Look how much Swedish I'm learning! I can now say "hello" (pronounced hey, pretty tough), "thanks," and "I'd like a large, strong beer (stora starköl) please." A fun fact about Sweden is when ordering beer, you don't ask for a brand, you just say a size and strength and they bring you something (hey Mom and Dad!). Clearly the life skills I'm acquiring here are endlessly important.
My research at work is going really well. The interviews I've been doing are super interesting and I'm learning a lot about Stockholm, as well as getting great ideas for where to take my research in the upcoming months. I'm really getting a good taste for life in academia; my office is primarily professors and PhD students, so coming into work is a lot like sitting down and studying all day long, with lots of coffee breaks and people stopping by to chat. Normally you'd never find me studying 8 hours straight, but it's surprisingly easier when it's the only thing you have going on. I'm starting to take a look at the role of power struggles in making rational changes to a community— for example, how the distribution of funding is decided in terms of sustainable development in a city. I'm hoping to answer the question: what is it that helps foster and create tangible changes to the sustainability of an urban area? This will take shape as a comparative study between several major cities of the world, including Chicago, and Stockholm of course, mainly analyzing the political strategies and incentives of those in power. If this semester goes well, I will hopefully be able to stay on with the project, with the ultimate goal of getting it published. My supervisor has already hinted that this would be an excellent topic for a PhD in sustainable planning and development, but that's probably a long shot for me. Anyway, I really enjoy walks around my campus. It's small but there are a lot of cool buildings and statues everywhere.
 |
| This cool arch is the entryway to my university's equivalent of the Quad. |
This weekend I caught a film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which was interesting as you book ahead of time and have strict assigned seating within the theatre. They apparently have no giant butter dispensers for the popcorn, making me miss America a bit for the first time. I went to the Nordic Museum today, and spent almost 5 hours walking around. There were exhibits ranging from fashion of the 17th century Nordic people, to flags of the world. It was very cool.
 |
| Front of the Nordic Museum! |
Next weekend, I'm taking a trip to Lapland in northern Sweden, where I'm hoping to catch the northern lights! I'm super excited about that. We'll also try and do some other typical Lapland activities, like dog sledding or a visit to the Ice Hotel. So hopefully soon I'll have sweet pictures of that.
I'll check back in soon!
Mel
No comments:
Post a Comment