What it was like to spend a week alone on a Swedish island

While passionate about her job, Enroth said its demanding nature meant the prospect of time alone on the ocean – without a cell phone and with only the endless sea, boundless skies, and an abundance of movies for companionship – had a clear allure. . .

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Enroth told CNN on January 27, just after learning that she had been selected from some 12,000 candidates to spend a week on the Swedish island of Hamneskär.

Hamneskär is located off the coast of Marstrand in western Sweden, home to an imposing cast-iron lighthouse called Pater Noster, which means ‘Lord’s Prayer’ in Latin – a reference to the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ often uttered by sailors who use the rough seas around the island.

Although Enroth knew Pater Noster after studying for a year in nearby Gothenberg, she had never been there before and was both nervous and excited about the experience.

First impression

On January 30, Enroth boarded a small boat with a single helmsman to begin her journey to the island.

Her heart was beating.

The drive to the island, she says, was breathtaking – sea, sky, and snow stretched out before her.

And her first look at Pater Noster’s lighthouse, outlined in the distance, was unforgettable.

‘The first impression of the island? Beautiful, small, just quiet. ‘

Left alone, Enroth closed the door to her lighthouse cottage and sat on the couch.

First she heard the sound of the boat leaving with a roaring engine. Then nothing.

It was so quiet. It was as if someone turned off the sound. ‘

She listened louder, listening slowly to the whistling of the wind, birds darting over the lighthouse and the waves crashing on the rocks.

Enroth put on her warmest clothes and decided to check out her surroundings, hike the perimeter of the island and walk up the stairs to the top of Father Noster.

She took a deep breath and got ready to enjoy the week ahead.

Separate living

Enroth normally lives alone, but her job in healthcare means she spends a lot of time interacting with people every day.

“I was really looking forward to just trying to think and take a break,” she says.

Jonas Holmberg, artistic director of the Gothenburg Film Festival, told CNN Travel that there was one other person on the island for safety reasons, but they had to keep that distance.

The lighthouse cabin that became Enroth’s home for the week was recently renovated by design firm Stylt, so it was not only stylish, but well-equipped.

Holmberg said a soft bed and good food were part of the deal. “This is not about survival,” he added.

As a movie fan, Enroth had seen all the movies with the lighthouse that quickly fell into horror, and it was in her head. Especially because she is afraid of the dark.

That first night, after the sun went down and the clouds lit up in a copper haze, the island was soon shrouded in darkness.

Enroth tried to sleep, but struggled, her ears tuned to every unusual noise in the cabin.

But when she woke up to the sunrise, the sleepy night quickly faded into the background and she decided to make rising with the sun part of her island routine.

Every morning she watched the sunrise and then ate breakfast in her kitchen.

“The sunlight is incredible,” says Enroth.

There was a gym on site, which Enroth used every day – although there was nothing better than running up and down the lighthouse a few times a day to get her heart racing.

“After I went up for the first time, I went back down, and I had to stay there for a while because my head was just spinning,” she laughs.

Back on the ground, Enroth tucked into a second breakfast and got ready to enjoy the day, delving into the program of the Gothenburg Film Festival, as well as painting, walking and making a video diary.

Enroth had left her cell phone and laptop on dry land as instructed. Being without them was a liberating experience, “a relief,” she says.

“It was great not to be attached to your phone and just watch a movie without the distractions.”

Since she couldn’t Google anything, she realized how used we have become to having all the answers at our fingertips. In her video diary for Day 5, Enroth talked about some of the questions that came to mind that she just had to leave (“Where do lobsters sleep? How do they sleep?”)

With Enroth unable to read the news or read updates from loved ones, Enroth’s movie-fueled imagination began to run wild. She was concerned that the coronavirus might have gotten worse in her absence.

“I was thinking about the apocalypse,” she says. Your mind starts making things up: ‘What if this happened? And this and that could have happened … ‘

Making the video diary was also a new experience for her – Enroth has a Facebook account, but says she’s not much of a social media user and had little experience filming herself speaking into the camera.

“I don’t think I’ve ever gotten used to it,” she says.

Still, Enroth liked having an outlet for her thoughts. One of the strangest things, she says, was watching movies and not being able to talk to anyone about them, in person or online.

“I had to try to process [the movies] alone, and that means they stayed with me for a long time. And I have never dreamed so many strange things. “

Highlights of the film program for Enroth were “A Song Called Hate”, a documentary about the Eurovision Song Contest and the Taiwanese drama “Days”.

Enroth enjoyed being able to completely sink into her movies. She became aware that when she was watching movies at home, even those she really enjoyed, it was easy to reach for her phone or be distracted by something in the house. Not so on the island.

All in all, she estimates that she has watched about 30 feature films, along with a handful of short films.

Lessons from isolation

Being alone on the island pleased Enroth, but she insists it was fun because it was her privilege.

“I think about all the people who don’t choose to be alone and are forced to be alone – and that’s so much harder than what I did. What I did was just fun,” she says.

Enroth had returned home on February 7 and returned to work the next day, on a night shift.

She says being back in the hospital will be a grounding experience, and she is aware that life on the island will soon fade into the distance.

“But I also think the island taught me not to rush like that,” said Enroth.

“Of course there will be stress at work and things like that. But in my spare time, I think I would feel better if I took it a little slow. Just relax.”