The Hälsningsgille is building bridges between two ways of life.
The gap between student life and reality, a fine line which isn’t often easy to overcome. At Friday’s Hälsningsgillet, the Welcome expo, there’s a growing sense for communication and awareness between the two floors, one being dedicated to ‘student life’ the other the ‘surrounding area’.
On the ‘ground floor’ contact between the two has to be sustainable in not only the progression of society but also for us as students in looking past the microcosm that is university life. Being one day able to transition from the relatively safe confines of student life, “It’s kind of sad how many students don’t realise how fortunate they are in their position,” says Desirée Sterner who works for Amnesty international whilst studying human rights.
There is a need for students not to fall into contentment and fueling a growing awareness between not just them but also the surrounding world, “sometimes its as easy as watching the news and understanding how very fortunate we are living in a country where freedom of speech and writing are liberty’s” says Desirée Sterner.
Initiatives such as the Hunger Project is something which strives for reaching sustainable development through ‘grass roots’ projects in the third world.
“We’re fairly new here in Sweden but we hope to reach a standing amongst students about the world and an understanding of the problems we face, problems which go beyond the student world.” says one of its representatives, Gustav Rudolfsson.
“From this we can build up ties not only between students but actually support a world where long term sustainable solutions are needed” he says.
Awareness is the key for students, both old and new, as Lisa Stolth who works for Save the Children has learnt over the last term as she has worked within the local community with gymnasium students, “You see clear barriers between university life and the local community, often a barrier of friction which for me took several weeks to break down.”
Its both a question of image and responsibility says Thomas Idorn; a representative of the police force here in Lund, “communication is vital not only for the well being of the community but also the students, we have to be aware of the continually changing trends of student life and being able to smoothly and effectively respond to them” he states.
