Everyday before I go out to school, to run, to the supermarket, to whatever I take a quick look at the thermometer I have in the window. I actually have two, each facing different sides of the building. I have never used a thermometer this much. Sure I used to check the weather and see if I would need a warmer jacket or if it was going to rain, but in Sweden the thermometer became my best friend.
Truth is that even though it's winter the temperature can be -10 ºC or 10 ºC. I might need my super warm coat or just the warmer one. My super warm hat or the lighter one. The same happens in the spring. The sun shines outside and it looks like a lovely day, but is it 10 ºC or 20 ºC? It's very easy to get fooled, specially when indoor the temperature is always the same.
All this got me to think that each country brings its own essentials. Things that we have never used before, or have needed less, and that now became important and every day essentials. I gathered 4 others besides the thermometer and wrote about it in my latest post in the Newbie Guide to Sweden. Are you curious? Great, read all about it here.
It was lunch time in school. I was peacefully eating when it happened. I was not alone but there was no one I knew. The fire alarm went on. Oh great, now what? Everybody calmly grabbed their stuff and started heading outside. I was in the "food room" in the ground floor and I had left my jacket inside the classroom in the first floor, as all my classes both in the morning and in the afternoon were in the same room. It had been snowing. It was -2 ºC outside and I couldn't go up and grab my coat. Just great. I went out and waited in the square in front of the school. Luckily, I had a cup of warm tea but I quickly got cold and started shaking. I could go home but the damn keys were in my coat's pocket.
The school is quite big and this could have taken hours! Was anyone even doing something? Yes. The fireman showed up less than 10 minutes after. They quickly checked the whole place and soon we were allowed to go back in. Once inside we could really tell who had had jackets on and who didn't. The fireman concluded that what caused the alarm was a bored teenager who activated the sensor using a lighter. Thank you kid. We not only got to freeze outside, some more than others, as we also got to not finish our lunches. All because you were bored.
Why did I assign this post to You got to love Sweden? Because it was all handled quite efficiently and orderly. No one panicked but at the same time no one ignored the alarm. The fireman came quickly and worked fast. The alarms worked (not like in certain labs where I have worked!).
It's good to know that all works.
But from now on I will always take my jacket with me.
I had heard of her long before we met personally. She is well known among the scientific community all over the world, as she was the first woman to become Institute Professor and professor emerita of physics and electrical engineering at MIT. Among many other firsts. She was so popular that every conference in the field wanted to have her as a speaker. It was in one of those that I met her for the first time. It was the year 2008 and she couldn't care less about another young researcher that seemed fascinated just to be in her presence. I'm not going to lie, I didn't like her then. Our paths crossed again a few other times and I started seeing what her life was like. She loved her work more than anything, many times refusing to rest to just keep working. She met hundreds of people in each conference and everybody wanted to publish articles, chapters or entire books with her. Her name in the list of authors meant really a lot. She was a star and she loved it. But I also saw the other side. Or rather I feared there was another side, in which people, some people, were pursuing more their own interests than honoured by having her help and kindness. And she was kind.
Three years ago me and Johan visited her group at MIT for a couple of weeks. It was December and the weather was awful. We were staying in some old apartment that started flooding in the middle of a rain storm. We were supposed to leave to give a presentation to her and her group. There and then we had to chose between leaving and letting the apartment flood or staying to squeeze the towels and change the bucket that were holding the water drops. We chose to stay missing our presentation (and a 20 minute walk under the rain and wind). She was so sorry that to make up for it she proposed us a collaboration on a book chapter she wanted to do. We missed the presentation and SHE was sorry. That was the turning point.
After that I also started to see her off-work side, hard to spot since she was always working. She told me about her family and showed me pictures of her grandchildren, like any other 80 year old. She fell asleep sometimes during the talks in conferences. She could get tired. She was human after all!
The last time we met was in another conference, in 2015. She was 84. Her mind had started to show signs of weakness and her speech during the opening ceremony was confused. Suddenly, all the attention she usually had in conferences vanished and I saw her alone on a few occasions, when before she wouldn't be let alone for a single second. One of the evenings she was looking for someone and asked me for help. She was supposed to meet a German guy, whose name she couldn't spell and who was not attending the conference. We went into her room (the conference was at a hotel), and tried to find clues about his contact details. She had work papers all over, on the bed, the desk, the floor. Her room showed well who she was and it was as I had imagined. We finally managed to get hold of the person, who said he was stuck in traffic. We spent a couple of hours together, waiting and talking about life, science and other things. I made jokes at the situation saying we would form a great team of detectives. She laughed. It was lovely. That's how I want to remember her: laughing and talking with a warm smile on her face. Wearing her red coat.
She passed away a week ago. I bet she worked until the very last day. She was the Queen of the nanocarbon. She was Professor Mildred Dresselhaus. But for all of us, she was Millie.
PS. A few weeks ago was released an ad featuring Millie, who supported women in science. Don't miss it, it's brilliant! Watch below.
I had a meeting to discuss the possibility of doing an internship. It was this morning at 8 am. It was outside of the city and it would take me about an hour to get there. This was the closest I have gotten to an interview, so knowing myself and how clumsy I can be, I planed everything as much as I could to make it a success. I would have to take the first bus of the day to that part of the city, from the center, so I had to make sure I wouldn't miss it. As a precaution I took an earlier tram to make sure I would be at the bus stop in time. I got there at 7h20 and I froze while waiting for the bus. I proudly got to the meeting place at 7h50.
Perfect, just like a Swede would do! No Sara way this time!
I was warmly welcome by members of staff but the responsible that would meet me was not there yet.
8:00... 8:10... 8:20...
Well, this is odd. Maybe something happened. Swedes are never late!
Let me check my email... ok, the meeting is at 9am!!!
She booked the meeting and sent me a notification straight from the outlook calendar, which for some stupid reason is in the portuguese timezone in my computer, and it automatically converted the time of the meeting! Luckily, it was portuguese time and not another one, and I got there an hour before and not after the meeting!
If only the book I had with me was not called "Barbara the slut" I could have read, but like that I didn't dare.
České Budějovice is the largest city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It is also the city of birth of Budweiser, the Czech beer not the American Budweiser. Rumours say the Czech beer was the first to be invented, but someone enjoyed it so much that exported both the idea and the name to the U.S. I have tried both and there's no doubt that the Czech one is much better than the american version.
České Budějovice é a maior cidade na região da Boémia do Sul da República Checa. É também a cidade onde nasceu a cerveja Budweiser, a cerveja checa, não confundir com a Budweiser americana. Os rumores dizem que a cerveja checa foi a primeira a ser inventada, mas alguém gostou tanto que exportou a ideia e o nome para os EUA. Eu já provei as ambas e não há dúvida de que a checa é muito melhor do que a versão americana.
Budweiser is also one of the most popular beers in the Czech Republic and I couldn't miss the chance to visit it's birth place when I was still living there. We only spent a day in České Budějovice but we got a good impression of the city and we had a lovely lunch at the brewery. All the buildings in the Old Town center are beautiful and we really enjoyed ourselves getting lost in the streets of the city. Come and get lost with me.
A Budweiser também é uma das cervejas mais populares na República Checa e eu não poderia perder a oportunidade de visitar o seu lugar de origem enquanto estava a viver lá. Só passamos um dia em České Budějovice mas ficamos com uma boa impressão da cidade e da comida que provamos na própria cervejaria. Todos os prédios na parte mais antiga da cidade são muito bonitos e nós deixamo-nos perder pelas ruas da cidade. Venham e percam-se comigo.
The Black Tower and St. Nicholas Cathedral / A Torre Negra e a catedral de São Nicolau
Christmas market at Ottokar II square / Mercado de Natal na Praça Ottokar II
Meat, potato dumplings and cabbage: it just couldn't get more Czech. The food was delicious, especially when washed down with a dark Budweiser.
Carne, dumpling de batata e repolho: mais Checo que isto não há. A comida estava óptima e soube ainda melhor quando acompanhada por uma Budweiser escura.
The brewery is a bit off the Old Town and we took the chance to also explore the more modern neighbourhoods.
A cervejaria fica fora do centro e tivemos a oportunidade de explorar também a parte mais nova da cidade.
I love this reflection with the bicycle / Adoro o reflexo da bicicleta na água
We finished off our visit with another tour around the center, after the sunset to enjoy the lights. Another nice day in the Czech Republic. Terminamos o dia com mais uma volta pelo centro, desta vez já depois do pôr do sol para vermos a cidade iluminada. Mais um dia bem passado na República Checa.
I have a thing for supermarkets. Don't ask... When I was small I liked to play supermarket, saving a lot of boxes and packages, and as an adult is a place that makes me happy. I enjoy learning more about a country through its supermarkets and in my trips I always visit local shops. That doesn't mean I spend hours in the supermarket here. Quite the opposite actually. On a regular basis I like to get through my shopping list as soon as possible and I do that by learning where my favourites thing are in "my" supermarket. However, now and then, I enjoy taking the time and explore new shops or even unusual shelves (those I go seldom to).
I think a supermarket says a lot about the lifestyle and culture of a country and my latest post on the Newbie Guide to Sweden is exactly about that. You can read my post here.
Picture I made for my Swedish class, in which I also wrote about supermarkets
I was in school and I felt happy. I was not really sure whether it was happiness or more of an excitation feeling in the chest. Maybe I even had some small butterflies in my stomach. But why?
"Why am I so excited? I can't really tell... Is it because new students are coming to the course now? Now, that's not it... Nothing else new has happened... what is it?"
I thought about it the whole morning without being able to figure where was all the excitement coming from. Until I started walking home during lunch break. Then I found what it was...
The avocados that I bought 3 days before had matured to perfection earlier than I thought, and I would be able to enjoy one for my lunch. I would make a nice and delicious boiled egg-avocado sandwich and THAT made me feel happy and excited the whole morning.
People say happiness is in the small things. Well, it is! Not always. Not everyday. But now and then it is. Like in the perfectly matured avocado.
It was just over a year ago that me, J. and my sister made a trip to the south of the Czech Republic. It was December, we had just left our job and we were about to leave the country and move to Sweden. Our first stop was Brno, the second biggest city of the country. It is a beautiful city, with colourful buildings, gardens and the castle sitting on top of a hill, presenting us with a gorgeous view over the city.
Foi há pouco mais de um ano que eu, o J. e a minha irmã fizemos uma viagem ao sul da República Checa. Era dezembro, tínhamos acabado de deixar nosso emprego e estávamos prestes a deixar o país para nos mudarmos para a Suécia. A primeira paragem foi Brno, a segunda maior cidade do país. É uma bela cidade, com edifícios coloridos, jardins e o castelo no topo de uma colina, que nos proporciona uma vista deslumbrante sobre a cidade.
The Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul / A Catedral de São Pedro e São Paulo
Parnas fountain / Fonte Parnas
Park Denisovy Sady / Parque Denisovy Sady
Park with the castle on top of the hill / O parque com o castelo no topo da colina
Castle gardens / Jardins do castelo
Špilberk Castle
Castle's old pharmacy / A antiga farmácia do castelo
Freedom square / Praça da Liberdade
Modern art? / Arte moderna?
A pause for tea and cake / Uma pausa para beber chá e comer bolo
The National Theatre / O Teatro Nacional
Christmas markets in Brno / Mercados de Natal em Brno
Brno is definitely worth a visit, even if it is a day trip from Prague (2h by train). The architecture is beautiful and there is not a million tourists around, which gives the city a much more honest and real atmosphere. If you go, don't miss the cakes! A friendly advice!
Vale absolutamente a pena visitar, mesmo que seja só uma viagem de ida e volta de Praga (2h de comboio). A arquitetura é bonita e não há um milhão de turistas na rua, o que dá a cidade uma atmosfera mais honesta e real. Se forem não percam os bolos! Conselho de amiga!
