in their own country.

And of people traveling in Scandinavia there seem to be a much higher
percentage of Americans, some Japanese and lots of Russians - people
from relatively well off countries. And I don't know much about
Russians, but we spoke to several Americans and they all were in the
state of sticker shock.

On a train to Stocholm we met a Swedish guy, a recent graduate in
Economics. He couldn't answer my questions, but instead added some
mysteries to the puzzle. According to him Swedes are aware that prices
in the other parts of the world are lower. I.e. some of them go to
Germany to buy their cars (and probably everything else)... But why do
they have to do it individually, haven't anybody thought of making a
fortune by bringing in the entire ferry of cars? Hold on one second...
perhaps that's what all these Russians are doing here.