May 2025 | Study Away: Sustainability in Sweden Blog

Hello from Gamla Stan

Published May 31, 2025

Lisa, Tara, and Molly in front of the historic buildings of Gamla Stan. — Hello from Lisa, Tara, and Molly in Gamla Stan’s central square.,

Hello from Gamla Stan, Old Town Stockholm. We arrived Friday night and have been getting ready for the students. We’re so excited to see them in person after learning about them the last four weeks during our online classes.

Something we are each excited for the students to see in Stockholm is:

Molly: Skansen’s Sustainable Walk Through Swedish History, a horticultural tour of historic gardening, forests, and ecology.

Tara: Historiska Museet – The Swedish History Museum, where we will see ancient rock carvings of Swedish people and trees (2000 years old).

Lisa: This iconic square, Stortorget, in Gamla Stan, filled with colorful historic buildings, friendly people, and delicious food. Students can grab a cup of hot chocolate at the famous Chokladkoppen, or enjoy panna cotta at Stortorgskälleren (the best I’ve ever had1)

We’re so excited to have everyone here together to begin this adventure.

Sister Forests/ Systerskog

Published May 26, 2025

By Lisa Johnson De Gordillo

Water running through a pine forest in Sweden — Water runs through the forest floor in northern Sweden

Our program grew out of Sister Forests, an arts project that I started after spending time as an artist-in-residence at Björkö Konstnod (Björkö’s Art Node, or BKN for short) among the islands of Björkö -Arholma.

BKN is located in the northern Stockholm archipelago, and when I was there in 2022, I was struck by how much the Björkö-Arholma landscape reminded me of the Keweenaw. From the forest floor to the rocks rising out of the Åland Sea, the feeling was a juxtaposition of being right at home and very far away. In my art, I have always been interested in how people connect, and I began to wonder how we could do more of that connecting around forests and environmental care.

Sister Forests is part of that wondering. It connects the forests of Björkö-Arholma and the Keweenaw Peninsula. Like “sister cities,” but forest-centered, the project links two forest-based places and the people living among them. One of our core ideas is that environmental stewardship and personal human connection go hand in hand.

Sustainability in Sweden is our first student cohort to be part of the project. Some things I’m excited about for this trip: visiting Uppsala’s Common Garden, where we’ll discuss tree migration and climate change; a community project we’re developing for the small island community of Singö; Swedish guest speakers in art, ecology, and holistic forest care who will share their perspectives with us; and Midsommar on the tiny island of Arholma.

Stay tuned! We’ll have more to share with you next week when we arrive in Sweden.

Hello families and friends (Hej vänner och familj)

Published May 22, 2025

By Lisa Johnson De Gordillo

Welcome to the Sustainability in Sweden study abroad blog. Here, we will share our travels and adventures with you: exciting things we encounter, new ideas we learn about, and reactions from the students while we are away.

Our program is an interdisciplinary adventure that weaves together forest health, climate change, ecology, and the arts. Together, we’re learning how to create community and environmental stewardship in the face of today’s challenges.

Month: May 2025

Hello from Gamla Stan

Sister Forests/ Systerskog

Hello families and friends (Hej vänner och familj)