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Siri Arntzen

November 17th, 2016

From the urban Arctic to LSE

1 comment

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Siri Arntzen

November 17th, 2016

From the urban Arctic to LSE

1 comment

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Picture from an aeroplane showing northern NorwayWhilst typing, I am 10,000 feet up in the air. Looking down, I see a landscape of mountains covered in snow and the sun dipping on the curve of the earth, bathing in a ridiculously beautiful shade of pink. What I see is Northern Norway, the most developed region in the Arctic, my home. From up here, the Arctic looks like what the rest of the world imagines it to be – empty.

Zooming in, however, something starts to take shape. Small villages along the coast selling its blue gold (fish) to every corner of the globe. Now and then, the agglomerating lights from the arctic cities also come into view. They are not exactly global metropolitan centres, but small and medium sized cities who often face the same kind of issues as other places on the globe; The fourth industrial revolution, migration, overpriced real estate markets or traffic congestion. I grew up here, in an island on the Lofoten archipelago with approximately 24,000 inhabitants, and I did my undergraduate degree at Norway’s Arctic University in Tromsø – a city of 70,000.

Wherever you come from, our generation has at least one thing in common; figuring out what to do with your life can be difficult. Very difficult. I have worked and studied in different fields, and discovered the master’s in Local Economic Development (LED) about a year ago. I still remember how it stuck in my mind. In the search for my last year as an official student, I browsed the web countless times to be sure I had taken in all the possibilities, but it always came back to the LED. In an odd way, it felt like coming home. Like someone had crafted a postgraduate degree that contained all my interests, and then some.

Northern Norway

Being a development-nerd, constantly interested in how places can become better versions of themselves, there is no better place to be than here. Our class feels like a miniature version of the world, a melting-pot of ideas and experiences. While I find it fascinating to listen to the structures, opportunities and challenges from China, Italy, South Africa, Pakistan, USA, Columbia and the UK – they (hopefully) find it interesting to hear about the urban Arctic in return.

More than ever, it feels like the right decision to be surrounded by such a range of different cultures. This year’s political events show how important it is both to discuss with people that you disagree with, and to make friends and colleagues across cultures. Wherever you are from, our generation has another thing in common: we will have to work closer together across borders, and not lock ourselves in. Looking back on choices, I’m pretty sure that an education away from home, in a global melting-pot, will be one of my better investments in life.

About the author

Siri Arntzen

A 28-year old self-proclaimed nerd on the fields of places, photography and sports. Currently studying the MSc Local Economic Development here at LSE. Brought up in a tiny fishing village in the Lofoten archipelago in Norway, seeing the world from London’s perspective!

Posted In: Student life | Travel

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