Dear Readers,
I am sorry to say this will be the last blog for this series in Scandinavia!
Over the past 14 days, we got to explore many companies in Skellefteå, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Malmö, and Gothenburg. In those 14 days, we also got some free time to explore the cities we were in. In Stockholm and Copenhagen, we were able to explore the many things each city had to offer.
We explored old-town Stockholm separately and found the area charming. There were many shops, restaurants, and bars around, and the streets and buildings were gorgeous. We later had a wonderful group dinner that featured karaoke. This was a incredible night that we believe brought us together as a group and helped us all grow closer. Everyone sang and had fun singing along to the songs and enjoyed the good food.
On our free day, we started our exploration of Stockholm with a ferry taking us to the island of Djurgården. We saw the amusement park on the way there and were able to enjoy the views of the coastline from the ferry. When we docked, we started our explorations with the ABBA museum. We did not expect it to take us long to go through this museum, but we were wrong! It took us quite a long time to fully explore as they had many interactive features inside. We got to do karaoke together, pose for pictures, and become ABBA’s fifth and sixth members for a song!
We then visited the VASA museum, which was fascinating. The ship was massive, and reading about it was very interesting. After exploring the seven floors of this museum and picking up some souvenirs, we split up for lunch and then visited Tivoli Gröna Lund, the amusement park. This was a fun experience, and we got to experience a foreign amusement park. There was a ride there that I definitely don’t think would exist in the United States due to safety concerns!
We had another group dinner in Copenhagen that lasted almost all night. We enjoyed the food and many people gave a short speech or just started the cheers. We stayed a bit after the restaurant closed, just enjoying the meal and our conversations. At the end of the night, many of us took the metro to get back to the hotel. This is where disaster struck! We first discovered that the metro going directly back to our stop was not operating, so we would have to take the circle around to get to our stop. The two biggest big differences between the metro in Stockholm and Copenhagen is that the metro doors in Stockholm stay open until everyone is onboard, while in Copenhagen, the doors close after a set amount of time. Half of our group got on the metro, and the other half got left behind. When at a stop, the ahead group, which contained Rebekah, had a passenger pry the doors shut, causing the whole metro to become backed up. We were an hour’s walk from the hotel and had to taxi back. Meanwhile, the group containing Gabby decided to explore Copenhagen and take a 45 minute walk back to the hotel. We got to see a lot of the city at night, which changed our opinions of Copenhagen a little bit. It was certainly an adventure! The second big difference, to our surprise, is the metro in Copenhagen is clearer than the metro in Stockholm.
Rebekah
With a group, I headed up to the top of the spire, a church that contains a tall staircase with a breathtaking view of the city. My phone calculated that we claimed over 20 flights of stairs to get up and back down this tower. It was a long hike and started to get slightly scary as we got further up, but once we got to the top, the view was worth the climb. We got a breathtaking view of all of Copenhagen. It was complicated and difficult to climb as there was only one way up and down, and as we were ascending, others were descending on the same staircase! The climb down wasn’t nearly as scary as the climb up!
Gabby
Over the last 2 weeks I walk about 100 miles and my feet are feeling it, but I wouldn’t have changed anything. My time in Copenhagen was spent outside walking around and exploring the city. I visited Tivoli, Rosenborg Castle, Frederik’s Church, Botanical Gardens, Copenhagen City Hall, TorvehallerneKBH, Nyhavn, and the King’s Gardens. The last time I was in Copenhagen it was much colder out, so it was a different experience for me to see the city busy and everyone out and about and tanning in all the public gardens. I also found a great BBQ restaurant in the meat packing district in Copenhagen that was a crowd favorite. To stay out of the heat we we had a ping pong tournament in the lobby of our hotel. I had the pleasure of playing Professor Myhr in ping pong or how he likes to say it “table tennis”. He is an amazing player and I think 9 times out of 10 he would win but I was able to be the very first student and 2nd American to beat him and that is an accomplishment I will carry around forever! Check out game point in the video below.
Throughout my time in Scandinavia, I learned a lot about the business culture as well as the everyday culture of this area in Europe. Some important characteristics that play into their business is that they are very team oriented, flexible, and proud of their work and country. With that being said this does sometimes cause them to be patient when negotiating moving too slow when it comes to business. Some businesses are able to adapt quick, like Spotify when Covid hit and everyone needed to work from home while other businesses like Skandinavisk, is at a crossroads and could have pride get in the way of him making more money. Obviously in the United States generating the highest profit is one of the most important things when running a business. It will be very interesting to see where companies like Spotify, Skandinavisk, Einride, and Challenger Mode (plus all the others we visited) continue along their path to what they believe as success.
I can’t wait to plan another trip out to Scandinavia!
Med Hjärtlig tacksamhet (with heartfelt gratitude),
Gabby and Rebekah
