the Insider Digital Edition in PDF format - Stockholm School of ...

Abroad
En Vecka i den Kungliga Hufvudstadens Bästa Kretsar*
Written by Mikus Reinikovs, Maris Miglans
*A Week in the Best Society of the Royal Capital
This article is a retrospect of the week in early March that your humble servants spent in the royal
Swedish capital doing a research for their Bachelor's thesis. We hope we will manage at least
partly to share the great experiences gained in the Venice of the North – Stockholm.
And so it started... individuals. It is worth commenting that means usual since just a couple of years
the Eurovision in Sweden seems to be of ago people living on the west coast of
Doubtful thoughts were circling the a much higher quality and the national Sweden could not even locate Latvia on
minds of the authors when they boarded competition takes whole 6 weeks, the world map. We even managed to
the Ryan Air's flight FR1963 heading for touring cities all around the country. have conversations about some of the
Stockholm Skavsta. Mikus had never lecturers in Riga and Stockholm. Our
even set a step on the Swedish ground After an enjoyable weekend, which was beloved Peter Högfeldt seemed to be as
before and Maris's impression about spent exploring the city and visiting the well known in Stockholm as he is in Riga.
Stockholm was mainly based on the world famous Vasa Museum (Vaasa
stories about the arrogant Stockholmers Musseet) where one can observe a Despite Mr Högfeldt's warnings we also
(Ståååckhååålmare) heard during the beauty of a 17th century ship, we were used one evening for visiting the SSE
previous visits to the more southern ready to start our research. Stockholm located in a beautiful building
provinces of the beautiful Kingdom of 15 minutes walk from the Central
Sweden. One thing was sure, though, we During the five days ( from Monday to station. The interior of the building
were heading for a week full of Friday) we had an extensive programme seemed indeed a bit run down, pretty
adventures and experiences. of interviews that mainly focused on the much as Mr Högfeldt had told, which
fields of public support programs and made us appreciate our own Alma Mater
After 30 minutes of flight and 1,5 hours initiatives, policy research and venture even more.
of bus trip we reached the central station capital in Sweden. Every interview was
of Stockholm City and were met by the held with the highest officials of the Apart from an extensive interview
benefactor of the trip – Leif Mutén who respective authority and positively programme we were offered a rich free
guided us to the hotel located in the part surprised us with their quality. The time programme. Leif and Margaret
of Stockholm bearing the noble name - people we interviewed showed great Mutén kindly hosted us at their home for
Kungsholmen (Kings Isle). Having settled responsiveness devoting their time and a coffee and we took part in the weekly
in the hotel we headed to explore the endeavour to guide us through the meeting of the Rotary Club, district
nightlife of the city. Before that, labyrinths of the Swedish enterprise and Ladugårdslandet.
however, we managed to have a look at i n n o v a t i o n s u p p o r t p r o g ra m s ,
the broadcast of the Swedish Eurovision something that would hardly be Moreover, on Wednesday we could
semi finals on the national television. a c h i e v e d w i t h o u t t h e g o o d attend a play La Traviata in the Royal
The personal favourites of the authors recommendations from Leif Mutén. opera house that alone would deserve
included För Kung och Fosterland (For an article. Apart from the artistic quality
King and Fatherland) and Vågar du, Vågar Another positively surprising fact was a of the opera we could also enjoy the
jag (Dare you, dare I). The latter of which g o o d o v e r a l l k n o w l e d g e t h e interior of the Royal Opera House. As
was later used, with mixed success, interviewees had about Riga in general opposed to Latvian opera the people in
attracting the attention of feminine local and the SSE Riga particularly. This is by no Stockholm seemed to be much more
6|INSIDER May 2007