Ditt KTH-konto kommer att deaktiveras / Your KTH account will be deactivated

KTH was my second university during my MSc. I had a higher attachment to Portugal and Lisboa because it was my first time living abroad and first time the freedom of living alone on my own. I was also affiliated with the Universidade de Lisboa for 7 years, 2012 - 2019, for my MSc and Ph.D. In comparison, I spent only one semester in KTH, the 3rd semester of my MSc. However, since it is an Erasmus Mundus double degree program, I also attended the KTH MSc graduation ceremony in 2015 in Stockholm, in addition to the one in Lisboa. In fact, the KTH graduation was really fun, in the Stockholm City Hall. It was huge and with all the friends, it felt very special. 

 

Most universities deactivate your email address once you quit or graduate. I have been affiliated with 8 universities so far, and only Universidade de Lisboa and KTH did not deactivate my account after I graduated and left. Well, until now. Now I received this email from KTH.

Ditt KTH-konto kommer att deaktiveras / Your KTH account will be deactivated
INFORMATION IN ENGLISH FURTHER DOWN
Detta meddelande går till dig som har ett KTH-konto men ej är anställd eller studerar på KTH.
Då KTH-konton är avsedda för de som för närvarande studerar eller arbetar på KTH kommer ditt konto att deaktiveras den 12 november 2024. Detta görs av såväl säkerhets- som resursskäl.
Det innebär att:

• Du inte kommer att kunna logga in på ditt konto

• E-postadressen kopplad till kontot kommer att sluta fungera

• Eventuell automatisk vidarebefordran av e-post kommer att upphöra

Om det finns filer, e-post eller annan information som du vill ha kvar måste du själv flytta eller kopiera dem till din privata dator. De kommer inte att kunna återfås efter deaktiveringen av KTH-kontot.
Om du har behov av KTH-konto på grund av pågående arbete på/med KTH kontakta din uppdragsgivare som gör en bedömning och beslutar om en eventuell förlängning av kontot.

Informationen finns även publicerad på KTH:s webbplats:

• Deaktivering av e-post och KTH-konto för studenter | Student

• Deaktivering av e-post och KTH-konto för anställda | KTH Intranät

• Registrera dig till KTH:s alumnnätverket med din privat e-postadress

Med vänlig hälsning
KTH:s IT-avdelning
KTH:s säkerhetsavdelning
INFORMATION IN ENGLISH
This message is for those with a KTH account but not currently employed or studying at KTH.

Your KTH account will be deactivated on 12 November 2024 as KTH accounts are intended for those studying or working at KTH. This is done for both security and resource allocation reasons.

This means that:

• It will not be possible for you to log in to your KTH account

• The email address associated with the account will stop working

• Any automatic e-mail forwarding will also stop working

If there are files, e-mails, or other information on the account that you want to keep, you will have to move or copy them to your own computer yourself. It will not be possible to retrieve them after deactivation of your KTH account.

If you need a KTH account due to ongoing work at/with KTH, contact your responsible manager/equivalent who will assess and decide on the need for an extension of your KTH account.

This information is also published on the KTH website:

• Student web: Deactivation of e-mail and KTH account for students | Student

• KTH intranet: Deactivation of e-mail and KTH account for employees | KTH Intranet

• KTH Alumni: Register to the KTH Alumni Network by using your private email

Sincerely
KTH IT Department
KTH Security and Safety Department

My KTH Profile

This is sad. I like my KTH email address. It is short and sweet - kpr@kth.se. So, even though my real use as a student in KTH lasted only for the semester in KTH (Spring 2013), I have used it more after. In 2023 - 2024, I participated in the KTH Alumni Mentor Programme, mentoring an MSc student from KTH. Such requests came to my attention only because of this account. After 12 November 2024, I won't receive such emails.

Although currenly outdated (I did not bother to update recently), I also have a nice profile at KTH, which will go offline too, I figure. https://www.kth.se/profile/kpr

	I wish universities stopped deactivating emails after graduating or leaving the university, as these university emails form a large part of our academic identities.

Time capsule - Portugal version

Taxi bill found in my pocket

There were many times I left Lisboa to live in other cities. But I knew that we would return, and usually stored our things securely in safe storage before leaving the city. But this was the first time packing everything, throwing away our 6 years of stuff. The city has loads of memories, and it is overwhelming. I have a feeling that the best part of my life so far, was in Lisboa. Not in Colombo, where I grew up.

Migrations consume lots of energy - especially if the migration is permanent. Portugal was my home for the past 6 years. Although I was moving back and forth between countries, I always returned to Portugal within a year. This year leaving Lisboa was first time as in a permanent move. I will of course go back for my Ph.D. defense soon. But not to live there again. At least no plans in the future that I foresee. We were dropping our clothes that are still relatively new into the donation box since we just can take 1 checked-in bag each in the flight. Later I realized, I dropped my metro card inside mistakenly with one of the shirts. Several months later in Atlanta, I found the taxi receipt from Lisboa in the pocket of my jacket, which I luckily still did not wash. On the taxi to the airport, I had mistakenly dropped a new umbrella and a water bottle from the side pockets of my bag. Leaving a country, throwing away almost everything we accumulated over several years is in fact somewhat a painful experience that we got used to. In fact, that explains our minimalist lifestyle during the past few years in EU.

Memories of Porto, still strong after 6 years

Sometimes we want to go back to visit a few of the places that left strong and pleasant memories in the past. However, it is not always easy to recreate and relive those memories. I wanted to spend some time in Porto before leaving Portugal this year. It was always in my list since we last visited in 2013. However, due to time limitations, we could not make it this year. It will remain forever as a memory of 2013 summer, until I manage to visit it in the future. This takes me back to the memories of Kista and Farsta in Stockholm. I stayed in Kista for my 2013 falls semester in KTH for my EMDC masters program. I used to visit Farsta frequently those days for a walk and for the shopping mall. Farsta also had a Hindu temple. After I left Stockholm and returned to Portugal, I visited Stockholm twice. Once for my masters graduation at KTH and once when I returned from ACRO summer school from Karlstad. I managed to visit Farsta during my first visit. But I missed Kista during both of my visits. Kista is not much of a fun except the shopping mall which also hosted our student accommodation as well as our Kista campus (far from the main KTH campus).

Memories are the best part of a travel. I sometimes like to travel to new places. Often I just want to go back to a place that I previously enjoyed and loved. Even if I go back, the same places do not always give the same memories. Things change. Places also change. Thus our experiences.

Prisoners of Time

I recently watched this amazing video. "Otis Johnson went to jail at the age of 25. When he got out at 69, he rejoined a world that was starkly different from the one he remembered. This is his story."

We often have strong memories when we go back to a place that we have enjoyed before. This year, I had the opportunity to go back to Stockholm after 2 years. Lots of memories. I, in fact, went to Stockholm twice. The second time I went to both Stockholm and Fejan. However, both times I failed to go to Kista, the place where I stayed for 4.5 months, during my entire stay in Stockholm. Our student apartments were located on top of a shopping center. Almost all the shops in the shopping center would close at 9 pm, which I dearly disliked. Other than that, we enjoyed an instant shopping whenever we wanted to. We did not have to walk for shopping.

As I was enjoying Farsta, Stockholm city centre, and Stockholm old city, Kista somehow slipped to the last of the to-visit list. Now, Kista has come back to the top of my places to go when I go back to Stockholm in the future. This is all to re-create the memories of 2013. I can feel the bittersweet feeling Otis faces in the above video. Losing freedom to stay in prison is harsh. While not judging his action and the judgement as that is neither my duty nor the intent of this blog post, I admire the way he expresses himself. This video has become quite popular and viral. I truly hope Aljazeera shares revenue from this video with him. He was quite entertaining and his voice was soothing to listen.a

Memories of Croatia

View from the apartment in Rijeka

I often find it hard to fix my mind on whether to visit a new place, or a place that I have visited and enjoyed a lot once more. I visited Stockholm for the 3rd time recently for the EMDC Summer Event 2015. That was the last EMDC event as 2014 was the last intake of EMDC. I stayed in Stockholm for just 4.5 months. Still it left very nice memories, and going back early this summer in May and now again in August gave life to strong memories of 2013.

So far I have lived in Colombo, Lisbon, and Stockholm. Since I am still in Lisbon, I do not miss it right now. I also have lived in Rijeka, Croatia for 22 days. Though that was a very short period, I had a routine life with cooking, working, and going to the nearest super market. I also had some time to travel during the weekends, to the nearest cities. It was a short-stay. But Rijeka is clearly recorded in my mind. In the future, if I ever go back to Rijeka, I will get the memories back. I do not think I will ever go back to Rijeka, as I do not foresee the reason. But I cannot say for sure. In 2013, I never would have guessed that I would go back to Fejan in 2015 for another summer event.

My memories of Croatia includes working with my computer with the noise of frogs, while sitting outside the University of Rijeka in the stair case, in the mid night! They just close the faculty by 10 pm, and I did not have internet connection in my big and beautiful apartment (that was supposed to be a professors apartment. The topmost floor of the students' dormitory. Loved it). All the COST actions of the same program are listed here, including mine.

During my second trip to Stockholm, I did not pay a visit to KTH main campus. This time, I did. However, I did not visit Kista even this time. Kista is where I lived during my stay of 4.5 months in Stockholm. I stayed in the student apartments in the upper floors above a shopping mall.

In 2013, I came back to Lisbon two times for short trips, from Stockholm. In 2015, it is from Lisbon to Stockholm, two times. I admire the random patterns that appear in my life.

EMDC Summer Event 2015

I represented EMDC 2012 batch at the EMDC Summer Event 2015, in Fejan island, Sweden. The event was targeted towards my juniors, EMDC batch 2014. I presented the thoughts from our batch, as well as my research work at the event.

EMDC Summer Event 2015 Presentation from Kathiravelu Pradeeban

 

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.

Stockholm - Month 4

Scenic beauty of the lake..

[15/12/2013] - Finally we are completing our 4th month in Stockholm tomorrow. Few more days to complete the third semester, when all of us will disperse to different countries from Sweden. This month was interesting, but was dark with very little sun shine. Interestingly it didn't snow much yet here. Just snowed twice. Earlier this week once and today with rain. No evidence of snow remains either. All the snow has melted down. 

  

At the examination

[12/12/2013] - Today at the examination, the invigilator looked at my Swedish Residence permit with the photo taken just 100 days before, and then looked at me. Then again at the ID, then at me, and then asked me, "Is it really you?" (with a big smile of course). I said, "yes, it is me. Now I look older in the winter". She certainly was not satisfied. She asked from her colleague. He too was kinda confused. Then they decided to trust me. Probably they were just playing with me, because they were smiling. Probably my appearance has indeed changed drastically over the 100 days, away from the motherland of Sri Lanka and the loveland of Portugal. haha.. Nevertheless, that was fun. Blame my laziness for not shaving even past the Movember-deal.

Philosophy of Science 

We have received the results for the Philosophy of Science. An "A" for my essay, "Creation-Science vs. Evolution. An induction based analysis". I am happy about that, as I had done a considerable research on that area for the paper. We had so many presentations. I love student presentations. :D

Lots of Music

I have spent lots of time listening to music, or I often do other things having the music as a background. In the city of darkness, music keeps me alive. ♥ I am listing some of the music I enjoyed most in 2013 below. These songs are pretty old and not really released in 2013. But I happened to listen to them for the first time in 2013. So for me, they are music of 2013. :D I hope you will enjoy these songs, as much as I do.

1. Inna (Romania) - Amazing (video in Praia das Maçãs (The Apples beach), Sintra, Portugal).

 

2. The Myth (China) - Endless Love. [bilingual song - Chinese and Korean].

 

3. DaiQing Tana (China) - Qinghai Lake (video in Qinghai Province, China). [bilingual song - Chinese and Mongolian].

 

Stockholm - Month 2

KTH, red in Autumn!

[25/09/2013] - Now the time has started to go fast. Cooking has become a daily routine. Final year gives more pressure than the first year, though the workload is relatively low. This is because, now we have to look forward for our future, what is beyond EMDC? To focus on our next stop. First years do not have this to think about. Weather is getting colder. 4  °C right now, at 10.15 a.m. 

[16/10/2013] - Two months have passed in Stockholm. Autumn makes everything colourful. The KTH main campus, which looked green, looks red now! It gets to subzero temperatures. The central heating is still not turned on, in the apartment. But it doesn't get much cold inside yet, when the windows and doors are closed. Days are quite busy with the Philosophy of Science essay, and it is almost finished by now. Time to focus on the project.

One month in Stockholm - Pleasant and unpleasant surprises..

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan

[16/09/2013] It is one month, since I reached Stockholm. The day time of Stockholm shrinks pretty fast - 5 to 6 minutes per day. When we came here, the Sun used to set around 9 pm and the sun light was visible till the 9.30 pm, from as early as 5 a.m. Now it seems like 6.30 a.m to 7 p.m. Autumn is here already; it keeps raining. [Sweden Weather]

Cultural Shock, again?

When I was in Sri Lanka, I used to think that all the Europe is same. But living in Sweden shows that it is not the case. Coming from Portugal, I was able to see some differences. Some pleasant and some not-so-pleasant surprises. 

I am listing down some of my unexpected observations in Sweden. Some of these are probably just because of the higher expectations.

1. Friendly People

Just like in Porto and Lisbon, I was able to meet friendly strangers here in Stockholm, who were willing to take some effort to provide with some help, finding the way to the metro station, or helping me understand something written in Swedish.

2. Dumpster Diving

Recycling is a serious business in Sweden. You can return the plastic or glass bottles, and beer cans and receive 1 - 4 SEK coupons from the super markets. One day, I was on the metro, and a lady who looked like a gypsy came and sat next to me, with a huge garbage bag. Eventually, I realized that the bag indeed contained garbage, from the foul smell. I had to wait a few more stations for someone from the seat in the other side to get up, before switching the seat, not making it obvious, as I didn't want to offend her. She had collected lots of bottles, tins, and cans from the trash bins of the streets or super markets, so that she can probably have dinner that night, by submitting them. After that incident, I also noticed many people doing the same - putting their hands into the trash bin. Probably, they are homeless or asylum seekers from other countries. Still, it looked a bit weird.

After having a coca-cola, we throw the bottle into the bin - and someone collect it to receive some coins. Effectively, everyone is happy. Empty trash bins.

Woods of Vidja

3. Forests

I never thought I would be able to see thick forests inside the Stockholm city limits. As I walked, I noticed a deer in the woods one day.

4. More openness

Even with my limited exposure to Swedish, I was able to see the cultural differences. Compared to Sweden, I can say that Portugal is much more conservative.

5. Dirt

Probably, this won't make much sense. May be, this is because of the high expectations - I found Stockholm having more dirt on the metro stations and was a bit shocked. This may be due to the utopian depiction of Scandinavian countries we were given in the southern Europe.

6. Crowds
In real life, Stockholm metro stations didn't seem as stunning as portrayed in, "Stunning underground art In Stockholm’s metro station". Mixture of both slowly moving people and people rushing to catch the metro and altogether the presence of an unorganized crowd in the metro stations make it almost impossible to enjoy the metro art. The extremely long walk imposed by the long metro stations is not really fun, when you have to run to catch the metro before you miss it, as the next one would take 10 minutes to come, unless for the cities in the center, which can be reached by multiple lines including all the red and green lines.

7. Public Transport
Buses are not that frequent when we go farther from the downtown. For example, a bus leaves from Farsta to Vidja only once an hour, and seems to be the only option of public transport that connects these two places. Probably people in Stockholm do not use the public transport much, unlike in our countries. I should not forget the infrequent buses to Taguspark in Portugal, which is worse. It is possible to buy the bus ticket using your mobile phone. But it is impossible to buy the tickets from the driver, on board. That means, you should always have your ticket before you board on the bus.

8. Multi-cultural/Cosmopolitan City

It was not that easy for me to find another Sri Lankan in Lisbon. But I was able to see plenty of them in the God Ganesh temple run by Sri Lankans. I was also able to see a huge number of Chinese and Indians. Not to forget the instructions in Chinese Language in Arlanda Airport. I was also able to meet many international students in the student apartment. KTH surely welcomes foreign students.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Our courses began on the 2nd of September, and we have already completed two weeks of our courses.  The first 3 out of the 4 courses have already begun, and the last one begins at the end of September, mostly covered in the period 2. We have the below courses for the semester - IC2002 Philosophy of Science, ID2220 Advanced Topics in Distributed Computing, ID2219 Implementation of Scalable Distributed Systems, and LS2306 Scientific Writing and Communication.

We have received the project and the assignment descriptions to do for the semester, and we are getting busier with our studies. Right now, busy reading the book, "Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues" of Curd & Cover.

Stockholm - Weeks 1 & 2

[02/09/2013] Probably because it is the late summer, the rainy days are getting frequent here. However, we are still able to enjoy the sun shine and the long days. We had the EMDC Summer event at Fejan from the 20th - 22nd of August, which was a remarkable event, following the EMDC Winter Event we had last semester at Nuria.

Stockholm is full of water - lakes and islands. I didn't expect it to be a Venice of the north. Literally you can travel around the city with a small boat, kayaking. I visited the old town at Gamla Stan, the woods of Vidja, long walk by Långholmen island.

We had a welcome reception at the city hall, with the KTH President. He addressed the new students at the hall where the Nobel Prizes are awarded. Within the few days, we also have made friends with lots of people. 

Everything is pretty much expensive here, and to manage with the same amount of scholarship, we have to be really careful with what we spend. I also feel missing Lisbon and its hot summers. However, I hope the stay at Stockholm will be as interesting as Lisbon.

The road to Stockholm..

Leaving Sri Lanka for my second year of studies at KTH, I realized, how the time flew fast. On the 16th of August 2013, I reached Stockholm. This was after a break of 1.5 months in Sri Lanka for the summer. I had some Euros with me, which I wanted to convert to SEK, when I reached the Arlanda Airport North (ARN).

Kista
I am staying at Kista student apartments, which is on top of the Kista Galleria, close to KTH Kista campus, where we will have most of our lectures. Unlike Lisbon, reaching our apartments or the city centre from the Arlanda Airport is not that economical. Taxi is pretty much expensive. First I bought the SL travel card for 20 SEK, which also costs 790 SEK per month for the monthly allowance, without the student card (they didn't accept the Portuguese Student card, and they require a Swedish card, where we are yet to receive our KTH Student card).

Airport Express and Coaches
I have tried multiple travel options to reach the airport, and reach the apartment from the airport, during my stay in Stockholm for the past few days. First I used the airport coach Flygbussarana, which accepted my Portuguese Student card and gave me the student discount. So this was an economic option, as I was able to reach the central metro/train station in 50 minutes for 79 SEK (When I checked again in the October, I was told that the student discount is no more offered to the airport shuttles even with the Swedish student card. So I had to pay 99 SEK.). These tickets can easily be bought from both the airport and the T-Centralen central metro station from the airport shuttle ticket machine.
 
From the T-Centralen, the central metro station, I took the metro blue line leading towards Akalla, and got off at Kista. Similarly I tried the airport express train to go to the airport on the 23rd of August, from the central station. They didn't accept my Portuguese student card as an international student card. So I had to pay 260 SEK, which is pretty expensive. With the KTH student card (or any other international student card that is in the acceptable format - that is, a smart student card. :D), you will receive a 50% discount on the fare. This is the fastest option, as it lets you reach the Arlanda North (ARN) station in 20 minutes. ARN consists of the terminal 5 International Terminal, and Arlanda South (ARS) consists of the other terminals.

There is also another airport coach from Flygbussarana that goes directly from Arlanda Airport to Kista/Sundbyberg/Bromma Airport. You can get down at Jan Stenbecks torg bus stop and walk towards the Kista apartments. I have never tried this option myself - somehow missed it. (Thanks Shelan for the update. :) )

Public Transport
It is also possible to use the public transport to Kista from the airport, which I tried on my way back to the apartment on the 27th of August. With the SL card, this will be free, as we are using  the public transports. Just go to the bus terminal 15 at the airport, and go to Märsta station by the bus number 583 that operates between Märsta station and Halmsjön. At Märsta station you can take the commuter train to Helenelund, and from there Kista is in a walking distance, and can also be reached by the bus 523 or 603.

Documents

Student status letter, indicating I have been admitted to a Swedish University and Insurance Document were sent by the university, as early as the mid of March. We also received the student agreement, stating that we will receive the scholarship to cover our expenses in Sweden. Information regarding the Swedish residence permit is found at the EMDC website.

Residence Permit

We applied for Swedish residence permit online from Lisbon in March itself. Since we already have the visa to enter Schengen region, we didn't have to provide our biometric data (finger prints and the photograph) from Lisbon or from our home country (Since Sri Lanka doesn't have a Swedish Embassy, I would have to go to New Delhi for this, otherwise). Rather, we provided them once we reached Stockholm. The residence permit to be sent to our address in Stockholm.

Migration Board

Reaching the migration board is pretty easy, from the central station T-Centralen. Just take the commuter train to Solna. However, as we are staying in Kista, we rather took the metro to Solna Centrum, and then bus 502 that leads towards Ulriksdals Station and get off at Pyramidvagen. Appointment should be made prior online, for the biometrics data, and it takes just 5 minutes. Once you have booked the appointment, it is easy to cancel or change the appointment to another date or time.

Receiving Letters
Make sure to check your names in the post boxes when you reach Kista Galleria apartments. If your name is not posted on the right post box, they will return the letter, even if the address is entered right in the post. That also means, if you want to receive a letter for someone else, they must put your name as c/o. My first receipt for the rent payments returned, as my name was not posted correctly on the postbox. So I had to ask the KTH student apartments to resend it after posting my name in the appropriate post box.

Weekly Posts
As I did from Lisbon, I hope to keep the blog updated with the information on my stay at Stockholm. This post comes with the information specific to how I reached my apartment from the airport and applied to the Swedish visa, where the "weekly posts" will follow up in the other posts. You may also like to read "The road to Lisbon", which discusses the visa application process to Lisbon.