Ion Ciorici

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When you want to rent an apartment even in Botswana you just simple go to the owner of the apartment, sign some papers, give some cash and freely you can move in right the next day.
In Sweden ….oh oh…crazy…it is like you marry the apartment .

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When talking about Sweden all the time somehow comes to my mind IKEA, Volvo, Saab, ABBA, blond girls, nature and why not modesty. It looks that after visiting some of the royal residences the word modesty is not the most appropriate for this selected Swedish family.

Below you’ll find some pictures with the castles/palaces owned by the Swedish royal family and believe me you won’t find inside any IKEA decoration .

Drottningholm Palace

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I guess the title says all .

Time is passing by so fast that we don’t even realize how fast the seasons are changing, I still have the feeling that the university started yesterday:

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When living abroad for a longer time it is impossible not to notice many strange things, which are sometimes really difficult to be described.

Now on the queue is Storkolm or Stockholm, which is probably the biggest city in Sweden, but nobody really knows. Over the years, it has garnered a reputation for its edibility, and the most famous kebab district.

Quite strange was how Swedish people celebrated their National day on 6th of June. Of course this holiday was celebrated only by Central part of Sweden, since those from North part consider themselves as part Antarctica and those from South consider themselves as part of Greenland. The first thing you notice during a national holiday in Sweden is the Americanized style of celebrating and the immense amount of flags with the similar colours of the Ukrainian flag.

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em>In front of the City Hall

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During the past week there were not so many gay events in Stockholm, except the Quarnevalen .
Quarnevalen is kind of Scandinavian Rio de Janeiro carnival, the only difference is that you don’t see nicely dressed Brasilian ladies, but strange Swedish students from Royal Institute of Technology, still there were some exceptions :

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I guess the best word, which describes the last week is spontaneous random adventure . It started with a peaceful Monday morning in Sweden, but ended with less peaceful late nights somewhere in the Baltic Sea

Monday – Tuesday

My responsibilities at my old new job are becoming more significant and more varied so that on Monday and Tuesday I was appointed as the official paparazzi of the that mysterious company . The only thing remains to increase the salary for this risky and hazardous job . Monday and Tuesday were really busy, full of meetings, quarterly reports and so on. I guess the purpose of these meetings is to accentuate that the main reason for being successful is not because we have a strong and tall CEO , but actually it’s because of us, every employee who is making the company more successful day by day. To motivate us for better results and to perceive this successful first quarter, our manager reserved a small boat and invited us to go for a short-long trip to a nice and lost island.

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It’s been a while since my assistant didn’t post anything here, so I should try improve this situation.
This time I’ll tell you a story about how is to be an employee in Sweden.

It started with a smile, then a warm “hello, how are you” and I then I told myself that’s all for the beginning. I thought it’s very typical way of welcoming a new colleague – a very tall one . However I was wrong, very wrong!

After 5 minutes of walking in the office and meeting almost 500 new colleagues I really understood how difficult is to be a president or a receptionist . Anyway was quite easy to remember them, since many people are foreigners and represent one certain country. Regarding the Swedish colleagues, was a little bit difficult, since everybody is relative with Mr. Ericsson, Karlsson and of course Johansson .

After explaining everybody and showing on the globe where the lovely Moldova is I decided to go next to the floor to introduce my self to the remaining 500 colleagues. Surprise ! They already know my name. I guess every employee receives in advance an e-mail that a new person is coming, something like this: “Dear all, please notice that we have a new colleague from Moldova, take into consideration that Moldova is not a GAME and it’s not a country from Balkans, so this time you may hide your guns” .

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Stockholm’s Metro is said to be the longest art exhibition in the world – 110 km long.

It is an exciting story stretching from the art pioneers of the 1950s to modern artistic experiments. Almost all stations have been adorned.

In some 90 of the 100 Metro stations, passengers can enjoy an exciting, beautiful and varied art experience in the form of sculptures, mosaics, paintings, installations, inscriptions, and reliefs.

Around 140 artists have helped to create this art along the Metro lines. An additional few hundred artists have added temporary art features.

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Life standard and cost of living in Stockholm is quite high in comparison to Prague. When you are coming here your account shows few digits (in case you were working last summer ). Then you realize after 2 months that in order to enjoy your life at maximum here in Scandinavia, it’s a good idea to find a job.

I tried some part-time jobs, like serving as guardian, but it was really difficult to resist to make photos with every tourist

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After 2 weeks of no writing any posts and not having Internet here comes the boom as Mr. Mallon likes to say .

I shall start first of all with more culturally things and then end with less culturally attractions .

One place in Stockholm which is quoted with 5 stars in all the guides is Vasa Museet. The Vasa Museum is Scandinavia’s most visited museum. The Museum is so famous because of the warship Vasa – the only remaining, intact 17th century ship in the world.

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Finally Winter is all around by Billy Mack/Nighy is not more valid for Stockholm
Rising and setting times show interesting numbers for the next days and finally I have the opportunity to see what looks like the so called – Sun :

Today, at long last, the sun decided to grant us a bit of attention, so finally no more black/white pictures:

Now I can enjoy making new pictures with the blue-blue sky and those from Milan may envy us :

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Yesterday the City of Stockholm and the Stockholm County Council had the pleasure of my company at a reception with buffet at Stadshuset (City Hall).

(this picture was attached to the invitation, so I suppose I have all the rights to post it on my commercial blog )

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For decades, Sweden’s liquor stores were few and far. They closed by 6 on weekdays and never opened on weekends. Choice was limited and prices high. Bottles were displayed inside glass cases. Customers took numbers – and waited.
These measures were imposed to discourage the consumption of alcohol in a nation with a tradition of drinking to the point of drunkenness and a history of abuse going back to the miseries of 19th-century industrialization, when cheap liquor led to widespread abuse.

But piece by piece, Sweden is the motherland of rules not only regarding alcohol and anti-alcohol policies. Actually these rules and policies violate the European Union’s rules of fair competition. These kind of measures, rules, limitations I found not only within alcohol industry.

During my 2 weeks in Sverige I concluded that Sweets… sorry Swedes have many rules, too many – and maybe this is good in order to have a high level of living, respect in the society and bla bla bla.

Strange rules, restrictions and prohibition signs are everywhere, in front of the school, kindergarten, night clubs, below my bed, in front of my door and even in front of McDonald’s (which is supposed to represent the place of all possibilities) :

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As a recommendation from ClaraMy I will try to update my blog every day, but actually she forgot to specify every day of the week, month or year ?! .
I’ll try to do my best, but I think I need a qualified journalist for writing articles, so if you know somebody who meets the following qualifications let him/her to contact my personal assistant :

• Master’s degree with strong academic results
• Excellent analytical and quantitative skills
• Advanced technical skills
• Structured, accurate with ability to take initiative
• Able to take responsibility and work under pressure
• Flexible and good team spirit
• Fluency in English, Swedish, Malay and Khmer.
• Preferably blond relatives.

After I encountered some difficulties to spend my first scholarship I’ve decided to check for some student discounts at MPH – an exhibition with interesting cars and interesting prices in Nacka Strand.

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Finally I’ve received my scholarship from our lovely European Union and is time to do some shopping.
Maybe I’ll follow Gergelly‘s way of spending the first scholarship For this reason I’ve decide to visit the closest car showroom, which was Bentley Stockholm – a nice showroom full of German cars,ohh sorry British .

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When asked about stereotypes about Sweden the first thing foreigners often think about Swedish population is blond hair and blue eyes, which actually coincides only with a small percentage of the population.

During the dinner organized by International Committee at Stockholm School of Economics we were advised not searching for many blond girls, because they represent a small percentage at the university and it’s better not to call them Swiss, because we are now in Sweden .

I believe Swedes are quite good at ice-hockey:

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I really like all the books and travel guides which I am buying before going somewhere. Wherever I am going, all the time in the travel guide is stated that this city is the most beautiful city in Europe/Africa/Asia/World etc. The same situation is this time in my travel guide about Stockholm, which is described as the most beautiful capital city in Europe:

Inside another travel guide I saw that actually Stockholm is considered as The Most Beautiful Capital In The World.
I am a little bit confused, I thought it is Prague .

Maybe Stockholm is not as big and famous as Paris, London or New York, but still it is regarded as one of the most beautiful capitals in the world. Arriving in Stockholm is already something special. From your train/bus/plane you will see the water, the immense green areas and so many islands with the colorful buildings that make up Stockholm maybe really as the most beautiful capital in the world. Stockholm is also sometimes called the Venice of the North.

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