Means of Transportation in Pakistan

During my recent traveling to Africa and Asia, i have realized that the difference in means of transportations are very very visible in Africa, Asia and Europe. And they also reflect the economic situation of the country. Therefore i have decided to write about the modes of transportation that are common in Pakistan.

**Personal Transport**

From 90's till now a lot of things have changed in Pakistan with personal transport. In old times there were a lot of bicycles on the road. It was also not easy for the labor class to buy a bicyle. The most popuplar bicyle of all times in Pakistan as been Sohrab Bicyle. Later on some imported bicyles special mountian bikes joined the market and the prices of the bicyles went down. Here is a picture of best seller Sohrab

It was a luxury to have a motor cycle. A 70cc honda motor cycle has been the biggest seller in Pakistan and it was a symbol of being moderate rich. Very few people owned 125cc motor bikes. And heavy bikes over 300 cc were only in the reach of super rich people. In 21st century there were a lot of 50-125 cc motor cycles came in Pakistan. There are being imported from China in huge numbers and are being produced in Pakistan as well. Due to these bikes now almost all middle class families can afford to have a motor cycles. These motor cycles have replaced the cycles almost everywhere in the citicies. Now you rarely see bicyles and you can notice the motor cycles everywhere in Pakistan. Here is a picture of typical motor bike riders in Pakistan.

The next stage in personal transportation is cars. With the time a lot of Pakistanis are now able to buy a car as well. Almost every day a lot of new cars are coming to Pakistan. Before the market was owned by Japanese car manufacturers specially toyota, Honda and suzuki. Toyota corolla has been the biggest seller in Pakistan. After that Suzuki Mehran has its own place. Most of the corolla are assembled in Pakistan by Indus motors. In recent years a lot of cars has been imported from Japan as well. This year Volksvagen has decided to start its sales in Pakistan. That will bring a lot of change in the market.

Toyota corolla, the biggest seller in Pakistan among rich people

Also a big seller for medium class 

**Public Transport**

Public transport in Pakistan depends very much on the region where you are. Some cities has a very good public transport facilities and some still have a poor public transport. Let's start from the local taxis

The local taxis has been the cars that are very very old. They are typical old corolla or similar cars from that period.

Later on the government of Pakistan introduced some yellow cabs, there are many of them on the roads as well

From airports you can get some better taxis

In northern areas of Pakistans, you will find jeeps as taxis

In old times there were a lot of horse carriages for transportation for the people who can not afford taxis. They still exist in many cities in Pakistan

Later on these rides got the competitors. The Qinjqi dropped the cost of transport. Since they were very unsafe and a reason of a lot of accident. The government has put a ban on them in many cities. However you can see them in smaller cities

An alternate to taxis has also been Rikshaws. They are a reason for dropping the taxi fares. Now they are almost everywhere and most of the people can afford them.

Public buses are intersting in Pakistan. Most of the buses are made by either Japanese companies like Mazda or their joint ventures in Pakistan like HinoPak motors. Some bus owners decorate their buses a lot. Here is a picture of a medium size public transport bus

Here is a picture of large size public transport buses

Two citicies of Pakistan now have a large metro bus services. There is also a plan of metro trains the some cities. However these projects are very heavy budget projects.

**Intercity Public transport**

The most popular way of traveling between the cities are buses. Non air-conditioned coaches and air conditioned luxury coaches are two main catagories. Non air conditioned coaches look like this.

They are big, they are not so comfortable and they are fast. In the air conditioned catagories there are some popular brands, and there are some not so popular brands. Most of the buses are Japanese or Pakistan made Japanese buses. A few are korean buses named Daewoo.

The alternate to the bus services are railways. Pakistan railways has on and off days. Sometimes the train network become really good and after some years it becomes really bad depending upon the government policies for railways. In the trains catagories we have long distance trains that have economy class, Air conditioner class and business class coaches. And then we have small passenger trains that only have economy class. Here is a typical Pakistan railways train. The trains are normally cheaper than bus services

In the end we have some domestic airlines. Our national airline PIA is known for its poor services now. And then we have some competitors named Air Blue and Shaheen air. There is a lot of passenger that want to commute with airlines. But there are not enough airlines available at the moment. With time the air fares are becoming more affoardable.

Thanks for reading this post. I will try to write another blogg about the goods transport in Pakistan. Please feel free to drop a comment or your feedback.

I swallowed my tooth

The people who have never experienced a dental pain can claim to be the luckiest people on earth. If you have a dental pain and you are in Sweden, that makes it worse. The dentists in Sweden are highly unavailable and they are super expensive. There are travel packages in Sweden for dental treatment in foreign countries like Hungary, Greece etc. Many people avail them. After three encounters with Dentists in Sweden i have realized that why do they have these travel packages. May be it is just me who have bad experiences, i have three examples of poor skills of dentists here. And they gave me a feeling that these street dentists might have better skills than them.

In this article i will write about my entire life’s experience with dentists. It happened with four dentists and each of them is worse than the other.

1st time:

I always had a great oral health. All it started a couple of years ago with a growing wisdom tooth and since then the problems are there. My wisdom tooth grew in the middle of both jaws in the back and caused a lot of pain. I tried to book a normal appointment for dentist, but it was not available for at least more than a year. I went to some local private clinics but they were all busy. So i went for an emergency dental treatment in Boras. The dentist took an x-ray and said that this tooth is growing very uneven, so we have to remove it. I said Ok! It seemed like a normal procedure, she gave me anesthesia. She started taking the tooth out. I was totally calm.

Dentist: Shit!

Me: What?

Dentist: Half of the tooth is broken.

Me: So!

Dentist: We need to do a surgery to take other part out

Me: Ok

Dentist: But we can’t do it here. I need to call the main hospital

Me: Thinking…. (WTF)

She went and did some calls and came back.

Dentist: Sorry the hospital is closed for today and they have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. I know it is going to hurt, but I cannot do anything now. I am sorry. You can  buy some pain killers and eat two tablets after every hour.

Me: Speechless.

I did not have pain, my mouth was bleeding and I had to go home and wait for another day. And then she asked me to pay her fees. I paid and left.

That was one of the worst and longest nights of my life. The next afternoon I went to the main hospital. The dentist there could not speak English and most of the nurses could do that. He did the surgery. Removed the half broken tooth, did some stitches in my mouth and then asked me to pay 5000 SEK. I paid. And after a few days I recovered.

Second Time

It went fine for awhile and then the damn pain started again. I went for an emergency treatment due to severity of the pain. They took an x-ray of the whole teeth

Dentist: In which tooth you have pain.

Me:  I have doubt about three teeth, I am not sure. There is pain in whole mouth

Dentist: But I can treat only one

Me: Ok! Please tell me which one

Dentist: I do not know, you have to choose

Me: I am not sure which one it is

Dentist: We do not have time, please pick one

Me: Ok! Take the one the right side

Dentist: She did a treatment for 10 minutes

Me: Will it be fine now?

Dentist: No I just did a temporary filling. You need to meet another dentist

Me: Ok then please give me an appointment

Dentist: No you have to visit a private dentist. We do only emergency treatment here.

Me: Ok!

I left and tried to get an appointment to a private dentist in my town. But there was no appointment for some weeks. I was in a meeting in Stockholm, the pain started again. I asked the receptionist to check for dental appointment. She tried to call at many places and found one place that had a facility. I drove for more than an hour in Stockholm to reach that place and they were closing. They asked me to come again next day.

I went back to Fagersta that is 2 hours drive. In the way I called my insurance company and asked them to find a dentist for me in the way. They could not find any dentist. I reached home and spent the night on pain killers. The next morning i tried to find dentists in the whole region. It was Friday and there were no dentists available in whole county. Not even in private clinics. One clinic gave me an appointment and when I went there, they said that they too busy. Then I went back to Stockholm and went to the same place. They asked me to come next morning. I waited until next morning and finally found a dentist after three days

Dentist: In which tooth you have pain.

Me: I do not know. I have got treatment for one before but it did not help. May be it is one of these two.

Dentist: I have time for only one. Pick one

Me: I do not know which one is the trouble maker.

Dentist: I do not have enough time, please choose one

Me: What options I have for treatment?

Dentist: We will do an emergency treatment or remove the tooth. In case of emergency treatment, you will have to visit another dentist for root canal.

Me: Not again! Please remove the tooth.

Dentist: It will cost an extra amount, since it is Saturday

Me: Ok!

My tooth was removed and I paid a lot of money. I came back to Fagersta. 

Third Time

After a couple of days the pain started again. I went back to the dentist in the hospital. They gave me an appointment with the same dentist.

I went on my appointment, and the dentist took an x-ray again

Dentist: You have to see a dentist and a dental hygienist

Me: Yes that is why I am here, can you recommend any

Dentist: I do not know, may be check on the internet and call them

Me: Ok

Dentist: I will remove this tooth and hopefully you will not be in need of any further treatment. But you need to see a dental hygienist.

Me: Ok

Dentist started the operation

Dentist: Shit!! Shit! Shit! Stay upright, try to cough, ohh my god. Try to cough please

Me: Looking at her and she is very nervous

Dentist: The tooth fell inside. The vacuum pump did not work.

Me: Ok!

Dentist: Now you have to go for an x-ray. I am not sure if it went to your stomach or your lungs.

Me: ahhhhhhhhhhh

The dentist sent me to a general physician; she ordered an x-ray of my lungs and stomach. It took almost 2 hours to do that procedure. In x-ray they found out that it went to my stomach. Otherwise I had to go through angiography. Thanks God! I was relieved.

Then I went back to dentist with the report.

Dentist:  Now I will not remove the tooth and will do an emergency treatment on it.

Me: Ok!

Dentist: She did some treatment and booked me an appointment for the dental hygienist as well.

Then I paid a lot of fees for all the bad treatment I got. I have lost one tooth, ate one tooth and there are still two teeth that need the treatment of the dentists. And I do not know if I want to visit a dentist after all of this.

And just today I have received another invoice from the hospital for the x-rays and visit to the other doctor. And I do not know why I am paying for all this when the problems have got much worse than they were ever before.

Valborgmässafton in Uppsala

A view of the economics garden in Uppsala university

There are hardly any public celebrations in Sweden that I know, that does not involve alcohol. No matter what are the origins of the celebrations. On this weekend, once again I have experienced Walpurgis Night (Valborgmässafton) in Sweden. And this time it was different because I went to Uppsala to experience it. By the way this blog is based on my personal experience; the reader perspective on everything I am writing can be different.

About the origins of Walpurgis Night there is a lot of information available on the internet. My experience of it has always been drunken college/ University people running a colorful parade in the center of the cities. Majority of the city gathers to see these parades. After the sun set there is a big bon fire and some fireworks. It is a hard time for the local police, trying to regulate.

In most of the cities the parade is arranged by the local colleges, and the students build some models and acts to show some events and changes that they have experienced during the past year. In some big student towns, it is different.  It is organized by the Universities. Uppsala University organizes this parade in the river. Where the students build boats and run it through the river in the city center. The rector of the Uppsala univeristy raise the cap in a ceremony outside the university's library building where a lot of people come to visit this event. In the morning students normally start by Champagne breakfast and keep on drinking until the next morning. In Chalmers University Gothenburg and Lund University in Lund also arrange similar rallies. But in Uppsala it is the most popular. Here is a short video of the event

Since I was at work, therefore I could not attend the breakfast and the boat rally. But I had enough time to watch the bonfire and the parties in the night. Uppsala’s student union has a lot of sections. These sections are called as Nations and every nation own a huge building have big bars and dance floors. In order to attend the events there, you should either be a student or you can buy a guest card for some price. On this day there are long lines outside each nation. When I arrived in Uppsala in the evening the whole city was trashed. All you can see in the parks were a lot of drunken people and bottles of alcohol everywhere. There were some party buses with loud music in them and people dancing here and there. Here is a picture of the park in Uppsala University.

The sun was about to set, so I went to the Gamla (Old) Uppsala to watch the bonfire. There were a lot of people there. Most of them were the families with children. It was very windy and cold, yet a lot of people came to attend the event. The pile of the wood was really high. After the sunset they lighted up the woods and it was a really big fire.

I left the place to do the dinner with a friend. We went to the city center, it was full of people. There were big lines outside all nations. After the dinner, I was wandering around the city and looking at the people running here and there. I was walking through a street and it was the back side of a nation. The street ended up in a door that was an emergency exit of a dance floor. When I was standing outside the door, thinking of going back, a security guard opened the door from outside and said, what are you doing outside? Come inside. I did not say anything and I was in a nation. Then instead of going home, I was there until 4AM. After that I had to sleep in my car. It was a nice experience. The next day is also a long story. But I must admit that Uppsala is a lively city and everyone should visit Uppsala on Valborgmässafton. 

Relocation challenges and over 5000Kms of driving during weekends

Change is a great phenomenon in life and it makes life interesting. It enhances your learning process and challenges your abilities in so many ways. Relocation is one of a big kind of changes. You get out of your comfort zone and then create a new comfort zone and routines. If you are not experienced in dealing with the process, the transition period becomes really long. I have a lot of experience of it until now, since last year I have relocated four times. Once between two countries, once between two cities and twice in the same city. But every time I relocate, it brings different challenges. In this post I will reflect upon my recent relocation to Fagersta in Sweden. And compare it with my previous experiences. 

I still remember that when I moved out of my parents’ house for the first time from a city near the capital of Pakistan to the largest city of Pakistan in the south, I did not accept the change for at least one year. I was just 17 and almost every second day I thought of moving back. But after that year I never wanted to go back to the city where I was living before. The second biggest change was moving from Pakistan to Sweden. It took me around 6 months to get comfortable with the environment.

It is challenging because you might be mentally prepared for it, but your behavioral change takes a while, it holds you back and tries to make you realize that the past was better. There are some factors that can facilitate the change process, for example it is easier if it is collective. If you relocate to a place, where there are a lot of people are going through the same process. Exchange studies is a perfect example of that, you can meet a lot of people who relocate to a new place, facing similar challenges and have similar goals and you can talk to them about, what you are experiencing. The other factor that facilitates the change process is the receiving group of people, environment or city. For example if you relocate to a place where you already know people who are there to welcome and engage you in the local society. The third factor is your interests and hobbies, if the place you relocate to have the things to offer that you want to do, then it is not a big deal. The fourth factor that facilitates your relocation is experience. If you are aware of the challenges of relocation, you can get settled in a few weeks. The last but not the least is flexibility, if you are rigid in your behavior, than it will be yourself that will make you a looser in relocation process.

Settlement is a big knowledge area; there is a lot of relocation in the world due to studies, work, relations or wars. I have seen some companies in Norway that provide the services for settlement of employees from other countries or cities into their city of work and the employers pays heavy fees to these companies. The local governments in many cities have the settlement plans as well, but their target group can be different based on the needs of the country. And the resource allocation is done accordingly. The universities and student unions play an important role in settle of new students as well. And the local businesses do a lot of marketing in the cities where the immigration rate is higher to keep their business running. Anyways that is my observations and learning, there might be a lot of other prospects and factors as well related to relocation and settlement.  

Finally me and Fagersta. I have relocated to Fagersta one month ago and I can claim that I have got settled now. My life by than has changed a lot. But it was a hard work, it was costly and it required a lot of flexibility.

Fagersta is a really small town in Vastmanslands County in eastern part of Sweden, at almost one hour drive from Vasteras (The fifth largest city of Sweden) 1.5 hour drive from Uppsala (The fourth largest city of Sweden) And two hour drive from Stockholm (The capital and largest city of Sweden). It has an amazing nature around, beautiful lakes, small hills a lot of forest. It is an industrialized city and almost more than 2000 people travel to Fagersta from other cities to work. There are a couple of gyms in the city, two big sports facilities and many pizzerias and small restaurants.

For me the working life experience has been really exciting, but the social life became a big challenge. First challenge alone was that I was the only one who relocated to this city. It is much smaller than the cities I have lived before. There was no public transport or easy commuting facilities in the region. Most of my colleagues come from other cities. After work there are not many things of my interest in around. Most of my activities in my previous city were group activities. I was not comfortable being alone. And I used to spend very less time at home and I have been outdoors in nature by myself. The biggest challenge was the availability of internet. I am addicted to it. Since I had to change my apartment and there was no internet offer available for one month. I have been to all telecom operators in the region.

How did I cope with it?  In start I was just going to shopping centers in the region around to buy stuff for the apartment. I started searching for the events and the people with common interests. I tried to contact so many people in the cities around especially international students and their activities. In case of people, my previous contacts helped me only. I attended a few events. Since I am a fan of traveling, therefore it was on the top priority during weekends.  I have been to Sandviken, Falun, Hedemora, Gävle, Sundsvall, Umeå, Borås, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Vasteras (many times) and Uppsala during the month of March. The weekends were perfect. I met many old friends during this period. Some of them introduced me to their local friends and it was an overwhelming experience and I am really thankful to all of these people I met during this settlement period.

I also realized that traveling all the time makes it less interesting and why not try some other things in parallel. So I have started swimming, a little bit of workout at the gym, outdoor walks around the lakes, cooking, staying in touch with all the amazing people I have met in my life. My future plans are to start watching movies and TV series, get back to online gaming after many many years of pause, cycling, reading some books, blogging and travel much more and build or become a part of a community of common interests in the region. I have many ideas about them. I will write about them in future. Thanks for reading and please reflect or share your thoughts on this post.

Respect

Respect 

Respect and insult are one of the major topics of discussion these days due to the terrorist attacks in France. Many authors have written a lot about it. Therefore in this post I am going to share my experience of respect in Scandinavia and Pakistan.

In cross cultural communication it is really important to understand the values, so respect is one of them. If you do not give due respect that is considered normal in that society, then it can be considered as offensive or insult. On the other hand if you give respect that is not required it becomes a weird act. And the ways respect is given is also very complicated; it has both verbal and non-verbal ways. Verbal are easier to get, but non-verbal are kind of complicated and I have not seen much information or understanding of this among Asian and European people and most of them end up in conflicts. Because the reaction to disrespect is also very different. Some people change behavior like end the contact or relation, some people say it directly and that is considered rude by others and some people in extreme cases become violent and that is not good for a multi cultural environment. Anyways this is personal reflection based on social experiences. Anyone can disagree. 

Respect in Pakistan:

Let’s start with Pakistani culture. In Pakistan there are some groups that must be given respect no matter what, If you do not do that you will be considered as offensive and disrespectful by all of the people around you.  According to my personal experience some of those groups are

1-      Pakistan Army
2-   Parents
3-      Islam
4-      The country
5-      People Older than you
6-      People more educated than you
7-      Teachers
8-      Women (Uneducated people are an exception)
9-      Religious people (Changed a lot after war on terror)
10-  China

The way of respecting is that you show love to them. Do not question them. Cannot look in the eyes while talking, showing your best side of the personality, seek their attention and always go first and greet them (in case of people). Most of the time parents and teachers are advising you be respectful and disciplined. For example, you can not eat or talk in the classroom or conference room, it is a disrespect to the teacher or the boss. You can not sit among the older generation and there are plenty of actions that are considered as disrespectful. Therefore everyday from morning to evening you get a lot of lectures or lessons from someone older than you, telling you that you were disrespectful and those people consider it their duty to teach you, how to be respectful. 

Popularity can also be considered one of the factor. Therefore if a politician gathers a lot of people than he is considered as respected. Here is an example of a typical political address. 

There are some groups that are always both hated and respected. And you can see extreme emotions of love and hate about them

1-      Politicians
2-      Media (Mostly Criticized)
3-      Judiciary
4-      Sports personalities
5-      China, Saudi Arabia and Iran (Mostly loved)
6-      America and western countries (Mostly Hated)
7-      TV or film actors/ actresses
8-      Singers
9-      Your official boss
10-  Foreign customers or tourists
11-  Industrial tycoons
12-  Feudal
13-  Different races
14-  Rich people

Every person has a different opinion about different institutions, people or groups. Generally most of the people agree that money talks and the people who are rich are very powerful and majority of the people do not give you respect if you are poor. Due to this complicated structure of inequality there are a lot conflicts that exist. And for the right understanding of the values it is important to have a good relation with the people.

Respect in Scandinavia: 

On the other hand the Scandinavian society is very different. There is a law in Sweden that says that you are not better than anyone else. Kids are educated in a much lesser competitive environment. Therefore equality is given more value than anything else in Swedish society. If you are bragging about yourself to make a good impression, it is considered as a negative act. 

Sports personalities have much respect among Scandinavian. Football player like Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one the most respected people. After sports personalities royal families in Sweden and Norway have a lot of respect. Some people like to talk about them. A lot of singers from Scandinavia and abroad, Djz, local and foreign TV actors or celebrities are also among the people who are given respect. But showing respect is still different, you can see a super star on the street and still not so many people around him/ her. They can feel very normal on the streets. On the other hand in eastern countries the fans normally go crazy when they  see their ideals. Following is the picture of a famous Bollywood actor and his fans waiting for him early in the morning on his birthday 

Majority of the people like USA as a country and many people criticize that as well. Russia is not a favorite country among many Scandinavians.  

Religion or religious people is not given much respect in the Scandinavia and it is considered OK to make fun of the religion. No matter which religion it is. 

There is a big divide between Swedish and Norwegian people on the basis of respect for their countries. Norwegin people love to show their love about their country, talk about the histroy, having Norwegian flags everywhere and feeling proud to be Norwegian. Generally you can not talk against Norway or the teams that represent Norway abroad. The biggest day in Norway is the national day of Norway. Here is a picture from that day

In Sweden, it is not appreciated to show respect and love for the country. On Swedish national day you will not observe any similar thing. In Sweden you can say anything about the country and normally people will not react. 

In the recent days i have been inquiring many Swedish people about the respect,whom do they respect and how do they show respect. Most of the time it is a difficult question for them. All said that we just learned to be respectful to the older people from our parents. The rest everyone should be respected. And showing respect like opening doors for women, paying for others or doing similar things is not that much important. However one can still see that people have different behaviors towards some races, due to the laws against racism no one want to talk about it. And that is one of the reasons that integration is still a problem in Scandinavian countries. Many people are open towards it but there are many people among both immigrant and local communities are not open about it and their behavior can be disrespectful towards each other. Ignoring someone or keeping silence is normally a reaction if someone do not respect someone. 


The concluding remarks are: Life is very easy when you respect people for what they are. 

Memories of 2014

Memories from 2014

Life is quite uncertain. We can never predict what is going to happen. Circumstances change us as well. But we cannot really see the change in ourselves until we compare it with the past. 2014 has passed, seems like yesterday. Today I am trying to document some of the stories from 2014, that I can look back after many years and see how much changes, I have been through. I tried my best to keep a fair balance between staying in touch with all the people I know and meeting new people. I am really thankful to all the people who were there during 2014 and shaped my memories. I want to write a lot of stuff, but since it is public so I am writing carefully and will try to make it interesting for the readers. Let’s do it on monthly basis

January 2014:

I started 2014 while at work. I did have some plans for the year, some things happened according to the plans and something happened not according to them ….

This is 2014 firework picture in the background. I have celebrated new year eve 2015 in the same city.

January was full of traveling. On 2^nd January I went to Istanbul, Turkey. It was an amazing trip. 

Then I went to Karachi, Pakistan, met my niece for the first time after her birth. After that I flew to Lahore, Pakistan and attending the wedding of my cousin. At the wedding I met a lot of relatives after so many years. After Lahore, I went to Lalian, Sargodha and then back to Karachi, Pakistan. The love and hospitality I got was amazing.

After staying a few days in Karachi, I went for traveling in Sindh province. I went to Mehrabpur, Ghotki and Gambat. Met many of my relatives and then came back to Karachi again. From Karachi, I came back to Borås, Sweden. Just after arrival in Sweden I received an interview call from Rolls Royce for the graduate program.

As planned I travelled from Borås, Sweden to Trondheim, Norway. After a couple of days there I travelled to Ålesund for the interview at Rolls Royce. And then came back to Trondheim, Norway.

February:

During February I got back to student life at NTNU, Trondheim. The winters Olympics were in progress, many people were busy watching them everywhere. I started writing my thesis. Attended some job fairs, theater, more parties, TEDx Trondheim event and met many nice people.

On14th February we went for a Ski trip to Oppdal, Norway with Msc. Project Management students. It was one of the best trips; I really remember it until now. I saw northern lights as well. The best thing about February was that I joined the gym.

March:

March started with some awesome cricket matches in Asia cup. Pakistan won two very close matches, I was really happy. There was a workshop and concert with DNV GL in January. There were again a lot of events, dinners and parties. The best one was the last party with UKA gang.

I did curling for the first time. It was really great. Did a case study with Shell. Wrote a lot of job applications and continued writing my thesis. Continued my Norwegian language course as well. The month ended with the cricket world cup.

April:

On the first April I did Skiing for the first time. I fell down so many times; I think it was the first day after my childhood when I fell so many times. After that we had pillow fight in the city center. The days were long. The social life was awesome as usual. I lost my phone. I went on some trips as well. We went to visit Roros, Norway and in the end of the month I visited three cities in Netherlands. In Netherlands it was happening; one of the biggest festivals called the king’s day. I spent king’s night at The Hague city, kings day at Amsterdam and then I went to Enschede, Netherlands. It was an amazing dutch experience. 

May:

May was an awesome month. I travelled to northern Norway. Saw the amazing lofoten islands.

This is a picture at 12AM at a beach in Lofoten. It did not get dark at all.

After the trip to lofoten the most amazing day arrived. It was national day of Norway. People were dressed so nicely. Everyone was out that day. I always recommend all of my friends, if they want to visit Norway, they should at least be there on 17^th May.

After the national day, I attended the graduation dinner with my Msc. Project Management class at NTNU on May 22^nd. And then it was the time to say good bye.

The chapter of Norwegian student life was finally closed after the graduation. The very next day I moved back to Borås, Sweden. The days were warm and sunny. I joined my job again and kept working on my thesis.

June:

The month of June started with the thesis presentations of my International Project management class. I met my class fellows after a long time. I travelled with some friends to south of Norway again.

This is the picture from Porsgrunn, Norway.

The weather was nice, so we were often going for swimming. On weekends we were going to Gothenburg. There was a nice international food market in Borås. We went to varberg, Sweden for a couple of times and some of my friends from NTNU visited me in Borås. The month ended with a great relief and accomplishment of my Masters thesis.

July:

In July the football world cup was in progress. So we were normally going out to watch the football. During July nothing great happened. There was not much to do at work either. We were going to lakes for swimming. And were also visiting the cities nearby. In the end of July a friend of mine visited from Abu Dhabi. 

August:

August was full of concerts. It started with a live performance of Snoop dog. Than it came the way out west festival in Gothenburg and then we attended a concert with Otto Knows. There was a nice Gothenburg cultural festival as well. Later the way out west festival 2014.

A picture from Icona pop concert at Way out west 2014

 I ate Pakistani mangoes. I was mentor for two students at University of Borås and 13 students at Chalmers university of Technology. So I also hang out with my mentees in August. I attended a lot of events for welcoming them. So I spent a lot of time at Gothenburg during August.

A picture from welcome activities in Gothenburg for new students at Chalmers University.

 I casted my first ever vote in an election.  In the end of august I was fully beard for the first time in my life. I was selected as an ambassador of Isfit 2015.

September:

September was special because I received the result of my master’s thesis and I started Chinese language course at Chalmers. Met some really nice Chinese people in Borås and Gothenburg as well.  The rest it was busy at work, so it was kind of a usual working month.

October:

After a busy September I went to Pakistan on holidays. October was great. It was warm in Pakistan. I spent Eid with my family. Met most of the relatives, spent a lot of time with my niece. She started crawling at that time.

This is a picture of us hanging out J

 Met again with my friends and discussed about the great old times. Things have changed a lot. Attended a lot dinners with family and friends. I still miss all the hospitality and great food from Pakistan.

After I returned from Pakistan to Sweden, me and my friend Majid went to Hungary and Austria. It was also one of the best trips ever. Our hosts treated us really amazing.

This is a picture of us at hearos square Budapest.

November:

The November started with the Halloween. Chinese language course was there. I was applying for jobs as well on regular basis. There were interviews going on as well. And the workload was also very high. Something like managing in between was going on. I was elected as a council member of Swedish Engineers association.

I went for an interview in Kristiansand, Norway. On my way I stayed in Oslo. I met some of my friends. It was a great get together. I am very thankful for their hospitality.

This is a picture from the city center of Kristiansand.

In the end my residence permit expired and I applied for a new visa. It was also a lot of work to do for that. I attended some nice lunches and dinner during November. In the end of the month Christmas dinners started.  

December:

The month of December was great in start when I received my master’s degree. I finished my Chinese language course at Chalmers university. Two people from NTNU and one person from Pakistan received noble prizes. But a tragic incident occurred in Peshawar. It was really sad and I have no words to express my feelings.

I travelled to Fagesta for another interview. And I also sent many applications during the month of December. The Christmas dinners were over and we had a personalfest. That was a memorable event.

This is a picture from New Year’s Eve.

The 2014 has departed and 2015 has started. There are so many things that I want to remember from this year and use the lessons learnt for a better 2015. I wish a really awesome 2015 to everyone.