I am on sabbatical again, just as I was when I started this blog in 2014. Because of the pandemic, it is a little harder to plan, but I do know that I won’t be teaching at SFSU until the fall of 2022.  I am so fortunate to have an incredible job where I have academic freedom and the ability to pursue the research of my choice, plus have this opportunity to explore myself and the world.

In Europe again, I spent some time at my little house in Vilnius, and then my birthday in Stockholm at the summer house of a close friend. When I think about global climate change, I recognize that these northern places are where it will be comfortable to live in the future. It was chilly and rainy in August, but that’s much better than being in the heatwaves of Southern Europe, or the crazy flooding that happened in Germany. I think any investments in Sweden or the Baltic countries will definitely turn out to be profitable in the future. Alaska would also be a good bet. With the temperature getting warmer, and the droughts in California, it is refreshing to have some water and moisture in my face. I didn’t get to swim in the lakes though; it was already too chilly. Overall, it is just relaxing to be in a place where it is not too crowded, the traffic is manageable, and the weather is not oppressive.

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I heard a couple nice baroque music concerts, one at a beautiful castle called Strömsholms Slott, but there is still some social distancing, and there are limits to the numbers of people that can be in the audience. But that is all going to change at the end of September, when Sweden completely opens up. No more limits, and I heard that Elton John will have a sold-out audience in Stockholm with thousands of fans. People are eager to return to the big arenas and not be afraid any more. The vaccine has been adopted quickly, but I do have some friends who were unvaccinated and ended up getting quite ill with Covid-19.

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I had never been hiking in the mountains of Northern Sweden. So, I with a couple friends set out for Helags Fjäll, near the border with Norway in Jämtland. It is a beautiful place, above the forests. Reindeer roam around, and there are houses of the Sami people. The shrubs and flowers don’t get tall, because there is a driving wind that blows everything away, and in the winter the snow is meters deep. We hiked from Ljungdalen, and spent two nights in tents. It was definitely cold and windy, and we cooked food and ate inside the tents. The day we hiked in was clear and sunny, but the day of the mountain ascent was cloudier. We decided to climb the nearly 2000-meter mountain in any case. There is no true trail, and we just climbed slowly first through the mushy wet shrubs, and then through the snow on all the rocks and boulders exposed from the southern-most glacier in Sweden.  It took a few hours to reach the clouds and then another half hour to get to the top. It was definitely worth it, just to have a goal and arrive. I had several layers on, and a pretty good wind jacket, but about 10 minutes at the top was enough. Climbing down was easier, and we followed the mountain streams sourced from the melting glacier. Overall it was 37 kilometers of hiking in 3 days. The Swedes love this mountain, and they have a small hostel where people can sleep and eat food that is flown in by helicopter twice a month. We were more adventurous and chose endure the wind and cold of the tents in nature. I would like to explore more of this region, and also go skiing here in the winter. There will be more adventures this year.