Introduction to Lund, Sweden

Greetings from Lund, Sweden!

It’s been a while since my last post, but I arrived in Sweden on August 15th and it’s been a pretty hectic week moving in. Now that I’ve got a second, I wanted to write a quick post about what I’ve been up to and what I’ll be doing here for the next two years!

I’m studying at Lund University, a research institution celebrating its 350th anniversary this year which is home to 42,000 students from 110+ countries. I’m living in a dorm specifically for international students, and in my corridor of nine people we have students from the US, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, China, and Mexico. It’s amazing to have so many international perspectives all in the same place, and we’ve already had several late-night discussions talking about current events, politics, and our home countries.

One of the highlights of this first week has been finding out that the city of Lund is visually stunning. Every time I step out of my dorm room I’m struck by it. Quite simply it’s a joy to walk around and explore the pedestrian friendly streets and marvel at the cobblestones, the parks, and medieval cathedral in the center of town.

Lund’s campus is equally beautiful, filled with a variety of architectural styles and colors: the Administration building is bright white, the main library is red and draped in climbing ivy, and the student union’s name, AF Borgen, literally translates as “Academic Society Castle”!

But I’m here for more than just the beautiful sights and buildings. International student orientation began last week, and 1,800 exchange and degree students arrived from 110 different countries to prepare for the upcoming semester. I’m gearing up for a two-year masters program studying Human Ecology: Culture, Power, and Sustainability. It is housed in one of Lund’s top academic departments, the top Human Geography departments, which is world renowned. But what is human ecology? Or human geography, for that matter? Most people (especially Americans) that I talk to have never heard of them. They aren’t terms that many people come across outside of academia.

Human geography is the study of how humans interact with places. For instance, human geographists study why certain geographies (neighborhoods, cities, and regions) prosper while others are poor (the international development masters here at Lund is located in the Human Geography department). Other human geographists study how globalization is changing the way people live in different places. Still others examine the way people in cities and urban areas live and understand the world. 

Human ecology as a concept falls within the field of human geography, and it examines how people relate to the environment, how the economy unfairly distributes ecological benefits and losses, and why poor places experience more environmental problems (e.g. air pollution, climate change, extractive industry waste) than rich ones. It also looks at how to solve these problems, specifically through big-picture economic, political, and social change.

I plan on blogging every couple of weeks (time permitting) during my studies, so there will be plenty of time to delve into these terms further in the future. In the meantime, be sure to sign up to follow my blog if you’re interested in hearing more about my time in Sweden! Until next time, I leave you with one of my new favorite quotes, courtesy of the Reykjavic airport in Iceland.

Pratar med dig senare!
(“Talk to you later!” in Swedish)

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If you would like to contact me directly, please do so via email: adanowski@zagmail.gonzaga.edu