My first encounter with Norden (Swedish for the north, referring to the Nordic region) took place in freshman year, right when my college career set sail---at least I thought so. As covid wreaked havoc and I became cooped up at home, my weary mind somehow led me to a dated copy of The Ghost Sonata by August Strindberg that my sister left as she moved away, the ancestral reason for the page you are looking at.
Reading August Strindberg purely as a coping mechanism during a difficult time. With my dad left stranded abroad with no return flights, my housing contract terminated, and my newly secured internship canceled, “woe is life” became the motif of that year. I frantically sought after solace, almost with a frenzied confirmation bias, and found my peace in Sweden and its writers, a place I had virtually neither kin nor connection to.
Three years later, I had the privilege to study language and film in Malmö. Growing up multilingual, I’ve always been passionate about the nuances of culture, and Sweden is the first that showed me the many defects of America, which I’ve called home and venerated since I was a toddler. The universal bilingualism among Swedes fascinates me as a language enthusiast; the human-centered public transport enthralls me as a traveler and a runner; the stipend that my friends at Lund Universitet receive as students leaves me, an Angeleno, envious; lastly, as I shadowed in Dr. Häggblom’s dental clinic, I was astonished that teeth are not “luxury bones” and healthcare is an inalienable right.
As a graduating senior in psychobiology and nordic studies, I will soon attend dental school and obtain my commission as a naval dental officer, yet Scandinavia had left an indelible mark on my heart, and I wish to showcase you through the form of writing. I yearn to serve my role as a traveler, writer, and oral surgeon in the near future and beyond with the mission of serving my country and providing healthcare for the underserved.