My first semester is done and three more to go! So, how is my Swedish experience so far?! Interesting and sometimes challenging. I didn't go home for Christmas and New Year's Eve, so I've spent the winter holidays in Sweden, to be more precise, in my room. :) 

On Christmas Eve, the family I stay with, celebrated with some friends and me skyping a bit with my parents. On Christmas day I went  to Copenhagen, to celebrate in Tivoli park. The round trip train ticket was 210 sek (one way - 110 sek). When arrived at Copenhagen train station I had to just exit on the right side and literally bumped into Tivoli park. You just have to cross the street and here you go, welcome to the amusement park. The admission ticket is 110 DKK, that was my choice, I thought that it's better and more fun to try the "rides" with my family. Next time, Tivoli! The Christmas in Tivoli was fantastic, with snow and cold weather, full of lights and Christmas decorations, Christmas carols in the background, music & light show on the water, in the evening fireworks festival, hot tasty latte and fish & chips. Yeah....who says that you can't enjoy Christmas alone?! The New Year's Eve I've spent it at home, and around 10:30 I went out in the little park next to my house and watched the fireworks until 12:30. :) I had a great view over the city, surrounded from everywhere by loud noise and colours. :) But I really enjoyed it.

The winter holidays are way gone and my first semester is done. The last course was called Embodied Design. Of course, the main literature was Paul Dourish book "Where the action is". I found it quite interesting, but I have to be admit that I am still unsure about embodiment, as well as with interaction design. All these notions are so profound, and opened, they tend to overlap with other fields. Everyone here was encouraged to develop his/her definition based on the readings, in every course.  I tried and wrote my own definition of embodiment related to our project work on my last paper. While waiting for the teacher's feedback, I kinda start doubting my thinking. Anyway, what is done, is done. In the worst case I have to rewrite the paper.  :)

Final observations & tips, based on my own personal experience:

- get involved in class presentations, even if the teacher says at the beginning that is it ok for just one person to present your group work; if not, make sure to talk  when you receive feedback and questions from teachers and colleagues; communication, here, is very appreciated;

- if you don't feel comfortable with your group and not satisfied with the work & methods, try to speak up; talk and express your concerns, tell them how you see things, how would you like to work together, take control and change the path of your group; after all, you are part of this and want to succeed;

- first thing to do when working in a group, take a couple of minutes to talk about yourselves - who are you, what you like, why are you here, what can you do in this group, how would you like to work - then decide some rules related to working hours, methods, conflicts, taking decisions; after these  you can focus on your task;

- when you receive a task/an assignment for a group project, take time to understand it, discuss about it, research on it, allow time for individual work, after you know for sure what were you asked to do and what are the teacher's expectations, then you can focus on creating a calendar with important deadlines, goals, methods; of course, you can change on the way, but don't disregard planning;

- now, while working, keep in mind to always question an idea - think about it, analyze it from all angles, don't jump to prototyping or to a final concept, without researching very deep; without a proper research, not only of the beginning of your project - do it all the way, you might end up with a concept which is already on the market or with a very banal concept.

The KIKK15 conference was an interesting event which somehow open up my mind to art. It’s more natural for me to think that design must be pragmatic, useful and goal oriented, but now I’ve seen that design can be related with fun and art. There were many studios or individuals who promoted their work, but I took it as a chance to expand my knowledge. 

Two particularly conferences kept my attention, despite the fact that every conference brought some valuable insights. From Tim Hunkin, an inventor from UK, I learned that even if an idea is simple, the process can be really fun. It is better to think to implementation from the beginning, to have a raw idea from the start, because sometimes you can advance with the prototype very quickly and you may find yourself then stuck in the implementation. 

And he rememberd me that the more degrees of freedom the concept has the more  complicated to use becomes. I really enjoyed the presentation because the videos presented gave me a concrete example on how to use videos and also because he showed different stages of prototyping. He was really honest by telling us about how sometimes he doesn’t know the evolution of a project, but he enjoys experimenting prototyping with materials and things. 

Moniker studio from Netherlands showed and explained an interesting method of collaboratively design, by giving away control to design and people while building on each other’s idea. Using their method for group working is also about finding a balance between freedom and limitations. In a way this idea of her about collaboratively working it Drawing exercise, Moniker was on my mind but I couldn’t express it, so I’m looking forward to apply these methods in the next projects. Moniker studio even wrote a book with exercises for stimulation of collaboration called “Conditional Design Workbook”, which I find it very useful and practical. 

How is Brussels? Well, it worths a city break for sure. The Grand Place, The Mannekin Pis, The Royal Palace, The European Commission, The Atomium, are interesting to see. This the only thing I saw in one day, with the mention that you can't climb the atomium after 5:30 pm :(. In the Grand Place you can participate at free guided tours, the one we took was about three hours walking and was pretty good. If I say two things I didn't like in Brussels would be that is not a clean city, and I do not feel safe alone on the streets after dark. Disclaimer: that is the first impression after one day of walking through the city and it could change in the future.

In Namur, I didn't have time to visit but of course I get 'lost' a bit and walked near the canal. It get me the impression of an rustic city.

Now, how was the conference? The main conferences were held in Theatre of  Namur, a fantastic building, where I spent the most of my time. 

The KIKK15 conference was an interesting event which somehow open up my mind to art. It’s more natural for me to think that design must be pragmatic, useful and goal oriented, but now I’ve seen that design can be related with fun and art. There were many studios or individuals who promoted their work, but I took it as a chance to expand my knowledge.

Yesterday I finished the first course "Introduction to multidisciplinary Interaction Design".  Three projects with two different teams in two months. Since at home this education system is not applied, I had to adapt quickly and it seems I did well. The first project aim was to learn how to do fieldwork, ethnographic research using different methods like: observations (different methods), interviews, questionnaires, in order to identify  a design problem and its design opportunities. The second was about video sketching and bodysorming, and how to use these methods to get creative when are you stuck, to analyze and understand better the interaction process behind an concept design. The last task focused on prototyping and how to validate a prototype. A protoype can be made of paper or other materials, a validation can be user testing or even better "fake it - Wizard of Oz".

During this course we had three tutoring sessions, after the projects presentation. It was a good idea, but personally I didn't find it very useful, because we talked mostly about my contribution to the group work. But each tutor has his own style, so this depends on people. 

After each project we had a wrap-up activity with another teacher where we discussed the group dynamics, how we worked as a process, which was our style, how we succeed to combine our varied work styles and personalities. This was one of the most useful and interesting activity which I loved at thos course. Maybe because the teacher was awesome too.

Regarding theory, the teachers gave us a few lectures in different steps of our projects for helping us move on with the projects when we were stuck. I may be tempted to say that their knowledge was presented to us too late, after we struggled with the projects or with our mistakes, and they could have helped us to avoid stress, conflicts, save time. But somehow I believed that we learn our lesson more quickly and profound by making the mistake first, and then having access to the right information.

All this time we had to read from all kind of sources and books, in order to understand deeply the design process. 

The books which were very useful for me were:

Designing for Interaction, Dan Saffer - for beginners, when you don't know how to start or to do in a design process

Sketching User Experiences, Bill Buxton - read together with the workbook

Also the Moggridge book "Designing Interactions" is a must, but mostly for understanding the evolution of Ixd and for inspiration, for learning from others people experiencess and success stories.

After one month in Sweden, today I managed to apply for the Swedish personal number. Because I'm gonna stay here more than one year I have the right to register at the Tax Office, so they know how long I'll remain in Sweden and where I will be staying, the purpose, and as a fact I will be treated as a Swedish citizen regarding health emergencies. Let's hope that this wont be the case. So, as every human being, I looked out for the address on internet and went there. I thought the Tax Office opens at 8, but actually it opens at 10, so being there  with one hour earlier I managed to read a book borrowed a week ago. Anyway, I applied for the Swedish personal number, and the whole thing took less than one hour. Pretty fast, for me, but faster for you if you have the form already completed. As a citizen of EU, I needed an ID, the European health insurance card and the confirmation from University that I was accepted to studies. And that was all. :) Now I have to wait for the letter to come home.

I like the people here, but that doesn't mean they are perfect. Some of my colleagues were talking, they've been here for a long long time, how Swedes in general don't apologize. Personally, I haven't met one yet who doesn't say sorry. But I did meet a person which behaviour was hard to understand. I was climbing the stairs on the right side, already engaged in  the climbing, and at the half at the stairs a big Swedish lady, climbing down the stairs on my side,  says to me with a low voice "Move". I was a bit shocked, for me it's normal to go up on the right, and down on the left (right), I wasn't doing something wrong, but still she could have asked me nicer. In the same day, one colleague went to a meeting at a restaurant, and even the restaurant was empty, one family decides to stay right next to her. Their chairs were so close, obviously they had not enough space. So the lady who came last, tells my colleague to move, without saying please, even if she couldn't move. Difficult people are everywhere, it doesn't matter the colour, the country, only the education counts. But not everything in the garden is rosy.

Hi! :) I'm Esther and I've just moved to Sweden to continue my master studies. I'm introvert, so I think a lot and talk less, that's why I'm gonna share here my thoughts, experienceses and write about what catches my attention.

First time in Sweden was a bit shocking,  I knew it's a multicultural country, but I guess I've seen more arabs and other immigrants than Swedes. And they were speaking Swedish, meaning they were born here and have been living for generations. That's cool actually, it's like you've been born already poliglot, you know Swedish, English and your native language. Aweseome! And the funny thing is to see an asian family selling in a swedish souvenir shop. :)

A few things really impressed me like many bus drivers are women, the buses lays down near the pavement for the elderly and disabled to get on, people are jogging no matter what time of day, bikes are parked almost everywhere, drivers drive their cars in a very calm and relaxed way almost asking you nicely to cross the street, people dress very casual and the elders  keep their natural hair colour. The last one is quietly surprising, because in my country in the cities the elder women are very neat and their hair is lightly purple, blue, blonde, red, and they wear makeup for a walk in the park, but here is different.

The weather is sneaky, now is sunny, and after a few minutes is rainning. But until now it was warm with strong wind. People are friendly, almost all speaks English, willing to help you if you are in need and they smile a lot at their job. For example, in the bus, the driver welcomes you with a smile and after you pay thanks you. How cool is that! Of course this friendly attitude is in my country too, but it's not a lifestyle. Here it's like they are thought to treat all the customers well and tha's a rule which can not be broken. Services are for people, so people are the most important.

Yeahp....so these were my first thoughts about Sweden and more to come...  Cheers! :)