University of Skövde

Good afternoon to you but semi good morning to me. Sleeping in GMT+1 time zone was once upon a time event. I sleep at 3.00 AM and wake up when it gets bright. As per the neverlost schedule I wanted to attend the last lecture before the new semester starts. As per the idiom ‘Better late than never' I decided to sneak in the lecture during the break so as not to disturb the class but to my relief  there in fact was no class and I should be thankful as because of it I at least got out of the bed and had a somewhat early start. Now it's going to be an exam and a report to be handed in and pack up the bags for a long twenty week solitary thesis work.

Room 405 in A building has a ghostly attitude. With the timers set on for the switch boards it's just impossible to work at a stretch without an unwanted break. Every thirty minutes you have to take a walk to tell the sensors that yes indeed you wanna work and not that someone has left the lights ON by mistake. The anger elevates as the keyboards don't have any back lights and you never know what you were in between off.  These days there are USB lights for the keyboards, an additional luggage to carry along with the two kilogram laptop. Why just they don't have back lights for keyboards just as mobile buttons? With the wireless facility of the college life becomes flexible with changing the studying area as and when desired. Just carry a meal and you can work the entire day relaxed on a sofa and feeling as if working from home.

Sometimes common sense is very uncommon. I wanted to travel and reach on 1 Feb. Since the bus was starting early in the morning I had to leave a day in advance from Skovde. And that's where I made no sense. I booked the ticket not talking into account that early morning means a new day and a new date. So I am arriving a day early. Thankfully I noticed this serious error yesterday evening. Just imagine me out in Gothenburg at 1.00 AM waiting for the bus with in fact no ticket. A real shame for an adult to do this error! A lesson to learn about AM and PM and decide wisely about the bookings. This entire matter left me with some financial loss but the only good thing is that the ticket can be rebooked and cancelled and the best of this was I will be accommodated a day before my initial booking. A great help in freezing nights.


                           

Innovative art           Where are these time sensors??       Fika break

Gott nytt år, rather a belated happy new year. Belated as I wanted to see and move around to see what the new year celebration is and with no internet life has come to a speed of 30 km/hr rather than 100 km/hr with the internet ON for all the awake hours. I am enjoying it as I am now more focused and organized on my work and study. Even my (time pass; passing away time) tp over the internet has come down to zero.  When I come to the A building I know that the work list has to be completed before my stomach asks me for food. I was just trying to connect my camera to the computer with my mobile USB to get the pictures. Long back I had forgotten that it's no use without the software.

I was pretty bad at night photography but managed to get one of the clock tower. The fire works were a splendid sight and the most important thing about them was being less smoky. That's what can make you enjoy their beauty for a longer time. Ultimately I decided to give up my trials to get good pictures and instead decided to enjoy the fireworks instead.  My best spot was to put my self high near the post office from where I could get a view of most of the fire works and enjoy them one after the other. The fun went on for almost an hour and wishes were screamed and equally greeted from the other end of the crowd.

The New Year resolution is ‘Let go', some things are just meant to be left at a specific point and we should stop pondering on why they happened like that. So just learn from them and move ahead. The most disappointing story is zero snow for the New Year. Finally it's back to day one, day one of work in 2009. Except for studying for my coming exam and preparing my lab report there isn't much that I have in college. This hopefully should be my last exam because after doing a master's for a second time I have lost patience of classroom study. Now it's time for some real action. Wrong experiments leading to some fantastic discoveries, that's the best way to experiment and learn science. Let's see what I do in the upcoming time for my thesis.

Merry Christmas (God Jul) and wait with a smile and resolutions for the New Year, 2009. A week before the days never seemed to end but now the Christmas never seems to have put gear in the lives and the social activities. Yesterday I had been to the Christmas Eve feast at Kyrkans Hus, so get a glimpse of the Swedish way of the celebrations. One thing was quite surprising that mostly the older generation is interested in all sorts of celebrations. The food was traditional but with all varieties so that vegans don't have to be left half hungry. I gave all dishes a try but for some I just haven't developed the taste as yet. May be by next year things will be fine with me. 
 

 I did not try my hand at making the special or even a simple Christmas cake. Just did not have the mood with all the baking smell. It was a special Christmas celebration in a way for me and some of my friends, a short duration trek to Billengen. On the way up I started the tradition of falling down at least once in winter time. It wasn't the snow but some running trick leaving my just jaws a few inches from the ground, a swollen hand and a torn glove. Trekking through the short cut via rocks and trees we made our way to the top to discover some skiing going around. The temperature wasn't much just -1°C and near the frozen lake it was a view worth watching. All against the safely rules we all had turns taking the pictures right in the middle of the frozen lake. That wasn't funny with no help around and troubling the emergency on a Christmas day. But at times it's worth taking the risk.

Far away we could see a camp fire and wished for a one to defrost our hands. With all the grass and the few tissue papers we tried to light a fire but nothing worked and that was the end of our patience. Horrified at the idea of getting colder we headed for the church and then down for our sweet home. The only desire was to get a steaming hot coffee on the top. That time I thought of the coffee and other food machines set up at our college. Just drop a few coins and save yourself from hunger and thirst and cold.

The next target is shopping, the best heard part is on 26^th December there are the best sales and you get all your desired gifts at really great prices. So much so that I heard that shops are overcrowded and people wait in queue for the shops to open and be the first to grab the items. The best Christmas gift for all my classmates was that we were saved to send the second version of immunology lab report. Sometimes errors do become gifts for others.


 
My appetite                       The frozen proof

The mover,
Namita

Indeed a very busy week. Just so much busy and exhausting that I took yesterday for a weekend and promptly wished a professor "Have a nice weekend." It's something more than the work. The air is mad making some of us including me sick with cough and cold. My self diagnosis was it was a viral infection, but now I have a doubt. Even after four days I have not got my beautiful voice back and I still sound like a parrot. This was not what I wanted at the start of the holidays for me. Luckily for me I wasn't chosen for the article presentation, the last day in this year for the seminars or lectures. Somehow the previous days I had a gut feeling that I am lucky not to pick up the disastrous chit. Luck has been more favorable towards me since I have come in Sweden.

Last weekend I was moving around Skövde and for the first time I realized what a Christmas celebration would be. The only thing missing like the Christmas celebration in the movies is the soft snow. The central library had a Christmas market and it was a small but well organized one. The small girls looked pretty in their white and red robes and the entire atmosphere could spoke for itself. There were old antiques and the paintings hosted over there some small enough with great exquisite details than can mesmerize us. Imagine a piano with all the details but smaller than the size of a small match box. Since no photography was allowed I had to look and admire them just over there. The English and Swedish songs sung by professionals held the audience so much so that few of us were the standing audience for more than five to six songs.

I didn't want to leave but who does my shopping if I don't? That's a task these days. The shops always seem to be full and I never was the first in queue for the payment. All the Christmas shopping and with good offers coming every week there is no end to the shopping. But thanks to a system of self paying the bill, you don't have to wait that long in the queue. On the way I got to task the Swedish drink glögg with pepparkakor. It sure was a warm non-alcoholic drink after a good two hour walk in the cold, but to be honest it was a bit too sweet for me. Well let's see how I get along during the X-Mas eve. Well the roast turkey was an OK story :)


My weekend destination !!

Cheers,
Namita

Why do things start getting worse when I want them to be smooth? The mobile alarm didn't ring and I had to push myself out of bed at 7.30 A.M., getting ready just in time for the morning lab and that means no proper breakfast. The funniest part is my bacterial cells are just refusing to grow and it seems I have to wait late until evening before I can actually finish the practical. Nothing more to do in the lab leaves me sleepy and with an urge to munch on some junk food. Tomorrow will be the last day of my master's lab. The always bugging lab dugga or if not it then the assignments just before being allowed entry to the lab have sort of left some memories of few protocols in my grey cells. This should be good start up for the thesis work. A more organized work plan and prior reading of what is really expected to be done in the lab saves the time and also is a full stop to any one's bad mood building up. Luckily I did not hurt myself too much in these last labs. Maybe because using kits is much more safe and biology is safer than chemistry. Back in my home country I had made silly mistakes of adding water to acid and on other occasion assuming that I was on the right track I had made sodium fly out of the test tube. Here except for a few finger cuts I made no blunders. But the healing is taking longer than I anticipated. My brother was smart enough to know my habits and didn't send me a finger print protected password laptop. Well at times it's hard to anticipate beforehand the problems associated with the best of the technology.

Sitting here in G and looking at Billingen, the tower and the skiing slope are barely visible. In fact I tried a walk last Saturday but just as a change I visited ICA and other Thai shop and then the rest is history. I could lay my hands on turkey, a small single serving leg piece for a perfect weekend especially when you just want to try the taste of it. More students are finalizing their master's thesis and some are going further more to the Northern part of the globe. The ones who already had been there during the summer are scaring them saying that you will be one of the rare people to be seen during the winter. I can imagine how sleepy the day will be without the day light breaking before you leave home for the day. May be local people find it usual but adjusting to this weather takes more than a year. Daily I sleep during the evenings or in the afternoons just when it starts to get late and then I try to find stars during the night. The dinner is also a big issue as my body demands food just few hours after it starts getting dark, that's around 5.00 P.M. leaving me to decide if to have a coffee or a supper or dinner.  

 

All still as it was.
 
Cheers,
Namita

This week was just a fast track, never knew when it started and ended. It's a sort of relief when I have to come to the school for the labs and the seminars. These days it's the only thing that gets me out of my cocoon. And then there was a small birthday party to add to the occasion. The most bugging part was when my mail was causing my Web browser to come to a standstill. The entire day I kept wondering if there was a bug in my computer. Since I got a ready to use laptop and added to it my little knowledge about the hardware and software it was a great tension for the entire day. Thankfully there wasn't any bug or spy ware in my computer and things became normal by the start of the next day.

Till now the immunology report hasn't turned up for the corrections and that gives me chance to enjoy the weekend and plan my work for the thesis and may be a short tour around Skövde. Let's see if I am lucky enough to avoid the snow. If not then I will be back to my now obsessed passion for photography and novel reading. Reading science fictions actually fills me with zeal. This week I was reading about how the future will be in the next few centuries. All mechanized and little physical work for the humans when they will be replaced by computers and robots. The greener part is humans have more time to think and develop their hidden talents and the not so good part will be the less social and may be lazy lifestyle. Especially if you are an avid reader you always want to know the climax and that's the thing that kept me awake until five in the morning. It was hell when the following day I had a lab early at eight in the morning. My head was total bonkers and in the buffering time I made it a point to grab some short naps. That helped me a bit but not too much as until evening I was in an ON and OFF state. Thankfully there was no second version report submission on the same day. Had it been that I have to study the course material then I am sure I would have been in a eight hour long OFF state.

Maybe the coming weekends will be more fun with the Christmas events in the town. The Christmas vacation is just round the corner and already all plans are set for many. Some are travelling Europe and some visiting back their families in their home country. Come Christmas and you get the air tickets at just throw away prices. But since I am strong willed on enjoying the Christmas here I will stay and may be travel around the most famous winter locations in Sweden.

 I am discovering new Christmas specials this week.

Enjoy the life !!

Namita


Not a good time to start a day after few hours of sleep

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

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 !!

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. 14^th 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

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

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

It's the end of the next week with little progress in my study pattern. Thanks to the changing weather I sleep early in the evening and am knocked out at times until the next morning, or if my stomach is hungry it wakes me up. Now this semester was in a way bit relaxing. This is my conclusion at this point. One course required six assignment submissions and the other is a written exam. So now I am done with five of my assignments and this gives me time for reading the exam requiring course. It leaves me with more of time to concentrate on finding a thesis position and also have time for myself. Let's see, I am happy this semester than what I was the previous. Why? I quit one of the jobs and utilize that time for my self development. It includes having a nap, a nice small trek or even a party with friends. With my new computer it's all the more fun. I know at times I am a bit bad girl, just wailing time, but most time I apply for thesis. May be all students need to understand that stress can actually make you really an out of life person. I heard there is a program in our university about the art of living and my guess is it must be good.

During this week I was on my way to the library via the D building as I wanted to avoid the cold. I opened and shut the door as I guessed I was entering the wrong door. But then I realized that it was right, the interior was changed. There were many games :). Experts say that playing games, dancing etc can bring down your stress level, and that's my personal opinion as well. Just dance to a tune and you feel the difference in yourself. Although I hate cooking I find myself cooking more these days. It's not too much of an exotic dish but just to feel good I cook. It was a surprising event for me that I was looking at some recipes over the net. My new discovered passion is reading English version of Swedish news paper, The Local. It feels like a homely routine, starting the morning with a coffee and reading the news paper. Not just this now I find myself more customized for the places in Sweden and even the language. I do not understand it completely but can make correct guess of what the matter reads. May be a year more or so and I understand the speaking and a year more I talk more than what I do right now.

I thought I will blog yesterday but I was a bit :(. It's festival of lights in India and here I am reading for the exam with no celebrations. Light reminds me of the end of daylight saving tomorrow, that means one MORE hour for the approaching exam. Let's all wait for the Halloween.  


Cheers,
Namita



Say good bye to the colors!!

There are so many things to share with you all, but then you see my tentamen is coming up and I need to start studying. It's always OK, I can start it up tomorrow, but that tomorrow hasn't come as yet. It's just because I am going less to the school, zero to the library and full time in my apartment. So I move around, cook, have a power nap, a coffee break and then in the evening I have the mood not to study, hhmm that's the end of the day with little studies. That's so bad of me. It's always said, it's up to us to decide if we want to make good or bad use of a utility. I use my computer for reading and studying but when I want a break I get glued to the cartoons for endless hours. I know that's not sensible, but crazy mind.

But the walks are a good way to get the tiredness out of our mind and also lead to new discoveries. It was last Saturday that I had a small trek to Billengen, via a long route and way back I had my shopping errands. It was more than 8 Km walk and believe me it was worth it. The weather wasn't too sunny in the morning and the walking tracks on the top are just too much with lot of tall green plants keeping your company. The most soothing part was the clear sound of the water and the wind. It was time that I hear some natural soothing music, a way of self refreshing. The Saint Lukas Kyra happens to be the pride of Billengen. It's so peaceful that you can actually hear your heartbeat, your mind and soul speaking out to you. I met a family in there and they were very happy to see a student over there and a few words exchanged, you feel so good and social.

The power nap is a great concept. It rejuvenates you and freshens up your mind. Many work places recommend it as it increases the performance level of the employees. For me it increases my thinking capacity, but getting the hang over of an overlong siesta is just terrible. Drinking snap helps me, but very little. I need it badly. This week's schedule was a bit relaxed giving me a little time for myself and time for my applications for thesis. Well that's what is the top most priority of most of my class-mates. Finding a thesis position, a small start to their scientific career. I think it's a crucial decision to be taken and at times you have to compromise between many issues. But that's life, unlike shopping only our favorite things. The best start for applications is the negative replies. That's the way you know that someone really cares to read your e mail and that it wasn't deleted unread. It's the hope that one day you will get a positive reply keeps us peeping in our mail boxes after a couple of hours.

And then it starts, how to go there, how is the place like, when to go there and lots of anxieties bubbling in the mind. I think most start wondering at how things will be, especially the students who had not travelled the world much. The most bugging part is the visa processing and it's a nightmare with some countries strict rules. You never know when you can get a ‘No Entry'. All the best! Did anyone wonder why do most students have to do a thesis for more than four dedicated months? I think it's that the skill of the individual person is tested, and furthermore developed so one day you can have the independent decision talking capacity. That's what many lack, proper decision at proper times. Even when I was in Uppsala I had to keep pestering my guide about most of the things and that was when I realized how difficult it is to guide someone. On top this you never know when a student can pop up with any question.

This is what I learned in here: there are no stupid questions, there may be stupid answers, and if there are stupid answers then you are not the right person to guide the students. So directly the students judge the power and capacity of the teachers. I won't ever like to become a teacher then. I have seen most of the couples in scientific field. If one is working in an academic field the other says he/she won't like to work there rather work in a company. Even I will like to work in a company or a research organization, as there are not many who can judge the stupidity.

  

High aims never aim for the hurdles, they aim for the sky!!

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

It's the autumn colored plants that keep up the mood in this weather. I wanted to take some snaps of it, but it was always postponed until tomorrow and that tomorrow never came up, not even today. The leaves are half way fallen and I have no snaps to send any lovely pictures back at my home. Just that there no trees which show such vibrant colors as there isn't a special autumn weather as such. Another difficult situation was when I couldn't get inside the G hus. I have a new security card but never was there any reason to work after school hours and last evening I know that I have not activated my card, a new discovery after a month. Yesterday we were chatting and then there was a friend of mine desperately waiting for the snowing to start, the reason she has never seen it before. That was me a few months before when I landed in Skovde. I wanted to play in the snow and bowl some huge bombs at my friends. Walking in the snow I would say is not so fun. It was pitch dark at 7.30 and I was dragging my 40 Kg bags on my first day in Skovde. The chilled air was fine but after a few meters I was sweating and wanted to take off my jacket, but what's the use I grew cold again. But now I feel that cloudy weather with a bit of chill wind is the most perfect weather for a trek to Billengen.

It was my plan to trek last Sunday but my staying up late on Saturday night made it a difficult situation on Sunday. I think I should have started my report on time. This semester it's more of home study and then when I am at home I never have the urge to study. I always plan to study in the library but am equally lazy to walk up till there, damm it's going to show up on my grades. Also I did not completely listen to the wise advice of taking only two courses for this first period. I opted for three, so now I have no weekends or much of free time just assignment life is what I have. It's an ever growing list of things I want to do, the foremost being having a complete day off without any thoughts of studies. If not the assignments then it's some web browsing that I do and then I am hooked on with it for hours. In short I am living a pre-matrix life with my computer. Honestly I would have being more organized without my laptop, trekking to the computer A hus would have kept me out of this web addiction. The only creative use of this computer is I found a few shops in Skovde which most students never cared for and as a gift I gifted myself a baby plant. It feels pleasant to have some living being with you !!


                               
The night's alive with 3 courses !!                     That's my self- gift


Happy autumn !!

Namita

Yes its weekend again and time to relax. This weekend I do need a break, or my system will crash down, Control+Atl+Delete. Restarting will take a long while so just shut it down for a while and enjoy the walk to enjoy the autumn colors and the light chills. I was in near Commerce clicking some pictures. To get the best of them and relax for a while I sat down and found a nasty chewing gum on the next bench. I do find these in our university campus at times. So why do we chew it? Even I chew it at times one after the other. I think just because we want to have a nice breath after a meal or just to feel fresh. But then we have the mint godis as well, so my ultimate conclusion was just to keep ourselves somewhat busy and a habit we eat it, even when the flavor has run out of it. Now also I am chewing it, but just started a few seconds ago, so I feel fresh and good for a party. I remember a nasty prank played by my school-mate; the poor victim had to cut her hair as they were stuck up with the glue. Never heard of a chewing gum in the hair although. Youngsters find it a bit cool and stylish to walk with their mouth munching it.

Weird habits of a particular age, no one can just stop it. Another dare devilry I remember was painting our own school walls with ‘DUS'. Yeah it was months ago but when you list out the nasty habits this "DUS "story can't just be forgotten. Even the clock tower a symbol of our university was mutilated and all the walls had to a patch painting. Hey how about a wall dedicated to student graffiti? We can paint all our moods over there and have fun. It's a modern art in Stockholm metro and it does look good instead of classical plain colors on the wall. Graffiti is catching up on body tattooing as well; bravo for those you bear the pain of it. I do feel like I want a small one but I am not a dare devil in this, so I just enjoy seeing other's amazing tattoos. There are so many things I want to try but never have the courage to do it, just because I feel the world may laugh at me. I want to color my hair neon blue and make it stand upright as I was electrified. That's just going to remain a crazy dream as me being a normal human like most of us think more about what the world would think about us rather than expressing our feelings.

 
Enlighten up!                    Dare to be different from the herd


A common girl....
...........Namita............

Mamma I wanna be a pilot!! The next day it is becoming a doctor or a sportsperson. That's what we all said as kids. It was an attraction and fascination for a particular profession.  Many a times it's just the attraction for the uniform that attracts us. I always had a dream of wearing the white coat, so a physician professor sounded just perfect for me. But then when I knew that I may have to see some human dissections I backed off. But the white coat was my dream. Little by little I realized that yes there are other professions where you can wear the white coat, for instant a scientist. So now I get to use the white coat when I am in the lab. As I said previously in the A,B,C,D we are kept very busy I feel like running out of this field as well.

So then what else I could have been if not pursuing science? When I see so many students developing a dislike for a particular subject and hoping onto other it makes me ponder did they not waste their years on a subject?  But I also appreciate their step in taking a firm decision about changing their study courses and trying to seek new interest. At times not many are bold enough to take this decision. It is the feeling and fear that the years will be lost and also getting employed latter in the life or even social stigma. Some believe that they can eventually survive it and ultimately get a job. But are we then not cheating ourselves and others as well? Ourselves because of the feeling that"I wish my life was perfect. I wish I was painter. I wish..... " and then the unfulfilled wish list continues. Some are unhappy with the job they get because of their previous undesired qualifications which means that they won't be contributing all their skills honestly to the work. Some elderly think that after an age limit you have to compromise because of your responsibilities, rarely does anyone say "Dare it"

The ultimate consequence is suffocation. Then why not take the dream profession as a hobby. It makes you feel really relaxed and keeps you in high spirits. Wondering why I am saying all this? Many a times I said that I wanted to learn photography. That was not just a said sentence. I gave it a serious thought and that's how I release my tension these days. When I am stressed out I walk away with my camera and try different experiments. My skills may not be that of a professional photographer but I love the pictures I take and may be this is what my hidden mind always wanted to be. After all one of my professor rightly said"In today's competitive world loosing an opportunity can cost you very dearly, after all there has is a need of some compromise".


 
Don't these pictures make your heart happy ??

......Namita....

I have no clue from where do I start. It's all a jumble -mumble (my word for confusion in head). It's actually about some cartoon characters. It's the semester that's catching up and then the end of the festival season. Ohh I forgot to tell that there is an Indian festival in the apartment where I stay. It will end on Sunday, that's tomorrow. These many years I have observed that the entire year it's some or the other festival in some part of the world. Was it some religious matter a way to bind people socially? Well may be both, depending on what you believe. But festivals do bring some refreshment and some spark in the monotonous life. It's just another way to relax mentally by interacting with old and making new friends. New friends..... many new students joined this semester and it is fun where you can actually meet up people and befriend them. I just was scanning a letter and there were two guys waiting for their turn. Since the machine was talking a bit while we started chatting. A few more couple of meetings in the school and that was it.

Even in the apartment corridor we meet up new students. It's a cold feeling sometimes as to who will break the ice first. At times I was not so bold or even not bothered about who is next to me. But since the time I am back I have become more talkative and expressive. So any new face I try to greet with smile. I tried to self analyze why do people become so expressive at times and very silent the next time. Although I am not good with psychology I think it's the mood that brings in all the changes in you. If you are sad or feeling lonely then you tend to be an introvert, as against when you happy you express all your feeling without hesitation.  Many believe that at times it is the planet positions which influence your mood. That's how the sun and moon sign came into existence.

I know in this modern world if I say such things I will be declared as a stupid. But many people still believe in it. Rather many can guess your zodiac sign by just analyzing your behavior. I didn't believe it for a long time but then when I met a really bossy person and co-related it with his birthday I knew some things are not just gossips but true at times. So the next time we see a very moody person be sure it's a crabby, just like me.


.....Namita....

I am still feeling a bit lost and out of place. I wonder when I will come back to my senses. Now with the course registrations almost done and the courses picking up the speed, I have realized what the differences are between A, B, C and D level courses.  A and B level courses let you enjoy the life at your own pace, but C and D level courses don't even let you think of enjoying the weekends.  That's why you are called as a master's student.  Just keep gaining knowledge from all the sources to become the next generation scientist. Some of the science fictions of few decades back were a real laughing and totally unrealistic stories. The other day I was watching a movie where the person tries to save his girlfriend's head and then tries to find a suitable body and graft them together. It sounded like fixing up the different parts and making a cute doll out of it. May it was the era when plastic surgery and artificial grafts were being studied. When we read about the first anatomical study on human bodies was done it will surely scare the cat and hell out of you. Just imagine you being present during that time. I would have puked out and passed away. There is a joke on passing away. In many countries students say "I passed way back in 2000". That actually is he/she graduated in the year 2000. But many thing that the person fainted because of some severe medical problem and then they are sympathetic towards the student. It's not a cooked up story but a real incidence told to me by my friend. When he realized what passed away meant he couldn't stop laughing imagining about how it will look when he faints.

Since I know I cannot get my neck straight now because of the studies I thought of having today and tomorrow as a party and relaxing day, just a small trek to Billingen. Honestly the most missed part in Uppsala was trekking. Nothing as good as billengen was there near my place. So I never got the city view of Uppsala as I had of Skovde. But it's raining cats and dogs.  I just tried to be a bit curious and searched the meaning of raining cats and dogs, but there seem to be no origin for this phrase. The ones that seem to claim they know the meaning, it isn't really convincing enough. So this is what I use my laptop for; to search cats and dogs. I remember when I was told that your laptop is 14" I was really very sad at the thought that I cannot watch movies for my recreation. But I was reminded that it was a laptop and not a television which was ultraportable. It was only during my travel back did I realize the real meaning of lap-top a computer which can sit and not squat in your laps.

                          
Use or misuse of laptop? My new recreation with Microsoft paint

....Namita...

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