Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’m almost alone at the center now. Both of my supervisors are here, and a couple of Ph.D. students, but otherwise, it’s quite empty. There are no milk deliveries anymore, but I found an opened carton of milk, expiration date June 10th, in the fridge in the master’s student kitchen that actually hadn’t gone bad.Continue reading “trainee in mid-July”

Elli had her 30th birthday party yesterday, on a boat by Söder Mälarstrand. Beautiful place, beautiful evening, beautiful people. The party had a marine theme, and I had dressed up as a pirate. Everyone else from the SRC were also dressed up in various costumes, jelly fish and mermaids and kids’ bathing toys, but except forContinue reading “pirate on a boat”

The sun has actually gone down. We’re south of the Arctic circle now, I’ve been on this train for almost eleven hours. A while ago, the sun was painting the trees and our faces golden – but now, it is gone and the sky is kind and soft like a My Little Pony. I wasContinue reading “Stories from the Narvik-Stockholm train, July 1st: When skies are pink and purple”

Several times during the last couple of days, I’ve witnessed couples almost unnoticeably showing their affection for each other on public transportation. A light caress, on a knee or a foot, almost absentmindedly, while reading a book or looking out the window. Tender in a way that has made me feel like I’ve seen somethingContinue reading “when looking away is the right thing to do”

The view from the train window, just before we crossed the Norwegian-Swedish border. I’ve now been on the train for four hours, and I haven’t achieved a thing. Why, a reader might ask, do I even need to achieve anything? I’m on a train, heading back home to a traineeship where I’ll have plenty toContinue reading “Stories from the Narvik-Stockholm train, July 1st”

In the bus from Kabelvåg I listened to an interview with First Aid Kit. Such sweet little girls. Then I listened to their album again, while watching the mountains become higher and softer around the edges. It was such a perfect soundtrack, the austerity and beauty of the landscape and the melancholy of the SöderbergContinue reading “if I could write a song”

On my own again, I’m forced to take photos of myself if I want to have any kind of photographic evidence of actually having been there. Especially on a remote mountain top in Lofoten, where there aren’t any other people around to ask. However, I admit, this kind of derailed a little bit.

I went on a last hike in the morning, climbing yet another peak, before having to catch the bus that would take me away from Lofoten. The peak was called Tjeldbergtind and was 367 meters high. An Arctic wetland. The view of Svolvær, the biggest town on Lofoten, as seen from the top of Tjeldbergtind.Continue reading “Stories from Norway, June 30th: The last hike”

“The time of the pussy” “I dreamed of the mountains, the blue sea, the fish and nature. I woke up, and the dream was true. Stop oil drilling in Lofoten” “The Earth turns, the years pass” The street art in Kabelvåg is really political, on the environmentalists side of things. I like that.

I had planned to spend the morning out on the pier in Å, reveling at the ocean, now that my attention this far had been given to the mountains. But I didn’t wake up until ten thirty, which meant I barely made it to my bus. Oh, well, I guess I needed the sleep. GoingContinue reading “Stories from Norway, June 29th: By the North Atlantic”