I’m sitting in seat 24C on IcelandicAir from Reykjavik to Newark typing this, and I have to say, it’s a weird place to be. Not a few thousand feet above the North Pole, but hurtling towards an inevitable destination pretty different from the place I have left. It’s harder knowing that the incredible people I have met and became friends with won’t be there to join me, harder still knowing that it’s likely I won’t get to see them again. 

Besides the people I’m leaving behind, what about the people I’m going home to see? I’m not saying I’m a brand new person after living in Sweden for a couple of months, but I’ve certainly changed, and I believe for the better. Will I undo the good habits I’ve learned? What if I can’t handle the fast paced American capitalism? What if people don’t like my cool new European clothes? All excellent questions. I’ll leave the full version for my final blog post, but these thoughts have made up the majority of my last week in Stockholm. 

I spent the entirety of this last week in Stockholm, spending as much time with my friends as possible. For our last night, we went to our favorite restaurant, our favorite nightclubs, and ended the night with a swim in the archipelago. I think that we all felt similarly- we couldn’t believe it had been two months, we were going to miss each other immensely, and yet we felt it was time to go. 

It was relief from an otherwise upsetting time, and a satisfying feeling. The U.S. has its perks- the very touristy hotel I stayed in last night had air conditioning, and it made me even more excited to return to my hundred square feet of sixty-eight degree air. I remember feeling the same about my high school graduation. I was sad that I had to leave this part of my life behind, but ready to get the heck out of there. 

Looking back on my time in the Swedish workplace, my thoughts on returning to fast-paced American capitalism tie directly into how differently my host country defines professional success compared to the United States. In America, success is often measured by individual recognition, rapid career progression, long hours, and visible hustle. In Sweden, however, professional success is centered around the concept of Lagom—meaning “not too little, not too much, just right”—and influenced by the Jantelagen cultural ethos, which discourages boasting or placing individual achievement above the collective group.

In a Swedish professional context, success isn’t about being the loudest person in the room or working 60-hour weeks. Instead, it is defined by sustainability, work-life balance, consensus-driven collaboration, and reliable execution within flat organizational hierarchies. In my internship, an effective employee is someone who balances high autonomy with team harmony, proactively identifying tasks and managing their time during hybrid workdays rather than waiting to be micromanaged.

The behaviors and actions of a “successful” employee differ noticeably between the two cultures: while American professionals are encouraged to actively broadcast their personal wins and view staying late at the office as a badge of honor, Swedish professionals share credit across the team and view constant overtime as a sign of poor time management or an unsustainable workload. Taking breaks—like the daily tradition of fika—is viewed as essential for long-term productivity rather than a distraction from actual work. Furthermore, decision-making in Sweden relies heavily on gathering input from all levels of a team, whereas American success often hinges on navigating top-down executive directives quickly. As I fly back toward the fast-paced American work environment, learning to integrate Sweden’s emphasis on balance, team consensus, and sustainable productivity is easily one of the most valuable professional lessons I am bringing home with me.