Hej! I’ve been in Stockholm since Friday and have really started to settle in here and get to explore this wonderful city a bit! So far I’ve begun to get very familiar with the different types of public transport that bring me throughout the city. Like many other European cities I’ve been to the transport is much more in depth than you’d see in a typical US city like Philadelphia or Pittsburgh and as a result is a huge part of this culture. There are much less cars than normal cities and the trains and busses are more full than normal places.
When we arrived we were treated to a welcome dinner on a boat docked in the city! The weather was not ideal and I was definitely tired after being awake for over 24 hours but I really enjoyed the food we were served. They gave us a Coldsmoked Salmon which was delicious and a way of enjoying Salmon (one of my favorite foods) I’ve never had before. On our first full day here in Stockholm we participated in a scavenger hunt which started in the Old Town of Stockholm and took us throughout the city showing us various landmarks and also introducing us to different places that were along the way and not part of the scavenger hunt like this beautiful church we decided to stop in.
Today I got to start my internship at Boulebar. I took the train to the office and after an initial confusion as to where the entrance was I arrived with a warm welcome to the office! I was shown around and got a presentation about Boulebar and what it was all about! The office is super nice and everyone I’ve met so far is very friendly and seems excited to have me joining them this summer as an intern as I believe I’m the first intern they’ve had in awhile and I think the first ever doing logistics for them. Today was very focused on the onboarding process watching lots of introductory videos. All of this got me excited for this summer and ready to get started on some actual work that will hopefully positively contribute to the company!
I am working in the hospitality industry this summer, the hospitality industry is a very broad industry covering many different types of businesses including but not limited to food and beverage, hotel, travel, entertainment, and event planning. This is an industry that has always sparked my interest even as a kid I loved going away on vacations and staying in these different hotels. The hotel was often my favorite part of the trip so while I’m not working at a business that has to do with hotels this summer I am in the same industry and gaining experience and knowledge of common practices in the industry. Boulebar is a food and beverage business while also providing the guests with entertainment in the form of Pétanque. I have a lot of experience working summer jobs in the food and beverage industry so Boulebar as a first professional venture is a good fit for me as I am very familiar with the service section of this industry and know what it takes.
I think the biggest skill you need to have in the hospitality industry is patience. It’s very important to understand what the guest needs to have a positive experience at your business. While the customer isn’t always right (in my opinion) there are many situations where you can improvise to ensure the customer doesn’t leave disappointed. While I won’t be dealing with the service section of Boulebar this summer I still will be interested to learn a bit about the HR side of the business if an opportunity presents itself. My focus this summer will be on the Supply Chain side of the business, as you know (if you’ve read my other blogs) this is the side of business I intend to work in once I graduation college. I am very interested to learn the different systems in place at Boulebar and hopefully by the end of the program I am given enough freedom to feel like I am actually making some small difference at Boulebar.
As far as competencies go, I intend to pick up and learn common Swedish business practices and assimilate it into my work, not only throughout this summer but keep the best practices I find and continue them when I come back to the US and get jobs/internship opportunities in the future.
Overall the move in to Stockholm has been a major success! I almost instantly adjusted to the time difference and have had a wonderful experience so far. I am looking forward to this next week ahead where I will really start getting to work at Boulebar. I will be back with more blogs documenting my amazing experience here in Stockholm this summer. Tack!