Chapter 8

8.   1982–1984

 

Winter 1982 (Uppsala)

I left the United States behind and returned to my research. I finished all the courses and only the thesis was left. It was supposed to be written in English and I was worried that Barbara would not help me with the language, after the US trip. But Barbara volunteered again, even though she had her own courses and research, and I am of course very grateful for that. Her help has probably shortened my writing by a few months!

We were very good friends, even though the trip to the US had affected our relationship negatively. I knew that Barbara loved Sweden and I was sad when she behaved so American when we were in the United States. She explained to me that she did not want to be critical of her own country in front of her friends, just like most Americans do. I bought her explanation, although I did not do the same when I met my old friends in Greece. I always used to lift Sweden to the skies and almost mocked the Greek politicians and bureaucrats in front of my friends. And my friends shared my opinions and were happy that even I, who lived in Sweden, could criticize everything bad in Greece.

I used to go to Barbara's corridor, almost every day. She lived at the top floor and you had a nice view from there. In addition, there were nicer students who lived there and a teacher, Sten, who was a doctor of theoretical logic. Sten was one of the sharpest minds I have met during my time in Uppsala. Often, we had good discussions in the kitchen until 2-3 in the morning, when everyone else was asleep. He received his doctorate at Stanford in the US and moved to Uppsala where he got a research assistantship and taught, among other things, mathematical logic. He was just like a typical philosopher; he forgot unimportant things such as when he had cooked his own dinner. And if the food could not be eaten afterwards, he would eat yogurt or ice cream with Greek olives!

During the winter, Ingemar Bergman's film "Fanny and Alexander" was recorded in Uppsala. The film is about the siblings Fanny and Alexander from the wealthy Ekdahl family in Uppsala in the early 1900s. And for it to be so close to reality in Uppsala at the beginning of the last century, a lot had to be changed around the Cathedral in Uppsala. The lighting, as well as the traffic and parking signs were removed. All cars were forced to move from the streets and replaced by horses with carriages. The square below the cathedral was filled with horse feed and the museum by the Fyrisån river was converted into a home. Of course, there were many roadblocks, but from a distance you could follow both Bergman, who directed all the actors, and Sven Nykvist, who took the photographs. I used to stand there in the cold with many Uppsala residents and admired these masters. It was the first time I saw a film shoot. But it was not just any shoot, it was two of the world's greatest who directed and photographed. And during the breaks we got to walk so close to Bergman and Nykvist and it felt a little nervous. And then I thought that these two had appeared in the two Swedish films I saw in Athens several years earlier.

Every day I used to go to the library and look for interesting research papers and books for my dissertation. Some books that you could not borrow at home you must read on site. There was lots of literature about the Swedish innovations that I was going to check. I used to write down all the important information that could be used in the dissertation and eventually I started to structure my thoughts. Sometimes I got hooked on interesting historical events by, for example, Alfred Nobel, JP Johannson (wrench), Jonas Wennström (ASEA), LM Ericsson, Sven Wingquist (SKF), or Ivar Kreuger (Swedish match). Although these inventions would not be extensively analyzed in the dissertation, I was happy to spend several days working through them. I wanted to learn fully about these amazing individuals and how they thought when developing their inventions and businesses.

The more I searched for suitable literature, the more books I found about other interesting inventors and innovators, such as de Laval (Cream separator), Delén (Gas accumulator), Ljungström (Steam turbine), von Platen / Munters (Electric refrigerator), Rausing (Tetra Pak) and others. There was a risk that the purpose of my dissertation would be changed to a historical account of Swedish inventions and innovations. In that case, it would be more suitable and presented to the Department of Economic History in Uppsala and not to the Department of Economics. Both Villy Bergström and Ragnar Bentzel would certainly stop me, even though they both had a very high respect for the Swedish economic history.

I decided to no longer spend so much time on all the Swedish inventors I found, and instead evaluate their importance for Swedish economic development. On the other hand, it was not good to waste all the time I spent going through these inventions either. It was therefore necessary to include the most important inventions in my analysis.

If you write a dissertation, you feel a little freer compared to when you take courses. The actual content, the analysis, the method, the structure, the writing, and the continued financing are of course always in your head and cannot be loosened up. I had just received a scholarship from the Swedish Institute until the summer. But would I be able to get more funding if I did not show any success with, say, an essay? It was therefore important to start writing and I did. I started by writing a literature review about innovations that was completed during the summer. It was a good start and opened several doors to concentrate on.

While I was working on my dissertation, my life also changed. I was no longer alone, isolated, and unsociable. Barbara was the most social person in the department and loved to spend time with people. Her open and positive behavior probably changed my own. I started hanging out with even more Swedes at the department; most of them were doctoral students at my age. We often went to V-Dala pub in the evenings and we discussed everything between heaven and earth, but mainly economic policy in Sweden. Many were sharp and brilliant with their analyses. There I learned how a rational and well-read Swede argues and that they dare to say that "I don't know" if they did not know. For a Greek, it was an excellent course in listening and arguing and I wished that many compatriots had experienced this to hopefully change their way of debating with others. That my friends were excellent has been confirmed a few years later as some have become prominent professors while others have been given various high positions in society.

Spring 1982 (Uppsala)

During the spring, many people from the department travelled to the Modern Museum in Stockholm to see Mark Chagall's exhibition. As usual, it was Barbara together with some secretaries who had arranged the daytrip. Neither I nor the head of department Christian Nilsson were really interested, but we kept up, even though it was a Saturday and we were going to miss the English football on the TV. During the trip it was "business as usual", i.e. some football talk between me and Christian. We sat a little apart so as not to disturb the ladies who talked about culture.

There were a lot of people and a long queue outside the museum. In addition, it was very cold. When we came in, we started walking around the paintings and while the ladies stood for a long time in front of each painting, Christian and I walked past quite quickly. Suddenly we came to an eccentric painting depicting two people flying. I turned to Christian and commented like, "it looks like the goalkeepers save a penalty in the crossbar". Christian, a big fan of Manchester United, smiled and said "in that case it must be United's goalkeepers". And we continued with our football language inside the museum. Behind us stood two elegant older ladies who thought it was indecent and anti-cultural to liken Chagall's paintings to football goalkeepers.

It was really embarrassing. Christian apologized and we went straight to the cafeteria instead. When the company asked us afterwards what we thought of the exhibition, Christian thought it was quite interesting and I said that I liked the goalkeepers in the air! To be honest, I do not understand anything about modern art. But I love the art of the Renaissance, as well as the classical Greek statues in white marble.

It was no problem to renew the residence permit in April. It was enough with a certificate of my continued studies and that I had received a scholarship from the Swedish Institute.

Summer 1982 (Stockholm)

During the summer, Barbara and I moved to Stockholm. We found a furnished apartment at Tippen, near Solsidan, at a very low rent and we lived there for six months. Barbara was once again going to work at KF in Slussen and the location suited her perfectly. But I had not gotten a summer job and hoped to find something. At the same time, I thought I would be able to get by with the small savings I had from the Swedish Institute's scholarship. And of course, I hoped that Bentzel would help with a new scholarship after the summer.

Unfortunately, I miscalculated and the accommodation in Stockholm with all the trips was significantly more expensive than I thought. After a month or so, my savings ran out. One afternoon when I was going home with the blue line from Slussen, I met several Greek guys who were going to practice football in Fisksätra. They asked if I was interested in playing with the team and of course I was! Their football team Ikaros played in division six in Stockholm. At the same time, I told them that I had no money and asked if they knew of any work during the summer. Some of them worked as cleaners at the coach's cleaning company and if I got off in Fisksätra I would be able to talk to him.

I did and I met the coach on the pitch. He was happy that I could play football and offered me a couple of hours of work a day, for six weeks. I would work either very early in the morning or late at night, in four offices in luxurious Östermalm. Neither the pay nor the working conditions were good, but enough to support me a couple of months. A doctoral student as a cleaner, I thought with sadness, but I accepted it. I was not alone. I had heard various stories where engineers and doctors worked as cleaners, or buss-drivers.

One of the offices I cleaned was the Zenith Group. It did not feel quite right when I dusted off some offices of a couple of young economists, probably with lower qualifications than I had. But it was just as well that I did not meet them, because the office had to be cleaned and ready before they came to work.

Thankfully, many offices were closed and clean, as many were on holiday. Even the toilet was relatively easy to clean. It was lucky that we did not have so much training during the summer and no games to play, so I could stay at home on the weekends. Such a day of rest remains in my memory. It was when the young tennis star Mats Wilander won the final of the French Open over the big favorite Guillermo Vilas. In August, the football games started again after the summer break and a couple of weeks later I quit my summer job.

Autumn 1982 (Stockholm)

Barbara continued her work for a few more months, while I spent most of my time reading and writing and playing a few more games with the team. Once a week I went to Uppsala for a higher seminar. At the beginning of September, the happy news came that I had received a nine-month scholarship from Handelsbanken.

One day I rode in the same subway car as Professor Erik Lundberg, one of the greatest economists in Sweden. He lived in Saltsjöbaden and he was on his way to Uppsala to give a lecture to us. He was happy when I greeted him and introduced myself. He remembered my long last name because Bentzel had told him that I was going to research the Swedish innovations. He thought it was among the most exciting topics in economics.

We also took the same train to Uppsala and he told me some unknown stories about Andreas Papandreou, who had just become the Prime Minister of Greece. He liked Papandreou as an economist and hoped that he would also be a good prime minister. The title of the seminar that he was to hold in Uppsala was "Thatcherism, Reaganomics and Papandreou".

When Papandreou was arrested by the military dictatorship in Athens in 1967, a couple of other professors were involved in his release. Papandreou's American wife first contacted the prominent professor Franco Modigliani, who knew Papandreou during his time at American universities, who in turn contacted Erik and asked him if Stockholm University could offer Papandreou a visiting professorship. When the American government was also involved, everything was finally arranged and Papandreou then moved with his family to Stockholm.

Erik told me that Papandreou did not take care of his duties at the university, but he understood him when he organized the resistance movement against the dictatorship instead. Villy also told me that when Papandreou had a seminar in Uppsala in 1968, four armed guards also came into the conference room. Bentzel, who was leading the seminar, was really frightened and asked them to leave the room, otherwise he would call the police!

Erik also told another funny story. In the early 1970s, proffesors Lindbeck, Bentzel and he met with the legendary Minister of Finance, Gunnar Sträng, and asked for a salary increase for university teachers. Sträng was really surprised that the professors of economics demanded it, when they knew that the economy did not allow it. Benztel then replied that it was their wives who demanded it. Sträng became even more serious and replied that it was bad if the economics professors could not explain to their own wives that they cannot ask for high salary increases!

In October, we moved to the student housing Domus, at the Royal Institute of Technology. This suited me perfectly because I was close to the Swedish Patent Office where I was going to collect patent statistics for my doctoral thesis. 

My routines changed completely. Early in the morning I went to the Patent Office's archives and library. I sat there until it closed, together with many engineers or patent lawyers.  Since I was there every day, many people asked me if I had patented anything and investigated whether there was a similar patent. After a couple of weeks, everyone knew that I was collecting patent statistics, both applications and grants, to analyze it. I do not think I need to tell you how difficult it was to manually search across all patents, even if they were carefully categorized. When the Director-General Sten Niklasson found out what I was doing, I got help from some employees and facilitated the search process.

I remember wanting to analyze SKF's patents from the beginning until 1982 and had collected at least 1000 granted patents with a similar title, a short summary and often a sketch. It felt wonderful because I finally had a chance to investigate this ingenious product that had fascinated me as a child when I played with the scooters. There I found Sven Wingquist's first patent sketch consisting of two rings and double rows of balls. The inside of the outer ring had a spherical shape, which facilitated the inner ring to move freely.

Afterwards, I contacted some professors at Chalmers Institute of Technology if it was possible for them to decide which of all these SKF patents I had collected were the most important, and write an article together. I had intended to relate their importance to the company's development. There were so many with the same heading type "device for ball bearings, roller bearings" and it was impossible for me to judge their quality. Two did not answer and the third who responded wrote that it was impossible to rank them. Unfortunately, these data have not been used in the thesis. It turned out to just a working essay and nothing more.

Winter - Autumn 1983 (Stockholm)

My older brother Nikos came to Sweden during the winter. Several years earlier, he had suffered from muscle atrophy, was unemployed, uninsured, and living with our parents. He was treated with cortisone and got a little better, but not well enough. He wanted to come to Sweden to be examined by specialists who could help him.

My cousin Dimitris, who had a doctorate in biochemistry and worked at Huddinge University Hospital, had booked an appointment. We went there, he was thoroughly examined and they took some samples. Of course, the doctor's visit cost a lot of money, which I paid. A few days later, they replied that they could not find the cause of the disease. He would continue with cortisone and they promised that he would be recovered but it would take time.

I thought that Nikos would soon go back to Greece and often asked him when he was going to do so. Then he told me that he planned to stay a few more months and maybe work a little. On the flight to Sweden, he met a Greek who lived in Sweden and suggested him to stay and work. The man told him that if he managed to stay a few years in Sweden and work a little, he would be able to get partial pension, especially when he suffered from muscle atrophy.

And the man also told a true story where a Greek teacher received a disability pension even though he had only worked in Sweden for three years. He was going out with his Greek-class one day and met a car that was driving fast at a road junction. One student was hit by a car and slightly injured. But the teacher screamed and acted out a little theater, as if he was in a serious shock, when the ambulance and police arrived. He exploited this event to the point of absurdity and finally got a disability pension! That was the absurdity of Sweden those days and even my sick brother could get a disability pension, the man thought.

When I heard that, I got angry and there was a heated discussion with Nikos. Would my own brother take advantage of my Sweden? Never in life! I made it clear to him that he could stay a few more weeks if he wanted, as a kind of vacation. He did not have a work permit to work and his health did not allow him to clean, which was a typical black job without language skills. Of course, it was immoral for me if he worked illegally, and without taxed income you do not get a pension. I think he began to understand me and after a few weeks he left Sweden. Presumably, the cold, the darkness, the lack of friends and acquaintances, and the Swedish food had played a big part in his decision.

In mid-June 1983, I participated in my first international conference at Umeå University, where I presented an article based on my ongoing dissertation. It felt exciting and big to present in front of many participants, and it went quite well.

I had never been so close to the Arctic Circle before. On the last day of the conference, we got to experience a midnight concert with classical music. Listening to Mozart's "Eine kleine nachtmusik" in the bright midnight, out on the lawn, was a real experience. When the concert was over, the sun had just risen. The next day I was supposed to fly to Bromma, late in the evening. And throughout the flight, I admired the wonderful nature and when we flew over Stockholm, it was magical. The sun was faintly visible on the horizon and in the water all the beautiful buildings and trees were reflected.

During the autumn term of 1983 I finally received an educational grant from the university that would last until the dissertation. I would not have to work during the summer to get by. I continued to collect data at the Swedish Patent Office and went to Uppsala one day a week. The dissertation work proceeded as planned.

My teacher in econometrics from the Athens School of Business and Economics, Epameinondas (abbreviated Nondas), contacted me and wanted to come to Uppsala to present his doctoral thesis. Nondas had a master's degree in mathematical statistics and worked there. But to keep his position and become a lecturer, he needed a doctorate. I then contacted both Villy and Bentzel and both decided that he was welcome to Uppsala. Villy appreciated his econometrics knowledge and wrote a few articles with him. Nondas also helped me with the modern causality method that was just developed, which I used in my thesis.

Winter 1984 (Stockholm)

At the beginning of the spring term of 1984, in January, I became an assistant to the Microeconomics Lecturer. It was my first university course I was going to teach. I was to take care of the group exercises where I had to solve some tasks for the students, among other things. I had two groups, one between 8.15-10 and one between 13.15-15. To start the course at 8.15 when I lived in Stockholm, I had to take the 7 train, at the latest. It takes about 45 minutes to the station in Uppsala and then about 20 minutes’ walk to the university.

Unfortunately, I had a bit of bad luck with the weather the first day I went. It had showed a lot the day before and the train was about 15 minutes late. When we arrived in Uppsala it was several degrees cold and the bus I was going to take, had just left. I could not afford to take a taxi and decided to go fast. But walking quickly in severe cold affects the respiratory tract. I did not notice it until I entered the class, at 8.20. The whole class was waiting for me. Everything I had planned to say, like introduce myself, explain what we are going to do etc., did not really get through. I breathed fast just as if I had run some distance race, still had my thick jacket on and everyone started laughing. I got my lesson and promised that I would never again risk my teaching from possible train delays. In the future, I took the 6.30 train from Stockholm instead.

Of course, it was difficult and expensive to travel from Stockholm. I did not really need to live there anymore. At the same time, there were often fights with Barbara. She worked part-time at KF, every Friday she went to Systembolaget (Public monopoly selling alcohol) and she invited her friends to our apartment to drink and listen to music. I was often in the other room trying to study. Sometimes they would come to the room and offer me some wine so I could relax and spend time with them. I did it reluctantly and it was embarrassing. Barbara then thought that it might be better if I moved back to Uppsala because my studies were more important to me than my social life. And so, it was. I moved to Uppsala while she moved to a smaller dorm room in Gärdet. But, we agreed to continue to be good friends.

The cold of this winter and my Greek way of speaking quickly to keep up with all the exercises, affected my vocal cords and just as the course ended, I was banned from speaking by a doctor at Akademiska Hospital in Uppsala. It hurt badly but after a couple of weeks it got better. Then I got a several-month treatment in the phoniatric clinic. I practiced my breathing with a lot of sounds a couple of times a week, just like an opera singer. At the end I got some videotapes that I played at home and practiced myself. 

Spring - Winter 1984 (Uppsala)

I moved to Hans' apartment, a good friend and colleague who had moved to the United States to take some PhD courses. The apartment was very close to the university and life in Uppsala became a little nicer. We were a bunch of doctoral students who were working on our dissertations and hung out almost every evening at the V-dala pub or at someone’s homes. And when we were at the pub, I had no chance against them when it came to the number of beers. At best, I managed two beers, while Bengt, Thomas, Gudmundur or Anders managed at least twice that.

Over Christmas, my parents came to visit me. My good friend Kristoffer drove me to Arlanda to pick them up. It was still light, but cold and a lot of snow when the plane landed. But both liked the vast forest along the motorway E4 and the quiet traffic.  

When we arrived at the apartment, my mother was very happy. She immediately felt the warmth. She was worried that she would freeze in Sweden and before they left, she had asked me if I had enough duvets. But when she felt the heat, she said that she would be able to spend the winter in the apartment, even though it was so dark and cold outside. She hated the uninsulated and damp apartment in Athens.

My father, on the other hand, liked the cold and the snow. He was born up in the mountains and used to walk to school a few miles in the snow and cold when he was a child, he said. And later, during World War II, he was an officer and fought against the Italians in the cold mountain range of Pindos. We used to leave the mother often in the apartment and walked around Uppsala.

One day we walked to the Cathedral and Carolina Rediviva and down towards the center. While we were walking on the sidewalk, my father suddenly stopped, looked up and down a few times, shook his head, and was confused. I was a little scared and thought he was having a stroke. Then he turned to me and asked why it is so dry and warm on the pavement and the roadway and so much snow and ice on the grass. He noticed that the snowflakes were wiped away when they reached the ground.

When I explained to him that they had heating spirals all over the hill, he did not believe me. But after a while, he understood that I was telling the truth. He then realized that Sweden must be an incredibly rich country that could afford to heat even its sidewalks! He then thought that his mother should also be able to go there instead of sitting at home. The heating spirals gave him such an impression and he told all his friends in Greece about it.

On Christmas Eve we were invited to Nikos and Barbro and we arrived on time. It was a very nice event with good food and discussion until late in the evening. Then we took the train to Uppsala and taxi home. The father wanted to walk, but since it was several degrees below zero, we accepted the mother's firm suggestion that she refused to walk in the dark and cold.

 

Chapter 7

7.   Trip to the USA

 

A week or so later, after the Nobel ceremony, I went with Barbara to the United States. To be able to go there during that time, I needed a visa. I was a Greek citizen and in Greece there was a strong anti-Americanism feeling. We had planned the trip much earlier and Barbara contacted the American embassy in Stockholm to book an appointment.

We went together to the embassy. The embassy would interview me first and then I would fill out a form that I agreed to the following three conditions: (i) I am not a communist; (ii) I am not a drug addict; (iii) I have never raped any woman. I had no problem whatsoever with these conditions, all three were obvious to me. The visa was then stamped on my passport and we were ready to travel.

As I mentioned earlier, I was quite conservative before I came to Sweden and I liked both presidents, the former Jimmy Carter and the current Ronald Reagan. I grew up in a family where my father fought with the British against the Germans and Italians in the second world war and later during the civil war against the communists. And I still remember that when John Kennedy was assassinated, a national mourning was imposed in Greece and we learned to sing a song in his memory! We often sang it in the elementary school, after the Greek national anthem.

I also remember when, as small children, we waited for hours for the black limousines with Jacky Kennedy/Onassis that drove past my hometown Amfilochia on the way to Onassis' private island, Skorpios. I also remember how happy we were when the Greek radio informed us about the great successes that American soldiers had in Vietnam.

But even afterwards, when I started at the School of Business and Economics, I was a USA friend. A couple of years later, however, I reevaluated my views and became more critical after I had understood that the United States had supported the dictatorship in Greece and in other countries in Latin America. But when we went to the United States, I still had a slight positive attitude towards the country.

We left just before Christmas and we were going to stay with Barbara's parents, outside Boston. Her parents were of course happy when we arrived. They were very kind and did everything possible to make us feel comfortable there.

A few days later, they invited some acquaintances to their home to meet Barbara and her Greek boyfriend. It was a pretty nice event with excellent food and socializing. Afterwards, we sat in front of the fireplace and conversed about all sorts of things. They asked us and wanted to know everything about Sweden. There were also direct questions to me, such as why I went there and not, for example, to the United States where there are so many successful Greeks. They mentioned, among others, the former governor of Massachusetts, Michael Doukakis, whose parents had emigrated to the United States. Some of the guests told me that they had voted for him. They probably wanted to make me happy and feel proud of such a successful Greek in the United States.

Then they asked me what I think about the US and the like. Of course, I expressed myself very positively towards Sweden and quite neutral towards the United States, a country that I had not experienced. I remember being asked by an older man "what do you thing about America?" I replied simply, that it was an OK country.

Barbara stared at me a little surprised because my answer wasn't really satisfactory and I should have said "it's a great country". Sure, I could have been a little more generous or diplomatic and delighted them with such an answer. But I am not a diplomat, and I am always straightforward with my answers, especially if I don’t know the specific subject I am asked about.

The older American I was told afterwards was a conservative Republican and expected that I would have answered "it's a great country". His follow-up question was whether I preferred Sweden to the United States and then I answered, "of course", i.e. a second mistake! I noticed that the tone of his statement became a little sharper when he stated "considering that a couple of million Greeks live in the United States, it should be strong proof that the United States is better than Sweden, since only a few thousand Greeks lived there!" I didn't want to continue the discussion and ruin the atmosphere. Did he expect that hundreds of thousands of Greeks should live in a small country to be in the same proportion as the couple of millions of Greeks living in the US? I said that I might be wrong when I chose to move to Sweden, but that after my studies I might move to the United States, a statement that made him happier.

Another day we visited an elderly couple who were friends of Barbara's family. They invited us to dinner and we had a nice company. The man was in a wheelchair and was very interested in weapons. In the cupboard he had a few shooting rifles that he was happy to tell me about; how good they were in case some thief or criminal would try to enter the house.

Talking about shooting rifles with me, as if I had never held a weapon in my hand, was pointless. I pretended that I was listening and did not want to start a discussion. Then he asked me if I had a gun license and weapons back home in Sweden to defend me and Barbara. I lied to him and I replied, unfortunately, I had to go to a course first and had not had time for that, but I promised that I would do it! Then he was happy and before we left reminded me not to forget to get a gun license and buy some weapons!

New York

A few days later we were going to New York to visit Betsy, a rich friend of Barbara's, who lived near the central park. Barbara drove a car from Boston. It was a fascinating trip and I experienced the world's strongest contrasts between the Bronx and Manhattan. Barbara was a little scared that we would get stopped at some traffic light when she was driving through the Bronx and be attacked by some African Americans. Next to the highway were old buses and boats where people lived and aired or dried their sheets and clothes. Along the fields there were some signs "for sale" and the price per square meter was ridiculously low. But even on the buses and boats where people lived, you could see large signs "for sale".

The closer we got to New York, the cleaner and nicer it became. In downtown New York, I got the feeling that the glamour and luxury of the whole world must have gathered there. Never before had I seen such large and beautiful shop windows of all the world's fashion houses, such tall skyscrapers, such long avenues and such wide sidewalks. In a couple of hours from New York, in the Bronx, there was the hell of capitalism, while the paradise should have been in Manhattan, I thought. 

One day we went out for a walk. Everything felt so incredibly big. You notice that when you come back to Sweden, and realize how small everything is here. I couldn't help but not look at the top of all the skyscrapers we passed by. Only when I was going to sleep at night did I notice how much effort I had made. I was in so much pain in the nude and hardly slept.

Another day we went to the World Trade Center's cafeteria at the top. The view was magnificent. I actually got a little scared when I looked at the buildings nearby that were rocking from the wind and Betsy told me that even our building was rocking without noticing it.

Up in the cafeteria, it was strictly forbidden to take photographs. But I couldn't help it. I took my little simple Camera out of my pocket, and asked Barbara to take a quick photo when there were no guards in sight. Unfortunately, a guard noticed it and we got a real warning when he came to our table. No more photos, otherwise he would take my Camera and ask us to leave the cafeteria. Betsy tried to reassure him that we were guests from Sweden and apologized. The photo didn't turn out so sharp, but I still have it as a historical memory, taken in a building that several years later was razed to the ground.

One evening we went to the theater in Broadway and saw the well-known musical Annie, which a few years earlier, premiered there. The musical was a gripping story and was about a little orphan girl, Annie, who tried to escape from the orphanage during the Depression in America. It ended at one o'clock in the morning and we took the subway home. Compared to the subway in Stockholm, it was much dirtier, scribbled down, and very worn. Betsy lived a few stations away. When we got off the train, Barbara and I went to her apartment while Betsy went to a nearby grocery store to buy some breakfast.

When we arrived at the main entrance and Barbara tried to open the door with Betsy's keys, we were stopped by an armed guard inside the foyer! I was very scared when his rifle aimed at us. He thought we were criminals. While he pointed his gun at us, he asked through the microphone who we were. Barbara told him that Betsy would come at any minute, she showed the keys and after a search we were allowed to come into the warmth. But we were going to wait for her down there to ride the elevator together with Betsy to the apartment. Betsy told me that the armed guards guard the entire buildings around the clock, everywhere in Manhattan. We stayed there for a week or so and visited several interesting places. It was actually a great experience in New York.

Washington DC

Around January 10th we went by train to Washington DC. There we were invited by her best friend Annie. Annie had planned a big party, at her parents' villa in Georgetown, where many old friends had been invited. Her parents were in North Carolina and Annie had the whole house herself. Her father, by the way, was a retired diplomat and had served in the U.S. Embassy in Athens. [For security reasons it is illegal to mention her last name].

Just before we arrived at the station, a serious plane crash happened. There was snow chaos and a plane crashed on a bridge over the Potomac River, in the middle of town, and fell into the icy water. Many died and there was terrible traffic chaos in Washington DC. Our taxi got stuck in the huge queue and we got to her house quite late. Annie understood this because all TV channels broadcast live from the accident.

The next day we walked around the capital. It had snowed at night and it was really cold, but sunny. Just before we arrived at the White House, I discovered some homeless people lying on newsprint, protected by cardboard boxes, outside a metro-station. There it was a little warmer because hot air came from the subway. I stopped for a while and took a couple of photos.

Barbara and Annie walked ahead of me and they shouted for me to continue. I asked Annie how on earth one can allow homeless people to sleep outside in the cold and near the White House too. She smiled at me and said that the United States is a free country and no one cares if someone chooses to sleep outside. I tried to argue that the verb "choose" she used didn't fit the context because homeless people might have no other choice. Barbara also participated in the discussion because I, who had never been to the US before, could not understand that this is normal there, but obviously not in Sweden.

Annie was a happy, open and well-educated girl. She told me that she had been to the embassy in Athens several times to see her parents, and once she actually went there with Barbara. Barbara had also told me the same story before in Uppsala, when she and Annie went around Athens with the embassy's armored cars.

Annie also told me how shocked she was during Christmas 1975, when the Greek police chief rang at their home in Athens and informed them that the CIA's top official, Richard Welch, was brutally murdered. It was actually she who opened the door when the police chief called. She was really sad because she had talked to Richard Welch a couple of days earlier, when the American embassy had a Christmas party for all employees. Several years later, the murder was finally solved. It was a terrorist organization that had carried it out, and its members are still in prison in Greece.

The next day, Annie was going to have a big party and she invited at least fifteen people. Some lived in Washington while others in New York. We had a fantastic dinner and afterwards we were of course going to socialize and relax with some music, dancing, and booze. The atmosphere was excellent. We danced in the big living room and many people started drinking a lot. I myself drink moderately. Many noticed it and they offered more and more booze. A couple of half-drunk girls invited me to a dance to relax, as I looked quite stressed and isolated

After an hour or so we went down to the basement to smoke some marijuana or cannabis. I asked Barbara in Swedish if it was true and she reassured me that I didn't have to smoke, just go to the basement like everyone else.

One of Annie's guests was a little older and had been in the Vietnam War. He had brought some marijuana with him that everyone was going to try. We formed a circle and we all sat on the floor. Some were already very drunk. The same marijuana cigarette would go around to everyone, be sucked in and then passed on to the next person. When the guy next to me smoked and gave it to me, I took it right away and passed it to the girl next to me.

The Vietnam guy who was sitting across from me, noticed it and screamed. "Hey, you from Sweden, you have to try, you can't ruin the party". I kindly protested that I was free to choose and preferred not to smoke. Then he got quite angry and said that I should not obey the Swedish authorities in the communist country I lived in, because they had lied to us that marijuana was harmful. A free person must try for himself to decide, otherwise we would be living in a totalitarian society in Sweden, he said. Then he continued and wondered if our king in Sweden was also a communist, like Olof Palme was. Of course, Olof Palme was a communist to him, because he had protested with the North Vietnamese ambassador in Stockholm against the Vietnam War while he himself was fighting against the communists there!

No one tried to calm him down, or defend me. Probably they were drunk and excited and didn't care, or maybe afraid of him. Some actually thought I should also try, including Barbara, so as not to spoil the mood. I got really angry with her, said something mean in Swedish and I left the room. I went straight to bed to sleep.

When I woke up, everyone else was asleep. I had no idea how many stayed overnight. I opened the door and walked towards the kitchen. In the living room some girls were laying half-naked. In the kitchen there were a lot of half-empty glasses and leftovers from the party. I tried to boil some water to drink tea, without waking anyone. I sat there for at least an hour and wondered what I was going to do. Then I decided that it might be better to visit my fellow student from the School of Business and Economics, Christos, who was doing his doctoral studies in Ottawa.

The train journey to Canada

It was past 12 o'clock when people started waking up. Everyone was more or less hungover. Annie asked if I had had a good time and I replied that everything was wonderful. I apologized for leaving the company and went to bed, with the excuse that I was tired. Maybe she believed me because, like everyone else, she didn't remember much of what happened in the basement. Then I told Barbara that I should take the opportunity to visit my friend in Canada and we would meet again at her parents' house, when it was time to fly back to Sweden. She had no objections; I borrowed Annie's phone and called Christos. He was happy that I was going to visit him and the next day early in the morning I took the train to Canada.

At the train station in Washington DC, I bought a Rubriks cube and a small solution book. It was a long journey and it was going to be boring. After several hours of trying, despite the solution method recommended by the book, I gave up. Both the cube and the little solution book I still have on my shelf as a memory from the United States. Thirty-five years later, Andreas, my son, laughed when I told this story and he has mocked me because he can get through it without help in a couple of minutes.

After I left the cube, I began to look up to the beautiful snowy nature that the train went through. At the borders with Canada, I noticed that the temperature was -26 degrees.

My friend was waiting for me, and I told him about what I had experienced in the United States. He had heard other stories from other friends who went to the United States to study and said that he chose Canada because, unlike the United States, Canada is more civilized and similar to the Nordic countries in Europe. I stayed with him for a week or so and I experienced the big difference between the US and Canada.

A few days before we flew back to Sweden, I took the train to Boston. At Barbara's house, I was going to tell her about my experiences in the United States and Canada. Of course, I lied when I thought it was wonderful and promised that we would move to the US when we finished our education in Uppsala.

When we got on the plane to Stockholm, Barbara also asked if I was serious about moving to the United States. I didn't want to answer, even though she insisted. An hour or so later, after we had left the American airspace, I brusquely said to her: "Never again in my life”! We had a heated discussion until it got really late at night and fell asleep.

On the way to Uppsala, we continued the discussion at a slower pace, but I repeated what I said on the plane: "Never again in my life”! At the same time, I asked her that maybe we should go to the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm and ask them why they were asking such questions in order to get a visa to the U.S. Did the Americans want guarantees from us who applied for visas that we would not destroy their country? It was rather the opposite. My six-week stay in the United States could instead make me (i) a communist, (ii) a drug addict and (iii) a rapist!

I have kept this promise: "Never again in my life!" for over 40 years and missed many opportunities there. Perhaps I am too straight with my opinions and I don’t like to compromise. I've lived quite well in Europe and don't miss the US. I have never understood why so many Swedes adore the United States and strive for us in Sweden to adopt a lot from it. For my part, I believe that Sweden is a much better country and the Americans should instead learn from us.

  

Chapter 6

6.   Doctoral education starts

 

My doctoral studies began in the spring semester of 1980. I remember that we were 6-7 students who started at the same time, almost all from abroad. According to the protocols, we first had to take eight doctoral courses, then write a master's thesis, if we wanted to get a master's diploma, and then we had to start working on the doctoral thesis. Theoretically, if you didn't go through the master's, it would take four years, an achievement that no one has succeeded. Usually, it took at least five years and even longer.

Of course, we would also participate in all the higher seminars where the department's own researchers or other visiting researchers presented their research. At that time, six of the courses were taught by our own professors and associate professors, and the other two were studied wherever you wanted. I myself took these two courses at the Stockholm School of Economics.

It was a very tough time. You had to study at least 50 hours a week for the first two years to get by. It was the first time in my life I studied so intensively for such a long time. I hardly had any free time. At the same time, it somehow felt pretty good. The environment in Uppsala was favorable for my studies. At HMC, for example, there were no striking students, no banners with provocative texts, no frescoes and a library where absolute silence reigned. Even at home it was quite calm. Sitting and reading during the dark and cold days in my warm dorm room was of course very pleasant. The atmosphere was even better when the absolute silence that prevailed at night was sometimes broken by the snowflakes falling on the windows, and by Mozart or by melancholic folk music. I had not imagined such a student environment when I was in Greece.

I had made a detailed timetable that I followed strictly. On the days we had courses, I was at HMC, often from 9 in the morning to 9 in the evening. The night shift was supposed to start at 10.30 to about 1 in the morning. On the days we didn't have courses, I would take the opportunity to buy food, cook lunch and dinner and wash the clothes. Obviously, I used to sit in the laundry room and study during my laundry time. The hard work I had put in was starting to pay off. I passed three courses in the first semester.

On Saturdays I treated myself to a little luxury, with lunch in town, and a little relaxation with watching football on TV in the afternoons. Sometimes we had joint corridor parties. Even on Sundays I had a little more relaxation and I used to ski nearby. During the January sale, I actually bought my first pair of cross-country skis and I learned to ski myself. In the early 80s, winters in Uppsala were very snowy and cold.

Barbara was one of the other doctoral students who attended the same class. She also lived in Flogsta, in another house. She had come to Sweden from the United States to study Cooperative Economics and soon we became good friends.

One day, when she came to my place to solve some tasks, she was really surprised when she saw my posters decorating my dorm room. On the wall hung a portrait of the king and queen, surrounded by the world-champion in slalom Ingemar Stenmark and Björn Borg after his victory in Wimbledon. When she saw the royal couple, she shouted "Jesus, are you a royalist?". I tried to defend myself and diplomatically said that their elegant portraits were perfect amid the royal family. Then I tried to explain that I was actually looking for a large picture of the football team Åtvidabergs FF, which I couldn’t find in the store where I bought the posters.

Barbara actually told everyone at the department that I had the King and Queen's portrait in my room and many people laughed. But I thought my portraits were better than her Joan Baez and "No to Nuclear Power" posters she had in her own dorm room. I kept my posters in my room throughout my student life in Uppsala.

On March 23, 1980, the referendum on nuclear power was to be held in Sweden. All left-liberals, of which Barbara belonged, were against nuclear power. We had some heated discussions because I was a strong supporter of nuclear power. Actually, our positions were uninteresting because neither Barbara nor I had the right to vote during the referendum. I remember that even at the department we had a lively debate where some researchers argued in favor while others were against. It felt good to me that my future supervisor Ragnar Bentzel was also positive about nuclear power!

Renewal of the residence permit

During the same month, I was called by the Police in Uppsala to renew my residence permit. A year had passed since I got it for the first time when I was in Greece. I wasn't worried about the minimum number of student points required, I had actually scored significantly more. On the other hand, I was a little worried about the income from support, which might not be sufficient. Some Greek students had told me that the police are very picky!

My father had only sent money for four months, December-March, because in the beginning I lived with Nikos and Barbro, then I was in Oslo and my earned income there lasted until November.

At that time, many students had a post-bank account where all deposits and withdrawals were verified. The cash register at the post office stamped all transactions in the small bank book we had. The police demanded that all nine-month deposit transactions with the correct amount be visible there. In my bank book, there were only four deposits from Greece. I took a copy of all my course grades, as well as the work certificate and income information from Norway and went there. It turned out better than I thought and a few weeks later I got my new residence permit.

As I mentioned earlier, many Greek students had problems with the number of credits and/or money and I had heard some stories about renewing residence permits. A wealthy student, Peter, who used to sit in the HMC cafeteria for hours, solved the problem of the scores by taking only the easy basic courses in different subjects each semester. There was no requirement that each year's minimum passing score should be in the same subject. At the same time, his wealthy parents sent him $350 every month.

Other poorer students had found other methods. They worked undeclared and asked the employer to transfer the money to their account, instead of paying with banknotes as undeclared work was paid for at the time. Others were part of a pool and moved money to each other, i.e. those who had received a residence permit earlier could transfer money to others who would apply for a new residence permit later. Finally, some people had found a Swedish girl who confirmed that they were cohabiting. In return, the girls would of course get a free, happy holiday in Greece in the summer.

I understand why people would do anything to stay in Sweden. I would probably do something similar if my father hadn't helped me or didn't want to help me with financing if I didn't pass my courses. These unethical thoughts strengthened my willingness to study hard in order to shelter myself as soon as possible. 

Work as a security guard

As soon as I got my residence permit renewed, I started thinking about how I would manage financially until next spring when I would apply for renewal again. A fellow student from Nigeria had worked on the subway in Stockholm for the past two summers and he recommended it. I therefore applied for the position as a security guard and after a couple of days of short training, I was to start during the summer.

Barbara had just gotten a summer job at the central office of Cooperative Organization, KF, in Stockholm and was planning to live with some friends who owned a large condominium collectively, right nearby. Marie-Louise, one of the girls who lived there, had actually met Barbara in Washington, where she worked, before she moved to Sweden. It was no problem for Marie-Louise if I also lived there. The apartment used to be empty in the summer, as all owners lived in the country during holidays. Marie-Louise liked the Greeks, by the way. A few years ago, she had helped another Greek who was studying in Stockholm and used to go on free holidays in Greece during the summers.

Just before we moved to Stockholm, Nikos told us good news, namely that Barbro had a son. I hadn't been to Stockholm since Christmas and I promised that we would see each other and visit little Andreas often during the summer.

The work as a security guard was pretty good. Of course, we worked in irregular hours and at several different stations. Sometimes I would open the T-station early in the morning and other times I would close it in the middle of the night. As a security guard, you took a night bus when you opened or closed the T-station. But I didn't care, it was an easy job. Even though I often had to get up very early and would be tired all day, it felt wonderful when I looked at the beautiful and quiet Stockholm at dawn. The times I was supposed to work in the Old Town, I walked there because we lived so close. Experiencing Stockholm's gleaming Lake Mälaren and Saltwater when you walk towards the Old Town on a very early summer morning, is among the most beautiful images one can views!

As a security guard, you had to sell and stamp tickets, check that the tickets and monthly passes were valid, but also orient some tourists. We were supposed to keep track of everything. There were stations where lots of people streamed past all the time and then you have to be alert. There were also stations where there were too few underground users. When I worked at such stations, I had to admit that I was less loyal to Stockholm Metro (SL). Instead of keeping track of passengers, I studied! Sometimes I was so concentrated on my books and didn't notice when passengers wanted to show me their ticket. I used to wave my arm that they could pass.

I was going to work for just over two months and the income was not high. One way to manage for a few more months with my own income, was to work overtime, weekends and late evenings. I figured that my income would last for about two months and my father again had to transfer a lot of money to show it to the Police next year. I lived quite frugally, compared to Barbara who earned significantly more and could afford to have fun with her girlfriends out in bars. Unfortunately, I broke the promise I made to Nikos that I would see them often when I was in Stockholm. If I remember correctly, I was with them twice. One time was a very short visit in connection with my lunch break at Svedmyra station, which was close to their apartment. 

In July, my childhood friend Panayiotis came for a short visit. He studied at the University of Piraeus and travelled around Europe with Interrail. I picked him up from the Central station on a Friday afternoon and we went home. He had taken the night train from Zurich, was tired, unshaven and sweaty, but wanted to go out in the evening. He took a quick shower and a couple of hours later we walked via the Old Town towards Kungsträdgården (Kings Garden). He stopped all the time because he admired the beautiful Stockholm and photographed everywhere.

When we passed the glamorous Café Opera, there was as usual a long queue waiting to get in. He suggested that we should also stand in line, even though I advised him against it, partly because it would take a long time, but above all because they would not let us in. He refused to shave when we were at home, had long hair like Jimmy Hendrix and worn jeans. But even I wore normal casual clothes. He insisted and we had been standing in line for at least half an hour when we finally arrived at the entrance, opposite the guards.

Behind us were two beautiful elegant young girls who were let in, before us. Panayiotis became irritated and when he tried to force his way in, he was stopped by the guard. Then he asked in French: "Parlez-vous Français?" The guard was surprised and thought he was French, and replied "Oui". Panayiotis, who actually knew a few sentences in French, tried to protest. The guard who spoke good French explained to him that it was full, we had not reserved tables and weren’t members. Panayiotis just stared at him and asked me what the guard said, since I could speak French. I interpreted for Panayiotis but he did not accept my explanation. Then I explained to the guard that he was a student from Greece and just wanted to be let into a Swedish bar and we left.

Panayiotis was still angry and wanted to go to some newspaper and report that as discrimination. It was impossible for him how such things could happen in Sweden, but neither in Paris nor in Zurich where he was before. He told about this story to all mutual acquaintances in Greece and they confronted me that there is discrimination in Sweden, when I met them a few years later.

A couple of years later, I tried to get into Café Opera again, together with David, a classmate from Côte d'Ivoire. David came from a very wealthy family, had studied in France before coming to Sweden and he was always dressed elegantly. His native language was French and tried to speak French with the guards there in the hope that we would be let in, but without success. At that time, it felt like racism, something that David took hard and after his doctorate he left Sweden for good.

Late in August I found a two-week cheap trip to Greece. I wanted to see my family and swim in the sea. Of course, I took a course book with me that I read while I was lying by the beach. My mother noticed it and did not think it was appropriate to read during my vacation. “I needed to relax a bit”, she said. I remember one day she hid the book and went to town to shop. I was on my way to the beach with my brother Giorgos, but couldn't find the book! We searched the whole house without success. Giorgos got tired after a while, grabbed the beach-rackets and walked by himself, while I waited until my mother would return and tell me where she hid the book. We argued a bit when she came, but since it was already too late, I stayed at home that day and after lunch I studied there instead.

1980-81

The vacation in Greece ended quickly and in the beginning of September I was back in Uppsala, where a new semester began. Life went on as before. Study, study, study! Professor Bentzel was teaching a doctoral course in Growth Theory at the time, which I took. He was good, kind, polite, friendly and had a certain temper for humor.

He once told a nice story when he was a visiting professor at a Chinese university. There he talked about the Swedish welfare system and mentioned, among other things, that the workers in Sweden had five weeks of vacation. He thought that the Chinese students would be very jealous when they heard that. But there was no reaction. The students were to ask questions at the end. When he finished his lecture, a student pointed out that it was not so remarkable to have five weeks of vacation in Sweden. In China, they had a holiday for 52 Sundays, and for three days during the Chinese New Year! Professor Bentzel didn't want to hurt the poor student and said he didn't count Sundays in Sweden. It would be much more embarrassing, he thought, if he also mentioned the 52 Saturdays and all the other public holidays we have in Sweden.

On his course, I put all my energy into getting as good grades as possible and I succeeded. Getting an excellent grade on his course would probably increase my chances of getting my own financing and keeping the promise I made to my father.

During this semester I also passed two other courses, International Economics with Professor Göran Ohlin and General Equilibrium Analysis with Associate Professor Villy Bergström.

Göran Ohlin was an intellectually brilliant person, he had a doctorate in economics from Harvard with great pathos for international justice, cooperation and aid to developing countries. His track record was actually very long. He worked at the OECD in Paris, was Secretary-General of the Brandt Commission in Geneva, and when he left our department, he became Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.

He knew many languages fluently. His lectures were in English, where Barbara was also impressed by his perfect British pronunciation and his extraordinary sentence structures with incredible and precise adjectives. He liked the two African students the most, Charles from Tanzania and David from Ivory Coast. If David asked a question, he would change the language to French automatically, without thinking, so that David could understand it better. Then he continued the lecture in French, forgetting that the course was supposed to be in English. I remember Barbara used to remind him of it.

As for Villy Bergström, a dedicated Social Democrat, there is so much to talk about and I will return in later chapters. During a break he asked me how I got to Sweden and when I told him because of the movie "Ådalen 31", he was really touched! I also passed his course gallantly. However, I have a feeling that he was a little more generous to me.

During the spring semester of 1981 I first took a course in Uppsala and afterwards I started writing my master's thesis, at the same time as I took the last course in Stockholm. To pass both courses and the essay took more than a year and I finished my master's in the beginning of autumn 1982.

When I applied for a residence permit again, I was more worried than last time. Again, some money was missing. I wasn't worried about my points. Considering that the essay was worth 20 credits (equivalent to 30 credits with the new system), i.e. one semester of full-time work and all the credits you would get after you had been approved at the end of the semester, it went well. A letter from the Dean Olle Mellander clarified this. 

As for the livelihood, 200 dollars was missing for the previous semester, i.e. May 1980 when I got a residence permit. I told my father not to send more than 150 dollars, because soon I would receive my first salary from Stockholm Metro (SL). The income I had earned during the summer was barely enough until November and my father had sent money for four more months. As soon as I got a summons from the Police, I went there. When I told the police that in a month or so I would be working again as a security guard, my application was approved and I was again granted a residence permit. 

During the first of May I went to town to watch the Labors Day demonstration. There I saw, among others, Villy Bergström and his wife Eva, in the first rows. Villy saw me and shouted my name to get on the train. It felt a bit embarrassing and people looked at me standing on the sidewalk. I just smiled and replied that I wanted to photograph instead, to have it as a memory.

In the summer, during my employment at SL, I stayed at Frescati with my cousin's room. We had some sporadic contacts during the winter and he rented his student apartment for me. I worked quite hard and lived spartanly again because I noticed that my father had difficulty supporting both me and the family. At the same time, I was desperately looking for different scholarships. Before the semester ended, I got some advice from Villy that I should apply for a scholarship at the Swedish Institute, which I did.

This summer I had a visit from my good childhood friend Dimitris, who worked as a photographer in Athens. Dimitris, who by the way is a master photographer, was constantly nagging about Hasselblad camera system, which for me was not so well known at the time. I who knew everything about Sweden, I was told by Dimitris that the Americans went to the moon with a Hasselblad camera and some are still there!

He wanted to come to Sweden to maybe find a cheaper, second-hand model, or maybe some good camera lenses. He probably took hundreds of pictures of Stockholm and Uppsala and me, with his own old Hasselblad. There are still a couple of pictures left on my shelf that he took then. We went around to different photo shops in Stockholm and when I found out that some lenses cost as much as I needed to live for a whole semester, I was shocked. Dimitris, on the other hand, thought that the prices were actually cheaper than in Greece and bought a 45mm lens. 

Scholarship from the Swedish Institute

In August, the good news arrived! I got a scholarship from the Swedish Institute over 9 months and my dad was finally going to stop with dollar transfers. I was so happy and immediately said no to all the overtime I had booked with SL. Not only that, I could afford to go on vacation to Greece. I went there with Barbara and it was the first time I felt so relaxed.

When we got back, I presented my master's thesis. It was written in English, which thanks to Barbara's generosity, turned out really well, not least linguistically.

Then it was finally time to choose the topic for the doctoral thesis. Villy had some issues close to his heart that he recommended. For example, it could be about the Swedish model, about the distribution of income, about labor productivity or about the importance of trade unions on the country's economy. He took it for granted that I, who had moved to Sweden because of "Ådalen 31", should have been a true social democrat. I have to admit that I came to Sweden as quite conservative but during my two years here, I had adopted many Social Democratic values, such as "do your duty", "have a high work ethic", "do not exploit the system", and "speak well of and defend Sweden". I replied to Villy that I would talk to Bentzel first and get back to him.

I had received an excellent grade on Bentzel's Growth Theory course and he asked me if there was any interesting section there to work on. I told him something about Swedish inventions. As soon as he heard that, his face lit up and said "wonderful, I was actually going to recommend it to you". I said that I must first inform Villy that I chose it.

Villy and Bentzel were good friends and actually lived in the same semi-detached house. When I told Villy that I was going to write about inventions and what they had meant for Sweden's economic growth, he was both happy and sad. Villy was of course aware that the innovations had meant a great deal, but he believed that social democracy and the trade unions were still more important. He reminded me again of "Ådalen 31" and that it was Per-Albin Hansson (the first Social democrat prime minister) who built the welfare state and then Ingvar Kamprad (the founder of IKEA) came and furnished it. This actually led to an interesting hypothesis that I tested later in my thesis. Were the innovations endogenously determined by the country's development or did the country develop thanks to the innovations? 

We had an interesting discussion with Villy. Of course, "Ådalen 31", Per-Albin Hansson, non-participation in the Second World War, the rich natural resources and innovations had meant enormously to Sweden. But, since a dissertation cannot take all these factors into account, one would limit oneself to and analyze only one important factor.

I remember answering Villy that long before I saw "Ådalen 31" I was playing with my scooter that rolled in SKF's bearings and I was fascinated by this ingenious invention. Then I mentioned a few others that I knew at the time, such as Alfred Nobel, Ericsson, Tetra Pak and Hasselblad. And Villy filled in with significantly more names and companies that I should check and he was finally happy with my choice.

My determination for the importance of inventions was further strengthened when I managed to get an invitation to attend the Nobel award ceremony at the Concert Hall. The Swedish Institute received some tickets from the Nobel Foundation that were randomly assigned to this year's scholarship recipients, and I was one of five who I was lucky!

It was a fantastic experience! Glamour, elegance and the world's sharpest minds in the same chamber with me, who sat at the back of the upper floor. When the ceremony ended, everyone crowded towards the exit and suddenly I was a few meters away from the queen who was smiling at all the guests and photographers. It felt almost unreal to experience it for real, compared to what happened five years earlier in the green bus in Athens, when I looked at the weekly magazine's pictures from the royal wedding…