Uppsala Moments That Stayed With Me

The fun and kindness of the people

Photo by K8 on Unsplash

I was invited to a conference at Uppsala University some years ago. I did not even know which country it was in. I looked up the map and found Uppsala, a city in Sweden.

I had returned from Stockholm and had met someone who told me that another conference would take place there. She would send me the details, but I quite forgot about it.

There it was on my table. I had to write and present a paper. However, there was to be a worldwide selection of people, and there would also be a lot of competition.

I took a chance because I was researching a similar topic. I have forgotten the conference theme, but what is important are my memories from there.

The interesting thing is that I was invited, and I was happy to be selected. I did not know much about this city. I remember arriving there with baggage and no sleep and being ushered straight to a reception in the university hall.

They put my luggage away, took each of our names, and we had to speak a few words introducing ourselves and the country we came from.

They served us salad and cold soup. In India, we had never had cold soup, especially in winter. Although it was March, it was freezing cold in Sweden. I was still hungry and…