• Mark Bula is the chief commercial officer at H2 Green Steel in Stockholm, Sweden.

• He worked in the steel industry and in startups in the US before moving to Sweden in May 2021.

• In Sweden, he's found that life is more about how you enjoy it, and less about what you do for work.

Growing up, the last thing Mark Bula thought he would do was enter the steel industry. Today, he's working at a Swedish startup focused on producing eco-friendly steel.

In May 2021, Bula moved to Stockholm, Sweden, to become the chief commercial officer at H2 Green Steel, a Swedish startup that aims to produce steel with hydrogen instead of carbon to reduce the CO2 emissions that steelmaking produces. He found the opportunity after receiving a cold email from the company's chairman about building a low-carbon steel mill in Sweden.

"I thought, 'How nice would it be to be able to try something overseas, to have that experience?'" Bula, who isn't sure his family wants to go back to the US, said. "In the US, we are very oriented towards our jobs. Here, it's more about how you enjoy life, what activities, sports, and outdoor activities you do. It's a different kind of lifestyle."

Bula walked Insider through a day in his life, and how work and life in Sweden stacks up against work and life in the US.

6 a.m. — wake up and a 'sacred' cup of coffee

When he first moved to Sweden, Bula said he found himself "so excited for the job" that he would make it to the office before 6:30 or 7 a.m. Now that he's established a routine a year later, he wakes up around 6 a.m.

"I make myself a cup of coffee, which in Sweden is sacred," he said, adding that he didn't drink coffee in the US.

After coffee, he goes to the gym across the street from his apartment in the Stockholm city center.

"The Swedes are big on exercise," he said. "A lot of companies make sure there's access to a gym, or you're paid to go to a gym."

After a shower, Bula takes a 20-minute bus ride to the office. In the US, he "never took a city bus for transportation on a regular basis."