Week Four: From Medieval Marvels to Modern Miles: My Wild Week Four

Hello again! Another week has flown by here in Stockholm, and I finally had the chance to get out and explore the city a bit more. Over the past week, I visited the Royal Palace, wandered the charming, but narrow, streets of Gamla Stan (Stockholm’s old town), and saw so many other exciting spots. It’s been amazing to experience the history and beautiful architecture up close.

At work, I’ve been diving deeper into my research on how different countries conduct their elections, and exploring how best practices from those systems might help improve the country I’m focusing on. It’s been fascinating to see the creative ways elections are structured around the world and how unique each country’s approach can be. I also helped put together a presentation that will support International IDEA’s training efforts, this time for Benin! Through this project, I got to learn more about the tools and resources International IDEA uses to track elections and manage information on so many different electoral systems.

On the personal side, this week had a few bumps: I got a bit sick midweek, and the weather was all over the place. Monday was a sweltering 81°F, then by Wednesday it dropped to a rainy high of just 58°F. The temperature swings definitely kept me on my toes!

I also finally went for my first run since arriving in Sweden! It was such a cool way to see new parts of the area around my apartment. Running here is a completely different experience from what I’m used to, back in Florida, it’s flat but oppressively hot and humid no matter what time of day I go out. In Virginia at William & Mary, there are some hills, but nothing like the steep climbs I’ve encountered here in Sweden. One thing that really surprised me was the sense of scale: I ran four miles from my apartment and passed through two different towns, nearly reaching Stockholm itself before I looped back. Back home, four miles usually means I’m still circling the same neighborhood!

Beyond running, it’s been a lot of fun picking up bits of the Swedish language and learning more about the culture. My supervisor even let me know about a Fourth of July festival happening in Stockholm for Americans, I think I’m going to check it out to celebrate a little taste of home while I’m here.

I’ll see you all next week with more updates!