Studying in Scandinavia - Eli Goodwin 2023

Kalmar is a large city in Southeastern Sweden and was arguably Sweden's most important city between the 12th and 17th centuries due to its popularity as a bustling trading hub. Its many fortifications, including the Kalmar Castle found in the city's center, make it a popular tourist destination nowadays for those wanting to learn the city's history and walk the grounds. Though Kalmar was an established city sometime in the early 1200's, it was only officially brought into the Scandinavian Union in June 1397, and people had been living in the surrounding area for thousands of years beforehand, creating a rich history and distinct culture within the region. Regarding the castle in particular, the Kalmar War is when the castle became incredibly important in the fight between the Danish and the Swedish. While the castle was surrendered to the Danes on August 3rd, 1611, it was later returned to the Swedish in 1613. Later on in 1658, the Danish border was moved to...

Franklin's birthday was on Saturday, but we knew we wouldn't have time to celebrate because we would be traveling all day. So, the squad and I decided to throw him a surprise party Sunday night instead! TJ brought him to Jonkoping for a con called Dreamhack in the morning while the rest of us stayed back to get the party ready. They had a huge section just for Legos at the con, and both of the boys had a blast. Megan even baked him a strawberry chocolate cake from scratch! We didn't have a cake stand so we wrapped a pizza box in tinfoil 😅 And Ed made burgers for all of us, too! We all got him little mementos for his birthday. Nat got him a dubious little creature statue, I bought him some old swedish spiderman comics from a thrift store, and we all pitched in to get a ton of snacks. Since I knew he was a huge spiderman fan, I drew spidersonas for the whole group and TJ and I both drew digital illustrations for him based on th...

One day when Nat and I were wandering the campus trying to find interesting things to photograph, we were stopped by a woman who was at the school for a conference. She noticed us struggling to find good subject matter and offered to model some authentic viking clothing for us since she worked at a viking museum in southern Sweden and brought some artifacts with her to the folkhogskola. We jumped at the opportunity, and the below photos are the result! We also took some photos with our analog cameras which we were able to develop and give to her before she left. Thanks again Eva, Eli Goodwin

Our first stop last weekend was to a glass factory called Kosta Boda. It doubled as an exhibition space for glass artisans, so we were able to witness the glass being blown as well as the final products! Later, we visited Kalmar Castle and learned about its history while also perusing their gallery on impressionistic art. They had both physical paintings on display as well as a videographic gallery which utilized projectors that displayed different paintings in time with classical music. I bought a stuffed rabbit and named him Claude Monet, Eli Goodwin

A car show was held in front of a local hotel, and since we had finished our classes for the day, we decided to head over and check it out as a group. There were plenty of restored vintage cars to see, though my favorite was this blue boy. The colors popped off so nicely and paired well with the silver motifs on the sides. The interior was also gorgeous, with blue and white designs on the seats, steering wheel, and dashboard. If there was ever a car to drive across a sandy beach in the sweet summer heat, it'd be this one. Also, I took one last trip to the diving board to jump off the tallest platform! Turns out I know how to pencil dive. Lucky! I can still feel the adrenaline rush, Eli Goodwin

I went with another student on the trip to get a tattoo and the artist had a chihuahua named Selma! She was so small; holding her was like carrying a couple grapes. The tattoo I got was an old reference I sketched of a character I designed a few years back. They're actually a character in the comic I'm illustrating for my senior show, so you may see more of them later in sneak peeks! Our artist's studio Millans Tattoo  in Mullsjo was amazing. The walls were covered in her own paintings and a good amount of her furniture was based in an art nouveau style. Here's a photo of the sketch vs. the tattoo! I had her draw just the character as close to the original design as possible to give that sketchy quality to the linework, with some shading and no color. Natalie is banned from holding Selma, Eli Goodwin