Saket Vora

Sunday was a very relaxing day. After the long day at Ven then the barbeque, we all sort of work up around noon. After a lazy lunch where we talked for a long time, we went outside to play the Swedish game of Kubb. This is a game played with 10 wooden blocks, six wooden sticks, and a single taller block which is the ‘king’. There are two teams and each team has five of the wooden blocks in a row. The distance between team A’s row and team B’s row can vary, but the king always sits in the center of the rectangle. The goal of the game is to knock down the other team’s blocks by throwing the sticks at it, and after you successfully take care of the blocks, you have a chance to knock down the king.
We played guys versus girls, and soon the girls took an early commanding lead. They had even gotten to the point of knocking down the king to win it all, but they couldn’t do it even with FOUR chances. With our backs literally against the wall, we came back strong and ended up winning the game. It was quite fun. We played three or four more rounds. Frieder shot some video and put together a great video montage of the whole game. That evening, I looked out my window and saw some clouds turn pink. Realizing the potential for a spectacular sunset, I dashed outside in search of the hilltop that we had the barbeque on. I got a bit lost but finally was able to find it. I ran up the hill and honestly had a fleeting thought to fall to my knees when I gazed upon the horizon. On this hilltop you can see 360 degrees around you, and the extent of the sunset was just over a quarter of that. There was a low lying cloud bank by the horizon which glowed as if plasma. Meanwhile, you could see wisps of fog gathering as the cool air set upon the region. It was a glorious inspiring example of nature’s beauty. I attempted to capture it with my camera but no setting could see to do it justice.
On Monday I went to Copenhagen. I boarded a direct train to Copenhagen and arrived at the central train station after an hour. The main tourist bureau is not, as one might expect, on the premises of the central train station, but perhaps one and half blocks away. But the bureau does make up by providing extensive amounts of free publications and guides for not just Copenhagen but the Denmark as a whole. Armed with a map and knowing very little beforehand about the city, I set out to the city center. Copenhagen is an old city, as one would expect, but it appears as if it’s historical emphasis was commerce and industry rather than royalty. Vienna proudly shows its royal heritage but it is far more subdued in Copenhagen. Shopping is very very popular as there are numerous establishments for clothing, antiques, and home furnishings. One of the first sights I saw as the Round Tower, which was an old astronomical observatory that is still used today. Climbing to the top of it provides a panorama view of the city. From there I walked to a nearby park with what seemed to be a palace or royal residence, but I only saw it from a distance. I headed back down to the oceanfront where there are canals that reach into the city. The Kongens Nytorv is an enormous square that has one of these canals leading to it, and the National Theater sits here as well. There is an extremely picturesque and popular view of colorful buildings that line the canal (the shot is abundant on postcards). It is, in fact, probably the most picturesque part of the city.
My next mission was one of personal interest. I walked to a bus stop (along the way an enormous ornamented church suddenly appeared on a side street) and when I boarded found an Indian driver who appeared happy to see another desi in Copenhagen. He let me ride for free and I stood by the driver’s seat and talked with him. I got off after saying goodbye at the corner of Faelled Park. This park sits to the left of the national stadium where FC Copenhagen plays and to the right of a major hospital complex. But why did I visit this park, which has the same wide expanses as Hyde Park? Because it also happens to sit behind what was once the Institute for Theoretical Physics where Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg worked. It is also referred to many times in one my favorite pieces of literature, the play Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn. I also got to see the Institute and later I will take a tour through the Bohr archives and go see the house that Bohr lived in during that pivotal year of 1941.
Today I went to class in the morning then later went to the Swedish language introduction course. It’s gonna be a really busy first half of the semester, with classes going on every day. But the second half looks like it will be less, so that’s good. Tonight I’m going to go try the sunset again, but so far there aren’t many clouds so I don’t know how good the show will be.

Ven. It is an island that sits between Sweden and Denmark and is less than 5 km wide and long. Only 374 people live on it. It is flat, with high cliffs on the perimeter with two natural harbors where ferries from Landskrona in Sweden arrive. As I might have said before, Laure’s mentor group was going to Ven and it sounded like a great idea so myself, Frieder, Yuko, Helene, and Frieder’s friend Paul all came along too. And fortunately enough, it was a spectacular day. Blue skies, just under 70 deg, shining sun. We rented bicyles on the island, and the island itself is extremely accomodating for bike riding. Paul and a Belgian girl he met Anemie tried out a tandem bike and it was quite fun to see how they managed it. We set out to the heart of the island, where Tycho Brahe constructed a observatory to make astronomical observations. It was not much to see, but interesting that it happened here. There are no large towering structures on the island of Ven. You can often see the sea all around and the nearby coasts of Sweden and Denmark. We biked to a harbor where we found a very nice spot by the beach and spent 2 hours there enjoying the view, the sun, and the food we brought for a picnic. It was also a chance to meet more people, such as students from Russia, Slovakia, Poland, Spain, and Belgium.
I was riding in a group of around 8 that headed off before the mentors’ group did. So while they went counter-clockwise around the island, we went clockwise. I think our way was nicer. After finally getting back on the road at around 2:30pm, we started to ride along the coastline and it was great. On the left you had the deep blue of the sea with sailboats, and on your right you had the golden fields of freshly harvested grain with the bright red barn.
We reached the ferry quite early and relaxed a bit at the harbor area. I did not get much sleep the night before, but only when we were on the train back to Lund did I feel really tired. The mentors (which are better than mine) announced a barbeque at 7:30pm and a meeting place. We decided to tag along, and biked back to Delphi from the train station. We went to Willys to pick up things to cook and relaxed a short while at the dorm. We left the dorm a bit late and subsequently had to wait and look around for nearly an hour before we finally got to the barbeque site. It turned out that it wasn’t at a house or corridor, in fact it was on top of a hill in a park in northern Lund. The town of Lund and the surrounding areas were below you in all directions. Off in the distance you could easily see the bright lights of Malmo. They had portable tins with coals so it was like a camping barbeque. I ate apples, some grilled vegetables and corn. It was very nice sitting in a campsite-like setting with the view all around us. It did get cold near the end, but after we began moving it was ok. As we were cleaning up I spotted a fireworks display going off in Malmo and it went for quite a while! We think it was for the America’s Cup race that was being held in Malmo. Those of us living in Delphi split off and headed back home. That was also nice, for we walked through what looked like a forested park with no one else around, a street light every now and then, in the darkness. We would come onto forks in the road with nothing unique in each direction. We weren’t worried though. We actually ended up right behind our exact building in Delphi! It was quite cool. I came back up thoroughly exhausted. I was thinking about going to Copenhagen tomorrow, but I do not think that would work. I might go to Malmo or Dalby though. As for photos of Ven, I will sort them tomorrow and upload then. Good night for now.

[Note, I just realized that some previous posts are out of order and don’t have the right titles. I will fix this shortly. Sorry)

I took the morning slow today; no classes and I didn’t really sleep well last night. Not sure why. I met with an advisor in the EE department here and we had a really nice chat about courses, the department here, and even we talked about the catastrophe in New Orleans. It was the first real discussion I’ve had with people other than a few of my corridor mates. NCSU’s EE department is now working through which courses I’d like to take over here will transfer batch as credit. I’m hoping I can take the photonics course because I’ve never done anything in that field and it sounds interesting.

I walked through central Lund again today. It is really getting filled up with all the normal university students here. I took out 5,000 kronors from an ATM and deposited it into my Nordea bank account. I was about to withdraw another 5,000 but then thought it might raise flags with Wachovia here. As I sat on a bench eating a falafel (falafel is really popular here) by the Stortorget (the main square) I watched this ice cream store. I’ve noticed since day one actually. It’s just a hole in the wall but it must be tremendously popular. All around the Stortorget you can see people enjoying their ice cream cones and it is all from this one store. It’s like an institution here.

Random observation about Sweden: There are no drinking water fountains. Not in buildings, not near bathrooms, not in public places.

I took the morning slow today; no classes and I didn’t really sleep well last night. Not sure why. I met with an advisor in the EE department here and we had a really nice chat about courses, the department here, and even we talked about the catastrophe in New Orleans. It was the first real discussion I’ve had with people other than a few of my corridor mates. NCSU’s EE department is now working through which courses I’d like to take over here will transfer batch as credit. I’m hoping I can take the photonics course because I’ve never done anything in that field and it sounds interesting.

I walked through central Lund again today. It is really getting filled up with all the normal university students here. I took out 5,000 kronors from an ATM and deposited it into my Nordea bank account. I was about to withdraw another 5,000 but then thought it might raise flags with Wachovia here. As I sat on a bench eating a falafel (falafel is really popular here) by the Stortorget (the main square) I watched this ice cream store. I’ve noticed since day one actually. It’s just a hole in the wall but it must be tremendously popular. All around the Stortorget you can see people enjoying their ice cream cones and it is all from this one store. It’s like an institution here.

Upon returning to the dorm, I worked a bit more on my computer. It’s besieged by stubborn adware and malware. I’m writing here now from inside the Knoppix OS, which is a version of Linux that can be run off a CD (no install necessary). Alas, its default interface looks like something Fisher-Price would make, but at least there are no pop-ups.

I made some dinner (spaghetti with stirfryed vegetables) and then went to Frieder’s room to play some NHL 99 on his computer. He has two game controllers, and it was tremendous fun. We also looked at the FIFA ‘06 and the NHL ‘06 demos. In between this I did the laundry and spoke with the family back home. Before we knew it, it was already 1:30am. We were in the kitchen/lounge having something to drink, when Christian and Laure and Marion came back one at a time from the party that Frieder and I were going to go to. After seeing their subdued reactions, I’m glad I didn’t. Christian was compelled to get drunk just to see if the horrible music would get better, and Laure was falling asleep on the stairs. It was ‘free’ though.

I had best get to sleep. Tomorrow we leave at 8:30am on a day trip to the island of Ven, which lies between Sweden and Denmark. It is supposed to be quite beautiful. It was cloudy today but did not rain, and I hope the sun is shining tomorrow. I will post pictures when I return. I’m tentatively planning a day trip to Copenhagen on Sunday, but more on that tomorrow.

My thoughts are still with those suffering in New Orleans and Mississippi.

Upon returning to the dorm, I worked a bit more on my computer. It’s besieged by stubborn adware and malware. I’m writing here now from inside the Knoppix OS, which is a version of Linux that can be run off a CD (no install necessary). Alas, its default interface looks like something Fisher-Price would make, but at least there are no pop-ups.

I made some dinner (spaghetti with stirfryed vegetables) and then went to Frieder’s room to play some NHL 99 on his computer. He has two game controllers, and it was tremendous fun. We also looked at the FIFA ‘06 and the NHL ‘06 demos. In between this I did the laundry and spoke with the family back home. Before we knew it, it was already 1:30am. We were in the kitchen/lounge having something to drink, when Christian and Laure and Marion came back one at a time from the party that Frieder and I were going to go to. After seeing their subdued reactions, I’m glad I didn’t. Christian was compelled to get drunk just to see if the horrible music would get better, and Laure was falling asleep on the stairs. It was ‘free’ though.

I had best get to sleep. Tomorrow we leave at 8:30am on a day trip to the island of Ven, which lies between Sweden and Denmark. It is supposed to be quite beautiful. It was cloudy today but did not rain, and I hope the sun is shining tomorrow. I will post pictures when I return. I’m tentatively planning a day trip to Copenhagen on Sunday, but more on that tomorrow.

My thoughts are still with those suffering in New Orleans and Mississippi.