Monthly Archives: April 2014

Pre course registration

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It was so nice to sleep until 11am spend four hours in school before a good dinner on the couch in front of Game of Thrones.

We got a lot of feedback on our thesis report and some really big question marks on our Excel-file. That’s no fun when we only have 1,5 week until the first deadline. I have to admit that I am a little bit stressed. But because of this I want to work as much as possible now, which will probably mean that we are gonna have some days to relax.

When I came home from school I made dinner, falukorv with apple slices and ketchup in the oven served with mashed potatoes. It was surprisingly good! And enough for lunch tomorrow.

I’ve also started to look at courses I want to take in the fall semester. The list of all the courses became available yesterday so we students can prepare. But the real registration starts on May 9th at 1pm Pacific Time, 10pm Swedish time. One of the courses I put in my application wasn’t available this semester so I had to find another one and it took some time. But after a while I found one and got a very nice schedule altogether. If I can take those four courses I will be free on both Mondays and Fridays the whole fall semester! Awesome or what!

The classes I want to take is:

  • CE 321 – Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering, 3 credits
    The characteristics and functions of highway, air, rail, transit and other modes of urban and intercity transportation. Fundamentals of transportation design, operations, and planning.
  • CE 322 – Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering Laboratory, 2 credits
    Application of principles of transportation planning, operations, and design. Emphasis on urban transportation planning and operations, and the design of urban and intercity highway and rail facilities. Experimental determination of the physical and mechanical properties of pavement materials through laboratory and field testing. Analysis of data and preparation of testing reports.
  • EDES 406 – Sustainable Environments, 4 credits
    Collaboration of interdisciplinary faculty and guest speakers/panelists. Introduction, illustration and analysis of concepts and principles for sustainability to be used in all aspects of environmental design. Integration and application of knowledge of human and natural systems with environmental, social and economic concerns, from a global-to-local perspective
  • ARCH 217 – History of World Architecture: Prehistory – Middle Ages, 4 credits
    Architecture and urbanism in the ancient world, from prehistory to the Middle Ages. Social, cultural and physical conditions that influenced the built environment to the Mediterranean basis, plus Europe, Asia, Africa and Pre-Columbian America.

I am also thinking about taking a one credit course of volleyball. But that would mean classes on Mondays, and I think it could be worth having that day off if I ever want to go on long weekend trips. Or just be a lazy Cali girl and hang out on the beach.

It isn’t this easy to register for classes though. I wish! Two of them this semester have prerequisites which means I have to get a Course Permission Number from each teacher after probably sending them syllabi and transcripts from Chalmers. Or maybe just sucking up to them, I’ve heard American teachers love that. It’s not gonna be as hard as I thought though, I had imagined getting syllabi for ALL my courses, but the other two semesters are a later problem.
I have sent one email to the civil engineer department and asked them how to get those numbers, and I have a draft to the Sustainable Environments teacher. There are no prerequisites, but it says that I have to have the consent of the teacher.

I am still waiting for Cal Poly Housing to get back to me about how and when to apply for that room on campus. I hope they answer soon, I have a feeling that application needs to be handed in pretty very soon.

 

Tomorrow will be a fun day, except being in school at 8. And to do laundry at 11. But watching the Cortége and having dinner out with Dzejna and co will be plenty of fun :).

Cortége beer tent

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The spring weather just goes on and on. Blue sky and sun all day, but it was windy today, which wasn’t too much of a problem though since I’ve been inside all day…

At 8 this morning I was in school and finished the Excel file for the thesis. We emailed it to Veidekke and is now waiting for their response. Tomorrow we have a meeting with our supervisor at Chalmers about the content in our report. So from now on it is 100% writing.

While I was in the computer room working I got a phone call from Akademisk Omtanke which is a company in Sweden who provide childcare services from part time nannies to homework help. I applied this weekend and got a phone interview today. It was just for five minutes and I think I did okay. It might not be to my advantage that I will be going to California in four months. But I hope I have the right requirements to become a part time nanny for the summer. I miss kids, and especially my sweet hostkids…

I also got an email from mom telling me that one of her friends offered to lend me some money so I can pay rent (both in Sweden and the US), flight tickets, visa and stuff like that. I can’t express my gratitude, it is so extremely kind of him!!

I had lunch outside by the pond outside of the V-department and it wasn’t too cold with a hoodie on. After lunch I had 45minutes of class and almost fell asleep during it so I actually got home after that and skipped the last part where we solve problems on our own. I took a three hour nap and was up and running lagom for a nice night in the beer tent on campus. During the ten days of building Cortége there is a big beer tent right in the middle of campus. They serve grilled food and drinks. I was disappointed the ciders were out after a while and I could only have one. After that I actually had a beer. It was okay in the beginning, but then it was just too much.

I was there with Chad and Koit, ate a baked potato with feta/sun dried tomato sauce and had a great time!

Tomorrow I can have a sleep in until 11am, I really look forward to it!!

Slottskogen

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Summer came to Gothenburg early this year. This weekend has been the best and I spent both days in Slottskogen.

Yesterday the Formula team from last year were hanging out and barbecueing and I was invited to come along. I felt a bit alone, all mechanical engineers and me, a civil engineer. But I had a great time anyway. The sun was up, it was warm, I got tan, had the year’s first BBQ and watched the crazy people running Tough Viking. I read about it after and it was sick! Electrical shocks, swimming through mud and ice cold water, monkey bars and other crazy stuff. It would have been cool to do it. It definitely would have been an accomplishment, maybe in two years so I have time to exercise before.

We stayed there until the sun disappeared behind the trees. All those 6 hours of sun was enough after almost three months of pretty much no sun (compared to Cali). I was so tired so I just spent the rest of the night inside.

Me and Chad decided, before we said goodbye, to play frisbee golf today, but when I couldn’t reach him at all for three hours this morning I decided to go to his place and see if he was alive. He was and was definitely surprised when I showed up unannounced, but he was glad I did. Otherwise he would have missed out on the awesome weather today!!

We played 18 holes of frisbee gold, third time ever for me and I didn’t do too bad, even if I lost by way too many points to count. After that we rewarded ourselves with soft serve ice cream and took a walk in Slottskogen watching the animals there. Mooses, peacocks, sheep, ducks, goats and wild squirrels.

The day ended at mom’s where she made us dinner, flying jacob. It’s a chili chicken stew with bacon, cashews and bananas. One of my all time favorites! My brother was kind and drove us home and I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 ever since. That game is ridiculously big and I have a feeling I will never be done. I’ve played for probably 250h total and I’ve only explored 50% of the world… And I haven’t even tried the PvP part of the game yet.

I think I have to take a tiny break from playing now though. I have two weeks until my thesis deadline and I have two more weeks of structural engineering classes (four until the exam) and I have to start with applying for courses at Cal Poly. Tomorrow the list of all the available classes will come up, so I need to find mine, the names of the professors and syllabi for the prerequisites classes I’ve taken in Sweden. This has to be done in two weeks as well.

In addition to all the studying and Cal Poly preparations I have a lot of other events going on. Like Cortégen (a parade built by Chalmers Students each year (I did it in 2011 and it was so much fun), birthday dinner for Dzejna, birthday party for me/mom/my cousin, job interview, dentist appointment and a funeral. I also have a book I really want to start to read, but I am one of those who can’t start reading something without finishing what I am currently reading and I am not too excited about Fifty Shades Darker. It’s not bad, but not my type of book (not fantasy).

Anyway, about that job interview! Yesterday I got an email from another Home Service office (but in another part of town which is closer and easier to get to than the one I got an interview for a couple of weeks ago), asking me if I still was interested. Today we decided to do the interview on May 5th. It sucks a bit that the interview isn’t for another week since the first place called today and offered me the job. I had to tell her that I couldn’t give them an answer yet and she was very understanding when I said it was the same job but another district. I hope I get the later one, the woman who talked about it sounded so passionate about it and told me the team was super nice and it wasn’t just old people, but every age between 13 and 98. But I would be totally fine with the first district too and I am so relieved I finally got a job! The problem is though that I probably won’t get my first paycheck until the end of July, and that would mean two months without income… But that’s a problem a month away!

Now I need to focus on my course applications and thesis!

 

Weight lossOh, right, another awesome piece of news! Since it’s been really warm out, I’ve had to leave the jeans at home and put on shorts. A year ago these shorts were kinda tight and now I have to wear a belt so I don’t drop them. They are almost too big to wear actually. 😀

Surprise party

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Yesterday was a very nice day in almost every way. It started with four hours of work as an au pair recruiter. We were part of a “after  graduation” fair at a high school in Gothenburg where we talked to students about what to do after graduation. Some were interested, most not. Maybe a bunch of people will come to the next meeting because of it, we will see. I had a great time there and four hours just flew by. And when I got there I was met by the receptionist who I recognized a lot. It was the old receptionist at my high school many years ago. She recognized me after a few moments of thinking. She is very nice, I like her!

We got free lunch and a lot of fika. Right after I had a thesis meeting with Veidekke to attend to. They are very pleased with the result so far. We are gonna make some minor changes before Wednesday and then we should be done. Except for the writing part of course…

And right after that I met up with my cousin and her friend in downtown and showed them how to get home to me. They left some things, changed clothes like four times and then went to a concert with The Fooo. A Swedish boyband. And I mean boyband, they are 16 year olds… They have been famous for a year since they were up on stage before Justin Bieber when he was here a year ago. And girls are crazy about them for some unknown reason! They had been lining up outside the place where the concert took place since Tuesday! Apparently the first in line got to meet the band before the concert, but yesterday afternoon the band had walked along the line and hugged everyone. I guess those girls in the front felt kinda stupid. I think these guys are famous because they are so nice to their fans. And that’s not a bad thing. But they do look awfully a lot like Justin Bieber and that is a big no no for me.

When they had left I prepared the rest of the cake and called mom and asked her to pick me up at 17:45. She thought we were going to her friends to plan our trip to London, but it was a surprise party. She had no idea what was going on. Didn’t thought about the big bag I brought with me, or the cake (which was supposed to be there originally but then cancelled because of allergies, but I told mom I talked to the allergic person and it was fine), or the fact that I was doing the dishes while she waited downstairs to give the people at the party more time, or that my brother wanted me, not mom who were living with him, to drive him to his girlfriend (the party really) on a night before he had to work at 5am and when he just spent the entire week with her in Rome. Clueless and surprised when she saw everyone!

It was fun being part of that! So we ordered Greek food for dinner, drank wine, ate my cake and then mom opened her gifts. From me she got a new pair of sweatpants and two pairs of earrings. I bought the same ones because they were so cute. She never noticed me wearing them this last week though.

I got a lot of book tips from Gudrun, one of mom’s friends, who has the same taste of books, movies and TV shows. We had a great night, but I got tired quickly. I got home at 0:30am and tried to be as quiet as possible. My cousin were already home since two hours and had gone to bed. I am surprised. She is fifteen, she should be able to stay up all night, right?

Anyway, I was extremely tired, but still couldn’t resist playing 2048 on my phone in my bed for half an hour before finally falling asleep with the phone in my hand. That game is seriously addicting. The goal of the game is to get one tile with the number of 2048 and you do that by putting two equal tiles together. So two 2s become a 4, and two 4s become a 8 and so on. I’ve played it a lot lately, but I can’t get a tile with more than 1024. Stupid…

Anyway, it was a very nice day and I think today will be as good. BBQ in Slottskogen and a lecture from the architects of the new city library as part of the opening ceremony. Or maybe I will skip that and go back to bed? It’s not human to get up at 7:30am on a Saturday.

My cousin and her friend were satisfied with the concert and had a great time and no problem finding their way back to my place. They tried to be extremely quiet when making breakfast, but I am a light sleeper and wake up from pretty much anything. I wonder when they were planning on waking me up, haha.

Birthday cakeThe cake I made for mom was a success!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients
*400g of condensed milk
*150g butter
*300g Digestive crackers
*1l of fresh fruit (like strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or whatever)
*1,5 double Daim (á 56g) (Daim=Heath bar but better)
*3dl whipped cream

How to
*Boil the can of condensed milk for 2,5 hours. The water is supposed to cover the can at all times. (Or you can buy a can of preboiled condensed milk, called Caramellised condensed milk)
*Let it cool off completely under cold water. The milk is now a caramel cream.
*Cover the inside of a pie form, diameter 24cm, about 8 pieces, with plastic sheeting.
*Melt the butter. Crumble the Digestive crackers into tiny tiny crumbs and mix it with the butter. Put the mix in the pie form and put it in the fridge for an hour.
*Remove the cake base from the form and plastic and put it on a plate.
*Put the caramel cream on the cake base as an even layer.
*Mince the Daim and whip the cream. Put 2/3 of the Daim in the cream. Put the whipped cream on the caramel cream.
*Last, put the rest of the minced Daim on the cake and then decorate with fruit.

Here is a link to the Swedish version of the recipe.

50

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I found out today that I didn’t get the job at Burger King. I still haven’t heard from Hemtjänsten so I am a bit worried I might not get that one either. And if I don’t, then I won’t have a job for the summer, no income, a very expensive rent and a lot to pay when it comes to my next abroad experience… I know I’ve learned to be optimistic about everything, but right now it is very hard. No one wants to hire me and it is totally getting to my head! It really means that there was someone a little bit better than me, but it’s not a very comforting thought right now.

I’ve gotten a lot more emails from Cal Poly with information. I haven’t gotten answers about how to get an apartment/room yet, but it seems like I need to pay $1100 right away as a deposition. How the fuck will I get that kind of money when I barely have enough to pay my own rent here in Sweden? How will I be able to buy a plane ticket to even go to the US? Or the visa? I will get a 25 000 kr grant from Chalmers, but not before November which is bullshit. That money is supposed to help us exchange students to pay for the flight ticket and so on. Bullshit!

I’ve also found out that to apply for specific classes at CalPoly (May 9th) I need to provide the professor syllabi and grades to show him/her that I have the right prerequisites. I can’t explain how much I want all these preparations to be over. I just wanna be there and have everything figured out. This is almost overwhelming with everything else that is going on.

It is very obvious that my streak of luck is long gone…

I tried to study some structural engineering at school today and it actually went okay. I solved two problems in like four hours but then I found out I didn’t get the job and spent the last hour playing on my phone. So I decided to go home instead. Have a little dinner and then join mom at the gym for an hour of yoga.

It was a tough class today and it hurt. In my mouth! This stupid wisdom tooth hole is still hurting pretty bad. It’s been more than a week. It should be okay by now!

 

I want to go to Kent’s concert here in Gothenburg on June 1st. But the problem still stands, no money=nothing. I really hate being in this situation where money means everything and the lack of it is ruining my life. I am getting back to my old self who worries, I am sad and can’t see the optimistic side of things. Not good. I need something good to happen! Like now, please!

 

Oh, right, the title. Today was mom’s 50th birthday! She didn’t seem that old when I met her so I think she will be fine 🙂 No party today, but she wanted to celebrate by doing yoga. And tomorrow she gets the day off because she is turning 50 or 60. I like that company, they are very nice and generous with days off. Happy birthday again, world’s best mother! ❤

Job interview and the doctor

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Yesterday I went to the doctor about this B12 problem of mine. A new investigation was put to action and I took a lot of blood tests. Big bruises on the insides of my arms now. I hope I will find out why I have this deficiency once and for all. And I also want B12. It is getting to my head and I am ridiculously tired all the time.

Today I had another job interview. This time it was at Burger King. I think that sounds more fun than at Home services. But it is only a part time job and I think I will get much more money from the old people job. That is a dilemma… I think I need to wait and see if I get any of them and then compare salaries or just take whatever I get.

What was so funny about this interview though was that the interviewer recognized me. I had no idea who he was. But then it turned out that we were in the same class in middle school! How small isn’t the world? Back then he was a tiny guy who didn’t speak Swedish very well. Now he was tall with barely no accent at all. Wow! I still think it is cool that I was being interviewed by a former classmate.

In the afternoon I was working with my thesis partner at Chalmers on our report. I hate writing. But we have come a long way and I hope that we will be done sometime next week. I won’t be able to do anything  else this week, maybe Sunday. But I have a lot to do. Structural Engineering studying tomorrow at school, baking a birthday cake for mom, yoga, working at Cultural Care, thesis meeting, London trip planning, visit from a cousin, BBQ in Slottskogen… Lots of stuff to do all the time. No wonder I am so exhausted.

Today was the opening of the City Library here in Gothenburg. I didn’t have time to go there today, but since the opening is going on for the rest of the week I am planning to go there on Sunday and listen to the architects of the building giving a presentation and take a look at my beautiful plaster and glass walls.

Yesterday I decided that it was well overdue to clean my earrings. Silver tend to get a layer of something on it after a while. So I searched online and first tried toothpaste, which didn’t work. My second try with aluminum foil balls in salty boiling water worked! A few, not to tight, foil balls, salt in the water, get the water to boiling point and then boil the silver earrings for five minutes. Almost as clean as new ones. Perfect! I like these household remedies :).

 

The last thing I want to write about before passing out on my bed is that I’ve gotten a lot of emails from CalPoly lately. I accidently turned off the email function on my phone and realized that today. I got a welcome email from the international center giving me my account information and CalPoly email. Of course my username is HBEMM (Hanna Bemm). I think I will get used to everyone calling me Hanna next year.

Another email was from University Housing telling me that they were happy to offer me space in their beautiful campus apartment for the upcoming academic year. That is great news! The problem is that I don’t understand what I am supposed to do now. So I sent a long email to that international center asking a lot of questions about everything. In a week I will have to sign up to the classes that I submitted in my application to the exchange program several months ago.

This thing is complicated! It is so much easier here where you apply for schools and programs and then get accepted to all the classes that is included. You sign up on a webpage and there you get a list of apartments you can apply for. So much easier!

This CalPoly thing is getting really real now. About four months until departure!! It will get even more real when I get my welcome package with all my legal papers (so I can apply for a visa) and tons of information from the school. Excited, oh yes! But at the same time, I wouldn’t mind staying here in Sweden either… I love my new  life here!

Easter BBQ

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The Swedish spring goes on! Today was as nice as yesterday, a few more clouds, and a breeze, but it was perfect. I’ve been sitting out in the sun in Sjövik all afternoon in shorts and a tank top. Super awesome!

My dad and Karin had a BBQ party today, so I borrowed mom’s car and drove out to them at 2pm. I got a comfortable chair and sat there until it was time to eat. As appetizer there were Swedish easter food, like pickled herring, salmon, Jansons frestelse, gubbröra. Really good!

And the main course was grilled pork and lamb. Really good that too! Chocolate cake for dessert.

It was a very nice afternoon!

 

Before I drove there I tried a trick mom told me she read about somewhere. All my frying pans and pots are black underneath. With sugar cubes that easily went away. Amazing.

Sugar cubes

I also found extremely cheap flight tickets to the US. I was told on Saturday that Norwegian Airlines has started with direct flights from Stockholm to Los Angeles. September 1st, 2500kr!! That is ridiculous! I was afraid that I was gonna have to pay 10 000 for a roundtrip. Now it seems like half that price. Awesome! I’m not gonna book anything though until I am certain of what I will do. Maybe I won’t even fly in to LA, but somewhere else for a short vacation before school starts?

 

Now, I will watch the latest Game of Thrones episode, eat some easter candy and drink påskmust!

Easter lunch

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I had a very calm day today. Except for all the aching in my body of course. It’s hard playing that much beach volleyball in one day. That was the second time I played since I got back home and I can feel that today, my whole upper body is pretty much dead and now in the evening I’m also starting to feel it in my butt. But it was totally worth it, and it’s awesome having muscle soreness in your stomach!

What’s not so nice about my whole body aching is that that includes my tooth, or lack of tooth. It’s not exactly the hole that is hurting, but my whole jaw bone. And it’s not always, just now and then, but when it does hurt, it hurts crazy much! I am gonna call my dentist on Tuesday and ask her if this is normal. I can’t imagine it being so…

Anyway, today was all about having an Easter lunch with mom. Pickled herring, meatballs, prince sausage, shrimp cheesecake, smoked salmon and of course easter must (påskmust). So delicious! And for desert I got an easter egg full of candy. I don’t think I will ever be too old to get one of those!

I hugged my cats a lot and had a nice time on the couch with Stuff. I pet her nose and she copycat me and put her paw on my nose. So adorable! And we held hands while we watched a part of Return of the King.

In the afternoon mom and I went shopping. She needed a shoe shelf and I needed more painkillers. So we drove around to different stores and bought everything except what mom needed. We found some really cute tête-a-têtes, small easter lillies (daffodil is the correct name according to wikipedia). 5 kr for one pot so we bought one each. Really pretty on my kitchen table.

When I got home I watched one episode of Once Upon a Time and played Guild Wars 2 the rest of the evening. It’s a quite addicitive game…

I hope tomorrow brings as good weather as it was today. It really felt like summer! It was way too hot for a jacket and everything is getting greener by the day and the sky was completely cloudless. I love this season! My dad and his fiancé have a BBQ tomorrow and if the weather is as good, I will probably go out there earlier to get some of my tan back.

Swedish springThe Swedish summer is amazing. But I actually think I enjoy spring better when it is like today!

Easter Cup

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This day has been so much fun! I am exhausted but happy. It takes a lot of energy to play beach volleyball. And I have to say, me and Dzejna did very well today and were this close to coming second in the group play. The first game we played we won with a lot of points. Our second game we lost with the same numbers and the third, that was the most intense game. It was so close and the first set was totally ours except that they won eventually with 18-16. The last set was also close, not as, 15-12.  We played awesome though and we were happy and cheering each other on all the time. We have come a long way!

This meant that we came third in our group which also meant that we were out of the tournament. The first and second team kept playing, but the third has to judge the next game. So as usual we had to stay for a couple more hours before we could go home… I hate that system! It’s so much better to be last/fourth and just go home. But we were also soo close to coming second. Stupid.

I had fun anyway and I look forward to the next tournament, whenever it is.

 

The weather has been awesome on this Easter eve. Blue sky and no wind, it really felt like summer today. I kinda wished we would have played outside. If it’s nice weather tomorrow again I will occupy mom’s balcony after our easter lunch together.

Easter Cup 2014My new phone has a good camera too, puh!

 

Yesterday I got a phone call from a Burger King here in Gothenburg. That was one of the places I applied for a summerjob a few weeks back. And they wanted me to come in for an interview on Wednesday. It is closer than that old people job which would be so much more convenient. But we’ll see what happens then.

In the evening I was with mom and some of her friends on their game night. They have that now and then and this time I was invited. I didn’t have anything better to do so I joined. It was a very nice evening and I taught them how to play Munchkin. It took me a while to remember, but it worked out in the end. It is a very fun roll playing card game.

Job interview

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I have to say that I was surprised after the interview I had today. Before I walked into the home care service office in Torslanda I thought this was my last resort. But to be honest, it actually sounded like a nice job. Except for the diapers and help in the bathroom stuff of course, but nothing is perfect. I will either work during day or evening and I would be fine with both. If I work during the day I would be done by 4pm and would have time to head out to the sea and enjoy the Swedish summer, and I would be able to work as a beach volleyball coach too. If I work evenings I have time to sleep and be outside during the day. And the ocean is very close! And it isn’t too bad of a salary either. I will be able to pay my rent, save some AND buy a plane ticket to the US. Awesome! I will find out next week if I got it or not.

The only bad thing about it is that it is out on Hisingen and it will take me 40 minutes to go there everyday. As long as the buses goes okay, which they usually don’t do in the summer, I will be okay. It’s not too bad to commute, but it could of course be so much better.

My cheek is pretty swollen and it hurts a lot. Last time it was fine by the end of the day. I really look like a chipmunk… I hope it goes away soon, it’s embarrassing. And I will be able to play the beach volleyball tournament on Saturday! I am really excited about it and I might even have a tiny audience.

And speaking of teeth, when I came home after the interview I had mail from my dentist. They want me to come in for a normal examination in three weeks. Silly, I’ve been there three times the last couple of months. Maybe I will postpone to August, right before I go to the US. Or maybe I should go now and let them take a look at my newly healed holes.

The painkillers are making me a bit off, but I probably should go to school to study some anyway. Or maybe I should take a nap like the last couple of days. It is well needed. We’ll see if my study partner wants me there or not after lunch.