Yesterday was an amazing day in Sweden. We started with a 3 hour long meeting/wine
tasting/lunch with two senior people in Systembolaget, the Swedish liquor
monopoly. They explained the history
behind the creation of the retail monopoly any why Sweden has felt it necessary
to maintain it. The business model is so
interesting because Systembolaget is a company which employs 6000 plus people
that actively tries to excel in customer service while readily working to
discourage buying. The presenters were
willing to answer our every question and talked a lot about the importance of
their systematic methods for purchasing and displaying alcohol so as to avoid
actual or perceived impropriety.
Following the presentation, we were treated to an opportunity to try to
engage in a liquor selection panel for wine using their methods.
They typically line up 12 glasses of wine (we only had to
struggle through 4) and listed to a very systematic set of criteria before
trying to find the “best” fit with the description. As many in the group identified, the job is
so difficult because you have to separate out personal preferences from the
specified criteria. Finally, we joined
them for a wonderful lunch where we had the opportunity to just talk with our
presenters. The only thing to mar the
visit at all was an abrupt end when a fire alarm went off and the building had
to be rapidly evacuated.
We left to students to engage in some early sourvineur
shopping at that point while Nic, Devon and I wondered around doing some
purchasing of our own. I have now got
gifts for 2 of 12 people…I am getting there.
After a relaxing afternoon, the faculty headed out to meet
the students at the place where they would be surprised by the Swedish dinner
experience. We were standing on the dock
when two boats pulled up and the evening began.
We all loaded up and headed off for a trip via sea for Nic’s sister,
Lisa’s, house. The trip was amazing with
our hosts pulling out all of the stops and some great jumping over wakes of
huge ships with huge smiles all around.
When we arrived, most changed into bathing suits and headed down to the
wood fired sauna.
As someone schooled in the art of sauna by Nic in the past,
I knew to get into the sauna and get nice and warm from the beginning (the
sauna was between 60 C and 70 C. The students,
on the other hand, started off by jumping straight into the ocean (which was
only 7 degrees C) before getting into the sauna. CRAZY!!!
Those that came down to the sauna spent half an hour or so down there in
and out of the room before heading up for a wonderful meal. Over the next couple of hours the herring,
potatoes, salmon and salad were quickly consumed. In spite of all of the delicious food, most
everyone still had room for ice cream, homemade whipped cream, meringues, and
cloudberry jam. What a feast!
Today is a free day for all and the last real chance for everyone
to see anything in the city they have missed to this point. I am going to try to make it to the museum of
modern art and architecture and a new photography museum that has just opened
up.
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