The mobile broadband modem that we bought in the beginning of our trip, but haven’t had to use until now, has turned out to be a joke. It only works in glimpses, enough for me to see that I’ve gotten e-mails, but I rarely manage to open them, and never answer.
The only time it actually works a tiny little bit, is early in the morning, during a window before 6:45. So I get up at 6 to try to communicate with the world outside my fieldworking bubble. Still, this is what shows most of the time:
This morning, though, I managed to answer seven Facebook messages. A huge accomplishment!
Accessing my e-mail still doesn’t work, however. The browser gives up before the ”compose message” page is done loading. I have 64 new messages, mostly newsletters from Add Nature and Amnesty International and SRC, but also some quite important other things. I’ve managed to read some, but not answer. I’ll be replaced as president in NFR (the Science Faculty Student Council at Stockholm University) – a good thing, I’ll probably graduate in June and we need new people in the council, but reading it, I suddenly felt empty. I’ve been involved with student politics business since spring 2010. What else will I do with my time? Start volunteering as a tutor with the Red Cross? Spend more time designing new knitting patterns? The options are endless.
Katja Malmborg 