Blogs from Västra Götaland County, Sweden, Europe - page 4

We started the early morning with Irma to discuss the Swedish political system. She told us how Sweden is big on power to the people and how involved the residents are with politics. This includes having 85% of the residents voting in the 2014 regional election - a figure we in the UK can only dream of! Irma then went on to explain exactly how the political system is set up and the levels creating the Swedish Government which was really interesting, but made some of us realise how little we know about the British system... Irma also gave us our first experience of Swedish Fika, which went down very nicely - Paige’s first ever cinnamon experience! We then went off to the train station to travel to Vanersborg (via Starbucks for an expensive taste of ... read more

After a much-needed lie in, we decided to go to the Universeum museum today as the weather wasn't very good. We were really impressed by the tropical rainforest zone (but disappointed that the sloths were slothing and wouldn't pose for photographs!) There was also a Space zone and an area with loads of fun facts and activities to do with the human body! On the way back, we stopped at an Italian restaurant for some delicious food and have since been chilling out and doing some reading ready for our first day at the office tomorrow... We are all a bit nervous as we don't really know what to expect, but hopefully we will impress our hosts and start to find out about how things work in local government here in Sweden - watch this space! ... read more

Malmo to Gothenburg by train is an unremarkable journey. Arriving around lunchtime, we orienteered our way to the docks where our hotel was moored. Yes, a boat that is a hotel. Boatel. The Hotell Barken Viking is an old schooner repurposed for accommodation, and a job really well done. Some things were a little cramped in our room, but the quality of everything about it was great, at a very reasonable off-season price. Apparently the place rocks over the summer. I was feeling worse again by this stage, and opted to spend an afternoon in bed trying to marshal the antibodies while Helen took off for a ramble around the city, an opportunity to shop without feeling continual pressure either to buy something or move along. She scoped out several shopping and eating options for a ... read more

Gestern habe ich Göteborg erkundet. Dabei bin ich die Haupteinkaufsstrasse zum Yachthafen gelaufen und habe ein Ticket für eine Bootsfahrt zur Inselfestung Nya Aelvsborgs Faestning gebucht. Das war sehr sehenswert. Schweden hat ja Göteborg benutzt, um die dänischen Zölle zu umgehen und die Stadt dementsprechend gesichert. Diese Inselfestung liegt vor der Mündung des Goeta Aelv-Flusses. Dort habe ich auch meinen Nachmittagskaffee mit Kuchen eingenommen. Nach der Rückkehr in die Stadt habe ich noch die historisch erhaltenen Kronhuset und den Dom von Göteborg angesehen. Danach bin ich in mein schönes Hotel und habe im Dachpool auf der 7. Etage etwas gebadet. Von dort hat man eine gute Aussicht auf die Dächer der Stadt. Anschliessend habe ich in einem empfohlenen Restaurant eine schwedische Brotzeit und danach schwedische Koettbullar gegessen. Danach habe ich am Business Center in der Lobby ... read more

Volvo Day - We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed after a good night's sleep. We had a big Swedish breakfast, packed up, and Volvo drove us to the Volvo Overseas Delivery Center. Our Volvo rep was awesome and very professional. We filled out some paperwork (5 minutes) and then she brought out our new XC90. She spent a half an hour going over everything Brian needed to know (because Amy wasn't listening). After a quick test drive, Volvo gave us lunch (Swedish meatballs of course), and then took us on a tour of the plant. It was pretty cool to see the assembly lines. Almost as complicated as an aircraft line. We also had to sign non-disclosure agreements because we were seeing new models, their processes, and other "IP". That reminded us of work, ... read more