I took a night Tallink-Silja boat from Stockholm which departs at 20.00 and arrives at 7.00 in the morning. Since we were planning to stay late at night using unique equipment (STED microscope) with post-docs, I bought a boat-hotel package which included one night in a hotel. I highly recommend to do so for others. Everything is very well arranged on the boat and cabins are comfortable. In addition the whole trip does not exceed the budget allowed by the Exchange program. Round trip by plane may be over the budget if ordered less then a week before the tip.

Since international students were in the class most of the interactions were in English this time.

I enjoyed views over the Baltic see when I was writing a paper on the deck on my way back. 

I really enjoyed my visit.

Since Åbo Akademihas one of the best STED microscopes in Europe. We took a chance to test different flourescent taggs for two-color STED imaging after official teaching hours. We stayed in the lab until 22.00. It was a very productive day!

I received an invitation from Prof. John Eriksson to give a lecture and a seminar on molecular mechanisms of endocytsis and to organize practicals for post-docs. I gladly accepted this invitation. This is not the first time I participated in teaching at this University.

 It is wonderful that such exchange programs exist in Europe. Every time after my visit I feel that I am becoming a better teacher. I shall certainly do this again if I am invited.

As usual with short visits we were trying to get as much as possible from it. My lecture was on molecular mechanisms of endocytosis in synapses.  Endocytosis is a key mechanism used by neuronal cells to control the number of extracellular receptors and to recycle synaptic vesicles during neurontransmitter release. Different imaging approaches are used to monitor this process. In my lecture I highlighted modern approaches used to monitor endocytosis in synapses. We discussed how transgenic technologies can be employed to tagging endocytic proteins for cellular imaging experiments.
On practicals we went through dissections techniques and preparation of Drosophila neuromuscular junctions for STED microscopy. We then studied these preparations with post-docs. 

I had lectures in the morning (4h) which started at 8.30 and then practicals, dissections and microscopy time with post-docs and PhD students the rest of the day with an hour break for lunch.  Teaching finished at around 18.00. The total time for teaching was more than 9 hours this day.