When in doubt, investigate

“You should study abroad,” they said. “It’ll be good for you.

 

My parents met when both were overseas, and I’ve been reminded more than once that without that prerequisite, neither I nor my brother would exist.

 

I’m not a chick reticent about fleeing the nest, but figuring out what I wanted to pursue was another matter.

 

Studying at Auckland  University between 2013-17, I landed on  Music, English and Spanish, with doses of Translation, French and Linguistics thrown in for good measure.

I learned quite a lot about campaigning while at Uni too, and went on to work in that area as a community organizer, before getting the chance to try my hand  at news and feature writing.

 

With my parents fateful words reverberating in my head last Christmas holidays, I got to some googling. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found the Masters in Investigative Journalism at Gothenburg University.

 

According to its webpage, it’s mainly aimed at journalists but also useful for others, like campaigners, wanting to hold power to account. Knowing full well that both my campaigning and journalistic hats have been key parts of my background, this was a great hook.  The course also has an international focus, drawing on the expertise of its multicultural cohort. And this is the kid who grew up in Ireland, Canada and New Zealand  who speaks Spanish and French you’re talking to. Finally, it happens to be affordable – I’m an EU citizen which gives me the privilege of not paying tuition fees for it. Did I mention that being in Sweden it also meets the “you should study abroad, it’ll be good for you” requirement?

 

No matter the path I follow  after the course, I will doubtless be a more informed, responsible and effective researcher, data presenter and communicator afterwards.

 

You’re welcome to join me as I explore Gothenburg, investigative journalism, and other Swedish nooks and crannies of life I may delight in (or not) For any readers who don’t know me, such  books are likely to involve at a minimum a mix of music, travel, disability and climate action-related activity. 😉

 

If you want that kind of thing to land in your inbox once or twice a month, press the “follow” button. You might also need to reroute the first few emails out of Spam till your email provider cottons on.

 

I’m in Kildare, Ireland, at the moment, visiting and being fantastically nourished by my Irish family. Tuesday afternoon involves flying to Göteborg. Till next time …

 

 

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