Both my love for nature and curiosity about Norway inspired me to move to Norway as an exchange student when I was just 17 years old. I was nervous at first to live on the other side of the world alone, but my host families were very kind, and I had a great time going to school with other students my age. I learned how to speak Norwegian, explored the country through hytteturer (cabin trips) and learned all about the culture and way of life. My favorite memory was a Christmas trip to Tromsø, which is very far north in the Arctic Circle. My host family and I jumped into the freezing ocean then ran through the snow to warm up in a sauna while the northern lights were dancing overhead!
When I came back to the United States from Norway, I started college at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I was glad to be back close to my family and friends. In college, I learned all about ecology, chemistry and environmental science– but not just in the classroom. After my year living in Norway, I fell in love with exploring the world and couldn’t wait to travel more. I took a class in Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, the place where one of the world’s most important biologists, Charles Darwin, was inspired to write the theory of evolution. I also spent half a year in Costa Rica, where I traveled to biological stations around the country to learn about conserving the tropical rainforest. Finally, in my last year of college, I traveled to the Florida Keys to study marine biology, the fascinating science of our oceans. When I wasn’t learning or traveling, I played viola in my college orchestra, practiced my photography skills and went birding – sometimes called birdwatching – whenever I could.
