I spent 1.5 years as an exchange student at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. It was easily the most impactful and developmental experience of my entire life. Reducing the experience to words seems almost criminal. I made the best friends that I’ve ever made in my entire life, opening me up to a world I never knew existed, completely deconstructed the way I think through the unique, radical education I engaged in, witnessed more of the world through travel, became fluent in Swedish, learned vital lessons in diversity, and lived in a society that was so open and progressive that I could explore and inhabit who I am without fear.
I have had a strong interest in Nordic countries for years. Upon first learning about development in a global context while in high school, I wondered why it was that Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark) were always positioned at the top of rankings evaluating human rights, sustainability, environmentalism, health and well-being, and a plethora of other developments while the United States seemed to always be halfway down these same rankings. I began to read voraciously about the Nordic model and welfare state, and I began to cultivate my dream of one day moving to and studying in the region. I chose Sweden due to my ancestry and cultural connections in the country. When choosing the University of Oregon, I largely did so due to the university’s exchange agreement with Uppsala University, and I became an exchange student my sophomore year of university.
The first three months I was in Sweden were some of the darkest of my life. Sweden can be an incredibly lonely place if you do not have a community. During these first few months, I virtually had no friends and spent my time completely isolated, depressed, and disillusioned. This experience, something I had been looking forward to for years, was nothing I thought it would be. I was humiliated and alone, and when I headed home for Winter break, I debated even returning to Sweden to finish out my year as I had had such a negative experience. However, it’s always darkest before the dawn, and I did return. In retrospect, I am deeply grateful for this dark period of my life. I think everyone should have the experience of being in relative isolation in a completely new country and culture for months. It breaks one down, gives humility, and provides one with enough desperation that you break out of prior ways of being.
Near the end of the first few months I had been in Sweden, I had become so sick of being alone and having nothing while watching everyone else around me make friends and explore their new environment that I began to assert myself socially in ways I never would have previously. In one of my courses, there was a kind, true Australian girl that I had always admired. I went up to her one day in class, sat next to her, told her I had no friends and that I wanted to be her friend. She said she would love to be my friend, and it was then that I began to emerge from the darkness that had encapsulated me for so long.
In hindsight, this decision was one of the best I have ever made as it was the reason I would eventually come into contact with the people who would change my life forever.
The night before I left for home for Winter break, I was invited last minute to a social function by the Australian girl I had approached in class. This night was pure magic, and I met a Swedish boy who would become one of my closest friends and lead me to people and experiences I could have never dreamed of. Having my flight the next day, I told him that I would contact him as soon as I was back in Sweden. A month later when I returned, I did, and he allowed me to enter the Swedish social landscape in a welcoming and loving way. I could write a book about my experiences with the group of friends I made, but that is perhaps for another time. People make places, and I do not know if I will ever have the luxury of having such a group of people around me ever again in my life. In fact, they were the primary reason I returned to Sweden for a second, half-year exchange; having only one year with these people, people who allowed me to find so much more of who I am and who deeply changed my life, seemed a travesty.
As the year went on, I began to become more and more involved and engaged with my education in sustainable development in the CEMUS department of the university. The educational system in this department was radical and cutting-edge, and there were no professors, no busy work, and no hierarchies. The department was started in the 90s by a group of students that wanted to address the burgeoning field of sustainable development in a deconstructed, progressive way. This gave birth to CEMUS. The courses I took were incredibly diverse. Usually 1/3 of the students were Swedish while the rest were from all over the world, representing an array of ages, cultures, and perspectives. Engaging with critical, groundbreaking works in the field of sustainable development while actively learning from those around you rather than from someone standing in front of the classroom telling you how to think was liberating. We would engage with one another through fun activities that made education stimulating and involving, and almost every class a guest speaker who was an expert within sustainability (here, we had professors, leaders of sustainable companies, film directors, people working within nonprofit organizations, etc.) would come and speak with us, allowing us to be exposed to a breadth of views and knowledge within sustainable development. Combining this with experiential learning that had us venture into the real world without educational limits enabled true, deep learning to occur.
One of the highlights of this education was an engaging course I took that, after providing us with diverse foundations for sustainable project management, allowed us to take up the full reins and create and enact a sustainability project within the city of Uppsala. We were given no real support or guidelines other than to go into our communities and engender real change, and it did not matter if our projects were successful or not; the only thing that mattered was that we tried. With four other students, I created a campaign called “Write for the Goals,” a writing competition for youth in Uppsala based on the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This brought us to the governmental, private, and public sectors of society. We intimately worked together to come up with ideas for outreach and engagement, and visited over 50 schools in the city. In Swedish, I presented in front of students about sustainability and our project, and in order to receive funding for the project as well as an internship given to our winner, we went to the local government and spoke with relevant actors to receive thousands of dollars. We also worked with sustainable and independent businesses within the city to support our efforts, and we created a public event and art exhibition at the end where we displayed entrants’ works and provided a platform for public engagement with sustainable development. Here, students who had entered read their works aloud, leaders from the community talked about how their company or club contributed to sustainability, and guest lecturers from the government and Harvard University were allowed to speak. Food and drink was provided, and the winner was awarded publication in a local magazine, an internship with the government, and other prizes that also went to all entrants. This work was groundbreaking. It allowed me to see how much power we truly have and how much you can create change in your community as long as you have an idea, a team, and are willing to work hard.
This educational experience was something I do not think I would ever be able to have anywhere else.
Beyond education, Swedish society is the most open I have ever experienced. For the first time in my life, I was able to walk anywhere, head held high, without any fear of judgement. I was not only accepted for who I was, I was celebrated. The people were incredibly progressive and never cared about anyone’s sexuality, gender, race, origin, or anything. They were open-minded and progressive in a way I have never experienced anywhere else, and the society became an environment I could grow within and learn how to inhabit myself within. The lessons these people and this culture had on me were immense, and I have learned about and felt humanity in a way completely unlike anything else I have experienced. In many ways, Sweden feels like a utopia, a world and society too perfect to truly exist. Although it has its share of problems, I do believe there is nowhere else on where one can live so free.
Overall, studying abroad in Sweden was the best decision I have ever made in my life and clarified the type of life I wish to lead going forward. The first year I was in Sweden was the most magical and profound year of my life. It changed everything. I wish for everyone on Earth to have the type of experience I did. I think then we could overcome anything.