GlobalFOCUS

12/12/2007

Second day in Sweden

It is the second day of our trip here in Sweden, and we had a very busy schedule. We all felt the the time difference and felt tired all the time. However, this little trouble did not hamper our enthusiasm to meet new people and see the beautiful city. We all got up very early in the morning, and enjoyed our first Swedish breakfast in Stockholm. After, in that chilly and damp morning, we spent some time wandering around upper Stockholm.

We all fell in love with this amazing city, with its incredible environment and many historical buildings everywhere. We are very interested in the green fields that have been located within the neighborhoods. It is a real ecological city that takes environmental friendliness into consideration in every aspect of life.

After the morning walk, we went to meet Svante, one of the young entrepreneurs of the 12 Bill Gates program. Svante impressed us deeply because of his entrepreneurship, passion, and determination of doing his own business. We had lunch together and Svante gave us an explicit introduction of his innovative technology for heating and cooling systems of houses, and how his business was going on. We were so curious about the new technology, and we asked many questions about his business. The lunch was good, and so was the conversation.

Then, we visited the Stockholm School of Economics with the guide of Gustav, another key member of GlobalFOCUS and a graduate student of this college. Gustav showed us the whole school, located in a classic Swedish building and led us to Professor Susanne Sweet. She is also the head of a research institution of sustainable development named SuRe. We also had Emma, a PhD student involved in SuRe, join our discussion.

After that, we went to the best students’ project in Sweden, Project China, a project focusing on communication between China and Sweden. With their books and introduction, we were very impressed their previous work within Project China. And nowadays, they are planning for 2008 Sweden Week in China. As college students in China, we gave them very useful information and suggestions, and we also talked about the possibility of cooperation in China. The talking between us happily lasted three hours and ended up with an invitation from Jenny to her apartment having dumplings.

Stepping out of the school, we went to a bar to enjoy traditional Swedish beer. Next, it was Gustav’s show time. He cooked us a very fancy dinner, with the famous Swedish meatballs and great Christmas bread. Also, Arne’s friends Oskar and Jennifer dropped by to share the tasty meatballs.

We finally burned our energy out by midnight. After a long walk back to the hotel, we threw ourselves into bed and fell asleep. It was a day full of surprises and joy as we expected before!