Work trip: Stockholm, Sweden

Helsinki, 12 degrees

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The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.

Wednesday turned out to be Friday. It's funny how even a one-day-trip might turn our whole week upside down, planning wise I mean. This week has all been about planning what to present in Sweden for the call center promoters selling trips to Helsinki, visiting Stockholm for a day and then hurrying to get everything done at work in one day before being off for whole two days!

I had been waiting this whole spring for a chance to visit Stockholm since it has kind of become a tradition for me to visit Sweden two-three times a year for work. When I then got the chance some two weeks ago when I heard about that I would go by myself this time, I was truly excited.

For all of you who have visited Stockholm, this comes as no surprise, but for whose who haven't, the reason why I look so much forward to going there every year is the great people and the atmosphere which is perfect for work. Since my mother tongue is Swedish, I have no problem communicating while being there and the atmosphere is always extremely happy.

Staying there a longer time has crossed my mind several times, but then again, there are differences between the Swedish speaking Finnish culture and the Swedish one. I prefer to stay in Helsinki, which is an inspiring and eager city striving for the future, and visit Sweden like I said some times per year. Nevertheless, we Swedish speaking Finns have a close relationship with Sweden since many of us follow their media and keep up with what's going on in our neighbor country. I guess this is only natural, since I'm sure the minority in Finland that has Russian as its mother tongue follows Russian news.

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I found Stockholm had late spring weather already, it was a beautiful sunny Tuesday when I was there. I had the pleasure of visiting the cruise line companies Tallink Silja and Viking Line and their call centers with two new acquaintences, representatives from Sokos Hotels and VR, who is responsible for the train transport in Finland. I love getting to know new people so I was delighted with the day in general!

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My presentation was mainly about the summer novelties in Helsinki which we have tons of this starting summer, e.g. the Pavilion, Kamppi Chapel of Silence, the cuisine world Kattila at our amusement park Linnanmäki, Finnish Design Market and so on. I believe I have mentioned all of these on my blog, correct me if I'm wrong and there is something that doesn't ring a bell in your mind.

For those who aren't familiar with Tallink Silja's daily cruise connection between Helsinki and Stockholm, there is a fun commercial made my the company showcasing how a group of Swedish girls take the ferry over to Helsinki. The video is in Swedish, since it's a commercial made for the Swedish TV but I believe one gets the point even without understanding what the girls tell during the video. After all, pictures are worth more than one thousand words.

The rest of my week has been passed doing some self-searching since I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in over two years. I found this quote about growing up that I thought described my feelings quite well.

"Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that time, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive outselves for growing up."

I've heard spring is a difficult time since it brings light to things. One can not hide from the light, and sometimes light might make a dreary mind even gloomier since the contrast is so big between what one would like to be and have, and how things truly are. Light reveals, heals and nurtures. In the end, there's no life without light. I will therefore try to embrace light and not run from it!