Moa Carlsson is a junior on the VTSU Castleton Women’s Ice Hockey team and hails from Huddinge, Sweden, 10 minutes outside of the capital city, Stockholm.  

And before coming to Castleton, Carlsson had never moved. 

“My parents bought this tiny piece of land and then they built a house and it was done in May, and I was born in September. They basically built their almost dream house, but on a budget,” Carlsson said with a chuckle. 

While Sweden has fewer mountains than Vermont, one of the biggest similarities between the two places is the forests. 

She said 68.7% of Sweden’s land is covered by forests. 

Although she enjoys Castleton, one of the biggest struggles for Carlsson is the feeling of being stuck on campus. At home, she can take public transport, walk, or bike anywhere. 

“I’m so used to public transportation… I don’t even ask my parents for a ride, I just hop on the train and I’m there. It’s also much quicker than taking a car,” she said. “In sixth grade, my school was an hour away and I got there myself just by taking public transportation.” 

The biggest challenge for her coming to Castleton has been the language and customs. 

In Sweden, there is a word called “truga” that closely translates to the word “coax” in English. 

Carlsson explained why she chose that example. For example, if someone offers you cookies and there is only one left, you have to say no at least twice, and when someone asks you a third time you can say yes.  

“I remember my freshman year people would be like ‘Hey do you want to come do this with us?’ and I would say no, waiting for them to ask again,” Carlsson said.

Sometimes they didn’t. 

When asked about what she does in Vermont that reminds her of home, Carlsson discussed her Scandinavian-style clothes and the Swedish Pancakes that she makes in the kitchen.

Over the summer, Carlsson had two of her teammates, Amanda Vaughn and Megan Ward come to visit her in Sweden to get a taste of the Scandinavian life and celebrate her favorite holiday, Midsommar.

Midsommar is her favorite holiday because it’s warm outside, she loves the family gathering aspect and there is a ton of delicious food, dancing, singing and drinking. 

“I was really excited to show them where I grew up, especially Stockholm,” she said. 

She also spoke about how in Stockholm, the sun only goes down for around two hours during the summer. 

Anyone who knows Carlsson knows that she loves candy, and one of her favorite things about being home is the candy. 

To her surprise, when she got home for the summer, there was none of her favorite candy.

“Everyone was hating on America since it was a trend to eat Swedish candy and a lot of American candy stores bought it all…There were so many rumors going around and people went livid,” Carlsson said. 

As Carlsson navigates her journey at Castleton, she continues to blend her Swedish roots with Vermont. And she is not just a student-athlete at VTSU, but a daily reminder to embrace our roots and our new experiences.