Category: Sweden


Roadtrip!

On the bus on our way to Gothenburg

On the bus on our way to Gothenburg.

So I’m finally with David on my way to Gothenburg. We bought the cheapest ticket available, so we are on a 5 hour long bustrip. I’m going to stay there for 2 awesome days, maybe 3. First we are going to stay at Hendersons place on a island nearby the city. We are planning to go to an amusementpark and see the city of course. After my time in Gotenburg I will leave David (noooo!) to go to Oslo. David is going to visit an old friend, but I’m going to visit Kristina in Oslo. She is working there for the summer period. I will meet Sophia (a good friend of Kristina, and I worked with her on a project) over there to see the city and such. After staying here for 2 days, I’m going to Lund to visit two of my Dutch friends. One of them is studying there, and a friend who is studying in Denmark and me decided to meet with there. Both of them are going to stay there the whole summer time, so this is the last time in a long while that I’m going to see them.

I will try to keep my blog updated with my adventures and pictures.

Holidays

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Postcard photo

So I decided to stay for one more month. I really want to celebrate the beginning of the summer in Sweden. The thing is that I think that I didn’t see much of Sweden yet. Well, I’ve been to Kiruna, saw Stockholm a lot and been on a cruise to Riga. But there are some parts I definitely want to see before I go.

Last monday we decided in a hurry that we go to a cabin in the woods in the south of Stockholm. The cabin was somewhere in the woods, and had a view over a lake. The place was truly beautiful, I never thought that Swedish summers can be so wonderful. This short trip was a great start of my holiday time here.

Nicie nice

Nicie nice

The view on the lake

The view on the lake

The thing is that I have a lot of plans, but no concrete ones. I can go visit a friend in Göteborg, visit another one in Gotland and go fishing. Maybe I can go to Lund and Aalborg to visit some Dutch friends who study there. Other options are to go to Oslo and Stockholm. So much to do, but so less time. I think I have to make a list and call some people to get things arranged. I try to keep this blog up to date with my plans and activities.

Done!

It has been a long time ago when I put something on my blog (again). I’ll split my story in two posts for the sake of readability.

The reason that I lacked my posting ratio is I’ve been busy, very busy. Last week was the final week of school, and I had two presentations and had to deliver some reports. It was crazy, but I think I’ve finished everything successfully. I still have to wait for the results for two of them. In the weekend there were a lot of party’s going on and the weather was beautiful. I spend my time sitting in the park with my homies and go to student activities for one last time. Most of the students left last weekend to work or go back to their hometown, so the student life is done here. Luckily, some people I met are going to stay in Eskilstuna, so I have some company this month. I’ll post my plans in the next post, but first I’ll show you what I’ve done for the last couple of weeks.

Information design project

the main thing I was doing was an 8 week long project. This was a group project, so working with Swedish people, and this was a great experience. The last week was kind of hectic, making the final document and the presentation.

blast furnace overview

the overview of the blast furnace and the sign placed next to it

A close up of the sign

A close up of the sign.

An illustration of the Blast furace process.

An illustration of the Blast furnace process.

the lay out of the sign

the lay out of the sign

The illustrations were made by Sophia, the illustrator in our group. Most of them where made in the evening we spent in school, so I was great we could finish this at the time. The presentation two days after was in Norberg, where New Lapphyttan is located. The customer was Swedish, so the final documents and presentation was in Swedish. I helped to make a set up of the documents and did some photoshop work in the end. Overall in this project I was responsible for the group management and the conceptual thinking.

Graphic design course

As a last moment choice I joined a graphic design course. Like I said in my previous post, it was a long time ago when I worked serious on this subject, so this was a great opportunity to brush up my skills.

We had to make a folder informing about an innovative project and as a second assignment a book layout. I think the first one is self explanatory, so here some pics:

Back and front

Back and front

the inside of the folder

the inside of the folder

For the PDF, click here. I also made an book layout, but it’s kind of boring to show here. It’s all about alignment, layout and typography. Click here if you want to see it.

So this is what I’ve been doing lately. I still feel kind of sad when I think about that my exchange study is officially over. It was a great experience, and Sweden is a great place to do your study. If I have the chance I will definitively do an exchange study again. But no worries, it’s not over yet. I have a lot of plans for the coming weeks!

volunteer project and a new course

Next to the information design project I’m doing a volunteer project in Västerås. I got in this project a couple a weeks ago because Hubert, one of the organizers of the International Committee, needed an designer. In this project we are giving information about the exchange student to the average Swede, because the school (and the municipal of this area) thinks that there is almost no awareness about exchange students. The budget is surprisingly big, so we can spend a lot of money on production and promotion. We decided to put big posters in common area’s. The posters tell the experiences of exchange students here in Sweden and their home country. We try to familiarize the persons with the visitor.

Below some pictures about the first mockup we printed at the print shop to give an idea.

We are discussing the print with the print shop guy about the possibilities

We are discussing the print with the print shop guy about the possibilities. Don't pay attention to the girl in the back.

A close up of the first print

A close up of the first print.

For this project I’m doing the graphic design, thats quite a responsibility, because at the moment I’m the only one with the proper skills. I’m trying to find some help, because I think this is to much work (we are going to make more then 10 of these!). Well the overload of work gives me the next problem. For now it’s kind of easy going, but it going to be hell the next 5 weeks.

Remembered the Lighting course? We’ll that kind of sucked. It started sucking more when I got to know that I only get 2 ECTS instead of 7,5. The story is to long to tell every detail, but it narrows down that the solution for participating this course was half-assed. O yeah, and the teacher kind of screwed me over (don’t tell a Swedish teacher that his / her course sucks, in a proper way of course). But of course, this is also a bit my fault by not participating the final presentation because I was doing party-party in Stockholm. But it is a bit of chicken-and-egg story. I’m tired of talking to coordinators and the teacher to find a solution this way. I will try to get my two points for the honor, so I have to write a report to finish it.

To get all my points in the end, I’m going to follow another course. I’m going to do a graphic design course, with the program InDesign, for a real company. It’s a long time ago when I used InDesign, so a good opportunity to brush up my skills. The course is from the same teacher as the information design project. Also, I’m not the only exchange student, so this sounds kinda promising.

I have so much more to tell, but It’s getting late already and I have to get up early. I will try to make a new post before the end of the week.

Information design project

It has been I while since I updated, I changed the back-end of my blog, instead of posting new posts. I Installed some nice plugins and finetuned some small layout things. I also joined Twitter, to know where the fuss is all about. The nerd in me wants something too, you know.

But here, finally a new post!

A lot of things happened the past three weeks. At first I’m still doing the historical village project. I think it is a really fun project to do, is because of the nice group I think. It is more concept like then I’m used to. The main goal is to work on a solid concept, so we have 10 weeks to produce this. This is kind of new for me, because I’m used to “rush” this part and go to the building / developing the project. It is the wrong way, I know, but if you want to make something that really works, you have to put a lot of time in the production, instead of thinking about the concept. For me, this is really useful to focus on this part of the process. Tomorrow we are going to narrow down our ideas. Finally a post with a lot of pictures!

The water supply for the oven

The water supply for the oven

Our subject, the melting oven. In the summer period they actually use this thing.

Our subject, the melting oven. In the summer period they actually use this thing.

Another overview of the village

Another overview of the village.

You can find the Flickr page with all the photo’s here. You will find the rest of my progress in the next post.

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