Cas in Sweden » 2009

Team building in the far far Sweden

Sun 30 Aug 2009, 14:56

When you think of team building, you normally think of rafting, climbing walls, do survival things in team. But team building for Hyper Island means something totally different. After our long and hard UGL we went to Barnens Ö, somewhere far outside Stockholm, truly in the middle of nowhere. And off course we had to do to some things together, for example the first task. We were all blindfolded, and scattered across an open field. Then we were asked to find the rope that was lying somewhere in the field. Once everyone had the rope, we had to form a square with it. The cool thing was the collaboration. I couldn’t find the rope, it took me a long time. But than suddenly someone took my hand and guided me to the rope. And the rectangle worked perfectly as well. We were able to form a perfect square!

Reflecting on the UGL

Sun 16 Aug 2009, 17:11

Every course you take at Hyper Island start with a module they believe you should do in order to work fluently and fast at Hyper Island. The module is called UGL which stands for Understanding Group Leadership. It’s a module that was developed for the Swedish army so they could work better as a team. Yes you’re reading this right, we’re getting military training here…

But first things first: what happened in the first two days of Hyper Island? Thursday and Friday last week were two days full of introductions and presentations. Every student had to introduce him of herself to the group by using a single large sheet of paper and some markers. You can see mine here to the right. And the only thing I can say, is that this is the most diverse group I’ve ever been a part of. We have people from every continent, many many countries are represented: USA, UK, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Norway, Finland, Egypt, Turkey, Australia, and many many more. And everyone has their own experience, knowledge and interests, so I really can not wait to see them work in a project. But that won’t happen in another week. Apart from the excitement, I also felt a bit scared. They told us UGL would be really hard, we had to be mentally and emotionally stable, be prepared to work for long days, and make sure we didn’t plan anything outside school for the coming week and even the week-end after. We would get 5 days of rest after the UGL we should use as much as possible.

So than, the first week started. On Monday morning we were divided into groups of 12 people. My group consisted of all international students, some studied Digital Media, some Interactive Art Director like me, and some came all the way from Karlskrona where they studied Motion Graphic Designer. And than the UGL started, a week of doing group assignments and reflecting on it afterwards, of feedback and discussion, of common agreement and conflict. We got together in a small room somewhere in the gigantic complex of Telefonplan, where we would work and reflect for the coming 5 days. Every task was followed by a long reflection, or in group or with one person individually. We of course started with new and more personal introductions of ourselves, but soon the repetition of assignment and reflection began. Tasks learned us how to get to common agreements. For example, we got five bad persons who where in a bad situation (ill, divorced, drinking problem, …) and we had to agree with who we had the most and the less sympathy for. Or we had to order 15 things we should take on our rescue boat when our ship sank, and agree on what was the most and less important. Other tests told us how we trust people, and if we take the assertive of offensive way when dealing with challenges. We had to do the Prison Brake test: first telling us we had to collect as many points as possible, than dividing us into groups. Which made some people believe we had to collect more point than our opposing group, and other saw the light and wanted to have as many points together. (I did not see that light if you want to know…)

And in the end, the big test came: see that your group has a leadership. A task of 2 hours where you had to agree on a common workflow, so that the right people would come out, regardless of false opinions or prejudice.

In the end you realize the UGL is a must for everyone who wants to work fast, right and respectful within a group. You learn to get to know people on the right levels, see what they’re good at and on which aspects they fail. But most of all, you learn a lot about yourself. Your fears, your opinions, your influences. You learn which aspects make you a good leader, and which don’t. You open up for new experiences, taking new and unknown roles in a group and in the end you put yourself to the challenge of overcoming your bad aspects and make this year the most opening and rewarding year ever. Cause as they say, Hyper Island is 50% digital media, and 50% leadership.

This course made it immediately clear why a lot of projects at my previous school failed, and most of the ones I’ll do here will work. The best foundation of a good project is working with a group where you know who you can trust, who needs help, who can take which role.

Apart from that, there was a lot of fun as well. The coffee breaks, beers in the evening, tearing the room down in the end, and most of all the fun we had, are as well an important part of the UGL. The days were long, exhausting and hard, but the group spirit was so much fun, I never felt bad going back for another day of mind digging.

And the week is over, time for mediation, thinking over, and washing clothes. This Thursday we start our two days of Team Building somewhere outside Stockholm. Stay tuned!

Every course you take at Hyper Island starts with a module they believe you should do in order to work fluently and fast at Hyper Island. The module is called UGL which stands for Understanding Group Leadership. It’s a module that was developed for the Swedish army so they could work better as a team. Yes you’re reading this right, we’re getting military training here…

But first things first: what happened in the first two days of Hyper Island? Thursday and Friday last week were two days full of introductions and presentations. Every student had to introduce him or herself to the group by using a single large sheet of paper and some markers. You can see mine here to the left. And the only thing I can say, is that this is the most diverse group I’ve ever been part of. We have people from every continent, many many countries are represented: USA, UK, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Norway, Finland, Egypt, Turkey, Australia, and many many more. And everyone has their own experience, knowledge and interests, so I really can not wait to see them work in a project. But that won’t happen for another week. Apart from the excitement, I also felt a bit scared. They told us UGL would be really hard, we had to be mentally and emotionally stable, be prepared to work for long days, and make sure we didn’t plan anything outside school for the coming week and even the week-end after. We would get 5 days of rest after the UGL we should use as much as possible.

House hunting in Stockholm

Wed 5 Aug 2009, 17:37

A few weeks ago I got one of the most memorable mails ever: I got accepted to Hyper Island. I couldn’t be happier, but what I didn’t knew, was that one of the hardest months ever was awaiting me. I started searching for a room or apartment in Stockholm. But believe me, that is one of the hardest things ever. Let me just give you some of the problems you’ll face when you start searching for a room:

There is much more demand than there are rooms
Sweden is a rich country, you’ll pay a lot more for what you’re used to
Probably, you’re foreign, which makes it even harder
You’ll find a lot of rooms inside an apartment, where you’ll have to live with somebody you don’t know. It’s not like your own place, nor is it like staying at a guest family. Not really what you’re looking for right?
A lot of people hire a room or apartment they hire themselves. This is illegal! If you don’t watch out, they’ll kick you out within a few hours, and you’re back on the streets.

So finding an apartment is a bit like going to war. You have to be extremely fast, make sure you go to Sweden at least a week before your activities start, and act as quick as you can. But most of all, you need luck. If you’re lucky, you can find an apartment the first day you arrive here. But if you’re not, it can take days, weeks, perhaps even months.