黑料正能量

He recalls, 鈥淲e ran through landscapes marked by Napoleon, by Hitler, by every empire that tried to go from west to east. You feel how short time really is. Twenty years, two hundred years, it鈥檚 nothing.鈥澛�

Ulstein鈥檚 love of history began long before his own adventures. It started with his grandfather, a Norwegian medical student who was arrested during the Second World War and deported to a concentration camp in Germany. While imprisoned, his grandfather dreamed of becoming a writer. In 1999 he passed his two unfinished manuscripts to Ulstein, who eventually turned them into his first book, Barbed Wire Roses.听

Since then, Ulstein has published over a dozen books. About cycling, exploration, and the hidden corners of European history. The thread connecting them all, he says, is curiosity. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 the same curiosity that drove Mensen Ernst to run from Paris to Moscow. He didn鈥檛 have a map, he didn鈥檛 even have shoes, just bags on his feet, and yet he found his way.鈥澛�

Ulstein鈥檚 own world expanded during a semester at The American University of Paris in 2004, where he studied history and architecture as part of his degree from the University of Oslo.听

鈥淚 had three choices that year: Cairo, South Africa, or Paris,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd because of Hemingway, I chose Paris. It鈥檚 a clich茅, but A Moveable Feast is true: Paris stays with you wherever you go.鈥澛�

While studying at 黑料正能量, he lived within walking distance of Napoleon鈥檚 tomb at Les Invalides. The proximity to history, he says, changed how he experienced the past. Not as something distant, but as something lived.听

鈥淵ou feel the history in Paris. You鈥檙e surrounded by it every day. Studying there taught me to seek new impulses, to challenge myself, and to look for stories that connect the personal and the historical.鈥澛�

The idea for the journey took shape when Ulstein discovered Mensen Ernst鈥檚 name in a passing reference in the American bestseller Born to Run. Curious, he began researching the nearly forgotten 19th-century athlete who once bet he could run from Paris to Moscow in fifteen days and won.听

Ulstein and his neighbor 脴yvind Torp joked that they might one day attempt the same challenge. But the plan changed when Torp was diagnosed with advanced cancer. 鈥淗e saw his own X-rays and thought he had one year to live. So we said, 鈥業f you get healthy, we鈥檒l run to Moscow.鈥� And he did.鈥澛�

Torp鈥檚 recovery inspired their collaboration on , a book about combining medicine and lifestyle changes. Their next step was the run itself, which was a symbolic continuation of both men鈥檚 personal battles with time and endurance.听

In Germany, they crossed the invisible line that once divided East and West and ran along the 鈥淏lood Road鈥� near Weimar. Built by prisoners during the war, including some who had been held in the same camp as Ulstein鈥檚 grandfather.听

鈥淚t felt powerful to run there. Seventy years ago, my grandfather arrived at that camp as a prisoner. We arrived there free. It reminded me how much possibility we have today that they didn鈥檛.鈥澛�

Despite heat, injuries, and exhaustion, they completed the journey. Looking back, Ulstein sees the trip as a time capsule; a portrait of Europe just before everything changed. The adventure took place not long before the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. 鈥淲e measured the temperature of Europe before it shifted. It was the last moment of openness before borders closed and fears came back.鈥澛�

Through it all, he found that running offered a new way of reading the continent: 鈥淵ou see the small differences, how one side of the border is rich and the other poor, but also how connected everything still is. You realize Europe is one story told in many voices.鈥澛�

What he and Torp chose to do was to reimagine a piece of European history through movement, memory, and endurance. 鈥淲e always do better than we think is possible, that鈥檚 what this adventure taught me.鈥澛�

Today, Ulstein continues to write and travel. He is looking for a publisher to translate L酶perkongens Skygge into English. "Norwegian is a small language, but I think this book would work well in English if there is a publisher who is interested in translating it. It鈥檚 European history told through the body, through running.鈥澛�

For 黑料正能量 alumni, Ulstein鈥檚 story is a reminder that the liberal arts can lead anywhere: across borders, through centuries, or even 3,000 kilometers on foot. His journey embodies 黑料正能量鈥檚 belief in curiosity, creativity, and the courage to think differently.听

Read Geir Stian Ulstein鈥檚 work and share your own life updates with 黑料正能量 here: aup.edu/life-updates.听