Cecilia Blomdahl wasn't expected to stay longer than three months when she first moved to the Arctic. But nearly a decade later, she's still there after she "fell in love" with Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago near the North Pole.
Blomdahl recently shared a glimpse of her life on the sleepy island in a viral video posted on her TikTok account, @sejsejlija. The clip has received 2.8 million views since it was shared a week ago.
Blomdahl lives in a cabin on Svalbard, which is located well north of the Arctic Circle, around midway between Norway's northern coast and the North Pole.
According to the video, which features various shots of her cabin home, Blomdahl and her boyfriend Christoffer bought the cabin four years ago.
The footage shows an overview of cabins lit up and sparsely dotted along a snowy landscape under a dark night sky. A voice in the clip said: "It really is our little slice of paradise—Arctic paradise," as a man is shown relaxing on a sofa next to a dog in front of a fireplace.
Svalbard: The Fastest-Heating Place on Earth
Svalbard's dark season, from October to February, sees people engage in various activities from hiking and dog sledding to getting a glimpse of the northern lights. The long, dark season is replaced by "bright winter months" and "a surprisingly mild summer," with 24/7 sun when the midnight sun lights up the sky from April to August, noted Visit Norway, the official tourism website for Norway.
"Svalbard may seem desolate and barren with large open landscapes, sparse vegetation and endless glaciers. But if you look beyond this first impression, you will discover an El Dorado of nature-based experiences–all year round," Visit Norway said.
The fairytale-like Svalbard landscape is also "one of the most climatically sensitive regions in the world," according to a January 2022 study in Nature.
Dubbed the fastest-warming place on Earth, Svalbard is home to Longyearbyen, the world's northernmost settlement, which is estimated to be heating six times faster than the global average.
Back in July 2020, temperatures in Svalbard reached a record high of 71.06 F . "A 41-year-old record has been broken in Longyearbyen," Norway's meteorological institute said at the time.
Researchers predict that by the year 2100, Svalbard's glaciers will lose ice at double the current rate even if global climate targets are met, according to the aforementioned January 2022 study in Nature.
An August 2022 study in Communications Earth & Environment found that the Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the globe.
'Beautiful, Peaceful and Calm'
This year marks Blomdahl's ninth on Svalbard. A voice in the latest viral TikTok video said: "When I moved here, I was supposed to be here for three months...I got a job and thought that I would work here for a little bit and then I fell in love with life here and it's just beautiful."
The video shows a view of a kitchen and living room setting, as the voice continued: "It's just beautiful, peaceful and calm and it's so different."
The voice added: "Our winter is a very long one and we don't see the sun until February, so it's dark for a while" and "we don't have any trees that grow here because we are all well above the Arctic tree line [the northern limit of tree growth]. So, all of the wood is imported from the mainland."
The voice explained: "It's kind of funny to think about how I thought I would live in a big city and that was kind of like my dream when I was younger. But then when I moved to London, I absolutely hated it.
"I don't hate London, but I just didn't like the city life...life's crazy like that," the voice said before the clip ended.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel and health.
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