The below post is by John Walsh, MBA13, who is taking advantage of one of the vast number of study abroad opportunities here at Goizueta.
I’ve been in the Nordic region for a little over a month now—Stockholm, Sweden to be specific. I’m currently studying on an exchange program at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE). The school is well known in the Nordic region and throughout Europe, but less so in the U.S. In fact, Matthew Han (BBA14) and I are the first from the Goizueta community to study at SSE for a semester.
Stockholm School of Economics
Stockholm is a collection of 14 islands located in the southeast of Sweden. When I arrived in August, the summer had pretty much just ended. Sweden is known for its cold winters, and while we won’t experience the winter and short days like our friends in the northern Nordic, November and December (my last two months here) are likely to be bleaker than what we’re used to in the U.S.
Studying abroad as an MBA is a unique experience. At SSE, a masters in a particular discipline (e.g., finance, accounting, and economics) is much more popular than an MBA (this is actually true for most of Europe). While I am getting exposure to certain theoretical concepts in my courses that will undoubtedly be useful in my career, the best
Stockholm, Sweden
experience thus far has been interacting in class and small groups with students from different cultures with different sets of norms. SSE attracts students from all over Europe and Asia. Learning about their perspectives on common business and managerial topics has been truly rewarding.
—John Walsh, MBA13
