Class Year: 2024
Program: University of Tromso, Norway
Email: swanju01@gettysburg.edu
Hometown: Perkasie, PA
Major/Minor: Majors: Biology and Environmental Studies; Minor: Music
Campus Activities: Choirs, CPS CASA Swim program, Painted Turtle farm, Alpha Delta Pi sorority
Favorite Experience: That is such a difficult question!!! My favorite experiences include going on my first mountain hike of the semester and taking in the view, volunteering at a music festival in the city, and seeing the Nothern Lights! In addition to meeting all kinds of amazing and diverse people at orientation week!
New/Exciting Course Abroad: My course Arctic Aspects of Culture taught about the indigenous people native to the arctic-Scandinavian region (northern Norway, Sweden, and parts of northern Finland). Not only did we gain a perspective on these people (the Sami people) and how they lived in the area, but we observed the global dynamics of indigenous people versus industrialization. Everything we learned about the indigenous Sami is widely applicable to the United States and the treatment of indigenous nations here, so I gained even more of a global understanding of political dynamics and history.