Category Archives: Uncategorized

When it was decided that I would go to Liberia to visit my mom, I went online to the Stockholm University library catalogue and searched for books about Liberia. Excepting a big number of older litterature, from the days when Sweden had a considerable mining business going on down there, there was only one bookContinue reading “a geopolitical wasteland”

Our final destination on the road trip was Harper, the easternmost harbor town in Liberia, situated in the county Maryland. It is a beautiful place. And it used to be really rich, and even its own state for a brief period back in the 1850’s. Its former splendor is visible everywhere.Not even the goats canContinue reading “Harper”

Day one: Sleeping late. Meeting the two new couchsurfers at the subway station. Taking them on a short tour of Skarpnäck. Going to a park, lying in the grass, reading, the sun shining as if it was summer already. Going into town, buying my interrail ticket for June-July: Europe, here I come. Meeting up withContinue reading “the days following a finished chapter of life”

Everywhere we went in Liberia, we met children. Happy, curious, always asking: “Picture? Take a picture!”  Sometimes their excitement verged on violence, but what do you do? I am not capable of saying no to children.This is the future of the nation, the souls without war traumas to weigh them down. This is where theContinue reading “the future of a nation”

Liberia used to be part of the great West African rainforest. And then man came. Now, the rainforest covers patches in between the oil palms and rubber trees.Halfway between Monrovia and Robertsport, there are huge, newly planted oil palm plantations. And of course it’s the prerogative of the Liberian government to make money off ofContinue reading “the remnants of a rainforest”

I just sent my bachelors thesis to my supervisor and my examiner. I’m exhausted and it doesn’t feel real. What am I to do now?

On our second day in Liberia, mom went to a meeting with a deputy minister and came back with a change of plans for our visit. She said that she had been invited to go to Harper, the easternmost coastal town in Liberia, with the deputy minister and that we were welcome to come along. So, justContinue reading “on the road in Liberia”

And now, the lilies of the valley have opened. My morning runs are immersed in a heavenly smell.  

I just finished Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas. It’s a book about how random the world can be, that things don’t always make sense and that life lacks the kind of logical arc and progression of events that stories usually have. It was really good, actually. It was centered around this middle-aged author whoContinue reading “the perfect life”

Yesterday was International Towel Day, a tribute to the ingenious work of Douglas Adams. Of course I had to show my appreciation. Turns out, though, that I was the only Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fan out and about on this particular Saturday evening. I went to play boule at a bar in a parkContinue reading “international towel day”