March Madness

Hej hej,

The month of March started on a bus full of eager students packed together like sardines somewhere a couple hundred kilometers south of the arctic circle. We’d had little to no sleep since we drove 22 hours overnight up north. As I mentioned in my last blog, I joined the trip to Hemavan in northern Sweden, which was organized by the Erasmus Student Network in Lund. (Side note: I just want to note at the beginning of this blog that I previously used the term ‘Lapland’ to describe the area we visited, but have since learned that this is a colonial and derogatory term for ‘Sápmi. For that reason, this blog will no longer refer to it as ‘Lapland’.)

Anyway,

While the first March sun began to rise we took in the beauty of the snow-covered wilderness we found ourselves in. Upon arrival in the afternoon we met our wilderness guide and got ready for the first activity, which was a cross-country skiing workshop. I feel like I was able to get the hang of it, but man was it a workout, a bit like skiing and ice skating mixed while also moving yourself up and downhill. The first day ended with a welcome bonfire and a whole lot of snow. The second day was spent in Møsjoen, Norway. We made our way up to the Møsjoen zipline, which is the longest zipline in northern Europe. Both the view and the zipline were absolutely stunning and absolutely exhilarating. The day ended with a nighttime snowshoe hike in the untouched woodlands. Not allowed to use any flashlights, we made our way through the woods after our wilderness guides (the fact that snow is white helped a lot). The next day we woke at the crack of dawn to attend an arctic survival course and later took a downhill skill class. The evening was spent in the high mountains where we sat in a quaint little restaurant that served us waffles with reindeer meat and local berries. After a long day we got some good sleep to wake up early to leave for a husky safari in the sun through the woodland. On our final night in Hemavan we stayed up in hopes of seeing the northern lights and set back out into the snowy night just after midnight. We walked about an hour north and unfortunately didn’t see much because of the clouds, but caught some green flecks through our phone cameras. It’s safe to say there was little sleeping that night, because check-out was early the next morning. We began our treacherous bus journey back to Lund, but made a stop along the way at a Sámi winter facility. This is a small area of land with houses and a roomy reindeer enclosure where these indigenous people of southern Sámi kept their reindeer in the wintertime. We were welcomed by a Sámi woman who told us about their lifestyle, culture and history. This part of the trip was especially special to me and sparked my interest in the history of this people and the role that Scandinavian colonialism plays in it.

Shortly after returning from the trip, my gender studies course focused on colonialism in Scandinavia where I got to read more into the topic of oppression from the Swedish state. I rounded off this gender studies course by working on a week-long essay exam and about three hundred million oat milk matcha lattes. This last week I began a new gender studies course titled ‘Gender equality according to the Scandinavian model – Gender, class, ethnicity and the welfare state’, which is already fascinating, so I’m very curious about the rest of the course. I also finished my Swedish oral, written and reading exams at A1 level and will begin the A2 level course tonight, which I will be taking until the end of the school year. Jaha!

The rest of March was spent rehearsing for Spex, Kalmar Nations’s musical for which I’ve been casted, celebrating st. Patrick’s day and friends’ birthdays, at Kalmar Nation’s fairytale themed workers sittning, witnessing the Malmö Redhawks’ last hockey game of the season, and hoping that the weather is not merely tricking us into thinking it’s spring. Besides that, I think all of us exchange students here are feeling a little bittersweet at the moment because we’re now at our halfway mark. Then again, I feel it’s also all about learning to live in the moment and going with the flow of our days. I’m excited for what else is to come!

Vi pratar snart!

Ana