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About me, the extended version.
Hi! My name is Matteo Aquila, I was born in April 2000 in Varese, Italy, and I recently moved to Stockholm, Sweden, for my Master studies.
I attended liceo scientifico tradizionale (science-focused high school, but with a Latin course in it) and had a lot of fun with side activities. I developed a chatbot (no gen-AI at the time, just lots of conditions) and a mobile app for receiving school notifications, because I was too lazy to manually check the news section on the website, and got 100 people to actively use it. I helped develop activities for middle schoolers about astronomy, especially an introduction to particle physics based on mid-80's songs. I wrote a musical show about philosophers using Italian pop music and convinced my class and teacher to perform it in front of the city's other high schools. I'm pretty sure teachers still remember me and fear me.
I started my university journey at Politecnico di Milano studying Mechatronics Engineering for two years, but during my first year a pandemic hit. It was a time of deep reflection for me, which among other things led me to slightly change my aspirations for the future.
I started again, studying Industrial Engineering at LIUC – Università Cattaneo and choosing a path focused on digital business services. During this time I developed my interest in management, process engineering, and data analysis. I often describe my philosphy on engineering as: "the science of getting things done". This study course taught me that practices coming from maths, physics, production planning and service design can be rethought and applied in each of the other fields.
I like cross-contamination between different fields a lot. And I like practicing hands on what I study. And I like being a force for good in the world. Which is why I gladly accepted a position as deputy volunteer leader for the local city group I had been working with for years. I used my position to experiment a lot on decision making, organization design, process design, people management. All the stuff that I learnt about during Bachelor studies. I also found teaching new skills very rewarding and fulfilling. Volunteering has gifted me with the greatest opportunities of my life.
Once I achieved my Bachelor's Degree, I decided to try something new and extreme: I applied to top universities all over Europe and chose to attend KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. One of the top ranked universities in the world, 1700 kilometers away from my hometown, in a country of which I didn't even know the language of. Moving to Stockholm has been an unforgettable experience so far and has helped me grow in ways I didn't expect.
The MSc in Production Engineering and Management is very challenging, but in an exhilarating way. I am learning so much, also on subjects I knew very little about beforehand. The Scandinavian life and study style are now becoming a part of me and I couldn't be more grateful about it. I recognize how privileged this makes me and can't wait to give back to the world for all the favor it showed me.
I define myself as a creative person and have tried multiple outlets along the years to express this. I started very young with acting and theater, which I then stopped practicing but for which I still feel a boiling passion. I especially like musical theater and keep myself up to date with all the new productions in Broadway, West End and the sporadic Italian productions. In my teenage years, I attempted translating and adapting into Italian a whole Broadway musical, songs and all. I am very proud of this achievement and believe it taught me much about words and the English language.
I love singing, as anyone who spends more than ten minutes with me will understand. I often burst into song, but I can also control myself.
I have a thing for writing and this long long page is a testament to that. I like creative writing, especially in the form of short stories. Two of my stories got recognized at the international contest "Premio Chiara Giovani" among hundreds of participants. You can read those and others on the writing page of this website. I also enjoy journalism as a way to satisfy my curious and inquisitive nature. I have written lots of articles, both published under my name and with no attribution under commission. Since 2023, I am writing for Osqledaren, the magazine of KTH's student union, read every three months by thousands of students in Stockholm.
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