University of Skövde

At times I wonder why only me? It can happen at some other times or may be not all the accidents in a single day. Last evening I actually knew the practical meaning of research. I was on the wrong path, my biggest blunder I did not refer back to my problem to be solved. That was a learning experience, but I lost my time and also felt like a stupid, rather the most stupid student. The only way to make up or it was to redo the entire work.

It is so unfair especially when you plan a great day to work and hope for he best results. Morning I discover that my sample vials have just vanished into thin air, then I have to redo the experiment while consumes half of my day. There is no way except to redo if I go wrong. The next blow is when you discover your other set of experiments will take the rest of the day and at the end of the day it is none of the results are visible.

Just to take mind off the entire trouble when I plan to go shopping it starts thundering and pouring. My aged brain didn't think of carrying an umbrella as well. Now the situation is like that I cannot work in the lab, nor can I move out and take care of my shopping or laundry. Just stuck up in the middle! How I hate this situation. I just decide to sneak out and then it pours heavier and worsens my mood. I think it will feel better if I go and scream out in a bit of isolation. That should soothe my brain I guess. May be a cup of coffee with some chocolate muffin is the perfect snack for this evening.

The only happiest incidence was the group lunch; since I did not cook nothing went wrong. I should say it was lucky for my colleagues that they were not left hungry. It is the only time when we all take our brains off the lab work and chat about horses, bikes, snakes and a lot of things including sports. This sure is a way to know more about the things around you and also about what your friends are good at.

Wondering why I was late this week? It's my not so good friend the sun who is troubling me over and over. It is thirty degrees and it really makes me drained out. It feels like more than forty in India. Everyone is so happy that it is sunny and not snowing and try to be out as much as possible and I try to be indoors always trying to shied myself from the radiations. I think I already have too much of tanned skin and then why to tan it up again, but here everyone thinks it feels good to tan it up. It actually surprises everyone that I like it when it snows. May be we all desire for the things that we never have. The northern most part of Sweden happens to have extreme cold during the winter. Many think it is a sort of punishment to survive there during the winter. But since I have always seen the sun and no snow I think it is a good experience to experience all the seasons. That's when you can actually admire the nature truly.

 Even some of the cosmetics have some tanning properties in them. But most of the creams that I use are pigment lightening agents in them, just to retain my complexion. No just this but even the lactic pins vary from country to country. That's really annoying when you have to plug an electrical appliance got from other country. I was biking for two consecutive days to find a cable that was compatible with European electrical system. Now that's quite annoying. A close elative of mine used to travel a lot and every time he travelled he used to cay the different adaptors with him. He had more than four different types of them nicely displayed like antiques. There was a universal adaptor but it was costing a fortune and then there was no student discount as well. I think it will be a better marketing strategy if all the stores have some minimal discounts for the students.

It was an unlucky day for me. I am here working all the while and my experiment doesn't work at all. May be that's why the term re-search has been formulated. You keep digging for the root cause of the problem. I always just remind myself to have some patience. There is a wise note: There is dignity in simplicity and success of perseverance.


Enjoy!!

......Namita..

Wondering why I was late this week? It's my not so good friend the sun who is troubling me over and over. It is thirty degrees and it really makes me drained out. It feels like more than forty in India. Everyone is so happy that it is sunny and not snowing and try to be out as much as possible and I try to be indoors always trying to shied myself from the radiations. I think I already have too much of tanned skin and then why to tan it up again, but here everyone thinks it feels good to tan it up. It actually surprises everyone that I like it when it snows. May be we all desire for the things that we never have. The northern most part of Sweden happens to have extreme cold during the winter. Many think it is a sort of punishment to survive there during the winter. But since I have always seen the sun and no snow I think it is a good experience to experience all the seasons. That's when you can actually admire the nature truly.

 Even some of the cosmetics have some tanning properties in them. But most of the creams that I use are pigment lightening agents in them, just to retain my complexion. No just this but even the lactic pins vary from country to country. That's really annoying when you have to plug an electrical appliance got from other country. I was biking for two consecutive days to find a cable that was compatible with European electrical system. Now that's quite annoying. A close elative of mine used to travel a lot and every time he travelled he used to cay the different adaptors with him. He had more than four different types of them nicely displayed like antiques. There was a universal adaptor but it was costing a fortune and then there was no student discount as well. I think it will be a better marketing strategy if all the stores have some minimal discounts for the students.

It was an unlucky day for me. I am here working all the while and my experiment doesn't work at all. May be that's why the term re-search has been formulated. You keep digging for the root cause of the problem. I always just remind myself to have some patience. There is a wise note: There is dignity in simplicity and success of perseverance.


Enjoy!!

......Namita..

Finally I am out of the lab, may be I was a bit too hard on myself. So I am on a short one day trip to one of the beautiful places in Sweden, Stockholm. I say it as one of the beautiful places and not the most beautiful place as I have not started Uppsala sight seeing and not completed Skövde as well. But now with the bike already in a ready to go state I am always planning a visit. The cheapest and the most convenient way to visit the city is with a map in your pocket and a tourist guide book. The first destination from the city terminal was Stockholm tourist center. The Stockholm card is so easy that you just have to forget about paying any cash for the visits in different museums and public transport. It is not just the places that I enjoyed but also the trams, a boat ride and a just for fun metro ride. May be next time I should plan a three day tourist trip with a youth hostel booking. It is really economic and convenient. A single day isn't enough to cover the entire city.

You think of toys, public transport and animals or any other thing and you have a museum or a zoo ready for it. On my short list was the Vasa museum, the museum dedicated only for an old ship and all its sailors. The time you enter the museum it takes you on a time machine tour, you are transferred decades back and you start feeling a part of the ship. The sail, shoes even the serving spoons are preserved; not to mention the skeletons and the statues. With the perfect light settings you feel that some one is staring back at you from the ship.

Then came the time for the merry-go-round walk in the zoo. But it was worth it as the aquarium is a not to miss trip in Skansen. The saying that all that glitters isn't gold holds true even for animals. The striking colores of the frogs and spiders in the perfect micro environment was a sight to see. Even the most delicate of the sea animals were happily thriving in the tanks. It felt as if I was in deep sea. We won a lottery during the zoo visit. I won it during the second chance, but I am might happy about my small momentum of Stockholm. Oh I wish there was more time for me to discover the entire city. But one thing I have experienced is that without a map you are lost in the city. Unlike Skövde the city is quite confusing with the same numbered buses having different destinations.

I believe that if I start describing all my adventure it will be more like an essay and surely blogging isn't to make you feel bugged up. My only job is to make you curious and visit Stockholm. If you are in Sweden and don't plan to visit Stockholm before you plan your departure then I think you are missing a really good chance. Maybe I have some more luck to visit all the places.

                
Start of the trip                  The momemtum                 Vasa sailing


    
The owly story                       The end of the trip :(

Cheers,
Namita....

It's so nice to find out the cause of the problems at times. It feels more like a victory, better than getting the results at times. It actually reduces the wok. I am happy that I actually found out what the cause of my wrong results was. So now I have to devise some new strategies to get my things working. It feels good for the brain exercise. Exercise reminds me of hiking and biking. I did not go too may places for hiking but now that I have secured a bike I will surely visit the places. I get to see too many motor bikes and also people carrying their bikes on their cars. That is a funny sight. Sometimes the bikes are high on the car top like a crown at times dangling at the back of the car. But I should admit it is a great exercise. It did make me pretty starved on the first day. I realize that wearing a helmet always to much safe. When I bike at high speed I feel unsafe and feel that I may hurt myself if at all I fall off. Maybe the more secure you are the more you care for yourself. Here the cycle lanes are different so there is actually nothing to fear, but still. But now on weekends it will be much better I suppose. I can do my shopping errands without bothering to drag the heavy bags.

When I had to walk I always saw the cars ferry their boats, water bikes, and all water vehicles on and behind their car. May be the cars were used more for the transportation of the vehicles rather than for a drive. Last night I saw a cruise, although a mini one. At times my lab seems to be a perfect messed up house. The labcoats lying on the benches, the references al messed up in the pile. At times hunting one piece of the most wanted note is a task in itself. But then if this is how great brains work. Since today I am alone in the lab it is my experience and my brain that I want to put the most at task. I am the only soul moving here, and hope that I do get what I desire to. At these times I always remember my time in Skövde. How we were being watched up at every minute, so that we achieve perfection. May be this is what I helping me to sustain in this lab. Oh I forgot to tell you my photography skills are getting great. Can you guess which the bridge is and which is the reflection?

    
Which side up?                 Lonely like me !!                Great going

Happy summer!!

....Namita.....

Today I am a ghost wandering in the lab. It seems that I have lost all my sleep, I barely sleep these days the maximum of two hours or so. The only reason I go back to my apartment is for fetching some frozen food, which I have boiled over the weekend with some salt, soya sauce and pepper. May be I should shift my cooking to lab and try to fetch whatever sleep I get in the resting room. There is a small room with a bed in it so if one is not well or is really stressed out then you can just have a quick and cozy nap. I think every office and a college should have such a place, so that students don't struggle to keep their eyes open.

Last night I just tried to grow some sort of nasty modified bacteria and I bet research is lot of patience. It is so stressful to get the results and that funny thing just refused to grow. If it had been mice then making it eat what you want is easy. I worse of the cases an IV works best. So now I am clue less what is stopping the bacteria from growing. There is a really very funny cartoon just behind my working bench. It is what can be a devastating thing for a smaller group of bacteria. May be a similar situation happens when we walk in the jungle. Joe Johnston tried imagining just a situation and directed ‘Honey I shrunk the kids' way back in 1989. It still is a favorite among the kids. Talking about the movies there are many bollywood (Indian Hollywood) movies played in South Africa. Many of my neighbor students hear to the Indian music I play and ask me to what new movies are released. They recollect seeing action packed Indian movies in their childhood. They even remember their names.

I did say about the cherries and I can play no more pranks trying to make my friends eat red yet raw sour cherries. Now they are really red and taste yummy. This is what I like most in Sweden. Apple, pear and cherry plants almost everywhere. I had my eye on one of the cherry plant near the main entrance of our school. Last weekend I had been to museum and a bell and old ammunition. The firing stuff now can't even blow up a balloon which a toddle was trying so very badly. The park just opposite to the road was having a real sad look with no one to visit it. The water fall was so soothing to the ears that it felt better to listen to it rather than to listen to music. Some things are just so unpredictable over here. The pedestrian road crossing in the city center always have a small rabbit pet shown in it. But I have never seen any on have a rabbit or a hare as a pet. Strange things!!



                 
The empty park                      Blow it up                Only allowed to cross with a rabbit


Have a great day..
..........Namita........