Peaches and Coconuts
Here they say that becoming friends with an American is like sticking your finger into a peach. It's easy to make progress: steady effort, and your finger is in the peach,but then there's an impenetrable core. Becoming friends with a Swede, they say, is like sticking your finger into a coconut. Nearly impossible, but if you get through the outer shell, you're in for good. So they say.
Re: Some Swedes have softer shells....
I'm probably a bit more of a kiwi -- fuzzy, sometimes prickly outside and mostly squishy but with crunchy seeds scattered all over the place.