Fika, Friends, First Week in Stockholm

Hej! My name is Mckenna Murray and I am a rising junior at Vanderbilt University majoring in Political Science and Human and Organizational Development. Exactly one week ago, I flew 10 hours to Stockholm, Sweden to spend 10 weeks studying and traveling Europe with DIS. Throughout these 10 weeks, I will be taking classes on climate change, understanding terrorism and European genocides. And, through these classes, I will have the amazing opportunity to travel to Iceland, Poland, Stockholm, and Copenhagen to gain firsthand knowledge on the topics. For these first three weeks, I am in Stockholm taking a class called Understanding Terrorism (Causes, Solutions, Dilemmas).

This exciting combination of traveling and studying is one of the main reasons I chose to spend my summer with DIS. When else will I have the chance to hike ice glaciers with my class or tour concentration camps from World War II? These experiences are once in a lifetime and I am so excited to have the opportunity to share them with other students at DIS!

As you can see from the variety of classes I’m taking this summer, DIS offers so many different and unique topics of study which is another major reason why I chose to go abroad with DIS. With such a wide range of topics, I was able to easily find classes that peaked my interest and satisfied class credits from Vanderbilt – talk about the best of both worlds.

Despite having only been in Stockholm for a week, I’ve met countless new friends, learned incredible lessons from my professor and started to immerse myself in Swedish culture. While there have been some hurdles (I’m talking to you, public transportation), this short time in Stockholm has already exceeded any expectations I had before. From exploring the Skansen zoo to having daily fika (the best coffee and pastries you’ve ever had), we’ve already been able to experience so much and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next two weeks! I’m so excited to be a blogger with DIS and share my experiences studying abroad with all of you – skål to the next nine weeks!    ~ Mckenna