{"id":2619,"date":"2025-12-18T06:14:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T06:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xperiencesthlm.com\/?p=2619"},"modified":"2026-09-28T08:58:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:58:39","slug":"from-barcelona-to-stockholm-what-4-months-of-darkness-taught-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xperiencesthlm.com\/de\/blog\/from-barcelona-to-stockholm-what-4-months-of-darkness-taught-me\/","title":{"rendered":"From Barcelona to Stockholm: What 4 Months of Darkness Taught Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Four months ago, I left Barcelona\u2019s sunshine for Stockholm\u2019s darkness. Two overstuffed suitcases, a playlist full of Swedish House Mafia, ABBA and Ted G\u00e4rdestad, and absolutely no idea what I was doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Laia, I\u2019m 20 years old, and I just finished my Erasmus+ internship at XperienceSthlm. This isn\u2019t a post about what I learned at work (though I learned a lot). This is about everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How a Catalan girl ended up in the Arctic (well, almost<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m from Barcelona – sun, beach, late dinners at 9 PM, life on the streets. Why would I choose a place where the sun sets at 3 PM in December?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I found XperienceSthlm \u2013 a small tourism company creating cultural experiences and producing a podcast called \u201cSomewhere in Stockholm\u201d. Something about it felt right. Small team. Real projects. Actual responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I said yes to Stockholm. To the cold. To the unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you start to meet the Nordic reality<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the first day, I was terrified. \u201cWhat if my English isn\u2019t good enough? What if I mess everything up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Fran just said: \u201cHere are your projects. You\u2019ve got this. Ask when you need help.\u201d No micromanaging. Just trust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That week I also discovered Swedish culture is very different from Catalan culture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n