Week 3 - finally everyone's back at the office!

After a week full of routines, repetition, and fika-fueled focus, Week 3 brought a bit more variety — new meetings, small adventures, and the satisfying kind of busy that makes the days fly by.

Stockholm skyline from the Tunnelbana

Week 3 rolled in with a sense of “Okay, I officially work here now.” The routines are falling into place, faces are familiar, and even Excel seems to have accepted me as one of its own (well… most days).

Monday started busy — juggling the International Office inbox, joining the department meeting (this time online!), updating my Excel tables with new student applications, and fitting in my Swedish class.

The day ended on a lovely note: visiting a friend who works just around the corner. Sometimes Stockholm feels unexpectedly small in the best possible way.

Semla from ICA

Tuesday began early with an online meeting alongside other international coordinators from Stockholm’s universities. Lots of Swedish, lots of infos and unsurprisingly… lots of coffee. The rest of the day brought emails, a smooth lunch, and an extended fika with colleagues — the kind that accidentally turns into half an hour of chatting about everything and nothing - especially the Winter Olympics.

It was also "Fat Tuesday" which is Semla*-Dag so on my way home I got my roommate and I some classic Semla to enjoy!

*Semla = a traditional Swedish cardamom-spiced wheat bun, filled with a sweet almond paste and whipped cream, topped with icing sugar.

My friend's workplace

Wednesday was a fairly classic office day: e-mail duty; Excel = updating tables, a team meeting, and answering questions from incoming exchange students.

It was the first team-meeting with everyone back at the office, giving me the chance to finally meet the last 2 missing colleagues: Ida and Alice.

Wednesday-Friday was also the "Mind the Music" festival at work - which is basically 3 evenings worth of free concerts - performed by the students of KMH.

After work, I met up with a friend to unwind a bit, which was the perfect midweek reset.

Thursday — also known as “Excel Appreciation Day” — was all about finishing and polishing my big table for the marketing department. I turned it into a shareable Word document, reorganised everything alphabetically for them to add to the website next week. I also attended another Swedish course, and handled my usual inbox duties.

Ceramic cat from the collection - cause I miss my cats

But the highlight? A visit to the Nationalmuseum with a friend in the evening. Between the art, architecture, and ambient museum café lighting, it was exactly the culture break I didn’t know I needed.

Swedish book acquired!

Friday rounded off the week with steady focus: translating my document into English, reshuffling it (yes, alphabetically again — it’s tradition now), and updating the student application table one last time.

After work, I treated myself to a little city adventure in Gamla Stan, laptop in tow, working on my website and Berichtsheft after a nice stroll and raiding a beautiful idyllic Swedish book store.

All in all, this week had the perfect mix of productivity, social moments, and caffeine — a real taste of Swedish work‑life balance.