University of Skövde

The morning started off too early for a weekend. Since I had to reach Skovde I had to leave Uppsala a bit early. But the last weekend was a perfectly spend weekend. A bit of party and a nice quite walk in the jungle near aaaaa not exactly a sea but may be sort of backwaters as the beautiful sound of the water kept of us mesmerized. Sweden does have a nice weather and wild life diversity. It was only when I was through the jungle I realized that there were many varieties of mushrooms. So it was a mushroom photo-session. My favorite was the bright red mushroom, a near eye catching for an amateur but a stop signal for touching or eating it. I heard from my supervisor that these are so called Viking mushrooms. In olden days the Vikings had it before they went for war; it created some kind of hallucinating effect after consuming it. No wonder I got strange stares from people who saw me taking a fancy for it.  Hhm all that looks good isn't really good. I was gifted a reindeer candle stand and a key chain, for not messing up the lab..... Na just  kidding it was a parting gift from my labmates.

I missed the Skovde festival it seems!! Since I just landed up after noon I was a bit tired yet it was good having lunch with old buddies and sharing the summer vacation experiences. Today it was just talking and listening day. On the train journey I had a nice conversation with my co-passenger about culture, industry, economics especially tax and loan issue. Coincidently when he turned the newspaper the article about Indian Industry and the big shots popped up. He was fascinated about the story about a pioneer Indian industrialist and wanted to hunt for a movie based on the tycoon's success story. It was my first yet somewhat successful non-scientific discussion for such a long time. With the signs that the autumn is coming up it doesn't look so happy at all. Now I know why everyone prefers the summer. It's cloudy and the not so bright situation isn't good for a bright feel good mood. I guess today I am a bit hyper mood; a fifty-fifty situation sad to leave the just formed friends and the lab and glad to meet old friends and re-start the study. So buddies, all just shed off the vacation mood and get to study and enjoy the weekends after a tiresome hectic schedule with friends.

In top spirits...

Namita

Chaos!! That's all what I can say about my time management and my report writing. My results seem to be popping up but not really very prominent, may be really good when I leave from here. That's sad and happy feeling. I have heard to gain sometimes you have to loose. What did I loose? Not much, just on night's sleep. But that was worth it I should say. I could loosen myself and have a nice small picnic on Saturday. I should say Sweden is really a very safe country. My Thursday night in the lab was not a bit scary or worried situation. The online music and the coffee machine kept me alive throughout the night. That was my first coffee in my lab. That does sound weird but sometimes you have to keep away from your favorite drinks and food.

Just imagine, you are the only person in the lab and the corridor lights go of suddenly. Oops that's not a really good sign, but it does happen especially during weekends and nights because of the concept of timer associated with the switches. Taking care that I do not dose off during early hours of the day I had a small walk in the corridor and a shadow was walking towards me from the other end of the corridor. I thought it was my last breath but once it came into light I discovered it was just another crazy head who wanted to start the work in the middle of the night. So that proves I am not the only nut and also that sometimes you need to confront the situation just to avoid any misconceptions. Even phobias under expert advice can be got rid off in such a fashion. I tried to overcome my phobia of bats by looking bravely at their images but that wasn't too much of a successful story. I just had a bad landing on my wrist when I jerked out of a nightmare.

About Saturday, it was just a perfect weekend, a much deserved day when after two months you know you have some successful results. The trip started with a not so long drive then to a small castle with a Swedish guided tour (I did not catch a single word tough) and a small shop with many fabulous glass articles. My most liked one was the glass painting on the plate. They looked really very elegant with some modern art and a city painted in them. That does require a lot of patience, to paint every detail with a very nice stroke. Just wonder how much time it will take to paint a canvas, if you have your course work and other daily activities to be taken care of?

  
Wonderful glass paintings may be they are looking for a house 



 

A time journey to the olden golden days of the glory


Waiting to be in Skövde

......Namita......

It just seems like it was yesterday that I moved out of Skovde, but it's been over two and a half months and it's time again that I return back. At times I ponder over the dilemma of the human mind. For instance take my situation, I never was so sure that I will be comfortable outside Skovde, but now I am just fine with the not so new environment and I have started liking Uppsala as well. Now I want to come back to Skovde and start my semester but I am felling dejected to leave Uppsala. I have so many fond memories with my new friends and my really comfortable lab environment and the lab group. Three of my friends have already left for a short vacation before they start their semester. May be this is called as the journey of life. Move forward with the fond memories of the past. I forgot to mention I had volunteered for the group lunch this Thursday and to my surprise it wasn't so bad after all. I tried not to lose my patience and I succeeded a bit in it.

Not just my lab mates but also my neighbors have left. It was as if get one free for the other. Two partings over the weekend. The only choice when I now come back home is glue my eyes to the computer. Since that's not so much characteristic of me I think really like a peanut. I try to browse the internet without much success. But I discovered some really good and some really nasty stuff yesterday. It depends how you want to use your skills and brain. Not that always some educational stuff has to be read but also some good general knowledge and entertainment can be found. For instance if I hate to plug the headset to listen to the radio I can just get it over the internet and let it sing over my laptop. Even I save up some money by watching the online movies and cartoons during my leisure time. May be online stuff will soon pick up speed as against the programs with strict predetermined time.

Over this Friday I was supposed to click some photographs for my report. I have shot dozens of them but only a handful seems to be of any help to me. When I tried to get help over the internet I was surprised to see really helpful tips over this issue. May be I should have referred to them as a homework before breaking my backbone on Friday.

                                           
Developing skills in the lunch room!!            Top view of blue bottle         

                               

The broken link                                    Getting hold my life!! 


Gear up for the semester!!

Namita

It was a party time for me and my colleagues. It seems that I am having a lot of party time in here, but that's not true I work out my experiments during late during the weekdays so, no worries that my work is affected or so. Some of my friends tried the real hot and spicy red Indian chilly and they had a nice tasty tongue affair setting them on fire. It took almost fifteen minutes for them to normalize back to room temperature. I didn't have the spirit to eat the chilly raw, but they had the real spirit.  Its sports time again. Now it's time for a sports team spirit and cheering up the players for their tough task.

Everyone is really enthusiastic about the Olympics. That's what I am doing since the Friday evening. At times I feel the warm blood rush through my veins when I see the different Olympic events. They are nostalgic, just making you remember your school and college sports events. I was just reading about some of the players and their sports life. They have real dedication and perseverance for the sport. No wonder when they win a medal for their country they cry tears of joy. I tried a couple of them in school but never wanted to pursue them as a career. I never could stand the long practice sessions and the tiring and equally boring warm ups.  Especially if I have to get up early during the monsoon or the winter it's a strict NO. The most mental torturing event is the strict diet regime. I wonder how the youngest of the Olympic players as teenagers controlled their taste buds demands. The games are much safer these days. Even for a single muscle injury you have immediate medical attention. But that wasn't the case when gladiators were competing. The worse situation was during the lion or an alligator fight. It was a do or die situation.

The more I looked into the different articles the more I learned about the Olympics culture, mascots and the different host countries. Mascot designing is also very interesting. Every time there is a different mascot. That's a lot of brain work as well as creativity involved in it. My guess is kids would be best at this work. They have all sorts of real good innovative ideas and also the most fantastic designs for the aliens. Having tried my patience at animation I have to admit you need real brains and a good mood to get the best design. If you happen to be in an angry mood your cartoons are all angry looking demons. Last night I watched "The Little Mermaid" and I should admit the detailing of the ocean floor was to the maximum. I just wanted to throw a tantrum on Friday as my results were not coming up. Maybe I should have a bit more of tolerance power.