Meet David Andersson

The most surprising thing about moving from Stockholm and the online book retailer Adlibris to Bonnier Corporation in New York is how much things are the same. "My work is so like what I do at home," says GROW participant David Andersson. "It seems it's possible to work virtually anywhere." Andersson, 26, is  a web developer at Adlibris and is spending three months in New York working with front-end development and coding for magazine brands such as Parenting, Working Mother, Saveur and Field & Stream.

Yet while the job is the same, the environment is anything but. For example, the office is more hierarchical in the U.S., which has its pluses and minuses. "The advantage is that that provides more structure to the job," Andersson says. "But the disadvantage is that it isn't always as dynamic or easy to make a decision."

As for outside the job, one of the reason's Andersson chose to apply for the GROW program was that it gave him the chance to live in New York. "The diversity of the city and life with so many different neighborhoods each with its people, its history and its challenges is amazing," Andersson says. "And the food! New Yorkers love to give tips on good places to eat. The only thing I've had that I didn't like was a Philadelphia cheese steak with Cheez Whiz. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten."