I spent the first part of my life tumbling around on a sheep farm in the city of Os, in Norway. There I had the fortune of growing up in a big house filled with people who loved me, where the animals and nature met you in the doorway. When I was eight years old, I moved with my mother to a tiny island off the west coast, called Grønenga. There we started another sheep farm with the indigenous Norwegian sheep characterized by its beautiful colors and big horns. Grønenga found itself a very special place in my heart, and stays today as the place I come home to from my various adventures.
The various adventures all started with the unique experience of living together with astonishing people from all over the world at Lester B. Pearson UWC of the Pacific. The time spent between the trees in Canada turned out to have a great impact on me, and was a very positive turning point in my life. There, I established strong friendships with students from very different backgrounds than my own, who today still remain my closest friends despite the geographically large distances between us.
After Pearson College the world suddenly seemed much smaller, so I decided to go on exploring. I started by traveling for three months around Europe, volunteering on some farms in Portugal and Croatia, and visiting friends from Pearson. Then, still not quite ready to start studying, I went to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to volunteer with children in one of the many slums. The eight months I spent there taught me lessons beyond measure. The evident gap between rich and poor gave me a huge culture shock, and I had never before been exposed to drug dealing and hungry children as part of every day life. The calm nature, slowness of lazy days, cold winters and complete silence from the island where I spent my childhood days were exchanged with the busyness of a city jungle, traffic, constant background noise and severe poverty. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy my time there; I would every day be met by warm, open people, strong colors and music on every corner and can with certainty say that I had a great experience.
While in São Paulo, I realized how lucky I am to be able to choose my own education and to have so many open doors ahead of me. Lewis & Clark is giving me the opportunity to keep most of these doors open, by giving me the freedom to choose my own education. I chose Lewis & Clark mainly because of its great scholarship program and liberal education. I quickly felt very welcomed by Lewis & Clark, and so now I am looking forward to finally see the beautiful campus and explore the academics it has to offer. My main interest is human biology, but I am also very interested in the global changes of this world, and the interactions between the different countries.
What I hope to accomplish at Lewis & Clark is to turn my interests into passions, and this way find the career for me. I also look forward to discovering the astonishing nature of the west coast, and to be a member of the Lewis & Clark community.