Category Archives: Photos

Day 2

Wednesday, February 9, 2011 – 22:35
Day 2, 9th of February 2011: Problem Solving Session in Condensed Matter Physics, Linköping University
By Jonathan Fors | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Day 1

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 – 23:39
Day 1, 8th of February: Kårallen, Linköping University
By Jonathan Fors | Tagged , | Comments (5)

Holgerspexet – En komplex historia

Sunday, December 12, 2010 – 16:24

One of many student-related traditions in Sweden is the Spex. Best described as an “interactive musical-theater”, a Spex is often based on a (very) loose interpretation of an historical event. This year’s version of Holgerspexet (one of two Spex groups here in Linköping) had targeted the greek tragedy of Oidipus and turned it into a, well, comedy. The title was “Oidipus – en komplex historia” (Oidipus, a complex story)

Here, Kreon shows the result of a poll on different strategies to depose of Oidipus.

57720

The best part of the Spex is the interaction with the audience. At any moment in the play, the audience may request a replay (for instance, of a funny punchline), or something to be performed in a certain fashion (like “Backwards!”). Every performance becomes unique, and the success depends as much on the mood of the audience as the skill of the actors.

57714

A Spex is also very much like a musical, and a large part of the play is spent on songs. Again, a common theme is to steal…hrm…borrow famous songs and sticking one’s own lyrics to it.

57708

The Wednesday performance that I went to see with my smallgroup was very successful, with lots of strange (and funny!) audience requests. It’s not often that I laugh so hard that I have trouble breathing, but this was one of those times. If you ever get the chance to see a student-spex (and know Swedish), take it!

57701

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Fun, Life | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Recap

Tuesday, November 30, 2010 – 12:12

Well, I’m home and alive and all is well. One year in Switzerland is now in the past, and it’s time to summarize these exchange studies.

57567

It all begun in September 2009 at Arlanda Airport.

57621

The two-hour flight to Zürich-Kloten landed me in a warm and familiar city, the city where i was born. I took the tram to the student house in Altstetten where I got to the small room that was to be my home for the next 12 months.

57627576335760357645

I was not alone in the house, there were in total 170 students from all over the world…sharing one kitchen. Imagine the mess!

576395733957423

The ETH Zürich is an impressive university, with a magnificent main building.

576515733357417573515748357477

We used to live in that yellow house up that road in Siggenthal.

57357

I found a second home in the ICF church.

5732657345

Having bought a generous train ticket I was able to cheaply travel around the beautiful country and see many sights of the country. I took several trips, on my own and with my Swedish friend Martin.

5736957363573755738157429

I was able to capture some nice shots of the Zürich police intervening in a demonstration.

57411

Switzerland equals skiing and snow!

5738757393573995748957495

After winter comes the spring. The warm temperatures came back quickly, and around Easter it was possible to go swimming for the first time.

57459

Zürich is especially beautiful in the spring.

5750157465

One of the crazier events during the year was the International Pillow Fight Day that took place at Bellevue.

57471

The Swiss train system is legendary and I spent many hours commuting and traveling on rails. This was my home station, Zürich-Altstetten

57519

The main station in the city is the Zürich Hauptbahnhof, around which the entire city is built.

57507

Almost every station in Switzerland is built to the same functional style. This is the station of Spiez.

57441

5743557453

Summer means city festivals and warm evenings.

5753157537

The mountains can be breathtaking, to say the least.

57543

5754957447

Stein am Rhein.

57555

I eventually joined the music team in the church, and got baptized!

5757357579

It would be impossible to give an exhaustive list of friends, so I’ll just show a few photos of a small portion of the people who have meant a lot to me for this year.

57525574055758557513

Sam (photo just above) was kind enough to take the initiative for a goodbye party for me. A nice way to say farewell!

57591

57597

On August 24th 2010, the airplane left for Stockholm and Sweden.

5760957615

12 months of intensive studies in Zürich are over.

57561

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Fun, Life | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

A New Person

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 – 16:17

I have finally taken a step that has taken far too many years: I got baptized!  It has been tugging at my heart for the last months, and what better place to do it than in the company of good friends in Zürich, the city I love?

On a Monday afternoon at the Arboretum at Renti, a short promenade from Bürkliplatz we gathered for the ceremony. A lot of people from ICF had come to welcome me “home”, I felt honored that so many friends showed up.  Down with me in the water were Richard and Daniel.

57290

The baptism itself was swift, physically it’s just down in the water and up again. 57297

So this marks the beginning of the new life, down goes the old person, up comes the new me. :)

57303

Some people had to go home for the evening, but the rest of us stayed behind for some chillin’ in the grass and barefoot football. The evening was wonderful, with a golden sunset over the lake and city. After the football match we lined up for a group photo to remember this time.

57309

Thanks for all of you who came to this special event of mine. It meant a great deal to have you all there.

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Life | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Mural

Sunday, August 15, 2010 – 20:37

Stein am Rhein. A beautiful medieval city in the canton of Schaffhausen.

57282

Canton of Schaffhausen – Check!

Swiss challenge
Zürich, Bern, Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Fribourg, Solothurn, Basel Stadt, Basel Land, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Sankt Gallen, Graubünden, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Genève, Jura

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Fields of Gold

Saturday, August 14, 2010 – 00:45

I’ve been quite busy studying, and am thus lagging behind in my postings. I have so much to share, but I will do as usual and just publish a few photos at a time. Stay tuned.

57275

The Fields of Gold. Tried some new tricks with this one. There are more things in this world than sharpness and acuity ;)

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Meta | Comments (0)

Glarus

Friday, July 23, 2010 – 00:14

Canton Glarus, visiting José and Beni (as pictured).

57206

Beni had invited me to see the best sights of his home canton of Glarus.  As he had a car, we could go and see all the sights that are unavailable for train travelers like myself. 5719757212

Really generous of him, I had no idea about the hidden gems this close to Zürich. Take Klöntal for instance:

57179

The mountains are almost surreal, the Glarner people live in a tiny valley wedged between rocks that reach higher than our own Kebenekaise. These are the mountains you see from Zürich (on a very clear day) After a nice dinner with Beni’s family we went up to the wooden cross overlooking the town of Näfels. Breathtaking, to say the least. From there we could see the majority of the Glarus valley, with a half moon rising over the mountaintops.

And with this view, a tripod, flash, remote release, ,ultrawide and three funny guys this is what you get:

57191

I took more photos than those above, but I’ll save them for another time…

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Here we go again

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 – 21:49

It seems like we have frequent visitors at the student house…

57173

“Not again”, was my first thought as I heard the alarm, before putting on my shoes and reaching for the Speed Freak. “Let’s make the best of the situation and snap some quick shots of the firemen.”

57131

It was some automatic alarm on the fourth floor this time. (To be clear: no fire) I was a bit annoyed as I was just going to sleep. The firefighters were quickly on the scene, but really took their time in the corridor, looking through fire plans before finding the rooms.57137

As the fire captain searched the rooms for the non-existent fire, some of us went to chat with the firefighters standing by at the trucks. Juan was curious about the rescue ladder.

57155

The firemen were really relaxed and funny, but had to say no to a game of Töggeli because they were on duty. The girls were “super-excited” to have all these good-looking firemen around, and they of course wanted photos. :)

571495716757161

Perhaps you recognize the guy on the right side of the frame. He’s been here before.

I know that my neighbors want to download the photos, so I’ve made it easy for you guys. Follow this link to download a zip archive, everything’s included there. Please be kind to my server. I have limited bandwidth and wouldn’t be able to cope if everyone hammered the connection. Thank you. (The link will be removed in a couple of days)

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Fun | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Lac Léman

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 – 17:12

The latest fad in media seems to be 3d technology. 3d displays, 3d cameras, 3d movies; complete with 3d glasses and lazy-eye. Yawn. Who needs all that when it is entirely possible to produce 2d media with a sense of depth?

57039

Lac Léman (or Genfersee as we say it in German) in the afternoon, as seen from Montreux this last Sunday. Feel the depth of the image? Near-middle-far relationships is a compositioning technique I’m working on right now, and they are a great way to pull the viewer into the frame. Mother and daughter, steamer ship, mountains. I guess such techniques would fall into oblivion if 3d photography ever got mainstream…

Oh, and there is an ongoing event these weeks in Montreux, one of the most famous of its kind in Europe. I’ll write more about that event shortly…

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Opinion | Tagged , , | Comments (0)