Oslo- New York-Senegal. A heart and mind-blowing adventure. - Fulbright.no

Steady - slowly
People and places. Problems and cases. Languages and communication. Friends and frustration.
My mind and heart are full after one and-a-half years as a fulltime student in New York City.
At the moment, one week after the graduation ceremony, I most of all feel like a tremendous “information and emotion overload”, but realise that the knowledge and experiences slowly will find their way into my system. Be integrated. Digested.
They will challenge my way of understanding the world, and influence the various choices I will make in the future.

New School
I chose the International Affairs Program at The New School University because of the program’s interdisciplinary studies and the combination of academic theory and problem-solving skills.
Another reason was the ability to study together with more than 300 students from 62 countries. We worked together on a daily basis under the supervision of international practitioners and scholars.
The focus was on global economics, poverty and development, cities and urbanization, international institutions, NGOs, human rights, conflict and security, and media and culture. The courses were supplemented by fieldwork, weekly midday seminars on international affairs, conferences, and other special workshops and talks at the University.

New understanding
My most fundamental knowledge after days and hours and months of reading, writing and searching is quite basic.
The understanding of human complexity and fragility was somehow a vague concept for me until I found myself discussing women’s rights, poverty and sexual trafficking with students from countries as different as Ghana, Russia, Iraq and Canada.
Sensitive subjects discussed by intelligent, sensible people in a small classroom in Manhattan, New York.
It should be easy and safe. It was not. Human beings are culturally proud and emotionally vulnerable, and merciful communication is a valuable skill in a complex world.
These difficult discussions gave me a feeling of respect for time. I understand better why change takes time. Why development cannot happen at a G8-meeting, and how development needs time.

Africa and the World Bank
This understanding was further deepened during my summer in Dakar, where I studied and documented The World Bank’s first urban project, together with seven co-students.
The project was started in 1972, and was formally closed in 1985.
But to study development, and really learn from it, you need a longer perspective than 13 years. When The World Bank closed the project, there were approximately 10.000 people living at the plots of land. Today there are around 500.000 inhabitants living in a vivid African city with bad infrastructure (water, garbage, sewage, roads etc.).
One of our main conclusions is exactly that development takes time. Trivial as it may seem, the World Bank has never gone back and made an evaluation of a project after 35 years. How can you then learn how development evolves?
This was indeed one of the main conclusions we presented for the World Bank in Washington DC in February.

Personal and professional

I have tried to share a small piece of what this wonderful, challenging and never ending learning adventure has given me
With a new knowledge of time, sensitivity and process, I hope to find the right balance between patience and eagerness – in my professional work and in my personal life.

I am deeply grateful for the support to make this adventure possible.