I bet every graduate student had a plan to visit Europe at least once before they graduate. I was one of the lucky ones that actually got to do that. The opportunity came through my wife’s conference in Sweden (Perks of having a wife who is also a graduate student).

We got our visa approved in 15 days and we hopped on our flight to Stockholm. After a 13 hour flight, with no idea about what time zone I was in, I landed in Stockholm. It is an established fact that Swede’s as like most of Europe have a laid back life style and Stockholm was no exception to this. I was able to complete my immigration and security checks in less than 30 min (that too on a busy Monday) and I was trying to find a way to reach the hotel.  The airport had a huge tourist centre that offered genuine advice and directions for international. With their help, I got onto the platform where my train was supposed to arrive. The station was beautiful with open rock faces and it felt naturally cooled (The outside weather was relatively humid and hot) and the people were really friendly.

There were some beautiful places that I got to visit and most of them had student discounts.

1. Vasa Museum

The key exhibit at Vasa is the almost fully intact 17th century ship. The ship is extraordinary and absolutely huge. One of the exhibits showed the state of the art techniques that was used to lift the ship from the bottom of the channel. Apart from just lifting the ship up, enormous effort has been made to restore the ship to its original glory.

 

2. The Nobel Museum

As the name suggests, this museum is dedicated to all Nobel Prize award winners. As soon as you enter, you notice a conveyor system that has placards of all the Nobel Prize award winners. The place has unique vibe to it that intrigued the nerd in me to spend most of the evening. Just outside the Nobel museum, the cobble streets were lined with rustic cafes.

Stockholm has several attractions but these were the two places that really captured my attention. My visit to Stockholm helped me to explore new culture and people. I wish that I could visit this beautiful place again.  

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Pavan Akula
Pavan is a PhD student in the Department of Civil Engineering