Day 10- Startups and Maps (JR)

    I have been finishing my days pretty late over the past few days and I have been too tired to write my blogs. It is now Sunday, and I am going to catch up as much as I can today. On Thursday, I visited two startup organizations, went to the Changing of the Guard Ceremony,  had a mini photoshoot in Old Town, went souvenir shopping, and ended the day at a tapas bar with Chloe and MaryEllen. Speaking of bars, after taking my nap on Wednesday, the group went to an Ice Bar, which was really awesome! If you are wondering, I do not drink. :) When we got back, I ordered a sandwich from the cafe downstairs and the group played cards.

Mr. Simon

      I arrived at my first interview at 11:30am. I had about a thirty minute walk from my hostel. I met with Mr. Simon who is one of the cofounders of Sustainergies. He and his colleagues work out of one of the biggest innovative hubs and co-working spaces in Europe for impact entrepreneurs. The space had multiple levels, greenery everywhere, different styles of tables and chairs, a kitchen, a cafe in the lobby, big conference rooms, and more.

     After my meeting, I walked back towards the hostel and met up with the group as they were leaving to head to the palace. The Changing of Guard Ceremony lasted about thirty-five to forty minutes. It was really amazing to see the different aspects of the ceremony after learning about their monarchy during our Old Town tour. The Royal Band gave some HBCU bands a run for their money, they were doing different formations while riding horses. (lol) It was a really cool experience. 

Changing of Guards Ceremony

Inside of a souvenir shop

     After the ceremony, the group slit up. The girls decided to find something to eat and then go find places to take some pictures. We took some pictures first and then happened upon an alley of souvenir shops, at that moment lunch was put on hold. 

     We spent about an hour finding nice gifts. After the shopping, we took an ice cream break. I went to 7-Eleven because the gelato shops in Old Town had very fancy flavors and I am a cookies and cream type of girl. MaryEllen went to a ice cream place that made fresh waffle cones and the lady gave me a free sample. I put it in my cup to dress up my basic vanilla soft serve. 

      We took a few more pictures and headed back towards the hostel to find food. Ev tried this kabob place a day before and wanted it again so that is where we stopped for lunch. I ordered a chicken pita and fries. It was really good; I loved their sauces. We got back to the hostel and I rested for about fifteen minutes before having a meeting with Dr. V about my evening interview. 

     I had to ride the tram to this one and their system was more complicated than Helsinki. He gave me a paper map and showed me how their tram system worked.  I left at 5:25 pm to head to the tram station. It was not super difficult but I had to pay attention. After getting off at the right stop, I had Apple maps pulled up with the directions, but they kept changing.  I pulled up Google Maps and was able to go in the right direction because the university was huge. ( I had a map party.)

  Embarrassing story alert: The street where this organization was located went on forever and ever. After walking for some time, I thought I had reached the building where my interview was supposed to be. Well, I knocked a couple of times on the door and did not hear anything. I remembered in my messages that Mr. Erik told me to knock on the door. I stepped back and pulled out my paper map to see where I was in relation the tram station because I knew it was a straight shot once I got on the right street. I thought I remembered the building number, and I had the map pulled up on my phone so I was going off of memory. 

     Anyways, I did not see a police officer turn the corner and he asked me what building I was looking for and asked did I know this was a university campus. I answered yes and told him I did not know the name of the building, but I did have the organization's name. I pulled up my messages to show him and he was like the message says fifty-three and I looked up and I was at building thirty-five. We both started laughing and I said thank you and I kept walking further up the street to the correct building. (I can see my mom shaking her head right now. )

Mr. Erik

Tech Room

     I rang the door bell and a man came to open it for me. The man was also apart of the organization so he took me to Mr. Erik and my interview went well. The organization, Stockholm Makerspace,  is a place where artists can go to work on different projects. It was awesome how many different rooms they had for different types of art including a welding shop, a wood shop, a sewing room, a tech room with three 3D printers and a laser cutter. They even had a bio lab and a man was in their growing bacteria. Stockholm Makerspace was also in an incubation center which housed forty-five other startup companies. 

     After my interview, I got back on the tram and went back to the hostel. After some chill time, MaryEllen, Chloe, and I went out for a snack but everything was pretty much closed. We found a tapas bar and I had a quesadilla and shared fries with Chloe. I came back to the hostel, took a shower, attempted to start this blog, and fell asleep.