Maja shopping for dorm supplies - August 2011
My name is Maja Cronert, I'm 21 years old and I was born in the very southern part of Sweden, outside of a town called Kristianstad. On a tiny kind of farm built in the 1890's, I grew up with my mom Eva who's a teatcher, my dad Hans who's a nature conservationist, my 25-year-old brother Axel who studies Political Science and was a GRSP-scolar 4 years ago, two fighting cats and a bunch of good-humored gray sheep.
Go out running through the pretty and quiet rural landscape that surrounds our house, eventually got me into the track and field. I went to an athletics gymnasium, and the 100 meters and the hurdles became my lifestyle until I was 19 years old and quit.
Today I love the spinning and the aerobics classes at the gym. Other than that, I love to draw and to sew, and after the gymnasium I did a couple of semesters of clothes design and fashion illustration. Vintage and second hand clothing is my thing, which goes hand in hand with my environmental engagement.
Being a part of the UN's climate summit meeting in December 2009, COP15, opened my eyes to what kind of global changes the world urges and to the fact that politicians don't seem to be able to make them happen.
During the year I've been facilitating workshops for my friends company on schools and such, about social entrepreneurship and the role of the young people in the climate debate. Inspired by that, I started my own company this spring, and organized a clothes swop in Kristianstad, where people came and swopped clothes and listened to great music.
Other than that, studying to become a physiotherapist at the University of Lund, to understand the body and be able to help people to better lives, keep me busy along with being active in the student union.
I'm truly glad I got the chance to be a part of the GRSP-program and I'm looking forward to talking to you all and getting to know you and your culture better.
Maja Cronert
August 2011
