Spinning Words

…though I’ve been quiet. It’s been a long while since I sat down and tried to put my thoughts in order but I think I needed a break. Let’s just say that, being Winter and all, I chose to hibernate a bit, and now that Spring is getting closer, I am slowly waking up. Of course in some parts of the world Spring is already up and running. I got a taste of it a few days ago when I made a short trip home for one of my best friends wedding. Which of course led to meeting more friends and adding up to our amazing memories together. But I had to come back from 17 degrees and a leather jacket to 3 and my winter coat. Even so, today was a beautiful day so I decided to take a walk in Södermalm. Still my favourite place in Stockholm to get lost on the streets. Unfortunately I got lost around there so often that I’m actually starting to know my way around. There are still some places though that I once found and still can’t figure out how to find them again. I really like that part of the city!

Work kept me quite busy these past weeks, which is good because I really like what I am doing. And I have a lot of work to do, I am not complaining. It’s fun!

Eagerly looking forward to James Bay’s concert. Just as I am scanning the adds for some other concerts just to see what good music I can treat myself to. Unfortunately I missed a great concert but these things happen, it was just bad timing. However, I did manage to go and listen to The Asrael Symphony by Josef Suk, as always in Eric Ericsonhallen in Skeppsholmen.

Tennis is on the list as well, looking forward to the outdoors tournaments except Bucharest. This year I am a bit afraid of thinking and talking about that tournament simply because… As we back home are already familiar with, the central court from the tennis park in Bucharest has been left to degrade by whoever was supposed to take care of it that now it is too dangerous to let tennis fans in. Therefore it has no authorisation for this year’s tournament. So the central court will be improvised. And the tournament owners threaten to sell the licence. And no one said it’s ok, we’ll fix it. This year should be my 14th attending the tournament, it’s a landmark and my favourite event from back home, a reason to travel back there every Spring, I don’t want it to be canceled, it would break my heart a bit if it happened.

Well, with this brief review of what I’ve been up to I can say that I am still around, will not promise I will write soon but I definitely will when I have something interesting to share.

I mentioned some weeks ago that I had the opportunity to be in the audience for Noble Minds. Now it’s time to write a bit about it. First of all, it was quite unexpected and unplanned, but I had the advantage of my student status and took the chance to attend. You might think that you go there to increase your knowledge and steal some wisdom from some great people that have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Well, you do, but in a totally different way, at least that’s how things went for me. One thing is clear, it is not a lecture where really smart people come and preach, it’s more a discussion where really wise people share their experiences. So in between being very honoured to be there, I was also very touched and, every now and then, hilariously amused. So between talks about the cures for tropical diseases, poverty and life in authoritarian societies all of us got some pretty good lessons about life.

The show has a very simple format: students ask questions, Laureates answer. And the anchor is Zeinab Badawi, BBC journalist, a person I am quite familiar with from work and whom I discovered to be an excellent professional. I touched a bit with journalism in my work and studies and I must say that the concept of “journalist” changes drastically once you get the opportunity to see someone like Zeinab Badawi working right under your eyes. She makes it seem so easy when in reality it takes skills and hard work, a lot of hard work.

The talks with the Laureates were juggles between specific and general questions, it showed their professional aspect but also their human side, we assisted on discussions on economics, science in general, chemistry, medicine, writing, researching, teaching, opportunity, envy and worms. As for me, I had in front of my eyes people of extreme creativity, talent and drive. I would be grateful and lucky If I get to do 1% of what any of these persons did in their lives, but I am aware that to reach that 1% I have to work hard. I had researchers under my eyes, I listened to them, but I also saw people there, and passion and love and inspiration. I will not bore you anymore, nor will I go into details about their talks. If you have 50 minutes you can watch the show below.

Or cats, to be more precise. And a dog. I almost forgot what fun it is to have cats around, the free entertainment and falling asleep to the purring of a cat… waking up at 5 am to let the cat out of the room and again at 5:05 to let two cats back in. Still they look at you with their big eyes and you can’t do anything more than mumble a sleepy “cute” and go back to bed.

Other than that my heart is somewhere in between Sweden and Romania. It’s always hard to leave Stockholm just as I know that it will be hard to leave Bucharest. Christmas time is family time and I can’t really see myself now spending Christmas anywhere else but at home in Romania. I am saying it like this because I have another home in Sweden, or at least that’s how it feels like. I guess this happens because both places offer me quality time with amazing people and great things to do. Right now I wouldn’t want things to be any different, says me while I am writing here surrounded by 3 cats and eating Swedish godis, looking at the glowing lights of the Christmas tree and planning my next days in such way that I make sure I meet everybody I want to meet, rest, sleep, read and work a bit.

I wish I said that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas but actually things look a lot like Spring is coming. It is warm, no snow, though the mountains looked amazing when flying over them, and I miss the cold and icy wind of Stockholm, because it’s the season to actually enjoy the cold. And I want it to snow! As I doubt I will have any time or be in the mood to write anything the next few days, I am taking this opportunity to wish you all Happy Holidays, may they be exactly as you wish them to be! I leave you below with a night-time pic of Karlaplan taken a few days ago on a beautiful snowy evening.