Progressing
The lab reports have started to come in for revision one by one and honestly speaking my lab partner is great. The number of comments and corrections are not as many as we had during the last semester. Yeah we are growing up and doing less of silly mistakes. I will put it down this way; it's a preparatory phage for writing scientific articles in the future. When I read any article and find that just the opposite results are obtained by another group for the same question then it becomes hard for me to understand the scientific reason behind it. When in immunology course the same experiment was performed by the lab supervisors they got different results. Who is incorrect, the students or the lab supervisors? May be that's why there is always a part called as discussion where you try to justify your results. The debates in any conference are really too good to listen.
The applied biotechnology course is what most students find interesting. Why? It's a place where you try to justify your opinion and try to oppose the others. This week it was a nice fire alarm so the session was interrupted. But playing in the first snow and enjoying the chills right down till the bones. Interestingly the session continued with more vigor and oppositions and supports. This is the time the students develop their communication skills and at times back off when they know they are wrong at times in their concepts.
Back on my way from market the Christmas tree was being erected in the market place. The market is also getting more shinny these days. By the Christmas time the town is going to be completely lighted up in the dark winter days. Just one wish that there is some snow to add to the beauty. More and more Christmas offers are coming up and everyone is enjoying having these offers. And why not get the same quality goods at the least prices? I heard that the most fruitful time for shopping is around Christmas. The best offers are offered during this time and people start queuing up the shops. My first item to shop will be some nice typical Swedish gifts for my family, the reindeer and the crystals.
This week I was on hunt for some exotic meat and also turkey. But a single bird was more than 4 kilograms and I did not fancy brining it. I have tasted it only once so wanted to do it myself but :(. The winter days are making me eat a lot even though I am not hungry and my weight count is just increasing. But it's alright if I can save myself from the chills. Try out the pepparkakor and other Christmas delicacies. I did get the forms for baking pepparkakor but it's difficult to push a lazy nut to bake it. 
Trying my hand at beautification :)
Wintery Cheers,
Namita
Swisch!
Idag var jag lite busig och ninjade in mig på en liten utbildning för högskolans personal i hur man använder Urkund. Urkund är ett system som analyserar texter och letar efter likheter med andra texter, ett verktyg för att hjälpa lärarna hitta inlämningsarbeten där studenterna har plagierat (en typ av fusk). Det verkar som högskolans personal redan är jätteduktiga på hur Urkund fungerar, för det var bara sju lärare där. Eller ja, en av dem var från biblioteket, en ur administrationen och så då jag.
Jag vill minnas att jag har berört fusk i något annat inlägg jag skrivit, men det beror på att det är så nedrans intressant ämne. För att prata fusk måste man nämligen prata om vad syftet med en utbildning är, vilket ansvar man har som student men kanske även vilken roll en lärare har för att förebygga fusk. Det finns mängder med saker man kan göra, både som student och lärare för att undvika att studenter lockas att fuska. Bara en sån sak som att inte ha samma inlämningsuppgift varje gång en kurs hålls kan vara en sån sak, och som student kan det vara att inte sitta med sitt inlämningsarbete i sista stund. Jag har under ett år suttit i disciplinnämnden som ledamot och tyvärr är det en vanligt återkommande förklaring att man fick panik när deadlinen närmade sig. Jag har hört rykten om att det kanske blir en artikel i en lokal studenttidning om ett tag, håll utkik efter den.
Nu ska jag släpa mig iväg och yla med min manskör.
//Valross
A foodie blog!!
Simply Awesome!! Now it makes most of the new students happy. Although they cannot make the snow man they are happy to see the first snow of their life time and so am I. Last weekend I was away travelling and still I feel that I need to travel a bit more. The college is at its full speed but I am unable to catch up with it. I am just feeling of having a party or few relaxed days. May be now I have reached a saturation point with the deadlines and the submissions. It seems like a never ending story and gives you little way for enjoying during the weekdays. To add up to the mess is my terrible eating and sleeping schedule. When all sleep I am awake and have dinner when most have a evening snack or a fika. And the vicious cycle continues and troubles me especially when I have the labs in early mornings. Half way like a zombie I walk to G 310 just in time not to get extra assignments for being late.
May be this weather or may be just that I need a lot of change in my daily life I baked a citron kaka (lemon cake) this week. It wasn't too good but good enough for couple of my quick breakfast sessions. I am proud because this was my first independently baked cake with all the instructions written in Swedish. Since I am not good in math's I had to convert deciliter to liter and when I did not find any measuring cup with deciliter or liter I had to recalculate the water to centiliter. I got this inspiration from my friend whom I helped with baking the other weekend. She has lot of patience to manage all this with her work schedule. So now theoretically I know baking ginger cookies and Kanel Bullar and most important what ingredients to get from the market for the same. One thing I realized over the baking lessons was it gives you a "feel good" feeling if you are cooking for your beloved ones. If you're an extrovert having a company for cooking, nothing adds more to the fun time. The next time I feel like making exotic dishes I may arrange for a mini party, which gives you a good reason to cook really good food.
There are many Asian students and many a times the exotic raw material is not readily available. The nearest option is Gothenburg. But travelling only to get grocery isn't really an economic idea and also you have to waste you back sitting for couple of hours in the train. My evening walks and a shopping freak tendency has made me run to specific stores. The other day I was in ICA MAXI where they have a section dedicated to Asian countries. That was a real relief for me and also rang some tingles when I saw the long desired stuff. Some say your body builds up more fat in winter to protect you from the cold; let's see if I need to buy new clothes in the middle of the winter. Just keep your legs moving and you know what's best in different stores.
Cheer,
Namita
The broken citron kaka
The christmas count down begins !!
Bättre en låg stad i ljus än en stad i ljusan låga.
Skövde stad hade visst något slags tema idag: Stad i ljus. Det stod lyktor både i parker och på gator, stora ljuskronor upphängda mellan husen, färgbelysta parkbänkar och något slags ljusregn på torget. Uppe i Helensparken hade de skrämt upp en ljusshow med laser och musikanläggning. Ganska effektfullt faktiskt. Som den inbitne teknolog jag är hade jag svårt att bara njuta av skådespelet utan stod och funderade på hur tusan man kunde skapa ljuseffekter mitt ute i luften. Jag bestämde mig efter en stund för att jag hade listat ut hur det fungerade, tröttnade, och gick därifrån.
Precis som förra året vid den här tiden hade jag den stora äran att få vara toastmaster på damsupén i Trollhättan. Skövdes studentkår anordnar en liknande tillställning men den ligger på våren. Samtidigt som damsupén gick av stapeln, anordnades i Skövde en tillställning med helt annan målgrupp, dvs Herrsittningen. Omskakad efter att ha genomfört mitt uppdrag i Trollhättan, med alla förtjusande (men tokiga) kvinnor, åkte jag med mitt gamla acapellagarde tillbaka till Skövde. Jag är ganska säker på att roligare saker att göra under en resa, än att sjunga gamla sånger och vara nostalgisk, nästan inte går att hitta.
Nu blir det sova, nya uppdrag väntar i morgon!
//Valross – vaken lite längre, tänker lite kortare
Två bilder från laserlysande show och en bild från en lysande damshow.
Away from routine
There is famous saying among the Swedes, There is no bad weather, just bad clothes. True it's time again to get the winter wardrobe ready and tug in those really warm jackets, caps and boots. Many of the new students are having a countdown for the first glimpse of the snow. That's just natural for them if they haven't seen it before. I was just the same way when I had come down to Sweden for the first time. It's amusing to see and feel the first snow, but surely not that good when you are out for some work. There was a survey about different opinions asking about how to stay warm in winter. I will win the best suggestion award, just try to stay in the house as much as possible and work from home. Life is so easy when there are facilities to work from home, especially if you have to travel a long distance or there are kids to be taken care of. 14th november is children's day in India. How is it celebrated? Well kids receive sweets in the school and the senior students try to teach the juniors. It's a fun experience and especially when the elder kids have this teaching role they realize it's hard to grow up. But eventually we all have to decide our future and work on it. I realize how hard the world can be. Many of the courses require five months of dedicated thesis work and that's when the first blow comes. We realize how competitive the things are in our field of work.
Let's keep this tension talk away for this weekend and try to enjoy the not so good days. To get over my tension and enjoy my first autumn I will be travelling. The first thing before I start packing up is to check the weather so that I don't end in freezing down. Especially if travelling the northern parts I keep a check over the thermal wear to be packed. Even if it's only a weekend trip the baggage looks as if I am travelling for a week. Thanks to the bouncy wool. When I keep my eyes open I realize that at times Christmas time can be the best to shop around with discounts popping up now and then. Having a long Christmas vacation can be really very exciting especially if family get together or winter travel destinations are to be enjoyed. Is it a good idea to plan a trip to Kiruna for the northern lights this well in advance? Gud Jul.
Learning more about Swedish Christmas
Namita
Som bortblåst
Var hemma i helgen och firade lite fars dag. Helgen var en framgång; utöver en smaskig smörgåstårta på söndag, fick jag även med mig en oförskämt stor laddning med mat hemifrån. Snabbaste vägen till de flesta studenters hjärta är gratis mat, så även mig. Mor försökte även få mig till att skriva någon slags önskelista inför jul, men jag kunde inte komma på något jag ville ha. Eller, jag kom på massor med saker jag ville ha, men inget jag rimligen kunde tänka mig att jag skulle kunna hitta under granen.
Nu har det börjat nya kurser igen, den här gången har jag bland annat en kurs som bedrivs mha T2. Vi var schemalagda hela eftermiddagen - 13 till 17 - men efter sisådär 20 minuter säger den grönklädde farbrorn att det var allt för idag.
Jag blev helt ställd. En hel eftermiddag som inte var inplanerad! Vad skulle jag hitta på? Det slutade med att jag åkte hem, lagade mat och gjorde ingenting. Det var länge sen jag gjorde ingenting. Det var vansinnigt skönt.
Efter det var det studentkårens fullmäktigemöte. Stora frågor som skulle behandlas var val till förste och andre vice kårordförande och omorganisation av sektionerna. Vi hade en hejdundrande väldrillad talman och istället för att ta sex sju timmar som det brukar, lyckades vi plöja igenom allt vi skulle på knappa fyra. Bra skit!
För de som tycker det är spännande så vet vi nu att nästa år kommer det istället för sju sektioner finnas tre och förste och andre vice kårordförande 2009 heter Sebastian Jonsson respektive Karin Melin. Jag tror 2009 kommer bli kalasbra!
//Valross - inte alls lika bitter som han trodde han skulle vara så här dags
A light in the dark days
It's nasty. The sleepy weather is taking its toll over me and my power nap time is extending from few minutes to few hours. The only best part I like about this weather is you can catch excellent sleep during the night. Just tightly bundle up yourself in a warm blanket and you're done for the night. It's OK now as there from Monday there will other half of the semester starting and no time for sleep. This two months a course is a really very good idea as once done we can concentrate our full time and energy to the other courses. The worst part is when the labs start at 8.15 AM. It was a perfect time to start a day even before 8.00 in summer but dark days, ohh no. It feels terrible to get in the shower and try to rid off all the sweet dreams sleep. Most hate it when the labs have a lot of buffering time in between. That's when most of the school's coffee and chocolate drinks are gulped down.
Time passed away just like and other season over here, and all are looking for some celebrations this dark season. With the advent of Christmas more and more shops are busy storing up a variety of decoration stuff, chocolates, candies and all the goodies. I guess it's time for me to gain some weight and I will surely not regret it. Food reminds me of the upcoming international dinner, my second occasion to participate in it. Let's see if I have lost my so claimed cooking skills or they are still in a dormant state. Let's see if I am able to bake some muffins or a may be a chocolate cake this time. With the cold weather coming up most of us tend to keep munching on some or the other food stuff kanel bullar are just the perfect with a coffee. Just keep a watch for those extra calories. The other things to keep a watch out are the coming celebration in the town. It seems this year the Swedish Iconic goat, the Gävle goat is going to have a little bit of hard time without the flame repellent coating.
What can be interesting for most of the international students is to get the feel of the Swedish way of celebrating Christmas. From where does one start it? Have a look at the variety of products in the shop and you know it then.
Cheers,
Namita
Det man inte har i huvudet får man ha i plånboken.
I förra veckan skulle vi presentera våra projektarbeten (i samma kurs som ovan) och det var faktiskt en hel del rätt fräcka grejer som vi hade fått att fungera. En grupp hade byggt ihop en GPS-mottagare och en mobiltelefonmodul. När man skickade ett sms till telefonmodulen skickade den tillbaka sina GPS-koordinater, skulle kanske kunna vara användbart om man vill veta var man parkerade bilen eller så. Min grupp byggde ett i jämförelse ganska mesigt larm som man kunde slå av och på med hjälp av en fjärrkontroll, men jag är ändå ganska nöjd med resultatet. Ska nog bygga ett sånt larm med mindre komponenter än den klumpiga laborationsutrustningen vi lekte med, men det får vänta tills jag får lite mer fritid.
Studenter på mitt program blev kontaktade för ett tag sedan om att medverka i någon slags temadag som Helenaskolan (högstadieskola på andra sidan gatan) skulle ha. De ville att vi skulle vara där och berätta lite om vår utbildning, men mest kanske det var att visa upp oss själva - att det inte bara är mossiga gamla människor som pysslar med biståndsarbete.
Nu ska jag hem och belägra tvättpelaren, jag har nu fått konkurrens av en lägenhetskamrat om denna.
//Valross - vilse i bitarna
Festival approaching
The days are getting shorter and shorter and the sleeping hours are just getting extended. If there is no schedule then I take the liberty to sleep very late and wake up only when my stomach demands some breakfast. But this week it was different with the exam getting over for one of the course work and having a small party for Diwali. Since Indian sweets are hard to make over here I switched on to some candies and chocolates. With the arrival of Halloween there are different varieties of chocolates in the market, some especially designed for Christmas. It's so much of similarity in the cultures at times. The Indian festival Diwali is celebrated as the festival of light ad around somewhat same time there is Advent coming up in Sweden. The long weekdays and no holidays with dark make the life really very dull. It's good to have Halloween and other days coming up before Christmas just to have some fun in the dark evenings.
It was a disappointment for me to discover that there were no Halloween kids saying "Trick or treat" and life seemed perfectly normal in the evening. Although there were some Halloween parties hosted in the cities it never felt like any festival. It was only few hours back did I discover that it's a celebration not typical of Sweden and it's still in its infancy state. So it's me who is eating all the smarties have having the NYGÅRDA Julmust. I like adventures and to try out new challenges. I had seen this drink in the market and always wondered what it will taste. Finally I got one and gulped it down. What was surprising for me was why it had a Santa Claus on it. Surfing over the net I discovered it was a Christmas special drink and that's the most sold out soft drink during the Christmas. It's a typical Swedish drink and the first sip did taste funny to me. It tasted somewhat like berry drink but after a few sips I liked it.
Thursday was my shopping day and it entirely slipped out of my mind that the day light saving had ended. Out from the stores the road was pitch dark and it was a bit confusing and a hard task to believe that days are getting shorter so drastically. Beauty is what you can see and experience all the seasons in Sweden. But the change is too sudden. When I arrived in Sweden in January it was all a new adventure for me. I did not realize many things but now over the time I realize the importance of many things, like why we have reflectors and why people wear glowing jackets. So as a self protection even I got ghosts just to make others aware of my presence in the dark. Better be safe than be late.
Diwali lights The only Halloween I discovered
Safety first I wish I had house to decorate
Cheers,
Namita
