Sweden

How-to: Afford Travel

Vasastan, Stockholm

Vasastan, Stockholm

Many people ask me, “How can you afford to travel?” The truth is I barely can. It involves a ton of planning, and usually months of savings. Every January I choose my destinations and travel dates for the rest of the year. Then I make a plan: tracking airfare prices, hotel deals, researching the exchange rate and how to make the most of my hard-earned dollars once I land there. I also start cutting back on eating-out and random purchases. The usual ways of saving. I’m not great at it, but I keep at it. Because regardless of the cost, I believe there’s a lot more we earn from travel than what we spend.

Swedish Institute, Stockholm

Swedish Institute, Stockholm

But I recently discovered a way to travel that allows you to learn more about your chosen destination in an affordable way, and grow your career along the way. I’m talking about grants and scholarships. Many governmental and nonprofit organizations around the world offer travel grants to foreign students and influencers to encourage international relations between nations and as a way of sharing their culture abroad. I used to think these grants were only available to students, but there are a few that are actually targeted to working adults, in order to help them develop their careers. One of the organizations offering these types of grants and scholarships is Svenska Institutet (SI).

“We have governmental grants that we provide to the countries of interest to Sweden, and that’s basically the whole world,” said Johanna Jeppsson, Deputy Head of Unit of Talent Mobility at SI.

The Swedish Institute, as it’s called in English, is an organization under Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that provides aid in two ways. One branch focuses on poverty reduction, providing scholarships to students in need who live in developing nations. The other branch focuses on promoting Sweden around the world, mostly concentrating on the U.S. and other western countries.

As an American citizen, I applied for a professional growth scholarship called the Bicentennial Swedish-American Exchange Fund. The goal of this particular fund is to give American citizens and permanent residents a chance to grow in their respective fields and contribute to the development of their societies with those learnings.  

“We are looking for what we call change makers,” said Jeppsson. “People that have an idea of how they would like to use the amount of money they receive from us, in order to change something or to create opinion.”

Johanna Jeppsson

Johanna Jeppsson

Each person selected for this scholarship is awarded up to SEK $30,000 to pay for a study visit to Sweden ranging between two- and four-weeks. At the end of the trip, scholarship holders are requested to submit a report to SI explaining what they learned and how they accomplished the goal originally stated in their proposal.

And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a social media influencer to get awarded. There are many ways in which your field can influence change in society. Those involved within public administration, the environment, politics, education and business can also benefit greatly from this type of study visit. Bringing back their knowledge and influencing their community.

“We had a person from the U.S. who came here to study our transportation system,” said Jeppsson as an example. “We also had a social worker from the U.S., who came here to study how we work with the refugees, in order for her to use these methods.”

The Bicentennial Fund is only one of the scholarships offered. In 2016, the Swedish Institute sponsored 1,707 people from all different walks of life.

Swedish Princess Cake and Smörgås lunch.

Swedish Princess Cake and Smörgås lunch.

For me, the visit to Sweden helped me define a more focused vision for my career, this website and my social media presence. It also allowed me to experience an incredible society and a culture that, while being very different from my own, it’s incredibly easy to fall in love with. Most importantly, it allowed me to share that beautiful culture with the world.

To learn more about the Swedish Institute, visit: https://eng.si.se/

The Bicentennial Swedish-American Exchange Fund will be managed by the Sweden-American Foundation as of this year, for more information visit: http://sweamfo.se/in-english/

 

 

Extraordinary Libraries: Stockholm Stadsbibliotek

View of the Rotunda.

The Stockholm Public Library makes a big impression from the moment you set your eyes on it. The massive square building, painted orange, is topped by a rotunda in the same deep tone. From the outside, it looks as if the building was wearing a top hat.

Once inside, things only get better.

I followed the signs to the Rotunda on the top floor of the library. Walking up the steps, I gasped for air. Not because I’m totally out of shape, but because I could see the endless rows of books above me. I reached the atrium and noticed the three levels of bookshelves that surrounded me. Telling you that my jaw dropped would be an understatement.

This incredible building was designed by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund in the 1920s (and it’s sometimes called the Asplund Library). Today, the collection includes about 410,000 books, in addition to a wide range of audio books and other literary items.

This off-the-beaten path location is the perfect place to spend an afternoon in Stockholm. Entrance is free and the library has a small coffee shop where you can read while eating a traditional cinnamon bun.

Stockholm Stadsbibliotek
Address: Sveavägen 73, 112 80 Stockholm

Website: biblioteket.stockholm.se

Santa Lucia, A Swedish Tradition of Lights

Lucia concert at Storkyrkan. Photo: Julie Cid

Lucia concert at Storkyrkan. Photo: Julie Cid

I sat inside a beautiful church -- Storkyrkan, a cathedral in the heart of Stockholm. The lights dimmed and the crowd grew quiet. Everyone knew what was about to take place. And while I didn’t understand a word of Swedish, I, too, knew I was in the middle of something special.

Suddenly the choir director gave a swift signal and a fleet of young women and men dressed in white started singing in unison. Their melody resonated through every corner of the church and vibrated against my skin. For the next 50 minutes I was enchanted.

On December 13th swedes young and old come together to celebrate Lucia’s Day. The charming celebration involves processions of lights all across the country. They happen at schools, churches, hospitals and offices. These processions feature a young woman or a girl dressed in a white gown with a red sash tied around her waist. She also wears a unique wreath crown with lit candles on her hair.

She’s the chosen one to represent Lucia and is accompanied by a group of maidens and star boys. The maidens also wear white gowns with a red sash, but instead of a crown with candles, they wear wreaths with berries and hold a single candle in their hands. The star boys wear the same white gown and red sash, as well as a large, pointy hat decorated with stars.

They sing carols together, bringing a warm and cozy feel to an otherwise cold and dark winter day.

The festival originated in Italy hundreds of years ago. Santa Lucia represented light in what was thought to be the darkest night of the year. In fact, the first Lucia celebration recorded in Sweden dates back to the 1700s, but became popular nationwide in the 1900s. Today it is one of the most celebrated traditions.

Saffron bun. Photo: Julie Cid.

Additional to the procession and singing, there’s also one particular sweet bread bun that accompanies the celebration. The Lussekatt, or saffron bun. This bun can be bought at coffee shops, outdoor markets and bakeries everywhere during the holiday season.

Storkyrkan
Address: 1 Storkyrkobrinken, 111 28 Stockholm
Website: www.svenskakyrkan.se

Vasamuseet - The Most Visited Museum in Scandinavia

Vasamuseet, or Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia according to its website. The museum is unique in that it only holds one centric piece in exhibition: The Vasa.

This majestic ship was commissioned by King Gustav II in the early 1600s. It was a warship, build to fire over 500 lbs of ammunition from each side. It carried 64 cannons, 300 soldiers and 145 sailors. However, just as strong and powerful its rise, so was its demise.

As crowds gathered to watch the ship leave the harbor, they witnessed the unthinkable. The ship sank in its maiden voyage on August 10, 1628, just 20 minutes after sailing. All but 30 of its passengers survived.

The day after the accident the Council of State and the King started looking for the responsible parties and started an Inquest. However, no one was ever punished or held responsible for what happened. Today, it’s believed that faulty design was to blame in the tragedy. After all, ships of that size and capabilities were unstable and susceptible to the technology of the times.

The vessel remained lost in the cold waters of the Baltic Sea for hundreds of years. It was 333 years later that a team of expert divers were able to raise and restore the ship.

Today the wooden ship is well above water and protected by a massive concrete building tailored to keep it safe.

Vasamuseet
Address: Galärvarvsvägen 14, 115 21 Stockholm

Website: www.vasamuseet.se