This May, I got the opportunity to work at BMW in Stockholm, Sweden. While there, my team worked on a project to determine the future outlook of their financial products in the Nordics. During this project, I learned about the different cultures within the Nordics and interviewed company leaders.
While at BMW, I was surprised by the transparency, equality, and ambition within the workplace. I converted over to a coffee drinker after a plethora of traditional Swedish Fikas and I made friends around the world. My manager gave us the freedom to make mistakes and to learn from them. I had the unique opportunity to also observe German work culture as many of the employees were from Munich. I learned that, as an American, I can always learn something from other cultures. I also learned the importance of travel for the development of global business acumen and personal development.
Sweden was a life changing experience and I am eager to return!
The main activities that I found impactful were the project we worked on, our weekend travel, and our office fika. While working on our project, I learned how to work effectively on a team and accommodate different cultures. At first, it was difficult to communicate with our boss because Swedish culture does not emphasize meetings and deadlines like American business culture does. However, after learning about and embracing Swedish culture, I was able to really connect with the office environment.
During our weekend travel we visited 3 other countries that were also being studied in our project. This allowed us to really understand the differences between Northern European cultures and become more globally aware. We also got to experience different historical sights and beautiful nature. This travel gave us a wide knowledge base to draw from and allowed us to meet people from all over the world. It really instilled the love of travel within the whole group.
Also, we tried to have fika everyday. Fika is when Swedish people take a break from work to have coffee with their coworkers. This helps to build deep and personal relationships at work. By doing this we were able to make friends at work that we are still in touch with today. They also gave us insight into what it is like to grow up in Stockholm and the differences in perspectives. From these fikas, we learned about different sports, how to survive Swedish winter, and really grasp Swedish culture. These fikas are where a lot of the value of the trip came from.
Overall, my trip to Stockholm built my network abroad and instilled a life long love for travel. Since coming back, I have already booked two more trips to Europe and one of them is to go back and visit the friends I made in Sweden. This trip improved my business skills, helped me to get my full time job, and transformed how I view the world. In fact, this trip is why I decided to purse a consulting career after graduation. I am much more appreciative of different perspectives and love to embrace different cultures. I also became more adventurous on this trip by trying new foods and embracing new experiences. This trip was extremely transformational both personally and professionally.