Slow Move to Sweden

Sweden, along with the US, Canada, and Finland, is one of the world's leading exporters of forest products and, therefore, not a bad place to study forestry. Time to get to forest part of FORESTry now.

Romanticism and melancholy songs about the forest have been a long part of Swedish history due to the important role of forests in the daily lives of Swedes. These verses are a good example:

I wait by my fire while the hours go by,
while the stars shineand the night rolls on,

I'm waiting for a woman from the wide, wide world,
my dearest, my dearest with deep blue eyes (remember this is Scandinavia)

I wait by my kiln while the hours go by,
while the forests sing and the clouds glide past

I wait for a wanderer from the wide, wide, world,
my dearest, my dearest with deep blue eyes
(Dan Andersson, 1915)

A bit sad but you get the point.

I went to the campus of Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp yesterday for the first time. Its about an hour from Copenhagen by train and bus, and truly in the middle of nowhere - actually IN a forest. Apparently the grounds of the university have the second largest collection of trees (in terms of diversity in all of Sweden). Pretty nice huh?














Part of the reason for the diversity of trees is that the property was formerly a castle originally built in the 12th century and then rebuilt in the 1860s. I won't go too far back in to the history (you know it goes back a LONG time here, vikings and all) but in the 1500s this guy Krummedige (bet he got teased in school) owned the property and he was an advisor to the Danish king, and just to say thanks I guess King Christian III took over the property in 1936 - wonder if this guy lost or kept his job?

This region of Sweden called Skåne (pronounced Sko-na) went back and forth between Danish and Swedish ownership over the years. In 1658 after the Treaty of Roskilde (a Danish city) the Swedish king gave the property to the Commandant of Malmo (the nearest big city to the castle). It was in the 1860s that the castle property slowly turned into a school for agronomy and forestry. The Nordic Gene Bank is also located in Alnarp.

OK - are you bored yet? Anyway - here is one of the castle-like looking buildings on the campus, if you can see it through all the ivy...















And where will I be living? Not at Alnarp, the cool castle rooms were full - just kidding. Due to being a former castle and all, the town of Alnarp is really just the uni campus itself. Not stores (except the bookstore) and the only eating place are the Kantine and a restaurant on campus.

SO I will be living in nearby Lomma (pronounce Lumma) which at the very least has a few grocery stores and far too many hair salons from what I could tell on my first visit. Lomma is a small seaside town and seems very residential. I will be staying at the Lomma Strandhotell (Beach Hotel) which is really a hostel, but at least i have my own bathroom. Its clean and pretty convenient to grocery shopping, the post office, the beach, and the bus station with buses to Malmo (where one can get trains to Copenhagen). Here is a pic of my new accomodation
















Cheerful enough I think and next door to what is said to be the best pizza place in town (but then it might be the ONLY pizza place so..yeah perhaps best is by default). After living in cities for the last 10 years it is a bit too countryside for me but its only for 4-5 months and I can get my fill of city life in Malmo and Copes on the weekends.

SO thats the news from here.Enjoy the last bits of summer!