Impressive experience on the ice in the middle parts of Stockholm’s archipelago — thanks to a phenomenal friend.

Gemütliche ice-skating tour on Stora Värtan. Small sight-seeing à la Shackleton included.

As an allusion to a previous article about the wilderness in Tyresta National Park, here is a short report on the winterness in the same place but during another season. Looks completely different.

It is just appropriate to praise the public transport from time to time. Especially if it makes a trip to a frozen lake a breeze. This time it was Rönningesjön near Täby. The snow was cleared from a circular track on the lake that used to be a bathing place in summer.

Strange but true: there is no Amazon in Sweden. I conceive this country as very eager to adapt new concepts and cutting-edge technology. Connectivity to the Web is ubiquituous. However, to my big surprise, there is no www.amazon.se. I could not find a matching Swedish counterpart either. Why?

Magnificient ice on the Baltic Sea within Stockholm’s Archipelago, as discovered on a tour 20 kilometers east of Norrtälje.

Getting the better part of the nordic winter: An ice-skating tour in the darkness from Norrviken to Brunnsviken, The evening was rounded off by some beer at Karlaplan. What else to expect from live?

How to create a nice area for ice-skating? “Deep-freeze” a stadium, clear huge amounts of snow, and turn on the floodlights. While ice-skating on a lake is definitely better, the circle at Östermalms IP is large enough to offer space for skaters at all kinds of speed and abilities.

Many thanks to those who know the ice and made me have a wonderful day on the frozen Vallentunasjön – igen: tusen tack till dem som gjorde det möjligt.

KTH’s Christmas concert 2012 offered a diverse composition: traditional Christmas pieces, a Lucia procession, and an extract from Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio).

Being sick of expensive course literature in Stockholm? Relief is on the way: Secondhand books can be bought at Campusbutiken of Stockholms Universitet. There is also an online platform kthbok.com which performs a similar duty without taking detours via a reseller.

Musings about motivation: the last part of a series in favor of learning Swedish while in Sweden.

When learning a foreign language, there is an abundance of new words, new grammar, and new expressions coming in. Rehearsal is necessary in order to keep the learned items in memory. Much practice is required in order to turn passive understanding into readily available active language skills.

What use is it to ask someone in Swedish and then not to understand the answer? How to get the pronunciation right without being able to listen to Swedish? These two thoughts made listening a top priority for me when I started a new foreign language.

When learning a foreign language, full immersion probably guarantees a nearly unlimited supply of new words, new grammar, and new expressions, which never comes to a halt. When immersion is not possible, how to react?

The best way to find a good Swedish translation while in Sweden is to ask a Swede. Of course. And there is no surprise here. However, there are a couple of resources available on the web that help with translation when professional help is not available.

Swedes talk Swedish. Surprised? Swedes always talk English with you as a foreigner? Well, the game can be changed and it is not too hard for native speakers in German or English. This is the start signal for a six-part article series about how to concretely speed up your progress in learning Swedish as a foreign language, based on my experiences. Why not just talk English? This crucial question is tackled first.

Autumn has arrived and Stockholm dresses itself in wonderful colors. The magnificient scenery is definitely worth a few pictures.

In 2012, KTH Stockholm offered an exchange fair for local students that want to go abroad. We organized a booth for Technische Universität München.

Charming. Unbeatable. Inconceivable. So much to the concert at KTH in Stockholm on September 12, which featured a variety of enjoyable pieces and culminated in the overwhelming “Music for the Royal Fireworks” (G. F. Händel). A fantastic display of music and fireworks in the Borggården of KTH main campus in a chilly late summer night.

Technische Universität München divides the academic year into a summer semester and a winter semester. However, it is four periods instead of two semesters at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Here is a glance at some of the implications that I can see.

Where to get a bike in Stockholm? Where to put the bike? And is it worth bicycling in Stockholm? While the practicalities are not easy to address, the efforts certainly pay out as a first trip indicates.

Why is the lecturer talking Swedish? Kursen är på svenska, förstås! I noted with some surprise that one of my courses is given in Swedish. It turned out to be a very welcome opportunity to listen to Swedish in a multi-modal setting.

Unfortunate for all those who have to exchange euro for Swedish krona: the krona has reached a 12-year high against the euro in August 2012. This is a rough 10% loss compared to last year.

Every Tuesday one can hear random shouting at 10 pm in Lappis, a big housing estate near Stockholms universitet and KTH Stockholm.