The document discusses the author's experiences living in Sweden for three years as an exchange student. It describes organizing trips for other exchange students to various Nordic locations, discovering the Arctic Circle and true silence, learning to integrate into Swedish culture despite challenges with the language and foods, attending an early presentation by Spotify's founder that inspired their career, being influenced by exceptional people they met and also influencing others, and realizing they could succeed anywhere by bringing what they learned to new adventures.
Centro Canada Córdoba (Presentación internacional)
My Years in Sweden
1. “…Please limit the experiences you discuss to those
which have occurred in the past three years.”
Oops!
…does it mean I can´t write about
my years in SWEDEN?
2. … about what took me there? About how I was looking for something different?
Like, the most different place in Europe where I could go?
49C = 120F, typical August in Seville November in Stockholm
3. … about how I made a difference for my fellow exchange students organizing
trips for more than 30 people to Finland, Norway, Estonia and Lappland?
4. … about the experience of getting to know the Arctic Circle, and how I
discovered the true meaning of silence?
5. … about how I managed to integrate in a culture that was totally different than
mine?
My Swedish for immigrants books
Kannelbullar, a very typical
Swedish pastry. I won an
amateur contest in my
student dorm despite
competing against many
swedes
A can of surströmming: This is
actually rotten herring
fermentating in a can.
Ok, I did not really integrate with this
specific part of the Swedish culture
6. … about how I learned about entrepreneurship and innovation, and how it
inspired my professional life?
Daniel Ek, the founder of
Spotify. I attended a
presentation of his project at
KTH while it was still a
startup with no funding. I
thought he would never
beat the status quo of the
music industry
One year later a friend in Spain sent me an invitation of that new app everyone
was talking about. With a good idea, Daniel changed the way people enjoy
music. And it had happened in front of me.
It opened my eyes
7. … about how I was influenced by some exceptional people and how I influenced
some others?
Adam Dunkels, one of the
world´s top innovators for MIT in
2009, my final year project
supervisor. His passion for
networked embedded devices
made me specialize in that field
Carlo Alberto Boano, whose
master thesis I co-directed while
working at Saab, and who went
on to win the Beng Asker Award
for best Swedish Master Thesis
8. …and more important, about how I realized that I
could succeed anywhere, and take the best of what
I learned to my next adventure?
Well, I hope to have done some cool
things after Sweden.
And I am sure I will do many more at
Sloan and afterwards