VIII

Hej Everyone!

I thought I would describe a day in my life here in Stockholm. This way it will be clearer what a day of an exchange student looks like. I´ve picked a random date before I knew what that day was going to bring, so it might be not the most interesting story to be told. However, it will be an honest way of showing the exchange life.

Well, on the 13^th of October I got up around 09:00 to get ready to work on an assignment at the university. The courses usually are in the afternoon or at least at 13:00, so getting up really early is not necessary. I met my international marketing group at the university to work on the group assignment, where we have to do a cultural analysis on Hong Kong in this case. We discussed the main points and divided the work. After this we went to have a quick lunch at one of the many cafeterias at the campus, around 11:30. Since there are some Swedes in my group, it is fun to actually hang out with the real inhabitants here. They tend to know which places to go a little better than us exchange students!

After this we worked at the assignment a little longer. Around 13:30 we decided that it no longer would be productive, since we were only chatting about random stuff. So we decided to grab some coffee and kill the time till the seminar at 14:00 started. A traditional Fika, as they would call it here. It was nice, and a lot of other people that we knew and past by joined us.

At 14:00 the seminar started. The lecturer for this course is very lively and wants everyone to participate in basically everything. At the beginning of the seminar we had to present what we had so far in our group assignment. We also had to prepare two cases, which we discussed. One of them was about the ethical aspect bribing, a very interesting concept in Latin America. We had a good group discussion on this subject. It is very hard to really pinpoint if it is ethically acceptable to bribe in a business deal. After this the lecture got better, since we had to analyze different advertisements from different countries, and compare them on several aspects, such as focus on the product, culture influences and use of music. It was crazy to see what kind of strange Japanese commercials exist! However, the Japanese students insisted us that this was completely normal for their standards. Damn, western advertisement must be pretty boring for them!

After the seminar I met up with some of my friends to grab some food and hang out a bit. Some of the students live near the university, so it was a short walk. After hanging out for a while and cooking some food, it was time to go to one of the last activities organized for exchange students; the Nobel 2. We got a guide through the economic museum, and a lecture on the prize winner of economics of last year. Because this was not the most interesting activity we’ve ever experienced, we decided to go to a bar quickly afterwards. I’ve found this really cool Irish pub where they always have live music! We had a couple of drinks, and before we knew it it was time to go again!

So there you have it; A day in the life. It might not have been the most exciting day, but nevertheless it gives a good view on how a normal weekday looks like. I wanted to conclude this blog with a summary of the things that are on my agenda for the upcoming weeks. In November we are planning to go on a roadtrip to Malmö and Copenhagen with a rented car. Furthermore, we are going to Helsinki for a weekend. Also, there are plans to go to Riga and Tallinn, but these are not concrete yet. In December we are planning to go to Lapland for 5 days. Hopefully, that is going to be the crown on my exchange!