Erasmus Internship in Stockholm

Paul F., Leisure and Tourismmanagement, Schweden, Stockholm, The Green Trails Stockholm, summer semester 2024

After finishing my Bachelor’s Degree at the beginning of 2024, I wanted to work in Scandinavia since the northern countries are very interesting and the environment there is beautiful in many ways. I started looking for nature or sustainable tourism companies in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. During this search, I found The Green Trails located in Stockholm and applied for an internship. The Green Trails organizes outdoor tours and adventures around Stockholm. They aim to bring guests to the most beautiful natural spots in the area and to offer the best outdoor experience possible in the Stockholm area. The Green Trails is a company that wants to reintroduce nature to people, and the other way around. In these times of climate change, career-oriented lives, and globalization, they think that encouraging people to interact with nature is more important than ever.

With me initiating the first contact, they seemed interested in what I brought to the table and were willing to talk about an internship role even though they did not specifically offer one on their platforms. We had two online meetings getting to know each other and talking about details of the internship. In the end, we found an agreement with me staying with them from April to August and helping them in the busy summer season.

From then on, I started looking for a flat in Stockholm, where the prices generally are on an elevated level and the housing market for foreigners who stay temporarily can be difficult to get into. The main platform used was Facebook. In the end, I found a shared house in a suburb of Stockholm, living with other internationals, which was quite nice and directly located at a lake (10 min walk), but 45 min out of the city center.

Sweden has some cultural specialties, starting with the everyday Fika or the internationally known Allemansrätten. I also got to spend Midsommar in Sweden, which is the biggest cultural event for Swedes and was very interesting to experience.

My everyday life looked like going to work with the tram, then afterwards either going for afterwork activities with friends, going to sports, or straight home. On weekends, there was always something different: Camping, Hiking, Kayaking, Partying, BBQing, Bowling and also working sometimes. A big thing is the different life you get from being in Stockholm in either Summer or Winter. Everything closes down during the darker months because they only get a few hours of sun and it gets cold. Luckily for me, I only got the “good” months in Stockholm where the opposite is the case and the city is really lively.

There are many international and generally open-minded people in Stockholm, and it was quite easy to find a group of friends with whom I did something on a weekly basis almost from the start. I got along with my roommates quite well too, that’s why we did a lot of BBQs in the garden or went swimming.

Working in the company was really interesting, and the environment was welcoming as well. My two managers were very trusting and gave me responsibilities right away. I was well self-organized, of course, with doing tasks that needed to be done. Over time, I got to know all the guides working in the company too. One of the first things on my to-do list was to participate in all of our offered tours. So, I got to drive around Stockholm with a bike, go on a kayaking tour, hike, or do sailing. With that "task," of course, the main thing for me was to get to know processes in the everyday life of tours and guiding, and with that, know what I´m talking about in the company, but it was also paid time being a tourist and great to get to know Stockholm and surroundings.

My general tasks ranged from doing organizational work like ordering and organizing food for the tours every week or managin guests to going on tours and helping the guides with different things like taking care of the guests, cooking, or giving directions. In general, the environment and atmosphere working in this company were nice, and I hope to work with those guys in the future again.

All in all, I´d recommend living in Stockholm, especially with a good working environment like in my case. The timing of going is important since in winter days are very short and life closes down. Spring and summer months are beautiful though, and the city is very lively.