Back, for now...

Hello everyone, or, hej hej! as they say here in Swedlandia.

I'm back. Or at least for a few posts. I've done a modest redesign as well. Not quite done with that, but close.

I haven't been blogging so much since I've been here, for a couple reasons. One being that I've been pretty busy with school, and the other being that I haven't been out traveling around much. It's pretty difficult to get back and forth from Karlskrona to other places. The easiest is Copenhagen, and you can't get cheap fares as easily there as other places, like London. Still, I've had a lot going on here and kept busy, as I said. Here's some updates on what's been going on so far.

School has definitely been taking up the biggest chunk of my time. Between classes, homework and group projects, I've had my hands full. It hasn't been really difficult work, more the busy-work type. I know quite a bit more about the European Union now than I did before. We spent quite a bit of the first semester learning about the power structure and the different bodies that make up the EU. From there we have explored the different policies on development and growth that the EU has enacted and debated in its relatively short history.

We had five classes that ran separately for a few weeks each. They included lectures most week days, and minimal readings. Then we would usually have a paper and some sort of exam. Given the reputation that Scandinavia has for planning and design, I expected to really be challenged academically while I was here. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Even though the faculty that we have are bright individuals, they are certainly not experts in "planning." One is an economist, and the other is a Biologist. Add to that, that the economist openly questions the legitimacy of planning as a discipline, and it makes for a program that was not at all what I expected. Having a lot of exchange students that do not take the program seriously as well is an issue, plus its size and language issues make mean that generally only two to three people participate in class discussion.

Overall, it has helped me to understand why American Universities dominate the world rankings year in and year out. There are certainly some pedagogical elements that US schools would do well to adapt from there European counterparts, but the depth and breadth of an education at a quality American university just does not compare.

Things have been looking up, however, this term. We have been in thesis period and I am working on a really fun project. A friend and I had been discussing the possibility of writing something having to do with cities and sustainability since the middle of last term. When our class went out to a town called Växjö, I took advantage of the opportunity and asked if they had any projects we might assist them with. After some back and forth and some meetings, they decided to have us develop a sustainable transportation plan for an area they are hoping to develop in 10-20 years. Right now, all that's there is fields, so it presents a perfect "blank slate" to really develop in a sustainable way. There is also a good chance that they will use some of our ideas in the master plan they are developing for the area as well. We're still in research and theory stages right now, but I'll be writing more about that at some point.

Next up, life in Blekinge....