
The entrance to the mine 
What used to be an elevator shaft 
An old mine cart. I do not know what happened to the miner. 
Start of the hike with the end in site 
Nice vantage point along a wrong pathway 
Where that wrong pathway led to. 
The view if you follow the correct trail 

Category: Week 2
The Mines of Taberg
I have to say that I was conflicted on the title of this blog post. After all, there are so many good puns that can be made with the word “mine”. Despite all of the potential however, I decided that a nod towards Lord of The Rings was the best way to go, mainly because I sang the Misty Mountains song and the opening to Snow White (Hi-Ho) throughout most of the trip. For the record, neither song was appreciated by the group.
The Taberg Visit
As you might have guessed. Today we all visited Taberg mine which was quite a sight to behold. The mine itself had not been in use since the late 1960s but was still in relatively good shape. The information we were all told was that we would go in and take a guided tour the mine. After that, we would then go hiking to the top of the mountain. A great plan all around. What we all were not told (and all forgot until we got there) was that mine shafts are actually very cold, and hikes are done in the 78-degree weather. The mine was roughly about 45 degrees and everyone but the Canadians were all but under prepared for this newfound information. In addition, we were all given torches for the tour. This made us all excited until we realized they meant flashlights. While there were several different types of torches, my “torch” in particular had the luminescent power of a well-polished spoon. I ended up using my phone for most of the journey which worked well because I took a lot of pictures and, under 450 feet of solid rock, a phone doesn’t have much use as a phone anyway. Of the many people who went into the mine, most of the ones who came out seemed to enjoy it and I’ll leave the rest of that statement for interpretation.
The Taberg Hike
After testing my bodily limit of cold, I was eager to start the hike and get moving again so myself and a small group decided to start on the path a little earlier than the main group. We were given the go-ahead and were told to follow the path. Solid plan; we followed it well until we came to a fork in the road. When it comes to putting on a shirt in the dark, sliding a USB drive in on the first try, or choosing paths, I know that statistics say the possibility of guessing correctly is 50/50 but I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of the 50% that is right. After backtracking roughly half a mile and continuing on, then doing the same backtrack again on a different fork in the trail, we all managed to make it to the top of the mountain.Something I will always treasure is the view you get from the mountains. Being able to see for miles in all directions is a sight that I truly don’t ever get used to and never mind getting the chance to. Seeing as how small Jonkoping is and how little thought is given into it as a tourist destination, I couldn’t help but wonder what percentage of the population would ever get the chance to see the same sight as me. It is moments like these that define living from existing.

The next hour afterward was spent going back into town. As it turns out, going down a mountain is a lot easier when gravity forces you towards an exit. After the hike, myself and a few friends decided to take an extra trip to Stockholm, and I plan to make a post detailing those events specifically. In the meantime, thank you for reading; I encourage you to think about the things in your life that define living from existing.
Hillside

Some lovely houses along a hiking path 
Picturesque Tree-lined path 
Nice nearly-silhouetted shot of me. Thank you Melissa
Logistics & Locals
I think I’ve sufficiently hit the point in my journey where I’ve started to feel a little homesick. I don’t think it is anything serious but the fact that I haven’t driven in nearly 14 days, haven’t eaten something grotesquely unhealthy, and haven’t laid down for bed without the sun shining through the windows has started to wear on me…well that and the fact that I was almost the target for a mugging last night but who’s to say really?
A Classroom Update
Before I get to the targeting, I should talk about what happened earlier that day. That day was a relatively normal start. I had gotten up and headed off to class without issue but was dragging due to the early morning. The lecture for that day was a group discussion on an assignment we had all completed but seeing as everyone had to present their findings as a group, calling it a discussion would be less accurate than it would be to call it a presentation given with the enthusiasm of a taxidermized cat. During that discussion, I started to wonder whether or not I could get back to Florida if a crisis hit and all technology failed. I devised that I would have to go across Russia and down through Alaska, but rowing 55 miles between the continents might be a stretch. Anyway, the point of this tangent was that the energy of the room was not stellar. After all, out of the entire month of this class, we only have 5 lectures and the rest are discussions like this, or projects with TW (time waster) or school sponsored events.
World’s Weirdest Sport

This week’s school sponsored event was a sport called bumper ball. Bumper ball is played exactly like Soccer, only you are wearing an inflatable ball around you so you can physically crash into the other team and practice Newtons 2nd law. We all were able to form teams and overall, we all had a lot of fun at the expense of our bodies when we woke up the next morning. If anyone is interested, my team did not do great. We had two losses and one win but considering the last time I played soccer was when I was nine, I can’t really say that I’ll lose sleep over this defeat.
The Locals
One of the requirements that has been outlined for this blog has been to speak with the locals and get their opinion on whatever topic, so long as it is appropriate. Aside from the Nobel Prize research that I have to do (which doesn’t really have anything to do with this class) this fulfillment was my least favorite on the list. It’s not that I wanted to be anti-social but from everything that I had heard and researched, the Swedish citizens were more reserved when it comes to conversation, and as I have pointed out several times, I am quite proficient when it comes to verbally butchering their language. That being said, there are always exceptions to the rules, and I have had two separate conversations with two very nice groups of locals. One of which would end up helping me avoid a bad situation.
The Reason You Are Reading This
Last night on June 13th (It’s the 14th now so don’t worry, I’m still alive) me and a few friends of mine had gone out rather late. We had taken the wrong bus earlier in the night but ended up getting to where we wanted to go with the help of a friendly group of locals. The main person my friends and I came to know on this trip was named Carl (not his real name) and he and his friends were on their way to enjoy a few drinks after their long day. As it turned out, we were all heading in the same direction and we all got to know each other during the bus ride. After which, he and us parted ways and we thought nothing more of it. My friends and I started to do our late-night sight-seeing but due to a meeting with my group members I had the following morning (and the fact that I did not want to stay out until 5AM for the first bus of the morning) I decided to catch the last bus for the night and assured my friends that I would be fine. They waited with me for the bus and, as it would turn out, Carl and his friends were just getting out of a nearby bar and catching the same bus. We exchanged normal greetings and when the bus came, me and Carl’s started to board. Something I did not account for is that even though it was a Thursday night, the last bus of the night was packed full! Reluctantly, I shoved in with the other passengers to any space I could stand in. I think it was because of this that I appeared to be alone because my new-found friends were several rows ahead of me. Queue the meeting of my new all-too-friendly acquaintances.
There were two men in their early twenties, on the right next to me. There was one more on the left of me. From the looks of it and the way they were speaking, they had clearly been drinking. Not really to my credit, I am overly friendly to people, so when they started to talk to me, I obliged. That being said, I am also extremely cautious and paranoid to the extent that when they started talking to me, I thought I was being targeted but did my best to brush it off. Their questions seemed innocent enough; it was obvious I was a tourist, but where I lived, how well I spoke the language, where exactly I am from in the US, were all questions they had asked. The other thing they were trying to silently figure out was if I was drunk and realizing that this situation was turning south, I pretended to be. I am roughly three stops away from the end of the line (also my stop) when I realize that a fourth person has approached me from behind. One last thing I should mention is that I have taken martial arts for seven years at this point and despite those skills, it is best to avoid a confrontation if you can. One-on-one fights are doable, even with a weapon. Two poses a problem, three is either an initial attack that must render the subject unable to fight, and/or a flight tactic. When you are faced with a group of four possible assailants, unarmed or not, your best bet is to clear a path through the weakest looking one and run, drawing as much attention as you can along the way. This was going to be my plan. I stumbled over to a different section of a bus. One reason was to make it look like I truly was drunk and the other was to not be surrounded. It was at that moment that Carl came up to me and started talking to me. I ended up exiting the bus with Carl and his friends as they lived in Raslatt as well. Something Carl ended up telling me was that what I experienced wasn’t common, but sometimes something that happened to tourists late at night. Carl was also listening to our conversation at times and mentioned a few things to me that they had said in Swedish, not knowing that he was a now very firm friend of mine. I wish I could have made excuses for the actions of these men, but the final confirmation for me was that when I looked back on the bus, just moments after Carl had started talking to me, my all-too-friendly acquaintances left quickly without saying goodbye.
As bad as that experience was, I am glad to say that I am okay and even though this happened to me, I am glad that it did happen to me rather than anyone else on this study abroad. I was luckily able to return to my apartment unharmed and warn the others through our group chat. Traveling is always exciting for better or for worse and I refuse to let one bad experience paint any stereotype in my head about my experiences, this country, or the types of people involved in this situation. For those of you concerned for me, while it is appreciated, please do not be. I do not plan on traveling stupidly and I will remember this experience next time. I am still having a wonderful time in Sweden and I promise to tell you all bout it again soon.
International Negotiations
Today marks another day in Sweden that was filled with mainly schoolwork. Our lesson today consisted of our group going into negotiations with a different group to buy shoes from them. How many shoes you ask? 70-90. How much should we pay for them? A couple hundred SEK per pair. When do we need them? Soon. You may notice that as the questions go on, the vagueness of the terms do as well. One could argue that this is a factor of the real-world business and that researching a product is a vital step in the contracts negotiation, but then again, one could also argue that our imaginary marketing department should be fired for not specifying a date and price point before announcing an event where we give out shoes.
Before Negotiations
I should preface that before this negotiation was to take place, each predetermined group was given a role. Either buyer or seller, and though it was rather open-ended, the buyers and sellers were given written terms that we were told to aim towards and what incentives we could manage. Neither group could look at the other’s notes, but apparently, they were equally vague as I would find out. That works for me and my group…enter TW. TW is short for time-waster and it is the only way I can refer to her at this point because, while everyone else in my group contributed to the prompt, TW liked to take the productiveness of our discussions and hold it hostage until we listened to her stories or experiences, which largely either had to do with her returning something from the store, or her rephrasing what we had discussed 5 minutes ago. I wouldn’t mind the second half if it was truly lack of understanding, but it became abundantly clear that TW did not bother reading the assignment after I had to cut her off of her 12 minute explanation of what questions we should ask about the manufacturer’s equipment, in order to tell her that we are buying directly from the supplier, who, has in fact, no equipment. Gracefully admitting her mistakes or so I wished, she then proceeded to tell us about her husband’s work (which had nothing to do with said negotiation) and how he sometimes did not have equipment that he needed for his job in manufacturing.
The Day of Negotiations
After the 30-minute preliminary meeting that lasted a full hour, our group had done some very thorough research and created very solid stances that we would bring to the negotiations table. Before the negotiations, each group would watch a string of videos provided by the University about miscommunications throughout different cultures. The video was very informative but not really appropriate for the time being due to the fact that we had already been in Sweden for a week and by that time we had already accidentally offended more than enough people to learn our lesson (kidding), and we had all gotten a sense for each other (except for TW) to the point where general cultural miscommunications were not going to be as much help at this point. The real issue was general communication but that is something I will touch on later. Due to the fact that TW was in our group, it took us all 15 minutes and 3 anecdotes longer than our sellers to watch the videos. Thankfully we had come prepared because they had just received 15 minutes more to figure out their pitch. Overall the actual negotiations went well. I believe all of us talked at some point and after TW’s obligatory drain on our existences, we were able to establish reasonably good terms for both sides. Even better, we established them amicably. As we would come to find out, the amicability was harder for most groups than the price point of the negotiation, which I found interesting due to the fact that imaginary shoes caused real insults to be passed amongst the groups. If you’re going into the market of fake shoes I would tread very carefully because the tensions are quite high.
Overall, I know that this problem with TW is serious and I am working on possible ways to handle this. I believe any group will have problems and the added international difficulty makes this a unique experience for me. On the bright side, if this goes well, then I can use it for the most common interview question about difficult teamwork I have faced. I would hate to replace the story about the group consisting of me and two people who broke up during the project, but this one may be a bit more relevant.
Street Views of Jonkoping

The bus did not stop when I needed it to. Bright side, it dropped me off in front of this 
Very nice Catholic Church. I plan to go in before I leave 
One of the main buildings in the city Center 
The flower garden in the city center
We Wanna See Ya, In IKEA
Today was the moment everyone was waiting for. The crown jewel of Sweden, the pinnacle of Swedishness. The Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory of Swedish furniture that the world over (excluding Africa and South America because there are no locations on either continent) knows, loves, and hates assembling. Yes, today was the magical visit to the IKEA facility that handles all shipping for the entire region of northern Europe…and it was alright.
The Visit
Quite a strong build up for such a quick letdown, right? Well those were my opinions as well and I know that my writing comes off more critical and cynical than most (its easier to critique than to create after all) but in reality, I am an optimist about most experiences, including the one that would take me to the source of 90% of my bedroom furniture, and the visit was a bit of a letdown. I was very much looking forward to my journey to IKEA because any worldwide company that deals with massive imports and exports through a 66,000 square foot space has to be a logistical phenomenon worth looking at right? Yes, it is, but the problem is that the amount of time allocated to the IKEA visit was not proportionate to the amount of time spent in the actual warehouse of IKEA. When our group of 40 entered at roughly 1:30PM (13:30), we were all taken through security, through the gate, passed the barbwire because IKEA doesn’t mess around, and taken upstairs into this rather small conference room with a projector. From there we all watched roughly 45 minutes of videos related to the history of IKEA and all the good it does to the community and the world. The problems I had with this approach were the fact that a large amount of us could not get a direct view to the subtitles on the screen, so the parts where they were speaking in Swedish (which they do often, as you can imagine) were lost to us. The other part I had a problem with was the fact that I could have watched these videos at home. I understand I probably wouldn’t research IKEA as extensively and I understand the sense of pride a large company has, but at the same time, I would rather be given numbers and statistics on your business than YOUR opinion of your business. As it turns out, the press looks favorably on your writing when you’re in control of the editors. I would hate to discredit IKEA because they really do seem like a well-meaning company and they did give us fika, but with all due respect, I did not want to watch videos from the lobby of your company while standing inside the actual company.
The Actual Tour
Perhaps I wouldn’t be so upset by the videos if the amount of time we had at the facility wasn’t stressfully limited. Once we put on our protective gear and went out to the floor I was stunned. The building was immaculate. There were clear lines and systems in place; there were no obvious messes or excess amounts of inventory just waiting about. The aisles were all semi-automated and efficient. For someone who has been working on floorplans for the last 18 months, this was amazing to me. This might seem like a no-brainer to have for a warehousing facility, and yes it really is, but to actually implement such a clean and well-organized warehouse was incredible. I have several mental notes saved for when I return to my own facility but that was my problem: The number of things I wanted to know were too constricted by the time and there was no possible way that I could understand a fraction of what I would have liked to given the schedule. I very much enjoyed the tour of the facility; I very much tolerated the other 2/3 of the tour. I was also asked how this relates to the current class that I am taking, and I will say that the warehouse itself doesn’t. I could argue that it is a product of logistical placement and make-or-buy philosophy to make it sound smart, but in all honesty I was enjoying comparing it to my facilities class (to which I saw some aspects employed) and my current job (to which, while good, can always be improved). I am hoping that the trip to Husqvarna proves more schedule friendly because after Sweden’s crown furniture jewel, it would be nice if this next tour blew me away*
*Context, Husqvarna creates gardening and lawn supplies, including leaf blowers. It was a long stretch to make the pun but I’m glad I went for it.*
What a Start
Some might be surprised to hear that ever since I have gotten to Sweden, I have awoken to birds chirping nearly almost every day. While this seems like a fantasized version of a morning routine, I can assure you that I am not part of a Disney movie, and in fact, those birds sound like seagulls who are about to take their last breath on this miserable Earth and oh God, someone stop the pain! I would grow concerned about my feathered alarm clocks but considering that I hear this literally every. Freaking. Other. Morning. I think they’re being dramatic…Then again, it may be a new group of seagulls taking the place of the older ones, but oh well, I’ll become more interested in the seagull homicides once it starts happening after 4AM.
My Life So Far
As far as week two in Sweden goes, I am still in this strange limbo where I either study (which isn’t really a post-worthy event) or I attend a cultural package event, which I should specify is not a school-sanctioned event. I want to make this clarification now because I have another drinking story in this post, and I don’t want to put the University’s name next to the endorsement I am getting from AA.
My Studying So Far
When nothing really interesting is happening, I try to meet
the requirements for the blog because there are a few things that I have been
told to observe and post on here. One of which is to stalk sit and
observe people in normal open scenery. e.g. bars, coffee shops, restaurants,
and so on. What I can tell you based on my observations is that Swedish people
act relatively the same as Americans in most cases, and if you ignore the
language, you may not be able to tell the difference. Believe me when I say
that I would love to tell you how the Swedish unhinge their jaws for meals or
sacrifice a goat to Cathulu, but no, they are very normal. They too speak,
laugh, socialize, eat, and get uncomfortable by the guy with binoculars clearly
staring them down.
Class Assignments
My initial impression for class assignments was overly positive and now that I have endured a week, I think I can be more critical in my analysis of it. In all honesty, I thought this class would be a bit easier due to the fact that, even though this class is in English, most of those who are attending this class are not native English speakers and therefore the class would be taught at a slower pace than what I was used to. Unfortunately, that is a two-way street and the lecturing as well as some of the test questions are roughly translated which adds a bit of a learning curve to the assignments. I don’t particularly mind those who do not speak English fluently and it would be very close-minded of me to discriminate what they share with me especially when I butcher the Swedish language every time I try it, but I do start to become irritated when it starts to affect my performance. For example, yesterday I had my first test. I was given three attempts to pass, and, out of the five questions, I was only allowed to miss one. I passed…the second time. The reason it took me two times to pass is because one of the questions asked which type of supplier was not on the supplier hierarchy, and I do not believe that a “potent” supplier is the same as a “potential” supplier. Regardless of bringing this up (along with several other students bringing up errors in a few other questions) the only thing we could do was take it again. To my credit, when I passed the second time it was with a perfect score of 4 out of 5.
I believe pacing is another challenge for this class. This class is a semester-long term moved into 25 days so it would obviously contain long hours. Something I love in Sweden is that after every hour or so, we are given 15 minutes to stretch our legs and digest the information we were presented. That being said, it is hard to keep one’s attention for a combined six hours, and I know this is essentially a day in public school, but the main problem I have is the lack of diversity in the subject. I believe it would be much more suitable to study five subjects in six hours than study one subject in the same time but unfortunately, we do not have that luxury. Pacing for the class in itself is an issue. Yesterday we finished the lecture an hour and a half early but to be honest I don’t think that was an accomplishment. My retention rate was very low by the time we finished due to the sheer tidal wave of information that had bombarded me for the last several hours. Despite what I say, I do commend the school on this class so far; the staff recognizes when we have all hit our limits and they try to work with us on staying attentive. To say that this class is difficult is fair, but it is not impossible or unreasonable. Luckily, we also have other events to help us unwind and it just so happens that the next event on that list was a pub crawl.
The Lesson We Never Learned
An interesting fact about me is that I recently signed up to volunteer at an elementary school. Being the youngest of four, I had always enjoyed the idea of helping someone younger than me and, though I would never choose it as a career, I also enjoy teaching to some degree. Couple that with the fact that I will be an uncle starting in October, I wanted to improve my skills in interacting with children. Let me just say, I got my first bit of practice last night when the alcohol turned a few of my group mates into very large children. I don’t want to throw them under the bus, and I would like to keep this as professional and dignified as possible, so for the remainder of this conversation, I will be speaking about it in terms of business and supply chain management.
My…company and several other partnering companies were planning on visiting three suppliers that night. The intention was to test their various products in order to heighten the state of our business ventures. Though my intention was a controlled growth of my company, I cannot say the same for others because by the end of the first supplier visit, most companies (both foreign and local) had increased their ventures slightly more than they could handle but still not enough to collapse their infrastructure entirely. Though their resource management was not keeping pace with their expansion rate, they decided to venture on. It was during this venture that one of my partnering companies made a deal with me. If their company growth were to outpace their ability to manage it, they would agree to pay a penalty fee to my business of $10. Being the entrepreneur that I was, I quickly took them up on this deal and even paid $6 to increase the business growth in their company as a justification that $4 profit was better than $10 loss. My business ended up receiving said penalty fee, however what I forgot to account for was the resource management assistance I would then have to provide to said company due to their entire facility coming into chaos. That night was then spent trying to assist the company by getting rid of excess inventory, outsourcing transportation, checking overall systems management, and helping them shut their facility down at the end of the night. Overall, I would say that a net gain of $4 was not enough to compensate these costs but unfortunately, that is what needs to happen sometimes. Despite all of the fun, throughout the night nobody was ever in danger and, aside from a few hiccups, everyone had a good time. As a result, I am now $4 richer. Win-win economics.