I’ve been in the States for about a week and a half now. It feels good to be back! Like I mentioned in my previous post, I will greatly miss Sweden (I already do) and I can’t wait to bore my friends to death with stories (yeah I studied abroad in Sweden this summer) but I felt like it was time to return. Granted, part of this is made easier with the knowledge that I’ll be spending the upcoming semester in Florence, Italy. 

I’m not sure if it was the time away from everyone I know and the chance to “reinvent” myself, living in a city like Stockholm, or some combination of the two (and many others), but I believe that I have changed for the better after my experience in Stockholm. 

I find that I am much more independent. Part of this is because navigating a hybrid schedule where I worked from home three days a week forced me to build real self-discipline and time management, but I think it’s more than that. Building new relationships from the ground up can be hard, and I think that proving to myself that I am capable of making lasting connections with others after such a short amount of time is incredibly empowering. Because I only had such a short amount of time with these people, I was able to branch out with the mentality of “if it doesn’t work out I never have to see these people again”. Further, I think that I am more confident in my specific tastes and ideals. Being in a European city that was the home of artists such as Avicii and Yung Lean is bound to influence my appreciation of art, and I think my Pinterest would agree. 

Academically, this experience completely shifted how I approach learning. Back at Pitt, I used to measure my study sessions by how many hours I could stare at a textbook without moving. This would frequently leave me completely burnt out after three straight hours of grinding. Seeing how Swedish culture uses fika as a daily reset taught me that intentional breaks actually improve your focus. When I applied those small resets to my workday, I was able to handle complex tasks without hitting that usual 2 PM wall. Visiting the Oodi library in Helsinki also opened my eyes to how public spaces shape the way we learn and collaborate. It made me much more curious about how thoughtful design and flexible environments encourage creativity.

Professionally, my biggest growth came from moving from a reactive mindset to a proactive one. During my first couple of weeks at Comintelli, I would finish a task, hand it to my supervisor, and sit quietly waiting for the next set of instructions. I quickly realized that my team expected me to take ownership of my time. Once I started actively asking for new assignments to work on, identifying operational gaps, and running cold outreach campaigns on my own, my workflow became much more engaging. I also gained great hands-on skills working with a CRM and learning how sales and marketing operate in a fast-moving SaaS industry. More importantly, seeing a workplace built on flat hierarchies, trust, and psychological safety showed me that good leadership is about giving people freedom rather than micromanaging them.

I have several clear takeaways that I plan to bring back to Pitt this fall. In my classes and group projects, I will no longer wait around for someone else to assign me a job. I plan to take the initiative early, identify what needs to get done, and support my group members with clear communication. I also plan to revamp my academic habits by building fika-style study breaks into my routine so I can stay sharp without burning out during midterms. In my student organizations, I want to help foster the same open, authentic environment I experienced in Stockholm, where people feel comfortable asking questions and bringing their real selves to the table.

Looking ahead to my future career, this program permanently changed what I want out of a workplace. I know now that I do not want to join a corporate environment where people brag about working 80-hour weeks as a badge of honor. Instead, I will look for companies that value sustainability, consensus, and balance. Learning that you can achieve great business results while still treating people with respect and prioritizing their well-being is the single most valuable lesson I am bringing with me into the future.