Aside from that experience I want to apologize for not updating for such a long time! It’s been crazy busy over here and I’ve been getting a little overwhelmed. The rest of March was characterized by a Saturday skiing in the Alps (my second time skiing!), coding family leave policies for my research and my Mid-Stay Program at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, through EuroScholars...which I shall describe to you...now!
I flew into Stockholm with my friend, the other EuroScholar from the University of Geneva, and met up with two lovely ladies from Clark who are also on the EuroScholars program. The four of us took the train to the main station and met the other four EuroScholars (another student from Clark!) and our coordinator from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. We then went to KI where we were greeted by another coordinator of the program who works at KI. Both were helpful, kind and gave us lots of coffee, tea and sandwiches.
Due to KI’s role in choosing the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine,
we were provided with our own personal lecture on the history and logistics of the Nobel Prize by one of the professors of KI who also is on the Nobel Prize Assembly. After dropping our luggage off at our hotel we all met up for dinner at a beautiful restaurant next to the water. It was nice to meet all the other EuroScholars and talk about our study abroad experiences.
The next day we all made informal presentations on the research that we have been working on throughout the year. This was definitely my favorite part of the program as everyone was genuinely interested in each other’s work and we were able to have a fruitful discourse on each one’s project. All eight of us are doing quite different work; neuroscience, cognitive development, German literature, and biomaterials are some of the subjects, for example. It was so great to hear everyone’s work and I was impressed by everyone’s passion for research. Two other professors were present and they provided feedback on our work which was really helpful.
More coffee and sandwiches followed and we were provided with a lecture on qualitative and quantitative research from a professor at KI. While I have taken both Quantitative and Qualitative Method courses I found the lecture to be valuable as the professor tailored it our needs and incorporated our specific projects into his lesson. He emphasized epistemology, the importance of recognizing where the knowledge you have comes from and how that consequently affects your research. What we deem valuable or important is reflected in our work and in order for our research to be as accurate as possible, we need to state our stance and positioning prior to our work.
The rest of the day involved two more lectures, one on global health and the other by the Dean of Higher Education on Master and PhD Studies at KI. It was interesting to hear KI’s view on research as well as their outlook and school mission. We all then met up with a KI student from Sweden and a KI student from Germany who took us to their school pub in the basement of one of the University buildings. In a different atmosphere, it was great to relax and talk with the students.
On our last day we went to the Nobel Museum
I stayed an extra night with some of the other EuroScholars and we were able to explore some of Stockholm which was a lot of fun.
While the Mid-Stay program was a great way to see first-hand another international research university and meet other EuroScholars, it was also a nice opportunity to go to another country. Which leads me to my view of Sweden and the vibe I got from some of the people I met there. I was able to talk with a student from central Sweden at KI about the research I was doing and I was surprised to find that he really knew what I was talking about. While there might be a small language barrier with some of the students I talk to in Geneva, for the most part, they still do not seem to understand why I am studying international family leave policies once they tell me they know what they are. This has always concerned me as it would seem that they don’t find this topic of importance. Not to mention that my major (Women’s and Gender Studies) at Clark doesn’t even exist at the University of Geneva (or many Universities for that matter). But right away, this student (a bio-engineering major) started talking about the necessity of getting women into higher work positions and how “of course” he was going to take paternity leave when he had children. Hearing this honest egalitarian outlook I was curious to see if others actually thought this way and he assured me that he was not some freak outlier, set to distort my perception of all Swedish men.
While I am completely generalizing right now it was so refreshing to be able to talk freely about this issue. I was also able to talk about my research with two professors at KI (professors at a University- yes, I know biased sampling) who took paternity leave in Sweden. As Sweden allots a relatively generous leave for fathers, these two men were able to stay home with their children. One of them spoke of how it was not uncommon for fathers to take leave when they had children (as it is in most other countries). Hearing their views of women’s rights as a national concern that needs to be addressed and won by both men and women of Sweden was really reassuring.
While I only spoke with these three men, and heard their view of other Swedish men, what I heard was both enlightening and inspiring. An egalitarian society is possible! Who would have thought? Disclaimer: I am not saying that Sweden is a perfect example of an egalitarian society by any means but, from what I saw, relative to what I have been seeing (women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in 1971) they are moving in the right direction.
After that whirlwind of a weekend, I came back in time to meet my mom and sister at the Geneva airport. It was so great to see them and show them part of what my life has been like for the past couple of months. We went all over Geneva and did day trips to Annecy, France,
a medieval castle on the eastern part of Lake Geneva
and the Fribourg region of Switzerland where we did a tour of the Cailler chocolate factory (possibly the greatest experience of my life- yes, that is me in front of the tasting room where we were able to try various, and large quantities of chocolates)
and the Gruyères cheese factory.
It was amazing. Aside from all the great travelling we did, I have to say that what I enjoyed most was just hanging out in their hotel room, watching (not really) Swiss television. It was so great being not only with people who spoke English as a first language, but with people who were essentially physical manifestations of my home
But now, sadly, I must go. I’m currently on Easter break but still need to do some studying. My French isn’t looking too good as my recent long weekend spent in the German speaking part of Switzerland with two friends from Spain really hasn’t helped improve my speaking skills. It’s also my week to clean the apartment kitchen and I’m leaving for Scotland on Thursday to visit my friends from Clark who are studying at the University of Stirling! Ah, yes. Au revoir!
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