Stlm by day

Last week end was the occasion to spend more time in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, a town that I would recommend to anybody! It is one of these big towns - an urban population of around 1,200,000 - that has kept its tradition and charm while being very modern at the same time. No skyscrapers but some very high churches, the architecture is very nice! Nevertheless, I noticed this sort of American side of Sweden, that might just be the consequence of a country that lacks a strong culture in domains like gastronomy or entertainment, in the invasion of so many foreign fast foods downtown, or the fashion of girls that reminds me of New York! These are assumptions as I don't know the country enough, and the restaurant where I ate dinner was a really good quality-price ratio!

Stockholm was also for me the occasion to visit the Vasa Museum and Skansen, two great places! The Vasa Museum is in a sort of island which looks very nice and seems dedicated to entertainment. I was amused by the story of the ship and fascinated by the museum, which was much more interesting that museum I usually visit. Skansen was also amazing with so many different animals and a funny site that is convenient to visit. It has also been a while I didn't see any "exotic" animal! I recommend both of them!

It is hard to be researcher

T-H-E-S-I-S.

One word to rule them all.

One word that summarizes where 90% of my energy goes!

The thesis work is brand new for me, and I wasn't expecting such a workload! Whereas a normal course is much simplified by the teacher's explanations, here you have to build your own knowledge by collecting data in the infinitely vast universe of the web, or the more condensed world of libraries and books. In one of them, it's all about finding the few precious stones among the multitude of rocks; in the other one, it's more about being patient enough to follow the path to the goldmine.

Per and I were very motivated about writing a thesis on the financial field, but I think we might have been to ambitious from the start. Being interested in the subprime crisis led us to try to study the limits of risk management tools in monitoring and coping with the crisis. But then further research of the theoretical field of risk management in the banking system showed us how much it is developed, and therefore how hard it is to break it down. Everytime we think we are on the right tracks, then meeting with Emeric makes us understand that our research questions have purpose or constraints issues. It gets very confusing and we struggle making the trade-off between interesting thesis and manageable thesis.

It is a hard task, but it is very interesting. I really enjoy the researches, the only problem comes from the frustration of having an idea that suits your interest. Anyway it is also funny to see how one's own discipline changes from the early days to the following weeks. The first week was about enjoying more freetime or freedom of scheduling, but then one quickly realizes that in order to be research effectively one need to wake up at 7:30 and starts studying around 8:30 till the end of the evening, while averaging 10 coffees a day. We usually meet at 9 with Per and stay all day long at the university with a confortable lunch break to rest our brains, and the study rooms of the A building are just great. The only problem is that after 9AM there is no room left! In general the A building is a very good place to study, I really enjoy it.

This week end will be about releasing some pressure as I go back to Bordeaux for 3 days in order to pick up my passeport at the townhall and do some administrative tasks. A sligthly warmer weather, some good food and then seeing my family and friends (in this order of satisfaction, ahah just kidding) are the perfect recipe to come back 100% up and about! (I feel kind of sick though... that would really be too bad !!)

Please anyone interested in some french products let me know, I will unload my winter stuff there and bring back some food in my bags !! ;)

Atlantis BBQ!

What a great day! After the coldest week end of the year when the temperature reached -10°C, the weather became fine here in Linköping. Very surprising to find oneself in t shirt in the streets! The temperature was so "warm" someday that biking without mittens was possible, thing that is IMPOSSIBLE usually. The sun brings a wonderful atmosphere here, at a time when many of us felt kind of bored of the Ryd and its awful landscape, and outside activities are not possible.

We have therefore been celebrating Johan's birthday today by having an "Atlantis BBQ party" and later on go out downtown. This was a great feeling! Almost everyone was there, playing american football for the american while we french played "pétanque", and of course grilling some. The "BBQ spirit" was so nice, making us forget for an afternoon the last 4 months of freeziness that we've been experiencing in Lyon and especially in Sweden.
Even if it was still not really warm, I appreciated that day very much and found some motivation for the thesis work and the few weeks left in Sweden.

Thesis time

April just started and so did our thesis work! Even if I feel really excited about writing a thesis, this is a lot of stress. Luckily I had no trouble to find the perfect co-worker, and Mr. Hilling and myself are teamed up for this enterprise. I am very interested in research and writing, nevertheless this represents a task that is time-constrained, and totally new in a way, which makes me feel kind of lost. Defining a field of research is much harder than I expected and it is hard to think about a topic that would not be too ambitious.

Our coordinator seem involved in this work to make us organize our time, be careful and help us in the thinking process. I appreciate Mr. Solymossy's energy and think he is going to make sure we keep on track the all time. It still looks like a challenge to me, but with a good teacher and a good teammate, it should be just fine. I am confident in this work.