#maxengardt

[ac-internship-blog]

Back In Sweden

I am back in Sweden after a long trip home. It feels great to be back home and I am very pleased about this summer. In this last post, I will look back on what I wrote as my expectations and goals while traveling to India.

Was the summer as expected? Yes and no. For those of you who followed me, you might remember that my only expectation about the summer was that it was going to be different. This of course turned out to be true but as news becomes routines, you see the similarities. Work, meet friends over some food, workout, have too long meetings, party, get stressed over commuting, prepare power points the nights before presentations, have 3 pm fika, enjoy technical discussions…

Did I reach my goals for this summer? Yes. (The below is from the previous post with additional answers.)

My goals for the summer can be summarized in three points:

1. Completing my project in such a way that everybody involved feels happily about the results. - Yes. I am satisfied and from the feedback I have received, so is everybody involved.

2. Going back to Sweden in August being able to say I have made new friends here. - Yes. You all know you who you are.

3. Learning about India work- and social culture as well as telling my colleagues about the Swedish culture. - Yes. I have learned several lessons on Indian culture. The Indian “yes”, the Indian smile, the Indian changing of plans, the Indian hospitality, … Most of all however, I have learned how complex India is and how little I actually know. I also feel that I have taught my colleagues about Sweden and Swedish culture from discussions and from showing pictures on Google.

In 1968, John, Paul, George and Ringo travelled to India to learn about transcendental meditation. I always fantasized about my time in India being comparable to the experiences of The Beatles in the 60’s but that’s probably not the case. Hopefully thought, I can do what they did and take back what I have learned in order to make something spectacular. Perhaps my masterpiece will be my master thesis, which I have been offered to do with Atlas Copco next spring.

Thank you all for reading my blog and I wish you all the best. If you are a future Intern reading this while preparing for your summer, you are more than welcome to contact me with any questions. Sigrid has my email address.

Best regards,

Max

[ac-internship-blog]

Fika

Yepp, it’s a Swedish title (a fika is a short break when you sit down and have a cup of coffee and perhaps a small treat with your colleagues). For those of you who know me back home, you know I am very determined when it comes to having fika and in particular, the 3pm fika, “trefikat”. As it turns out, tee (coffee for me) is served here in the office at 10am, 3pm and 5pm by the kitchen personnel, which is a blessing!

  In order words, I am able to work though out the day as I get my precious coffee. The tee breaks aren’t exactly fikor (is that the plural form of fika?) but rather a drink-while-you-work type of arrangement, perhaps we will have a quick chat at our desks. Anyway, it’s quite nice!

  Regards from India,

Max

[ac-internship-blog]

Middle of Project, Food Poisoning and Rain

As of today, I have been working here for four weeks, which is half of the time in the project. I feel that I have made a lot of progress but I also recognize the work that needs to be put in for the rest of my time here. 

(Recap: My project is studying ways of going into a more scientific based design process for drill bits.)

This Thursday, I held a presentation about some of me findings so far. Actually, it turned out to be more of a seminar as everybody had opinions, which is of course positive. When the seminar was over we agreed that it was a great forum to present my findings in as a complement to my final report. One aspect I enjoy so far is that my work is very research-oriented and scientific. On the other hand, it’s quite far away from implementation. I feel it can’t be helped though, in order to implement certain things it is of uttermost importance to do the foundation in a good way.

Unfortunately, my week was somewhat interrupted when my stomach got upset. I have been told so many times to be careful with the Indian food which makes it ironic that after eating Indian food for almost a month, I got sick when deciding to go to the perhaps most western place here, McDonalds.

One more thing I feel I have to write about is the raining. It started raining some time during the night to Thursday and it hasn’t stopped since (with some short exceptions). The prognosis is that it will keep raining for two more days straight. I guess its ok when you are inside but it puts some constraints on weekend activities. My plans of seeing the countryside was washed down the drain but not to worry, I have new plans in the city!

Regards from India,

Max

[ac-internship-blog]

Expectations and goals for my summer

My name is Max Engardt and this summer I will be going to Hyderabad, India. Actually, I am already on my way there. I am writing this at the Mumbai International airport while waiting for my final flight. In this post I will try to answer three different questions regarding the Internship, namely:

“Why did I apply?”,  “What are my goals for the summer?”  and “What are my expectations?”. At the end of the summer, I will look back at what I wrote in this post and see if I got it all wrong or (hopefully) if I hade some clue of what my summer would be like. For those of you hoping for technical details about my project or tasty details of my life in India I can tell you right now, they will not come today but I can assure you, they will come in the future! 

I did not hesitate to apply. I understood the challenge it meant to work abroad in a different culture with my own project. I welcome the challenge and look forward to it, I also felt that I had the right competence for the project although I believe my result-driven personality and my willingness to take on new challenges is perhaps even more important.

My goals for the summer can be summarized in three points: 

1. Completing my project in such a way that everybody involved feels happily about the results.

2. Going back to Sweden in August being able to say I have made new friends here.

3. Learning about India work- and social culture as well as telling my colleagues about the Swedish culture. 

My expectations are kind of vague but they can all be fitted into one expectation: I expect everything to be different: I will live in a hotel as compared to my student apartment, I will work in a particular technical field which is totally new to me, I do not know anyone here, I can not follow my regular pork- and beef diet, …

Anyway, I am totally nervous, in the good way and obviously I am very excited about this summer!

Greetings from India, Max