Looks Like We Made It
I got it!
I want to take this moment to thank all people who have been there for me... You know who you are.
To the principal at Högskolan Kristianstad who told me what I wanted to do was as close to possible as one can get. God, it feels good to prove you wrong!
I want to take this moment to thank all people who have been there for me... You know who you are.
To the principal at Högskolan Kristianstad who told me what I wanted to do was as close to possible as one can get. God, it feels good to prove you wrong!
X-mas with the girls
December 22nd - time for the annual girls Christmas party! The six of us went to school together five years ago (time flies!) and used to have so much fun. Nowadays we arre spread out over half the country, and soon half the globe.
This year we got together in Johanna's beautiful apartment, had dinner, exchanged presents and talked, talked, talked.
The hostess, Johanna, and Anna.
Johanna just survived her first year as Linus' sambo, happier than ever. I wish you both many, many more.
Anna is a house-owner-to-be. Together with Björn she'll move into their dream home at the beginning of next year. Good luck with everything!
Anna is a house-owner-to-be. Together with Björn she'll move into their dream home at the beginning of next year. Good luck with everything!
Elin, happy as always.
Elin finished her degree and got a new job, starting in January! I wish you all the best! She lives with Emil, in a house that might be to small for their needs. Maybe she'll be next in line of movers.
Pernilla left Skåne and moved to Uppsala soon after our graduation. Last summer she finished her teaching degree and got herself the dream job. Way to go! She lives with Per, a teacher to be.
Anna.
Anna, Pernilla and Nina posing for Johanna's camera to my right. I wonder who got the best picture.
Elin, Nina and Johanna.
Nina works hard in law school, takes other classes on the side and engages in her student union.
Anna preparing the present exchange game.
Elin got two fancy soaps.
Nina opening her gift, a necklace.
My gift ended up around Johanna's wrist. She seemed happy.
Anna got a candle holder and a heart.
Pernilla opening a present that turned out to be two sparkly ear drops.
---
I wish we saw each other much more often, but I'm grateful
we still manage to bring ourselves together once a year.
we still manage to bring ourselves together once a year.
Excellent source of protein
I just found two small bugs in my half eaten pack of figs. That probably means I've eaten the rest of the family. 
Who said vegetarians don't get enough protein?
Who said vegetarians don't get enough protein?
Stockholm Insomnia
It has come to my knowledge some of you request further information about my capital outing. Well... I had planned this long story about the whole thing, but as I started to write, it all got to be way too complicated. Believe it or not, I can be a little difficult and particular about writing sometimes.
If I had written though, I would have told you all about how
... I manage to make a fool out myself time after time at the airport and plane on the way to Stockholm.
(Here are pieces of advice for future travelers. When you check in your bags at those self-check-in-machines, do not forget to grab the identification strip for the bag. It is awfully embarrassing getting up to the baggage drop without it. Also, when you walk onto the plane with a boarding ticket that seems to say 150, remember few planes have that many rows. Read it as 15D. If you ask for seat one-fifty people will treat you like it is your first time flying. When you then finally get up to your seat and manage to squeeze in your bag and winter jacket in the storage box, make sure you sit down at the actual number on your ticket. There might be someone else claiming 16D as their seat if you do not. Last, turn your cell phone off before they remind you on the speakers. You risk having to get up when everyone else are seated, opening the storage box and dig your bag out from behind five others)
... I got lost walking from Stockholm central station to the hotel (at 10 PM).
... when I thought I'd finally found the hotel I stood for a couple of minutes trying the code at the wrong door, the wrong address. After a while I read my notes and realized I was looking for number 58 and not 52.
... I laid awake ALL NIGHT at my hotel room. Finally I told myself it was well spent money since I actually experienced every minute of my stay there.
... the interview I had spent countless hours worrying about and preparing myself for turned out to be a thirty second talk with a man behind a counter. And that after I had waited in line OUTSIDE the embassy for ONE HOUR and in the waiting room inside for two and a half hours. BUT, most importantly, I got the visa without any problems. Yeah!
... I got lost on my way from the hotel back to the central station.
I know some might say there is a pattern here but the only reason I got lost the second time is that I kept to the minor streets since I was on the phone.
... at the airport before flying home, I reported a suspicious couple to the guards. A young, foreign girl argued with an older man and yelled she wanted her passport back. I saw a potential crime and did my duty as a citizen.
.... they called out my name in the speakers at the airport because I was late for boarding. However I stood twenty meters from the gate talking to mom on my cell. (To my defense I have to say I really was not that late. When I finally got on the plane all people had not even sat down yet)
If I had written though, I would have told you all about how
... I manage to make a fool out myself time after time at the airport and plane on the way to Stockholm.
(Here are pieces of advice for future travelers. When you check in your bags at those self-check-in-machines, do not forget to grab the identification strip for the bag. It is awfully embarrassing getting up to the baggage drop without it. Also, when you walk onto the plane with a boarding ticket that seems to say 150, remember few planes have that many rows. Read it as 15D. If you ask for seat one-fifty people will treat you like it is your first time flying. When you then finally get up to your seat and manage to squeeze in your bag and winter jacket in the storage box, make sure you sit down at the actual number on your ticket. There might be someone else claiming 16D as their seat if you do not. Last, turn your cell phone off before they remind you on the speakers. You risk having to get up when everyone else are seated, opening the storage box and dig your bag out from behind five others)
... I got lost walking from Stockholm central station to the hotel (at 10 PM).
... when I thought I'd finally found the hotel I stood for a couple of minutes trying the code at the wrong door, the wrong address. After a while I read my notes and realized I was looking for number 58 and not 52.
... I laid awake ALL NIGHT at my hotel room. Finally I told myself it was well spent money since I actually experienced every minute of my stay there.
... the interview I had spent countless hours worrying about and preparing myself for turned out to be a thirty second talk with a man behind a counter. And that after I had waited in line OUTSIDE the embassy for ONE HOUR and in the waiting room inside for two and a half hours. BUT, most importantly, I got the visa without any problems. Yeah!
... I got lost on my way from the hotel back to the central station.
I know some might say there is a pattern here but the only reason I got lost the second time is that I kept to the minor streets since I was on the phone.
... at the airport before flying home, I reported a suspicious couple to the guards. A young, foreign girl argued with an older man and yelled she wanted her passport back. I saw a potential crime and did my duty as a citizen.
.... they called out my name in the speakers at the airport because I was late for boarding. However I stood twenty meters from the gate talking to mom on my cell. (To my defense I have to say I really was not that late. When I finally got on the plane all people had not even sat down yet)
To summarize it, it is an unbelievable relief to have the visa approved.
That means all major worries are over. Everything is pretty much done now and I am all set to go.
That means all major worries are over. Everything is pretty much done now and I am all set to go.
Ten New Toes
This has been a weekend of BIG NEWS!
I found out my sister has a bump growing - a baby bump! That means I'm gonna be an aunt!!! Me! How cool is that? :-)
Congratulations to my sister and Peppe! I wish you all the best and a healthy pregnancy.
And for YOU, in there, who still has so much growing to do. I just learned you will be able to suck your thumb any day now. You must be sooooooooooo cute. Take your time getting all fingers and toes in place and I'll see you in June. I can't wait!
Aunt Åsa
Killing Monsters
When I studied for my drivers license (a looooooooong time ago ;-) I remember we talked about positive stress. Apparently a healthy amount of stress makes you think sharper and act thereafter, in traffic as well as elsewhere. Well, for those who have not experienced non-healthy amounts of stress I can tell you: stress can also be like a big, drawlingly grinning monster threatening to eat you whole. I have lived with a monster like that for a while now. Normally I am pretty good at controlling it, but last Saturday it finally overpowered me and chewed on every bone of my body.
Luckily there is an end to every sorrow. Last Monday, out of nowhere, salvation suddenly came. The monster unexpectedly fell down, hurt and weakened. Before my eyes it turned into a small dwarf, much easier to ignore. Like ugly pupas who burst into newborn butterflies a whole bunch of my sorrows took of, flew out of the window, away, gone.
Luckily there is an end to every sorrow. Last Monday, out of nowhere, salvation suddenly came. The monster unexpectedly fell down, hurt and weakened. Before my eyes it turned into a small dwarf, much easier to ignore. Like ugly pupas who burst into newborn butterflies a whole bunch of my sorrows took of, flew out of the window, away, gone.
Wednesday Wonders
In the middle of the night, I woke up by an intense pounding of rain against the windows. It is normally soothing listening to rain but when it keeps you up at four in the morning it is not that wonderful. I also stayed up way too late last night and had problems falling asleep, so it would have been nice getting a few hours of rest. But nope. There would be no sleep for me. Just before seven I gave up, got up and turned on the TV:s morning news. There is a Swede in space, in England girls are being killed one after the other, seemingly endless rainstorms are flooding the west of Sweden. But it is also Lucia today, one of my favorite days of the year :-)
Lately I have been caught up in the planning for my trip. There are a million things that need to come together for it to work. Documents need to be sent for, filled out or written and signed; I need to talk to people, the right people and in the right order. I am renting out my apartment here, trying to get teachers, counselors and principals at my Swedish University to accept the deal with Towson, trying to get Towson to accept the deal with the Swedish University. Next week I am going to Stockholm for an interview at the American Embassy to get my visa. I am terrified I have not filled out all the forms correctly or that I somehow come through as suspicious. I picture a row of merciless men in black suites starring at me from behind shiny desks. I imagine them speaking in thundering thriller-voices and pointing at me with long index fingers.
Lately I have been caught up in the planning for my trip. There are a million things that need to come together for it to work. Documents need to be sent for, filled out or written and signed; I need to talk to people, the right people and in the right order. I am renting out my apartment here, trying to get teachers, counselors and principals at my Swedish University to accept the deal with Towson, trying to get Towson to accept the deal with the Swedish University. Next week I am going to Stockholm for an interview at the American Embassy to get my visa. I am terrified I have not filled out all the forms correctly or that I somehow come through as suspicious. I picture a row of merciless men in black suites starring at me from behind shiny desks. I imagine them speaking in thundering thriller-voices and pointing at me with long index fingers.
Well, maybe that is to overdo it, but still. Without their approval I do not even get though the doors at Towson.
Gratitude
During a walk with Lina last Saturday I suddenly realized I had dropped my cell phone. It had been in my pocket last time I'd checked (which had been a while) but was no longer there. We had walked across damp fields, by lakes and almost swampland, an area with few marked paths and to us unknown enough not to definitely know our way around. There was not much else we could do than turn around and try to walk back the same way we had come. I had Lina call my phone hoping we would be able to locate it from the ringer but the fields were as quiet as ever no matter how many signals she let through. Up till recently, the fields hade been used as grazing land and a few times we had had to watch our steps. I pictured my phone laying deep in a big piece of cow dropping, on the bottom of a water puddle or somewhere else electronically unfriendly. And wherever it was it would take looking at the exact right spot to even find it.
BUT - after searching the ground for every step we took, for twenty minutes or so, I saw it! On the top of a small tuft of grass my phone laid on its back, dry and unhurt. How happy was I?!
Really, how happy was I?
Picture that I had not found the phone. Picture the frustration I would have felt, the self-blaming for putting it in a pocket clearly not deep enough. It would have bugged me for days, weeks. I would have had to get a new one, restore the phone book etc, etc. The second I found it my bad luck turned into good dito, my frustration turned into relief. The question is though if that relief equals the hypothetical frustration I would have felt if I had not found the phone.
BUT - after searching the ground for every step we took, for twenty minutes or so, I saw it! On the top of a small tuft of grass my phone laid on its back, dry and unhurt. How happy was I?!
Really, how happy was I?
Picture that I had not found the phone. Picture the frustration I would have felt, the self-blaming for putting it in a pocket clearly not deep enough. It would have bugged me for days, weeks. I would have had to get a new one, restore the phone book etc, etc. The second I found it my bad luck turned into good dito, my frustration turned into relief. The question is though if that relief equals the hypothetical frustration I would have felt if I had not found the phone.
