Introducing Myself: The Journey of an Arkansan in Sweden.
Hello, everyone. Greetings from Sweden! My name is Tristan Norman. I am a Rotary Global Scholar from Rotary District 6170 in Central Arkansas. Currently, I am studying a Masters of Science in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation at Lund University in Sweden. One day, I want to be a climate adaptation and risk specialist, but that is a long way in the future. For now, I want to share my experiences in Sweden with you. I am surrounded by tall pine forests, medieval history, and cold fall nights. But before that, a little about myself.
AN ARKANSAS NATIVE
I grew up in Conway and North Little Rock, attending LISA Academy North and Conway High School. Around Conway, you would often find me studying at Blue Sail or waiting tables at Stobys Restaurant. I like espresso, libraries, photography, Star Wars, old movies, and reuben sandwiches. My father is a chiropractor. My step mother works at Hendrix College. My grandmother is a librarian that made me love books. My mom is a school teacher. And I have three brothers who are attending Conway High School, Hendrix College, and elementary school. Though I have spent some time abroad, I always find myself coming back to Arkansas to visit family and friends. It feels nice to be greeted with such warmth and southern hospitality.
I graduated from Hendrix College in 2020 and studied Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a little cocktail of economics, business, and social science classes. This major was concerned with how businesses and non-profits can solve social and environmental challenges at the local and community level. In Arkansas, I often volunteered with Arkansas Peace Week and other non-profits in Central Arkansas. We cared about advocating for peace, sustainability, and community development. And they taught me that young people were needed to make changes. I continued this passion with the United Nations in New York City, where I worked as an intern in the Youth Unit and the UN Young Leaders program in Geneva, Switzerland.
Let us just say that we Arkansans get around. And I have had the pleasure to run into Arkansans in the most random places on this planet. I think the same thing can be said about Rotarians.
Growing up in Arkansas, I often had no idea that I was surrounded by so many Rotarians. A friend at the Faulkner County Library. An old Hendrix professor of biology. A restaurant owner. A high school educator. Rotarians come from all walks of life. They all wanted to have an impact beyond themselves. When I was accepted into Lund University, it was the Rotarians in Central Arkansas that supported me and ensured I could take this opportunity. But beyond personal kindness and community, Rotarians are thinking about nature and the environment.
Over the past few years, Rotary International has decided that the environment will be the seventh priority area of focus. Included in this focus are critical issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, sustainability, and water scarcity. These are huge global sustainability problems, but they are also local problems too. They impact communities where Rotarians live. They will also impact their children and grandchildren. Luckily, no problem is too big for Rotary. With over 46,000 clubs around the world, Rotary can have a strong local and global impact.
With generous support from the Arkansan Rotarians and the Rotary Foundation, I want to address some of these challenges by looking at climate disasters and how we can better prepare for disaster events. By studying a Masters of Science in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation, I will have the skills to help others, especially Rotary communities who are impacted.
MY PREVIOUS TIME ABROAD
Before I came to Sweden, I had lived abroad many times in my life. I have a passion for traveling and learning about other cultures, especially those that are different from my own. I have spent many years living in Asia. In 2019, I studied abroad at United International College in Zhuhai, China, near Hong Kong. I studied international business and developed a strong passion for climate change and the environment. China challenged me and broadened my world views. It made me curious and open-minded. It also made me believe in the value of working together to solve shared problems.
In fall 2021, I moved to Japan, where I worked as an English teacher in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program in the rural Japanese countryside. I lived in a village of a couple hundred Japanese and worked at two elementary and one junior high school. While in Japan, I had plenty of time to travel, learn some Japanese, and see Japanese culture. You can see some photos of my life below. I was impressed by Japanese approaches to nature, sustainability, and conservation. I also volunteered as a Programs Officer with climate and sustainability youth and young professional groups in Tokyo.
In Japan, I discovered my love for climbing mountains and trekking. Which turned into some many cold nights on Mt. Fuji and in the Himalayan mountains in Nepal. Trekking and mountaineering became my favorite hobby, despite being afraid of heights and Pinnacle mountain as a child. While in Sweden, I hope to visit the peaks in Norway and Sweden to see what mountains are like in an arctic climate.
Abroad, I met many people impacted by natural and climate disasters. Extreme floods, heatwaves, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and hurricanes/typhoons. It reminded me of the 2019 central Arkansas floods that impacted many Arkansans lives and homes. In China, it was common for strong typhoons to flood my university campus multiple times a month. In Nepal, there was no snow, even though it was the middle of winter. In Japan, earthquakes shake our buildings and sometimes cause tsunami warnings. In the humid summer, heatwaves sometimes made it too dangerous to go outside.
This is not too different from Arkansas. The summers are hotter and the winters are warmer. In Arkansas, tornadoes are becoming more intense and destructive. This is not normal. But it is also an opportunity to learn how to live better in this world and better prepare our communities. For this reason, I decided to try to combine disaster risk management and climate change together to see how we can better prepare for the future and save lives. Lund University was the only program in the world that offered this focus. It also gives us the freedom to decide how we want to make an impact. I could not have been happier with my choice.
Welcome to Sweden! The land of the Vikings, the Nobel Prize, and IKEA. I live in Lund, an old medieval city founded in the 900s. It is wedged between Denmark and Sweden and shares many features of both cultures. My university was founded in 1666 and has a palace, a cathedral, and an old residence of the King of Denmark. It has many botanical gardens, bike paths, cafes, and an old university library.
Kunghuset "The King's House".
I arrived in Lund on August 20th for new student orientation. We had many student events, excursions, and IKEA trips. Lund University even gave a welcome reception in the old cathedral with organ music. If you come to Lund, you will need to explore the crypt where the old bishops and kings are buried.
Lund is an international city with a long history of welcoming different cultures. My program is no different. Our program is taught by well-renowned practitioners who have had long careers at the Red Cross, United Nations, World Bank, and USAID. Humanitarians, development experts, and climate adaptation specialists. We have a strong variety of teachers and mentors. The students in my masters program are from all around the world. Swedes, Germans, Canadians, Italians. Swiss, Japanese, Chinese, Danish, Singaporeans, Dutch, and many others. But do not fear; they all know where Arkansas is on the USA map now and soon will learn the benefits of sweet iced tea.
Connecting with and receiving hospitality from a local Swedish Rotary club is an integral part of being a Rotary Global Scholar. I am proud to be hosted by the Lund International Rotary Club. We meet at the Grand Hotel Lund for breakfast on Tuesdays. They have been very generous and welcoming. Since arriving in Sweden, I have bought tickets to go to the Rotary Action Summit in Malmö, a city near Lund. I have also joined the Lund-Malmö youth Rotaract club.
But the best surprise of all was a kind visit from a Swedish-American friend from Little Rock, Arkansas. Many years ago, we worked on Arkansas Peace Week together. She came to visit me in Lund and hosted me at her family's home for a delicious Swedish dinner. One of her ancestors was a Bishop of Lund and is buried in the crypt of the Lund cathedral. Taken together, I feel very welcome and supported by the generous Rotarians, Arkansans, and Swedes. I am excited to see what comes next!
Meeting with the Lund International Rotary Club
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO
Thank you for taking the time to learn about me. I hope you will continue to join me as I share more about my time in Lund. Vandra means "to wander" in Swedish. It is the name of this blog series and I hope you have the chance to wander a bit with me here.
I will be making these posts periodically during my time here for the next two years. My blog posts will cover a wide range of topics that I think you all will enjoy. Some will be travel and culture-related. Other posts will be about topics that are important to Rotary and the environment. Please be on the lookout for the next blog post about Sweden.
If you would like to request a topic to be featured, please email me at normantristanhendrix@gmail.com, message me on Facebook, or comment below.
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