Why "in medias res"?
"Gunilla Kinn – In medias res" has been the name of my company since 1996. I took a course in creative writing at the School of Journalism at Stockholm University, and my professor used this classical expression for how I had initiated one particular story.
At the same time, I started out as a self-employed freelancer. I wanted a classic name for my business, which would work everywhere and which was also kind of a motto or a journalistic statement. All of a sudden I saw a suitable name to register, scribbled down by the professor in the margin of my assignment article. It just stack with me.
I also like that the Latin word "res" is imperative for "travel" in Swedish.
In medias res – in the midst of things
latin; in narrative technique, the recommended practice of beginning an epic or other fictional form by plunging into a crucial situation that is part of a related chain of events; the situation is an extension of previous events and will be developed in later action. The narrative then goes directly forward, and exposition of earlier events is supplied by flashbacks.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 2004
In medias res – i händelsernas centrum
latin; midt i ämnet, midt in i förhållandena, utan inledning (i motsats mot ab ovo, se d.o). Uttrycket förekommer hos Horatius ("De arte poetica", v. 148) som prisar Homeros därför att han började sin Iliad midt i handlingen.
Nordisk familjebok, 1910
My maps
I have always been extremely fascinated with maps, and love looking at all kinds of maps. The realities that the maps supposedly represent are of course, usually, even more fascinating – but maps are great for travel dreams and ditto memories.
<img src="http://www.world66.com/community/mymaps/worldmap/BEFRBAHRDEYEHTHUZACHMKBRFIYUADISRUNLNOTRTPLUESPHCAVAGTJPCNEEVIEGALITCZARAUATINLBGLIEIDCUGHSYMAMLMNUSQAUKDKMYMXSEIL.gif"><br/>
These are the more than 50 countries that I have visited (states where I have only been at the airport don't count, of course). The darker red stands for countries where I have been residing for at least two months.
<img src="http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=t&chs=440x220&chtm=usa&chf=bg,s,336699&chco=d0d0d0,cc0000&chd=s:99999999999999999999999&chld=ARCACOCTFLGAILINLAMDMAMIMNNJNMNYNCOHPATXVAWVVT" width="440" height="220" ><br/>visited 23 states (46%)<br/><a href="http://douweosinga.com/projects/visited?region=usa">Create your own visited map of The United States</a> or try another <a href="http://douweosinga.com">Douwe</a> <a href="http://douweosinga.com/projects">Osinga</a> <a href="http://douweosinga.com/projects">project</a>
American states I have been in (not just driven through). Well, as you can see, I still have a lot of places to discover in my second home country. Make your own US map here ...

...and a map of Europe here!
This map is actually a little embarrassing to me, because my self-perception has always been that I had travelled a lot in Eastern Europe. Well, apparently – not really! I haven't even been in Poland. And I must be the only Swede who has never made it to Greece. Yet.
More travels to come, I hope.