Finishing date: September 2020.
In the end of October 2020, Jessica left Sweden. After arriving here a bit more than seven years before to start the same master’s program as me, we had been each other’s companions throughout the tumultuous first years of our academic careers. In September, Jessica defended her thesis. And a month and a half later, I helped carry the bags out of her student apartment to the taxi that would take her to the airport, away, to pursue a post doc elsewhere. Obviously, it wasn’t the last time we would meet. But it was the end of this phase of our relationship. And, in a way, the end of an era. Bittersweet. That we make good friends, and sometimes have to say goodbye to them.
As a graduation gift, I made a cross-stitch for her. It was a thing in our shared household, she at one point said she doesn’t believe in the ecosystem service concept, not in any serious way, just kind of conversationally – but it is the topic of my PhD thesis and I felt I needed to give back. Jessica’s thesis was on fisheries conflicts. I said I hate fish. An inside joke that stuck with us. To honor it, I embroidered her a memento. Bought an old frame at a flea market, repurposed it. The fish is a mackerel, one of the species that countries apparently fight over.
And so, I embark on a new handicraft adventure: embroidery. At least something to feel excitement over, when friends leave and winter is coming.
Katja Malmborg 