Susanne Weber at GotEvent AB, Sweden

Hälsningar från Sverige!Now I am back in Gemany after a six-months internship in Sweden. But looking back I have to admit it was an excellent time full of fun, adventures and excitement. I don´t want to miss it. But maybe I should start at the beginning.

Preparation and first days

• Contact

Quite early I decided for my self to do my practical internship abroad. Surfing through the internet I saw that the 19th European Athletics Champonships should be in Gothenburg. I have to admit I have a passion for sport and especially for athletics and so the decision was made soon: I want to go there! After having sent just one mail asking, whether they employ trainees generally, I had the job! I was really surprised how unbureaucratic everything was and looked forward to join the team.

• Leonardo

However I should get a salary it was clear that I needed to finance my appartment by myself, if I do not find another solution. So I applied for a scholarship from Leonardo. Thanks to the good support from “Sprachen/Internationales” and Prof. Dr. Graumann did I get such a scholarship and the financial situation for my stay was fine. I can just encourage you to apply for a stipendium as well, that makes life a lot easier.

• Accomodation and staying permit

So far everything seemed to be fine. Just hiring an apartment and asking for the residence  permission and the journey could begin. What I didn´t know before was, that you do not hire accomodations in Sweden, normally you buy a living right. So it was a little bit difficult to find a cheap appartment. Finally I found a shared appartment. Anyway the best!

• First days

At the beginning of March it was finally time to say good bye to all my friends and my family and fly to Sweden. My first working day was quite calm. After a warm welcome by my supervisor and the introduction to everybody else at our office, it was time to get familiarised with everything. The whole week continued liked this many introductions and lots to read. But everyone was nice and although I didn´t speak Swedish at all it seemed like it could become a good time.

• The LOC

But where did I work? However I was employed by GotEvent AB, an arena marketing company and I worked for the Local Organising Committee of the European Athletics Championships. The LOC was built by different organisations of the sport branch and the city of Gothenburg and was fully responsible for the organisation of the games. It was devided in eight areas and I worked for the TV & Media department.

Fields of work

• Preparation of the Championships

In my contract was noted that I should work with TV & Media Services, but to tell the truth I haven´t had a clue what was meant by this. But it was soon clear that I should work with the media accreditation. That meant registration, updating and confirming all the entries of the written press and the photographers, but as well help with the accomodation of these persons. The second big part was the operational plan for the media tribune. Who should seat where? What signs are needed? What have the volunteers to know? Are the CIS working? … That was a complete new area for me, but also a great challenge.
Beside these two things there was time to do some smaller projects and works like organising press visits and volunteer educations, writing and translating press releases, helping with the broadcaster bookings and accreditations and the volunteer administration, just to mention some. I think it was a great opportunity to get a look inside many different areas and it was not just wide range of tasks but also interesting.

• The European Athletics Championships

In the pre-event time the tasks changed a little and everybody was looking forward for the EM. Will everything work out? What will the media say about the organisation? Have we forgotten anything? The nervousness and the working time rised day by day. The week before the championships I moved to the accreditation centre, where I should be the responsible person for all questions and problems with the media accreditation. But everything worked quite well and so it would have been a calm time, if there haven´t been the night shift at the media tribune to fix the last things. But everything should pay off.
Monday morning, the first competition day, I moved to the media tibune to look after the processes there. After the frst day everything worked and except the stairs to the mixed zone the media was satified with everything. But of course we worked on a solution for this as well and could fix it by the middle of the week. About the same time I run nearly out of work att the media tribune and I had the chance to see the first competitions live. Isn´t it strange, you are directly in the stadium and don´t manage to see the competitions?
At the end of the week I started to work in the mixed zone and the press conference area as well, because it should become a bussy weekend there. The crazy English mixed zone team and surprising champions will I proparbly never forget.
Anyway it was a fantastic experience to see a full-packed stadium supporting the athetes, the fair athmosphere, the nights in the media restaurante, the german house or at the city festival in town and the positive feedback by all the media represantative. My personal highlight was on day after the championship an article, in which my team and I was mentioned before my boss.

Social enviroment and City of Gothenburg

• Sightseeing, party and shopping

But not only during the Championships was something on in Gothenburg. The whole year round are smaller events, festivals or concerts. The people really loves to celebrate and so every weekend during the after work the bars and restaurantes at the Avenyn, Linné or Vasa are crowed with people.
Beside this is Gothenburg a perfect city for a shopping tour. Of course we mention IKEA and H&M, if we think about Sweden, but you can find decoration materials in hundrets of small shops in every street. Fashionable shoes and clothes shopes are mixed with antique stores and not to forget the tiny cafes, where you can hang out with a coffee and “Kanelbullar”.
If you want to see something else you can travel to the ocean, which is just half an hour by tram or relax in one of the several parks. But also the countryside is a journey worth.

• The Swedish way of living

“Fika”,the Swedish expression for having a coffee, is surely one of the most charaktersitical things for Sweden. Beside the more common pictures of small red-wooden houses, moose and blond girls, is Sweden also a country with a passion for its traditions like Midsommar and Kräftskiva (cancer celebration in august). Moreover is Sweden not so expansive like we allways think. Except alcohol are the prices quite okay and if you want to party, you just have to go to the common happy hours, where you get most of the drinks for the half price. Sweden are also often described as resverved, but you just have to get known to them. It is a form of politness to be just normal (“lagom”) and not to be something special. But if you have got known to them bettter it will be great fun.

• Contact to colleguages

There is another difference to Germany. In Sweden is the contact to your colleagues much more intensive. You go out with them and spent lots of your freetime together. However it is unusually to invite colleguages to your home. At our company we have had also a freetime association which organised many activities like bowling, an athletic competition, an evening in the amusement park and trips.
The weekly “fika” and the small talk during the days created a friendly working climate and was the basis for many remaining friendships.

Conclusion

All in all I can just say it was the best decision I have ever made and I don´t want to miss that time. The EM was a great experience with lost of fun and passion. I am fascinated by the country and its people and looking really forward to my next trip to Sweden. I just can hope that you also catch the spirit and go abroad. Don´t be shy and live your dreams, than they will work out.

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Susanne