Scandinavian Treat

I just returned from a 9-day trip to Sweden and Denmark; four days in Malmo and another 4 days in Denmark. A short reprieve from the grind of work recently turned over to me. I had planned this vacation many weeks before the change in personnel was announced and all the tickets and bookings were already bought. The trip just came at the right time taking advantage of the Thanksgiving holidays so the departure was not really missed although I had to work remotely, attending meetings writing emails, and posting chat comments. In fact, it was a welcome return to my life in Asia; traveling and doing projects in Thailand, Japan China, Singapore, and the Philippines.

The life of a project manager is often an itinerant life;  of working with your laptop or phone in hotels, airports, or any place you happen to be where there is a WiFi connection. I joined a remote meeting in the new Library in Malmo near the castle circled by a moat, the library had a wall of glass where one could see across the street to the park. I had a chance to walk the streets of the old town and visit museums and art galleries. Denmark was a more spectacular and beautiful place, with its waterfront, elegant shopping lanes, Christmas markets, and palaces like Christianborg.

Despite watching Nordic shows like 'Borgen', 'The Bridge', 'The Killing'  and Wallenberg detective shows, being in the actual locale was exhilarating; eating the food, watching how the locals live, and learning their culture, especially the Viking phase was illuminating. Interesting lifestyle practices like 'fika' - short snacks with coffee and pastries; or 'hygge' roughly translated as cozy living or happy way of life is a different take on how one lives and enjoys his life. Far from the hustle and bustle of American life with its college sports and car racing. However, one does see some laidback values here in the deep South.

We enjoyed several trips this year: Prague in the Czech Republic, Boston in Massachusetts, St Agustin in Florida, and now Malmo in Sweden, and Copenhagen in Denmark. These trips were done during significant changes at the workplace: moving to a new department, working with new colleagues, assigned new projects and ways of working, and now a transfer of several difficult and complex projects in the last month due to the departure of key personnel. These trips have helped me expand my viewpoints and accept new challenges with an open attitude.

I have this insatiable urge to learn everything about Scandinavia, borrowing DVDs, books, and music and searching the internet. Soon my Nordic urge will go down after I have satiated my curiosity and I will go off to another interest. But the Scandinavian and Prague trips will have made me a different person as good trips often do when one goes beyond one's familiar comfort zones. This 'new' mindset is what  I need to tackle the new projects that I am working on: migrating from obsolete software and hardware assets; into the virtual cloud and operating systems; planning for Doomsday events and ensuring continuity of services.