Back in Sweden and Loving It with New Paper Published and More

I suspect that I must have some Viking blood in me.

Although my heritage (and first language) is Ukrainian, there is something about Sweden that makes me feel very welcome and "at home."

I arrived yesterday, having flown from Boston Logan through Amsterdam Schiphol, and, amazingly, on the leg over the Atlantic I stretched out over 4 middle seats (felt as though I was flying first class).

This morning, I was already greeted by -- "you are back!"  by my favorite clerk at my neighborhood 711 in Gothenburg and by hugs from my colleagues at the School of Business, Economics and Law. This is my third extended time in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2012. I was here for two weeks in March and for the entire month of June.

The weather now is cool and wet (some say that it comes from London) but I can attest to the warmth of the people and the great coffee and food plus all the cultural activities and the fabulous ambience!

For lunch today at our school cafeteria there was the famous Swedish pea soup, a salad bar with beets, and lamb and pork sausage with sweet potato puree. Plus, I cannot resist the dark chocolate here.

Yesterday evening, the barista at my favorite (French) cafe treated me to an extra chocolate macaron.

No problems with jet lag -- my secret is to walk for hours and I did just that after arriving yesterday.

Plus, my first paper that acknowledges the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, where I am now a Visiting Professor, has just been published in the International Journal of Production Economics. The paper is on the design of medical nuclear supply chains.

I have blogged about the challenges of this highly complex supply chain, of relevance not only to healthcare but also to issues of security.

It feels great to have this paper published and how fitting to get the news on my first day back in Gothenburg!