Touched

I attended my last U9 conference yesterday. The JSA were the hosts this time, and I got the chance to see the beautiful city of Jönköping once again.

The meeting itself was like usual. The only difference was that we were four (out of 9) that are leaving the network as our assignments in our student boards are ending in a few weeks time. It was a sad feeling, and when I look back on my year within the U9 network I only see good things.

It began in Växjö, May 2007. A city in southern Sweden. It was my first conference and a place where I met some wonderful people. Växjö will always be a special place for me, despite their irritating accent.

It went on in the fall with Stockholm (nothing new here, this is usually what I call "home"), Umeå (a cold place in the north) and Uppsala (this is where I spent five years of my life). After the Christmas break we attended a conference in another southern Swedish city, Lund (probably the wildest conference and the wildest afterparty!). This place is known for its tradition and well known university. I even got the chance to arrange one of these conferences about a month ago, and the city of Linköping was unveiled for some of the attendants.

The last stop of this furiosly running train was Jönköping, and this was the end of the road. It was sad and it was emotional to say "good bye" to some of the people I've got to know over the last year. I am pretty sure that I might have seen some of them for the last time as they are leaving the academic world for another world. A cold and dark world called the real world. We are all heading in different directions, and personally I am probably leaving Sweden for a while.

I have some friends from "back home" who know reside in Jönköping, and I had the great luck to see them during my 12-hour visit. I was actually going to stay in Jönköping over the night, but an exam today stopped me from that.

Anyway, I'd like to thank you guys from "back home" for taking the time to come and see me during my short visit. It made me very glad to see you, and I know that you all have been busy with your own studies and lives. I am looking forward to see you "back home" again in a few weeks!

Thanks for reading.