Adventures in Sweden

Source: Google

As my plane descended into Swedish territory, I couldn't have asked for better timing. Dawn had barely arrived, fog surrounding the thousands of islands littering the "coastline". It was difficult to tell where the sea stopped and rivers began, but one thing was for certain – the Swedes don’t lack trees. Dense forest stretched as far as I could see – which is quite a substantial distance when you're several kilometers off the ground. As the plane headed inland, quaint green fields started to break up the mass of trees. Classic bright red barns with pointed roofs suddenly called into question my assumption that they only existed in fairy tales. Clearly, my plane had been diverted to Narnia sometime in the night.

Source: Google

Source: Google

As a bullet train (boasting 100% renewable energy, like there was any doubt) shot me from the airport towards Stockholm, Narnia slowly gave way to a modern cityscape. But not entirely modern – my poor Australian mind then had to cope with the modern buildings being interspersed with buildings built before Captain James Cook was a twinkle in his father's eye, let alone the existence of my country several hundred years after that. When a traffic post can be quadruple the age of your nation, you can't help but feel like a bit of an uncultured asshole.

Having a cultural depth comparable to the maturity of a 4 year old turned out to be a running theme. By my estimates, approximately 100% of Swedes had made the effort to become completely fluent in English. The average number of languages known by literally everybody seemed to oscillate around 3 or 4, with the record being 11(!). The number of people I encountered who only knew one language? One. Me. But hey – I can use words like "oscillate" in completely unnecessary situations like a wanker – that's gotta count for something, right?

It really was fascinating to be surrounded by such a mature culture though. Not only that, but the reason for my trip meant that I got to learn about so many more cultures than just Sweden. I was there to attend (and present at!) a conference: ICPR 2014. For the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to be surrounded by 1500 other nerds, the majority of who were smarter than me. It was as awesome as it sounds :D. No matter where I turned, there were people from all over the world ready to exchange insight into their culture.

Culture wasn't the only thing that made these people fascinating – they were also scientists exploring the untapped depths of human knowledge. It is truly humbling to be in the presence of people who are doing things that have literally never been attempted or even thought of in the history of humankind. To then realize that I am a fellow contributor, a peer among fellow scientists, fills me with pride.

In fact when it's all said and done, the conference dominated my trip to Sweden by far. I was in the country for 4 days, with each day having conference activities from 8am to 6pm. Two of those days also had banquets planned, lasting into the early hours of the morning. Bookending my flights so tightly on either end of my trip wasn't exactly the smartest move, as it turns out. Fortunately the banquets were amazing, one involving a castle with a hall of gold.

Source: Me!

Source: Me

Click for large versions. Source: Me

I managed to squeeze in one "proper" tourist activity though: visiting the Vasa Museum. The entire museum is dedicated to the warship Vasa, which sunk on its maiden voyage 400 years ago due to its ridiculous size, and was dredged up from the sea floor 100 years ago, fully intact. Holy hell was it impressive. Even when I was specifically angling my photos to try to capture the enormity of it, I still failed spectacularly. This thing is the reason the word "awe" exists.

Source: Me

Source: Me

Interestingly, I very nearly didn't visit the museum: it was only after finding some other PhD students to hang out with that the thought of wandering around Stockholm actually became appealing. Even having one other person to bounce off of would have made a world of difference, and we ended up forming a group of 5. Suddenly I had friends to explore with, to find interesting places to eat with, and just generally chat about the sights of Stockholm with.

In the end it really wasn't the photos, or the places, or the stuff to buy that made the holiday a life-changing experience – it was the people. Building connections with other people is what gives everything else meaning. Otherwise, you might be experiencing the most wondrous culture the world has to offer and feel nothing but isolation.

Henrique, Igor, Insaf, myself, and Vincent