In 2008 I applied to go on a student exchange to California. I really wanted to experience the sunny USA as I’ve seen it in an unmentionable number of TV-shows aired in Denmark throughout my teenage years. Of course all the other Danes also wanted to go to California, so when I finally received an acceptance letter it was from University of Alaska. Alaska??? Isn’t that like on the North Pole? It was the most insane and unexpected offer and just for that I couldn’t turn it down. In August 2008 I was on my way north for the first time.
My impressions of Alaska are many, and so are the reasons why I fell in love with the place. And I will get back to that in a minute. First there is another story of how it all began…
In the summer of 2009 I traveled back to Alaska to travel around the state with my dear French friend Pauline. With three other friends we took a road trip to Canada, we got drunk in the gold mining city of Dawson, we went to Whitehorse to visit a friend, we went on a canoe adventure, we were let back into America, we listened to live music in Fairbanks, we got a ride to Denali national park with a crazy woman, we had dinner with a guy at his bus, we got a free jeep ride around the national park, we listened to more live music, we danced and slept in our car, we went back to Fairbanks, we went to a festival, we pitched our tent in someone’s backyard, we walked around an Alaskan town in 35 C degrees, we got asked out by three hippies and one of those three hippies was James.
In the summer of 2010 I traveled back to Alaska for the third time. My lovely friends Jason and Varpu had talked me into returning once again. This time I had no Frenchie to travel with or plans for what I was going to do for four weeks in Alaska. What I had was a faint memory of a man and a strong gut feeling telling me I wasn’t done with Alaska. I arrived in the middle of July and when I came through security James was there to pick me up.
This time I am returning to Alaska in the winter of 2011. I have been accepted to graduate school in Anthropology at University of Alaska Fairbanks and I am living with James in his house in Fairbanks. What started out as a brief student exchange and a summer fling turned into something bigger. I guess that's how life is, you never see it coming until it's right there happening all around you.
This time I am returning to Alaska in the winter of 2011. I have been accepted to graduate school in Anthropology at University of Alaska Fairbanks and I am living with James in his house in Fairbanks. What started out as a brief student exchange and a summer fling turned into something bigger. I guess that's how life is, you never see it coming until it's right there happening all around you.
