Author Archives: h.backlund

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I believe that this picture represents my first semester at Baruch quite well because there was a lot of new things to learn. Even before I started at Baruch, during the summer, there were a lot of complications when it came to receiving help and communicating with the school regarding my Visa. I noticed these communication problems again throughout my first semester, although now I know how to deal with most of them, and that I have to stay on top of things to make sure that there are no problems.

This image also represents it because it is slightly confused, as well as looking a bit stressed. There were definitely a lot of things that created stress during this semester, both in Baruch (work, organisation) and outside. I also feel that some of the people were different from what I expected, and even though I knew that it was a commuter school, I did not realize the amount of people that actually do. There was also a lot of settling in to do, but definitely a lot of learning that will help me for my future at Baruch.

Self Portrait: 

Hanna Backlund’s Monologue

I believe that my greatest accomplishment in my life so far is how I learned to embrace cultures around the world, and experience being a Third Culture Kid (being raised outside of parent’s culture for a significant part of my developing years). It all began when I was born in Sweden, where I moved around a lot within the country, however I don’t remember much as I was still a baby. I learned Swedish at home, which is my first language. Following this, I moved to Italy in 1999, where my kindergarten was primarily English speaking but my tiny school was Swedish speaking (which I started at age 6). During this time, I was introduced to the Italian culture from my surroundings, for example the “meals” consisting of pasta drenched in olive oil in school, and learning the Italian language for a year (however I don’t remember this either). Since I was still a slightly ignorant child, I didn’t appreciate the trips to Venice, Rome, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa as much as I should have. In 2003 I moved to Switzerland to a strict British school with a uniform, where I was shocked by the teacher’s behaviors, coming home crying because I didn’t know what had gotten me in “trouble”. Throughout my years here, I learned to speak French, started skiing, continued learning how to horse-ride, and switched to an international school in 2008. Carrying on, I moved to Indonesia in 2011 (one of the most shocking but also best moves), where I stood out from the locals for the first time, but met some amazing people. Finally, this leaves my latest move in 2014 to the US, which I am still adjusting to, but am sure that I’ll learn a lot while I am here.

Being part of an international community has given me both friends and “homes” worldwide, which I have learnt gives a huge amount of benefits (I hardly have to pay for hotels wherever I travel). Even though I am originally a full Swede, my cousins will still make fun of my Swedish language and the way that I talk. Despite this, I will always cherish the lagom of Sweden (just the right amount), the range of pasta types in Italy, from tagliatelle to rigati, the beaux-gosses or mecs in Switzerland (handsome, dudes), the macet in Jakarta, Indonesia (traffic), and finally the _____ in New York, USA.