Prishtina's Two Towers

by Chris Jackson A recently converted pedestrian promenade, Mother Teresa Boulevard is at the center of the Kosovar capitol of Prishtina.  It’s the site of summer festivals, musical performances, and nightly throngs of pedestrians.  Named for Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, born Anjeza Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in nearby Skopje, the boulevard is lined at street level with cafes, nightlife, and shops, and apartments above.  While much of the architecture is historic, including some eerie reminders...

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Pink Tanks and Rotten Cakes: A Research Trip to Prague

by Jenelle Davis The Pink Tank in the Military Technical Museum Lešany, 2014Photo Credit: Jenelle Davis This past summer I spent a month in Prague conducting research for the chapter of my dissertation in art history that investigates the life of a memorial in the Czech Republic post-1945 to the present. I arrived to the beautiful city armed with a small but formidable list of email addresses and phone numbers of local curators, artists and art historians from which, I hoped, I could conjure...

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A Taste of Greece

by Christy Panganiban Even before entering college I was familiar with the concept of studying abroad. However, the idea of living in a completely foreign country while balancing school and adjusting to a new environment with new rules seemed quite intimidating.  Admittedly, I had some of the same qualms during my sophomore year in college while researching the study abroad programs offered by the University of Illinois. When I first came across the “4 Week ‘Renewable Energy Concepts’”...

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A Month Spent All Around Greece

by Neil Mulvey Throughout college, the idea of studying abroad always appealed to me. However, with tough course loads every semester and the pressure of graduating on time, I never gave study abroad much of a viable chance. When I decided to push my graduation date one semester back, it provided the opportunity to take advantage of the extra time. My first thought was to explore study abroad options to continue to gain credit, but more importantly to fulfill my want to travel and explore a different...

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Tuesday July 2nd

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on July 6, 2014. by Sam Morrow and Lauren Krone So sad to say this is our last blog, it has been an incredible trip! It seems like we just moved into our dorms at KTH, and now we are spending our last day in the Arctic!  This past month has just disappeared. As our final day in the course, this was our last opportunity to discuss what our final papers will cover.  Today...

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30th of June

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on July 3, 2014. by Kate Tyndall and Jinhui Wang Akka will have a special place in our hearts! Another early morning saw our ragtag group packing up from our home in Tarfala, saying goodbye to our new friends (Akka got a particularly long goodbye) and hitting the trail. The good weather and promise of a downhill start lulled many of us into a false sense of confidence. If you’ve never...

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1st of July

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on July 3, 2014. by Tyler Kamp and Vadim Velichkin The day started early in Nikkaluokta with breakfast at 8am.  Our place of stay was far from the food center and everyone was still recovering from the hike yesterday.  Breakfast consisted of toast with cheeses and meats and oatmeal. After breakfast we met to discuss the rest of the day.  Since the Sami had all left there...

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29th of June

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on July 3, 2014. by Otto Rimfors and Erica Sheeran Perhaps what made Tarfala feel like a paradise was not the majestic mountains that shielded the valley on all sides, nor the pulsing river that thrashed its way over misplaced rocks, nor the snow, vibrantly white against the muddy and lime coloured ground. Rather, the smiling flowers that peeked from behind the rocks and through the crevasses...

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28th of June

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on July 3, 2014. by Alexandar Vujadinovic and Kyle Morrison This day we went up the glacier Storglaciären, for which the Tarfala Research Station has the world’s longest continuous record of glacial mass balance data. There were also some researchers with us, partially to guide us and show a safe path, but also to collect data. Before going up the glacier, our course instructors made sure that everyone...

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27th of June

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on July 3, 2014. by Lauren Krone and Samantha Morrow Today was our first full day at Tarfala! After a restful morning and a leisurely breakfast, we hiked along the river and then up onto a lateral moraine. Moraines are piles of rock and debris that were once carried or moved by a glacier, and end up in piles, which reveal the glaciers shape and path at one point in time. We learned that lateral moraines...

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Hike to the Tarfala station, Thursday, June 26th

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on July 2, 2014. by Tyler Kamp and Vadim Velichkin We woke up at seven, ate our breakfast and went to Nikkaluokta, where we arrived at nine o’clock. At Nikkaluokta we spent some time organizing our luggage and finally we were on the trail at half past nine. The gods smiled upon us that day so we had the perfect weather. The trail that we chose to walk is a part of the Swedish King’s trail (Kungsleden)....

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Kiruna Day 3

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on June 27, 2014. by Kate Tyndell and Jinhui Wang June 25 – LKAB’s Kiruna Mine, Interview with Göran Cars, and Hjalmar Lundbohm Museum This morning we woke up bright and early for a tour of LKAB’s Kiruna Mine. The mine is located in Kirunavaara, which means “Ptarmigan Mountain” in Sami. This mine is the largest underground iron mine in the world, and relies on an ore body 4 kilometers wide and 80 meters...

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Aitik Mine in Gällivare

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on June 27, 2014.by Otto Rimfors and Erica Sheeran The industrial age hasn’t left us; rather, it, in a strange parody of nature, evolves in its own way. This morning, we visited the Aitik mine in Gällivare, about an hour and a half outside of Kiruna. The car ride there was full of nature and Nordic-ness (which are very much in the same vein of thought, if not synonyms): trees, natural streams, and Björk,...

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Day 1 in Kiruna

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on June 25, 2014. by Alexandar Vujadinovic and Kyle Morrison The day began with a lecture by Åsa Persson, leader of the Mining Inspectorate (Bergsstaten), a governmental agency responsible for decisions concerning permits for exploration and mining. It was very interesting to hear her presentation of the decision-making behind the mining operations in the northern territories of Sweden. In the presentation,...

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Week 2

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on June 25, 2014. by Lauren Krone and Samantha Morrow During week two we focused on land-formation and changes due to glacial movement and climate change in the Arctic regions. In the beginning of the week we discussed how climate change is affecting the arctic region more than other parts of the world. This is due in large part to energy transfers in both ocean and atmospheric currents. Pole...

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Week 1

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on June 25, 2014. by Tyler Kamp and Vadim Velichkin The first week of the course took place at KTH and the focus was on societal changes in the Arctic. We followed a number of lectures focusing on the following topics: The Arctic Region Traditional Sami House There is not a single way of defining the Arctic region. Different methods are used when it comes to defining what the Arctic is. These can...

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Dispatches from Europe: Study Abroad Blog Contest

Studying abroad in Europe this summer? Submit a post about your summer abroad for publication on our Across the Pond Blog, and be in the running to win our “Dispatches from Europe” Blog Contest! Winners will receive monetary prizes! How to submit:  Blog submissions must be emailed to eucenter@illinois.edu. Please submit a Word document and at least one image sent as a separate attachment. See our EUC blog guidelines for further instructions, and previous years' study...

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