The importance of being embedded in your host country
What to do in Sweden? ...But can you do anything during winter????
KTH Relocation provides a weekly newsletter informing about the events occurring every new weekend in Stockholm and its surroundings. Go and enjoy these events is a privilege that brings you closer to the lifestyle in Sweden. The city is ready for being explored...
Stockholm is a city that largely changes its appearance according to the season.
In summer, everyone is outside enjoying the unique weather and the infinite daylight. All the gardens and forests are dressed of different greens, flowers specially show pinky colours and the sea cannot be more blue. You may relax lying on the shore of one beach, enjoy a BBQ with friends, make a boat route through the archipelago or take endless walks by the sea and stop (from time to time) at one of its thousand terraces or bareboats.
In autumn, the yellow colour is everywhere. The days become shorter and shorter and you really feel that the winter is coming ;) But, it is time to enjoy inside places such as the Icebar, the Junibacken museum (more fun if you go with kids), the Mamma Mia show, the Vasa Musset, Shopping and Malls, the cinemas, events related to the Nobel Prizes, go to the City Hall, eat mussels and seafood, outdoor sport, places with life music and concerts, face-to-face in Swedish, etc etc etc etc (infinite etcs). Enjoy some time with 'your scientific family' (I mean you workmates) is also crucial. I am so lucky to share my workplace with fantastic people coming from different countries and, therefore, I can learn more things about their cultures during small events (like FIKA, i.e. the Swedish 'merienda' or 'coffee break') or feasts.
Winter is special in Stockholm because of the snow. Sunny days plenty of snow are wonderful. With the appropriate cloths, you may be outside practising winter sports, walking on the frozen lakes, sharing hot drinks and food in wintery places with home fire or go to sauna + a quick swim in lakes and sea. A wonderful idea is to travel norther and norther in Sweden to see the Northern Lights and try sleigh rides with dogs.
I would say that spring is the best season to explore the city in terms of architecture, views, nature and food. The Skansen village, eat as a Viking, jump up to the City Hall tower, spend hours in the streets of Gamla Stan, explore the other islands going by public transport. The range of possibilities is immense. After the winter you really feel that your priority is enjoying the sun. Summery days occur very often during the spring time. Go outside and take vitamin D while doing something interesting.
LOVE THE CITY THAT IS HOSTING YOU AND YOUR PROJECT DURING YOUR MSCA
LOVE THE WORLD
LOVE THE SCIENCE THAT YOU ARE DOING, BECAUSE THIS IS A PRIVILEGE
--REACH THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE PERSON AND THE SCIENTIST YOU ARE--