This year's first alumni meeting, co-organized by the Czechia Alumni programME, took place on Thursday, 23 March, in Sweden. About 50 participants gathered at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Stockholm, located in a picturesque residential area in the broader centre of the city.
The meetup officially started at 5:30 p.m., but the firs
t participants arrived earlier, which is said to be quite common here. After an opening speech by Her Excellency Ambassador Anita Grmelová and a welcome speech from the head of the STUDY IN department Aneta Sargeant, networking was on the agenda. To make it easier to get to know each other and to get the fun going, the Czechia Alumni team has prepared a so-called human bingo. Its main objective is to fill in 20 boxes with names. After about an hour, those who completed the bingo could participate in a draw for three gift packages. The participants highly praised this creative way of getting to know each other.
An age-diverse group of students and graduates gathered at the event. Magnus Hägnemark, a law graduate from the Charles University and the Palacký University Olomouc, was surprised that even such a place as the embassy can be used for meetings and social events, and not only as a place where you come to deal with visas, etc. The Czech Embassy is truly a pioneer in this approach. The fact that the embassy team took part in networking together with the ambassador proves this openness towards the public.
Alumni Meetup Sweden was held for the first time last year, and since this and last year's meeting generated a very positive response, this tradition will likely continue. This plan was also confirmed by Ambassador Anita Grmelová, who encourages alumni to come up with an idea for a project that will connect the Czech Republic with Sweden because it will significantly benefit both countries.
The next meetups co-organized by the Czechia Alumni programme will happen in April 2023 in Spain, Czechia, and Moldova.