Attempting to Curl

Our last day in Sweden was started off by making a trip back to the island of Hisigen to learn how to curl. After a brief introduction and walk through of the rules and safety instructions we all got a rather embarrassing attempt at it. The demonstration looked so easy and I wasn't expecting it to be that difficult, but I guess I should have known better since I am a major klutz. I trip on a daily basis just walking, so being on ice and trying to play a sport at the same time didn't work out all that well. My very first attempt was really bad and was not done at all right. Curling is definitely a lot harder than it looks and it takes a lot of practice. After a couple attempts it became easier and I kind of caught the hang of it. Some people from the group had no trouble with it right from the start, which I really don't understand how they managed to do that.

Eventually we all broke up into teams of four and played a couple of games. I can easily say that it is very hard to get the stone into the target circle. It either is too short, too far, goes way off to the side, or gets knocked out! Within the two games we played my team only got the stone in the circle a total of three times. 

For our final diner in Sweden we all went to Heaven 23 which is a restaurant on the 23rd floor of  hotel in Gothenburg. I am not a bi fan of heights at all so this outing was not my favorite. The restaurant had windows from floor to ceiling so you could get  great view of the city below. Even the elevator going up to the 23rd floor had a big window so you could look outside as we ascended to the top. Of course I didn't look out the elevator at all and I tried to not look out the window as much as I could avoid it while we were at dinner. Heights just make me feel uneasy so it was hard to be eating dinner right next to a giant window overlooking the city. The view was absolutely amazing and it looked really cool because the sky was a little foggy. Even though I don't like heights I still appreciated the amazing view it had to offer.

Daily Reflections:

• it doesn't take long to get the hang of curling
• as soon as I start getting the feel for the city and knowing my way around, we are already leaving
• I am really going to miss Sweden

Falling Head Over Heels                                           Jan. 26

For our visit to AutoAdapt this morning, a bus was sent to our hostel to pick us up. AutoAdapt is the company that is related to Bruno which is located in Milwaukee. We met with Anna Karin who is in Human Resources and with Holkin who is the CEO of the company. They are not focused on the end result which allows them to have really good control in what they are doing. Instead they are more focused on the quality and the process of the product. There are no employees who are trained for one specific job. Every so often the employees switch up their jobs so that they they don't get bored doing the same thing every single day and it also limits the number of injuries. Their mission is to be a global leading provider of safe vehicle adaptation solutions for persons with reduced or limited mobility. AutoAdapt gives people with disabilities and limited mobility an increased independence.

Me and Lindsay

Our final company visit was to Smarteye where we met with Magnus who is the head of sales. Smarteye is a 3D eye tracking system for professionals. Their vision is to supply the most innovative eye tracking systems for automotives. They are working on remote eye tracking technologies that are non intrusive. Smarteyes products are sold to automotive, aviation, neuroscience, and usability. All of their products have an automatic tracking feature to make it easier. The cameras used in their products are able to measure gaze direction, pupil dilation, eyelid opening, the speed of it opening and closing And more. Their products can help aid in behavioral science, control rooms, marketing designs, and psychology. 
For dinner we were all on our own, so some of us decided to go to the little Italian place we went to on the very first night here. It was really good to go back there and take it all in after being here for two weeks. With more free time to kill, we decided to walk around a little and buy some quick gifts to bring home with us. 

Daily Reflections:

• people assume we are Swedish when we travel in smaller packs, so we must fit in somewhat
• Smarteye is a very intriguing company that has a lot of new technology to help us move into the future
• Swedes drink a ton of coffee, all the time 

Trip to the Island                                                    Jan. 25

Branno Island

Finally we had a day to sleep in a little bit because we made a trip to the island Branno around lunch time. This island is not allowed to have cars on it so it is very peaceful and relaxing to be on. Everything is very quaint and tidy with beautiful scenery all around. It was very quiet and desolate on the island and it was really refreshing. All the houses were very rustic and built right into the rocks on the island. It gave a very outdoorsy feel and made you feel distant from the busy city even though it was only a 15 minute ferry ride away. Branno is a very nice escape to go to enjoy the natural landscape of Sweden. On the island we walked around and looked at all the cute houses and took lots of pictures. We made a stop for lunch at this little home made meals restaurant. It looked like a house that was turned into a restaurant. After lunch we headed back to take the ferry to go back to Gothenburg. 

Lunch at the island

Branno Island

After we got back we had a little bit of time to blog before we broke up into teams and had an iron chef competition. We had four teams and each team was in charge of a different course during our dinner. My team was in charge of making one of the main dishes and we decided to make quesadillas and nachos. Going to the store was a bit of a challenge because everything was in Swedish. We almost bought yogurt instead of sour cream because we couldn't read the label. Working together we made our meal and it was pretty good! The other group made spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. We all bought way too much food forgetting that we were all making something for everyone. Since we had so much extra food we invited some other guests at the hostel to have some of the food we had prepared. 

Daily Reflections:

• working with a group of people is challenging when everyone has a different perspective
• living on an island with no car would actually be really relaxing 

House Visit                                                               Jan. 23

WirelessCar Visit

Ferry ride to Per Norline's home

Our first stop was to WirelessCar where we met with Martin Lundh who is the manager. He works mainly under the service strategy and innovation divisions. Wireless Car is telematics made easy and it has an operator of connected services for the automotive industry. They are a recently new company, but they are located worldwide and they are continuing to grow. Their main competition is Google because they are coming out with so many new technologies to make things easier for everyone in their daily life. During our presentation Martin said that self driving cars are in the near future by using technology that is able to read driver behavior.  Humans make mistakes all the time but technology doesn't make mistakes.  

Quote from WirelessCar:

"In the car world it is a lot about prediction"

Next, we went to Getingne where we met with Per Norlin who is the senior manager of automation. Getingne has three different branches and Per works at the branch that makes sterilization tools and equipment for hospitals. One of the biggest points about their sterilization machines is that they need to be very user friendly. That way it won't take too long to figure out how to use the machines and they will be used efficiently. When the company was first breaking into the market they had a lot of struggles. Now they are doing very well and they have a 15% growth rate each year excluding the last three years. 

Dinner at Per and Asa Norlines

After our visit there we went to Per's house and met his wife Asa. They live on the island of Hisingen right on the ocean. Their backyard looks out at the ocean and they have a wonderful view. Going to their house was very fun and it was super nice of them to invite us all over for a very good seafood dinner. Hearing all of their stories and laughing with them over dinner was a truly great time and left us all with some great memories. Eating the seafood was not an easy task however because we had to crack the shell open and they were really thick! In the process of trying to open the shells, I got sprayed in the face twice. It wasn't a pleasant experience but it was certainly memorable. After a delicious meal we all went upstairs and talked about our different experiences here so far and we got to hear a few more stories about themselves as well. 

Daily Reflections:

• it is a very honorable thing to be invited to a Swedes home for dinner
• you can't expect everything to run smoothly right from the start, all good things take time
• technology is changing rapidly and new things are being designed every year

To Hike or Not to Hike                                          Jan. 24

View from lookout at Keillers Park

There was nothing planned for the group in the morning so a couple of us had decided to go on a hike on Hisingen Island. We wanted to get an early start, but when we woke up we realized that it was snowing pretty heavily outside. A hike in the woods on a mountain is strenuous enough let alone in the snow, but we ended up going thinking that the snow would let up soon. Of course the snow didn't stop and we ended up hiking the whole time in a bunch of snow and wind. To add on to the list we didn't exactly know how to get to the mountain once we were on the island. We asked some of the locals, but they couldn't really give us directions so we ended up just walking towards the mountain and trying to find a path. We eventually found what seemed to be a path but couldn't find the main path so we tried to just make our way using our own paths. That wasn't really working to well for us so we kept looking for the actual path and finally found it! Going out in the blizzard was totally worth it because once we got onto the path and made our way up to the lookout on top of the mountain, it was breathtaking. Along the way we saw a hare and it was huge! We also saw some beautiful gray, black, and yellow birds that were flying all around us.

Frolunda Hockey Game

At night we all went out to a hockey game! We saw the Frolunda Indians play and it was a pretty fun experience. This was the first hockey game I have ever been to and it was really fun. It made me want to go to another hockey game back at home! There was a fan section for both teams and they were so rowdy. They didn't stop playing their drums or stop chanting throughout the whole game. It was so crazy and loud, but it was so fun! The player introductions were also really cool. They had music playing and a giant Indian head that all the players skated out from. The whole experience was amazing!

Daily Reflections:

• Sweden should invest in some salt for all the ice on the sidewalks and streets
• squirrels here look like they are part rabbit and part squirrel
• hockey arenas in Sweden are way smaller than in the US  

A Taste of Sweden                                                          Jan. 22

Today we went to visit Valea AB and met with Andrew Hammond who is a European Patent Attorney. To get to the company we had to take a short ferry across the water because it is located on an island off of Gothenburg. It is a technology and law based company and it is owned completely by the staff members. At Valea they help clients receive patents for new designs and inventions. When we first arrived at the company we all had to sign our names on a piece of paper as part of  non disclosure act. Because the company works with new inventions, they want to ensure client privileges and keep their new inventions a secret from competitors. The company has a variety of European patent attorneys, trademark attorneys, and design attorneys. With such a big variety of jobs, the employees have to have a variety of degrees as well. The employees have either a masters of science, engineering, law, or PhD degrees. 

Quotes from Valea:

"An invention is a new idea that helps mankind."

"An invention can be a product or  method."

Hasselblad Visit

After an interesting presentation and very good lunch at Valea we headed over to Hasselblad to meet with the product manager, Ove Bengston. We had a brief presentation about how the company got started, the first couple of cameras that were made, and the new cameras that look more modern. Hasselblad cameras are very unique in its amazingly impressive clarity and high resolution capabilities. The cameras are very expensive because of their high quality photographs and multiple functions. The least expensive one is around 8,000 Euro which is about $9,000. The cameras have the ability to be in black and white and color. The very first picture on the moon was taken from a Hasselblad camera. Hasselblad cameras are used for  lot of arial images as well as modeling and by professional photographers. The best part of this company was being able to see the employees working on the cameras because it was all hand made!

Stained hands from cutting the beets

For dinner we went to the Taste of Sweden where we split up into groups and made our own four course meal. My group was in charge of making the the starting dish which was reindeer, a red wine sauce, fried sourdough bread crumbs, beets and onions with garlic. Making this meal for the whole group was incredibly fun! We were all running around the kitchen trying to get everything cooked and doing a good job with it. We had the help of two chefs, but for the most part we were on our own trying to figure out where everything was and how to cook it. When I was cutting up the beets my got stained red and it did not look very pretty. It was such a fun night being able to work with everyone and doing something new. In the end all the food turned out to be very good! Everyone was laughing and telling stories having an amazing time with each other. It was a really good way for all of us to bond and get to know each other a little bit better.

Daily Reflections:

• I am not the best chef
• working together as a group is more efficient than working for yourself
• reindeer is surprisingly really good

Swedish Taste

Snowing in Sweden

Today we went to visit ABB Robotics and then Stylt Trampoli. At ABB Robotics we met with Burt Thorvaldsson who is the product manager. Being a product manager, he mainly works within the marketing section. He is responsible for the success in products the company produces,  but at the same time he isn't really responsible for very much because there are so many other departments. ABB is a power and automation company that sells complete systems and parts for a system. Burt stated that it is important to know what customers needs and problems are. As a business you don't want customers coming to you with a problem. It is better for a customer to come with a need or problem so that the business can help them and then anticipate their future needs. Burt was very entertaining and made us all laugh. We were all given lunch at the office and then we had to make our way to our next stop.

Quotes from ABB:

"Make people want to do what you want and need them to do. That is leadership."

"Make people do what you want them to do. That is management."

"It all comes down to understanding the reality the customers live in."

Stylt Visit

At Stylt Trampoli we met with Par Svensson who is the project manager. This company is involved in concept development, architecture, design, marketing, and branding. Even graphic design services are given to help make a website. They are a pretty big and well known consulting firm in Sweden. Stylt works with a variety of different businesses and works with them and their business to allow them to succeed. Some of the businesses they help out are restaurants, hotels, and water parks. They even work with older businesses that used to be very popular but have lost attention and also with businesses that have closed and reopened. Par told us that there are 3 steps involved in the process of succeeding. The first step is to create a story for your business that is interesting and will attract attention. The second is to stage and design your business to make it look really intriguing to customers. The final step is success. Stylt helps businesses have a good design to attract customers. This presentation was my favorite so far because the job itself seems like so much fun! You get to design and plan things by using your business and marketing knowledge.

Park in Gothenburg

Late last night it started snowing here in Gothenburg. When I woke up this morning there was a light layer of white snow everywhere and it looked so beautiful! All the trees and hills were just dusted with white powder and it made the walk and tram rides way better. We had an open dinner tonight so after the company visits I went shopping and walked around for a couple of hours. We got some dinner at this very cute cafe and I had an amazing pulled pork hamburger. The shopping areas we went to were a bit expensive and too Americanized for my liking. I would still like to find some stores that have very European styles so I can't just get them from home.

Daily Reflections:

• snow here is somehow prettier than in Chicago, maybe because it doesn't get all dirty and black
• working at Stylt Trampoli would be an amazing job
• the tram system gets easier to use every day