Everyday when I get up these days, I tell my self only one thing – “Today is not the day I fall!”
Winter in Sweden is magical and at the same time it is also DANGEROUS! Broken wrists, broken laptops, back pain are just the norm of the season! Do you get what am talking about? Look at this video here, you will be able to understand…
So yeah, this is what am dealing with on everyday basis! It’s fun, sure! but I don’t want things broken when am on a student budget 😛 #Priorities
Icy roads speak of slippery tales!
The ground is basically frozen here! The city is a damn ice rink! Thanks to the gravel and salt they throw on the roads and sidewalks, I need some TRACTION for god sake! I am not even sure if that’s the word I must be using -“Traction”, why not! 😛
All for some traction!
Sometimes I wonder if the Swedes use special shoes to walk on icy roads, well I do have winter boots with an anti-slip bottom for some grip, it doesn’t seem to work well…or am I too clumsy for the Swedish frozenroads? I wonder! It totally freaks me out when I see old people walking on these roads; gives me a little heart attack when someone slips a bit. Oh dear!
What’s more interesting and even more terrific is that swedes love to go running even when the roads are frozen! I saw a couple of them running in the woods today as well. I have too many questions for them- Why? How? and I mean, really, how?
Slip and slide- weeee!
Otherwise, Sweden is a winter wonderland as they call it! Just a good mix of Narnia and Hogwarts, haha! I really love winter more than the summer, and many wouldn’t approve of that, meh! I hope you have a fun time slipping and sliding, some practice with ice skating does help, take care anyway. 🙂
Time for a very productive blog, isn’t it? Quite some time posting one of those!
Well, being a student assistant is the most ideal job one could get as a student. And I state this for various reasons
It pays!
An opportunity to learn more about the research and the industry.
It is right on the campus.
You make contacts.
It is good on the resume.
So, I work as a student assistant in the Powertrain manufacturing for heavy vehicles application lab at their “Manufacturing of electric powertrain” group. This particular research group focuses on Electric motor, Battery pack, Power electronics, and Environmental impact, both in terms of design and manufacturing. So, now you know why am working here, this is indeed exactly my career stream!
I really think that I was lucky that I got this opportunity to work as a student assistant in a more research-based job than administrative, because, the opportunity to learn is simply tremendous! Not only do I get to learn more about what I study but also about other related things which I don’t really study, but are good to know from the industry perspective.
It has already been almost 5 months at my job and am totally loving it! Basically, my work kinda involves reading a lot of research papers. A lot of them! I guess in the couple of months I must have read least 50 papers! So, I read papers, try to understand what’s going on in terms of recent research and trends in the industry to prepare content for the projects. Of course, I have a mentor, who guides me along the way. Other than preparing content, I do some administrative works like preparing and handling contracts, scheduling meetings etc, which are absolute necessary professional skills that one could pick up already while studying.
I guess it is just not about learning or getting paid that makes this feel close to my heart, it is about the motivation I get. I literally worked on the exact topics that I was taking up as part of my programme courses last semester- Design of electric machines, which made me realize how much fun it is to work with electric machines and made me choose that as a topic for my thesis as well. I must also mention that I got my thesis in a way through PMH, because I already worked with the same team during a PMH. Like I mentioned earlier, one really gets to make a lot of industry contacts and of course, nothing works like contacts in Sweden!
I have also been having a lot of fun working here. Be it the industry visit, the Christmas julbord on a boat, or the weekly fika meetings. It is so much fun!
Here, we are at Sandviken, a high-technology engineering company that does tools and tooling systems for metal cutting, equipment, tools and services.
These are some pictures from our Christmas Julbord. This is definitely gonna be one of the best memories with PMH. Delicious food and amazing people with awesome conversations is one hell of a combination!
If you’re looking for a student job like mine, do follow the research labs at KTH and visit their website as often as possible because openings are usually posted there. To get the job, you need to first apply 🙂 Don’t forget to check out the PMH website now!
PS: Do you know that there are other benefits of working as a student assistant at KTH, like wellness allowance, free concert tickets etc?
My exams are over and I am back to my normal life now! So, it’s time for a blog!
Life is full of surprises and it only gets better when it arrives during the holiday season. My friend from the states visited me basically on a surprise! He informed me just few days earlier that he is flying to Stockholm, just for a day!
Away from friends and family during the holidays just makes the colorful season so very gloomy, like my last Christmas! Practically everybody in the city heads home and the city is so deserted. Even the Stockholmers head to their family homes outside the city. You can imagine what am talking about. So, a friend coming to town, with Christmas presents is awesome. Santa just heard me last year, the man is real!
Stockholm’s Christmas Trees
Stockholm is a truly mesmerizing city during the Christmas season. With lights adorning every street during the dark days to celebrations everywhere, it is beautiful to witness the Christmas spirit here. Christmas trees only add more to the magic.
I basically had to show my friend the best of Stockholm in just a day! So we walked across the cosy and charming streets of Stockholm to find such amazing Christmas trees. <3
The Biggest Living Christmas tree
Did you know that the Christmas tree on Skeppsbron, Stockholm, is the largest ‘Living’ Christmas tree in the world? It is 38 metres high, with a four-metre star at the top! That’s just magnanimous, isn’t it? Yes, it was!
Here is my friend posing right next to the big guy!
Christmas Market
The Christmas markets or julmarknad as they call it are a must to visit during the holiday season. We went on a walking tour at Gamla stan and I was so glad that we could make it in time to see the Christmas market. It is a cozy atmosphere with Glögg, traditional Swedish food, cured meat and fishes, traditional cheeses and there were many shops that sold a lot of tiny gifts that one can buy as a souvenir to take home. It is a bit expensive, but at least the experience is something to not miss at all!
Here are some more pictures from the wonderful day. Of course, we went to kungsträdgården to see the ice rink, the narrowest street, did a lot of shopping and visited most of the reindeer in the city. A walking tour during Christmas totally reminded me how beautiful this city is and also refreshed me to ace the exams! 😀
And yes indeed, am totally glad that my friend came over! 🙂
This entry was posted on by Fernando Sanchez Miñaur.
Hey peeps, long time no see! I know, I know it has been a while but I have a good reason why… winter break plus thesis! How did you celebrate new year’s? Ok, maybe this is a segregated question depending if you are muslim, jew, or Chinese; nonetheless, if you spent it somewhere in the western part of the world, probably you had the chance to experience it as I did. I actually stayed in Stockholm as it was too expensive to go back to Mexico 🙁 so I decided to celebrate it with some friends. We had an amazing dinner at my place (I didn’t cook lol) and of course some drinks. Later that night and before 12:00, we went partying.
Dinner gathering at my place.
Yes, that’s Mexico’s flag on my friend’s mouth haha. The night went amazing as my friend did some flexeterian dinner with some risotto and lobster. Even though I live outside Stockholm’s city center, we managed to have our own private fireworks as some random neighbours of mine, had some powerful explosions right in the backyard haha (yeah I know). Of course, as a Chemical Engineer and soon-to-be M.Sc. in Sustainable Technology I thought about the impact of those artefacts being detonated (I know I know, environmentalist…). Have you ever thought about the impacts of fireworks? Yes, they look nice with all those colours and shapes, but we can all agree that the science behind those bright lights, can be a little bit pollutant and harmful for our health. Why? Well, toxic metals. After fireworks explode, they release fine particles that do not only pollute the air in a short time of period, but have a direct impact on our health as those metals, barium, cadmium or even mercury, end suspended in the air. Now, we breath that air peeps haha. Yeah, it may sound a bit like a party killer, but that’s the truth; moreover, I’m not a huge fan of fireworks as back in Mexico I have 3 dogs that suffer the struggle of those explosions 🙁 So, if you are environmentalist you have the heavy metals issue, and if you care about dogs hehe you have the loud noise issue.
Now, going back to the celebration itself, my friends and me after having dinner together and being intoxicated by the toxic metals in the air (lol), we got tickets from one of Stockholm’s iconic New Year’s party at Nobelberget called Natten. The place was enormous, peeps! We decided to go this place at it has been the house for numerous concerts in the past couple of years and the iconic Natten party, that is themed with power ballads! Yes, we received 2019 singing our souls out at the rhythm of “Take my Breath Away – Berlin” and “Someone Like You – Adele”. It was simple an incredible experience as it was something totally different from an average weekend. Nobelberget has been an iconic place for Stockholmers to enjoy different cultural events; nonetheless, the concept will remain but the place will be demolish early this year as it was announced late last year. Even tough I just had the opportunity to attend 1 of the amazing events hosted there, I’m pretty sure the concept will prevail no matter where it is taken to.
My friends and me at Nobelberget <3
So, tell me? What did you do for this new beginning? 😀
This entry was posted on by Fernando Sanchez Miñaur.
Hey Stockholmers, how are you doing during this Winter break? Weather has been good to us by bringing some snow and sunny days with it, don’t you think so? I just enjoy it so much! Actually, I had the chance to enjoyed this amazing weather in an incredible place just a bit further from Skansen called Rosendals Trädgård! Have you thought about buying -literally- fresh fruits and flowers directly from a Swedish garden? Where this is place! But wait! It is not as boring as it may sound, you can actually take workshops here in fermentation, botany, or even in organic farming! But it doesn’t end there, you can enjoy fika or take lunch at its coffee shop, buy house ornaments, or just enjoy a pacific walk around the place.
Weddings buffé Rosendals Trädgård. Photo Credit of www.veggietown.se
Now, it is not only to remind all of you guys to eat your daily dose of veggies, but to highlight the importance of shifting our diet patterns from meat- to vegetables-based ones. Don’t forget that 15 % of all greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock production. Moreover, the magic of this place doesn’t rely only on the events and products they sell, but in how they have managed to brand a “simple garden” into an amazing place for all ages. I had the chance to go there with a dear friend of mine before they closed for Winter break; as you may have already guessed, there are not a lot of flowers nor fruits growing up during this season of the year, but there’s glögg, candles, pizza, and SNOW!
Me enjoying Rosendals Trädgård during a snowy day in Stockholm
Unfortunately, this lovely garden has closed until February 2019; obvious reasons as the weather, festivities, and so on have finished or don’t work so well for products to bloom or grow. Even if the wait is long, if you are living or visiting Stockholm during Spring or even better, Summer, I would totally recommend you to visit Rosendals Trädgården as you’ll get the fully Swedish experience of gardening. Of course, don’t forget to have a coffee or a wood oven pizza (yes! the real deal) happening here! The view, the flavours, and the experience itself is just indescribable, just go there!
Wood oven pizza at Rosendals Trädgården. Credit: www.rosendalstradgard.se/pizzakvall/
What do you think? Are you into gardening and pizza haha? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave your comments below! 😀
This entry was posted on by Fernando Sanchez Miñaur.
Did you like how we celebrated St. Lucy’s Day (or Lucia in Swedish)? Well, there were major representations all around Stockholm and probably all Sweden. As you may have read, making Swedish friends takes (most of the times) patience and perseverance; nonetheless, when you’ve made one, you most probably can assume that he or she will be a good friend for life. I’ve got lucky here in Sweden and I can say that I’ve made quiet a few local friends; the good part of this, insight on all major celebrations. As a matter of fact and as a continuation of Sindu’s post on Santa Lucia, I got invited by my friends to this famous representation of this festivity at Storkyrkan, also called St. Nichola’s Church, in Gamla Stan.
Storkyrkan, Stockholm. Credits to Christer Malmberg, 2018
So as you’ll see next, what’s for sure that will happen on December 13th? Well, it will be dark, and it will be cold! Haha but of course you’ll be expose to this festivity no matter of you are a actually living here or just visiting. Santa Lucia happens all around the city, churches, schools, libraries, houses, etc. so the probability of you seeing a teenager girl with candles on her head is quiet high! Now, watch this video for a quick crash course on what to expect during this day!
Going back now to St. Nichola’s Church representation, it was simply GREAT! The church is quiet big and it was packed of people enjoying the quire singing all the Swedish songs, but an interesting thing to remark, was that all singer were teenagers and kids; so I asked my friends afterwards about this and they told me that most if not all of the Swedish kids join the quire to sing in this kind of events. My friends were super excited telling me all these amazing stories and how happy they were when Lucia’s day came. What I found challenging was all these kiddos with actual candles on and well, Lucia girl with lighted candles on her head too! The old and responsable adult Fernando thought “oh my God, this is dangerous” but then I looked around and saw a couple of women carrying some buckets with water just in case!
Chosen girl to represent Lucia at Storkyrkan Lucia’s event.
What do you think about this festivity? Would you feel like participating in a Lucia representation haha? Don’t forget to comment!
