24 hours left of my Czech adventure. 24 hours left of my escape from “normal life”. 24 hours left of a very nice but sometimes challenging part of my life.

Yesterday I presented my projects to my boss and unfortunately I realized that I haven’t contributed with much substantial value to the organization during these three months… My boss’s interest has changed during the time I have been here and the project I focused the most on is no longer that important to him. But of course, a trainee program is maybe not so much about bringing value to the organization while being in the program. It is more about investing in your own knowledge base. At least I have to tell myself this to not be too disappointed.

Too late to improve my projects so now something completely different. Top lists seem to be very popular in Czech Republic so before going on summer holiday I will give you two top lists based on my three months here.

Best things regarding Czech Republic;

1. The beautiful city of Prague – I will definitely miss my favourite spot in Prague which is a slope with apple trees and with a perfect view of the whole city.

2. Beer – the Czech beer is definitely the best you can find and unfortunately it doesn’t taste the same if you have it in another country…

3. Proximity – everything is so close when you compare to Swedish distances. You can reach most boarders of Czech Republic within two hours. As soon as you get tired of Czech Republic (?!) you can easily go to all the neighbouring countries.

4. Czech colleagues – since my colleague Tomas is standing behind my back right now I have to say that he also has to be in the top list! (Even if I have only won the daily football game once during my whole time here…) Czech people are really nice – I actually experienced that it was easier to get to know my Czech colleagues than the Swedish I had in previous periods.

Best things with going back to Sweden;

1. Family and friends – going away for this long time is really great if you want to get a reminder of how important your family and friends are.

2. Swedish language – as I have said before, it is really frustrating to not understand what people ask you in shops, what is written in the newspapers, what my colleagues are laughing about, what the warning signs in traffic tells you etc. I love the Swedish language!

3. Normal situation – I never thought I would ask for this but now I really want to go back to the “normal situation”. I want to start cooking again, I want to take care of our apartment and I want to sit in the best corner of our couch…

4. Being where the action is – oh yes, it is really important to understand our customers and see how and where the money for my salary is generated. BUT the factory is so far away… I really enjoy being close to the factory when working in Södertälje. There is a daily pulse and you have the possibility to affect the product that is coming out of the factory.

I hope you all have a nice summer and see you in August! (Then I will tell you all about my last trainee period – An oil project in the R&D department….)