Written by Gimmy
26 Jun 2015
Milan, 26C, partially cloudy
Bongiorno!
I have a motto for life – “the more I move, the luckier I get”. Perhaps I become a more interesting person, or maybe I become more open minded.
Several Master’s programmes at Chalmers have double degree exchange deal with Stuttgart University and Shanghai JiaoTong University. I thought how cool would it be to spend the second year of my Master’s in Germany (drinking beer and eating bratwürst)… especially for an Automotive Engineering student at Stuttgart.
But I turned down this opportunity… for several reasons.
1/ The Swedes, young and old, speak English near native level… it is easy to forget that I am studying in Europe. You might not be able to say the same about all German professors. Was ist das?
2/ The Swedes are pretty open to immigrants… the Swedes are generally open to different cultures, religions, sexual orientations, etc. I don’t feel like an alien in Sweden!
Third, my mother told me to stay in Sweden.
4/ I changed my mind. I am satisfied with Chalmers education. “if it isn’t broken, why fix it?”
5/ I met a girl from Italy at Chalmers… Life is full of unexpected surprises. I tried to find an internship position, but failed. When I devoted my life to the machine shop, this happens.
I spent the weekend in Milan with her majesty Eva. I also managed to catch up with Camilla, a Polytechnic Uni. of Milan exchange student I met in Canada. What a beautiful city. Why would anyone leave Italy for Sweden?!! The Milanese explained the education in Italy is much more “theoretical”, whereas Sweden focuses more on the “practical” aspect.
Eva is striking luck up here in Sweden. She managed to settle a one-year biomedical engineering master’s thesis project at a local artificial limb company. I think her “receipt for success” is her über proactive approach to opportunities.
After taking lessons from her, I managed to grab a part-time lab technician position at the Chalmers combustion dept. starting in September. Looking forward!
Midsummer at IKEAtemporary exhibition in Milan
I am rather sad leaving the summery Milan, even though I had a year’s worth of mosquito bites in just one weekend.
Greatest life lesson – ALWAYS remember to bring mosquito repellent!
“the further north I move, the luckier I get!”… back to the wonderful Swedish summer!
Lövvvv,
gimmygöteborg
