In the beginning of last week I attended Sida’s MFS-course in Härnösand. On Sunday I travelled by train from Malmö 7 o’clock in the morning. I hardly got any sleep but managed to get myself up in the morning anyway. Somehow when I know that I have something important to do in the morning it wont matter how much sleep I get, I still manage to get up. So the trip took me about 10 hours with a stop in Stockholm. On the way to Härnösand I just noticed how the amount of snow kept on increasing as we got further north and closer to Härnösand, which was really nice to see (never been this far up north!!). When the train finally arrived in Härnösand, around 5 o’clock in the afternoon I got off the train and took a look around.. confused as I was, I was still happy thinking YESS!! there were other students looking as confused as myself. So I asked one of them if they were on their way to the MFS-course and they said yes. The group grew and we were about 20-25 students walking together through the snowy town of Härnösand, trying to find the place that we were supposed to be at. It wasn’t that far away from the train station. So we walked and walked with our bags and everything…when we finally got to the place, we first arrived to the main building where we got our passage cards/keys to our rooms, main building and the “guest house” where we stayed. I really liked the rooms, nice and clean! 🙂
Sunday evening started with a short introduction, mingling and dinner…
The following days were really educative and I learnt so much, especially about Swedish development aid and the history behind it. We also got to see a little bit of Härnösand on our way to restaurant “vägg i vägg” where dinner was served every evening. Härnösand is a very nice town.
I think not only MFS grantees needs this course but everyone that is interested in carrying out field work of some sort, or is going to do such. I don’t want to reveal details about the course because there might be others who are attending soon. But let’s just say that the lecturers were so passionate about what they were doing which was so inspiring for me who is now planning my project.
I got so many new ideas for my thesis and developed new ways of viewing certain issues.
Overall this course was so worth it, I would attend again and again if it was possible. I’m happy that I got the opportunity to see the northern parts of Sweden and meet other intelligent and driven students who are just as passionate about what their doing as I am, but also the passionate lecturers. Priceless experience! Now, I feel more prepared than ever and I can’t wait for this field study to start!