fem

In case you haven't noticed, we are slowly starting to slip some Swedish words into your vocabulary ... looking back the last few days, you will see you can now count to five! Ok, ok - we skipped #1: ett. Now you are fully equipped: ett, två, tre, fyra, fem! Amazing the things you can learn by reading along ;)

This morning I am off to Sundsvall - a town about 200 km due north of Gävle (yes, for you geography-savvy readers, that does mean I am headed right back the way I came last night on the way home from Östersund), for our annual two-day research planning days for the CBF researchers staff. During this time we will evaluate our publication prognoses from last year, hear presentations from all researchers who have applied for external funding for the next 12 months, get an update on the different research programmes within our institution, evaluate and discuss the research programme plans constructively, and give our individual prognoses for publication numbers for the coming year. I am excited to have a few papers in the pipeline to put on the list, and about the things I hope to accomplish, research wise, over the next 12 months. I also look forward to hearing the updates and knowing more about where the different strains will be moving/focusing in the coming months. I really enjoy the communication that is built into our research institute and I learn a lot from the different research areas throughout the year.

I am also looking forward to seeing Sundsvall for the first time! Over the last six months I have had the chance to visit several new places in Sweden as a result of either meetings or work, and enjoy these excursions - which brings me to today's pictures and post...

In August, I spent 4 days collecting data at the airport just outside Göteborg on the west coast of Sweden. This was a follow up to the Arlanda flight loader data collections and is part of my friend Eva's thesis research (and was also my first trip to the west coast of Sweden!). Eva and I then stayed on for a really fun weekend.

Göteborg is famous (within Sweden) for it's street cars. Not the red rocket look of the TTC, but otherwise quite similar.

Like so many things in Sweden, these are run on the honour system - you can buy a ticket with your phone before boarding the bus (or on the bus), and so you just hop on. There are, allegedly, ticket checks every now and then, but none that we saw. Still, I suspect nearly everyone had purchased the appropriate ticket. I like that.

The city has a fabulous public transit app so getting around was really easy.

Göteborg felt younger and more Americanized than Stockholm - more American brand shops and restaurants, and more English signage around town - yet still had a really lovely charm to it. All the same, I think I may just be more of a Stockholm-girl than Göteborg-girl, however I feel quite sure that several more trips are in order before I can really make that decision :) I suppose, to be fair, I should also mention that while we had several amazing days of blue skies and sunshine on our trip, Göteborg is quite similar to Vancouver weather-wise, which no doubt clouded my judgement (pun intended).

While out wandering I found one of, if not the, best chai latté I have ever had! Well done G'borg.

In addition to some good city walking and shoe shopping (two thumbs up for Göteborg shoe shops!), Eva and I also headed to Way Out West - one of Sweden's premiere festivals, and nominee for this year's MTV O Music Awards 'most innovative festival'.

Three stages, three days, good artwork and a great line up! Some highlights for me included: Fleet Foxes, Noah and the Whale, Junip (with José González) and a Swedish band called, Säkert, who were a new and exciting find for me (they made an English language release in September, På Engelska, which doesn't quite have the intensity of the Swedish release, Facit, but is still pretty good).  We also saw Robyn, Prince and Kanye West. It was quite a mixed bag to say the least, but really well organised and super fun!

And finally, door number five:

Perfect timing - I have some seriously dry skin after weekend of being out so much in some true wintery weather!