Completion of EMDC - II

KTH President at the Welcome Reception

Finally, we had the KTH graduation on the 27th of May. It was pleasant to meet many of my Erasmus Mundus friends in Stockholm after a long time, in a familiar place. Remember, my post Completion of EMDC" on the IST graduation on the 23rd of May? I spent 75% of my masters in IST. But still it was KTH graduation that really made me feel the completion. Majority of us from EMDC - IST were back in Stockholm after 1.5 years for the graduation. The graduation ceremony took place in Stockholm city hall, where we also had the inauguration ceremony in 2013 August, when we just started our semester in KTH. So much nostalgic.

I ordered the two individual photos taken for 165*2 SEK (35,44 Euro), and transferred the money through my bank from Portugal to Sweden. It cost me 41,60 Euro extra for the foreign transaction fees. It usually charged me this when I transferred money to Sri Lanka. I did not know that they also charge to transfer to Sweden! It is always free to transfer money inside Portugal (also probably inside all the euro-zone countries). I was informed by my bank that it was the charge from the Swedish bank - not my bank. My Portuguese bank does not charge for online money transaction inside Europe. Whatever that is, it seems bank money transfer is not really a good idea.

Now waiting for the official photos to arrive by email. When I came to Portugal in 2012, I just wanted to finish my masters successfully with pretty good results. I did not think that I will stay in Portugal beyond that, though I really had plans to do EMJD-DC, my current PhD program, from the very beginning. But my interest was to do it in KTH. Eventually, my shift changed and I started to like IST and INESC-ID Lisboa. That is how I ended up staying much longer in Lisbon than I initially thought.

In the photo, Prof. Peter Gudmundson, President of KTH, during the welcome reception on the 30th of August, 2013. Same location - same people - nice to be there listening to him again speaking in Swedish and English. Next to Sri Lanka and Portugal, Sweden was my third home for a short period. I often feel guilty realizing that I did not travel much during my 4.5 months stay in Sweden, except Stockholm and Malmo, in 2013. This visit [26th - 29th, May 2015] was a quick recap of my entire stay in a very short time. I will be back for my third visit soon, I believe.

As of now, I don't really have solid plans on my next stop. I will know it when the time comes closer.