Welcome to ReflectionV5.
In the last month, I got to spend one week at the most prestigious university in the world because of one bold move I made. I embraced the uncertainty of going abroad again alone, and got to know a completely new group of amazing individuals who became friends in a matter of days from an opportunity I created.
Furthermore, for the 3rd time in a row, we had a reunion with friends from exchange, an initiative I started 2 years ago to keep connections intact which you can copy.
Finally, this month is also a switch from one life chapter to the other which opens up the opportunity to regroup, which I did.
Best!
Johannes
June started with 2 exams on the 2nd and 4th of June. My preparation was modest and the realization that the first year of my master's was already over struck me. Work life is in reach!
I had my night train back home on the evening of the 10th of June so I had to make the best out of the week ahead to conquer Stockholm one more time!
It does not only matter how you come, it also matters how you go, how the people remember you. It's up to you what you make out of it. I didn't just simply want to disappear. I wanted to spend time with some fellow Stockholm mates one more time, so I set up a run & pasta party. It was a great way to finish our "Kista Running Meetup" group and say farewell to a bunch of people, friends and roommates I spent quite some time with.
This meetup was already joined by Jonas, my fellow exchanger friend from Singapore in 2022, who was the first arrival of this year's NUS reunion in Stockholm over the weekend.
Tella and Jan, my friends from exchange, arrived the following day and it was such a blast to see all of them again. Even though they didn't really know each other from Singapore, we instantly matched, felt back like in the old Singapore days and had a wonderful time together. I had such a good time, whether it was conquering the archipelago, eating a lot of kanelbulle or rocking bars. It's not about how much time you spend together with people, it's about how intensive it is and if you really live! Especially when time is as precious as here, you really have the drive to make the most out of it.
When Tella and Jan left, we realized that we only had 48 hours and we had done as much as others would have done in a week. Jonas and I still stayed together until the 10th, when we split again. But before that we had one more NUS reunion with Albin, Vroni and Clemens! We first had a farewell burger at the one and only, Bram's Burger before heading into the city to go to a skybar. On the day before leaving, I also left a gift to my Swedish brothers and sisters when donating blood. Go and try it out, it's good stuff! I am a guest in Sweden, it is my responsibility to treat them well as they are doing it with me. I was grateful for this amazing finale in Stockholm.
Jonas and I went to the train station together where we split. I was there super early but needed some alone time to let the moment sit, realize that my 9 months in Stockholm were over and I am about to move to a new destination. Those are special moments. In between those life phases. Back then I did a daily YouTube video speech to train speaking in front of the camera, so I wanted to make one more clip outside of the main station.
When I was finished I entered again and saw a woman in the Espresso House who I recognized. She was there with another friend. It was the same woman that came when I went to the Lovable office, the company I worked with! I was like, let's just grab a quick coffee and say hi. When crossing, we quickly exchanged a few words and then she suggested that we could have a quick chat after. We updated each other on the last few months and I got new input about what was currently going on with the company. She was super cool and I got exciting new input about "Lovable Shipped", a six week program to build a project with Lovable from zero to launch and their demo day in San Francisco which will eventually collide with my stay there too. Great that we met! Those are the coincidences and opportunities we have to look for. Life gives plenty of them to us, we have to look for them and catch them. And use them. Writing this in July, I still have to make something out of this, I just took action today to make use of this coincidence.
After all of what happened in the last 2 weeks of my stay in Stockholm, I knew that when I sat in the train 30 minutes later, I was not done yet with Stockholm.
When moving to Stockholm for the first time 9 months ago, I went by train as well and went through Hamburg to make a quick stop at my friend Jan's. On my way back, I made the same stop and was so happy to see him and his roommates evolving well! In my opinion they have the coolest flat in the world: all of them best friends, super chilled and amazing people, their girlfriends all get along very well and they are a fantastic team. Super cool to see, I am happy for them!
It was so funny that they saw me exactly at the time when I left and when I returned. So they saw exactly the Johannes before and the Johannes after Stockholm version. That is incredible and super rare! Everything, literally everything. Everyday, every interaction, we soak up our environment like a sponge. Everything matters. And in this before and after, all of what happened to me was perfectly depicted.
Consti was in Hamburg at the same time with his girlfriend Lauré, so we had to take the chance and meet as well the next day for brunch. That's what I always try to do and I would encourage everyone to do too: to make the small effort of quickly saying hi and catching up for a bit if we have the opportunity to do so. That's what truly makes our days brighter!
No matter how much I love those intense adventures together with people, I was also super ready to have some alone time and process everything. I was ready for my home!
I just did what I always do when I am there for myself: I always do something useful. For me that meant, going back to programming a bit, reading and doing a lot of sports. Focusing on the basics.
I had 9 days to rest, live the healthy home lifestyle and recharge for my next adventure.
Britain! Every time I go there I have an absolutely amazing time. First, one night in London, then one week in Oxford for a summer school followed by one more night in London.
London is huge, such a lively place. I am always amazed by the city and could imagine living there for a bit. It is super important to go right in the eye of the storm. For me, my apartment in Sweden was the opposite: far away from the city center, a quiet place. London is super lively, a lot of amazing motivated people from all over the world live there. Sounds like the perfect combination for a future adventure.
It was constantly amazing weather, super hot and sunny, it was a wonder to experience something like that in England.
The whole trip was for the Oxford Summer School of Economic Networks, a one week summer school at Oxford University where I learned a lot. But mainly because of the people I was there with. It was an opportunity window of one week to get completely new input from a group of people where I usually don't have that much access to: researchers. Most of the attendees were pursuing or interested in tackling research-focused tasks. It was exciting to hear their perspectives on career and life, getting to know their approaches to work, and trying to understand better how the research community works and evolves.
This trip again showed me a very important life lesson: to always embrace the unknown and tackle adventures worth exploiting. I grew a lot as a person during those days and again tried to unite those people so they can stay in touch and make good connections which will hopefully compound in the future.
I loved the drive, the group work activities, the countless meals during lunch breaks or dinner, or going out to a bar almost every day.
Some takes on Oxford University: now that I could experience a glimpse of what it could be like to study there (obviously not as intense as someone studying there full time but still) I want to write down some of my thoughts about it.
For me, most of the Oxford students have a very privileged life when they stay there. The college culture is simply amazing, with formal dinners and everything a student needs in order to live in an amazing community and much more. The university just sets up the perfect environment for people to have an amazing time besides studying.
This is a very privileged soil of our beautiful earth.
The crazy thing: I applied to the school after the application window was already closed. I just made the effort to quickly set up my application, reach out to the organizer and ask kindly for the possibility of participating still.
After returning, I wanted to keep up the sports grind but then got ill. I still have to learn when to stop or keep on going, so also another lesson to put down.
Also update on my future studywise: one year ago I thought that I would land in Munich to study. But that's very much likely to happen right now!
This was one choice between the easy decision of staying in Stockholm with fairly limited growth or adjusting the path and going for something new. I felt like I am not at the right place, so I adjusted. I would say it still is quite a safe decision to plan on moving back to Munich, to just continue studying there and we'll see how that unfolds.
I also realized that I had so much freedom in terms of investing time in relationships and just having a good time at good places in general.
I also had an iPhone for 2 weeks and then sold it again. My old phone simply worked better for me. I also expected more from the iPhone. Especially the battery was really bad compared to what I was used to.
One of the most interesting aspects of the summer school was supply chain analysis in terms of networks. Let's take a simple example from the trading of countries. Every country is a node in the network and connected to another country if they trade with each other. The goal is to analyze what happens if you for example remove a node from the network, let's say a nation starts a war and therefore does not trade with enemy countries anymore.
On my flight back from London, I also had an interesting conversation about the energy supply chain network and how China is integrated in the process of setting it up. They deliver cheap and good products, with support from the government, where western free market companies cannot compete over the long run. They just won an incredibly important market and Germany or Europe in general is just in a very critical position right now.
The problem is: how can we solve this? I can right now only complain, I unfortunately have no idea but what I know is that if we swallow the pill and cut it away we would somehow find a solution. I actually have a solution after the summer school: I would ask the complexity science hub in Vienna for an analysis and what they would suggest :)
June was a month of transitions and new beginnings. From saying goodbye to Stockholm to diving into the academic world of Oxford, I grew a lot. Sometimes the most important moves happen when you're bold enough to ask for what seems impossible.
Life keeps moving, and I am grateful for how things are going. Let's keep on rocking!
As always, some selections of interesting content from this month.
Super interesting (German) video about how we pick partners for relationships.
Watch the video
Kobe Bryant is a role model for me. This is one of my favorite motivational videos too, because he is already dead.
Watch the video
Another great input from Kobe. Listen and soak it up.
Watch the video
Simon Sinek's Ted Talk instantly became one of my favorites. I love Ted Talks so much.
Watch the video
Amazing Matthew McConaughey motivational video.
Watch the video
The strongest self affirmations I've found so far. Listen and enjoy. Haha
Watch the video
Phenomenal Ted Talk. Absolutely phenomenal. One of the best breakdowns I've ever seen.
Watch the video
Must watch talk about how software is going to develop in the age of AI. Honestly.
Watch the video
Didn't really like this (German) song back then, now it is very good. The lyrics are incredible.
Watch the video
We are brothers! The start is hilarious. What a move.
Watch the video
This is probably the blog I couldn't live without. It just has too much great stuff in it. Read it. Study it.
Farnam Street Blog
Currently participating in Lovable Shipped, building a product with Lovable from idea to launch in 6 weeks. The lectures are quite good. If you are interested in launching a product, I can recommend going through them.
Watch the video
Amazing 15 minute stretch workout.
Watch the video
#5 finished! I hope you enjoyed it!
Keep on rocking,
Johannes