Merlina’s Inner Sanctum

It’s been over a week since my last entry. K. was here for 4 days, which was very nice. We took a boat trip around the archipelago and walked around Karlskrona and she even came to class with me and experienced my new life. It was great to see her again after 9 months and it’s always as if it had only been yesterday.

I finally gave in and bought a bike. It’s actually pretty much like the bike I own at home, so a semi-mountainbike- and you can now see me riding my bike around the city and the nature paths with a big smile. I didn’t realize how much I had missed my bike. Friday afternoon I took it on the nature path behind our university and saw the most amazing nature. You can see some of the pictures in the Life in Pictures section, but of course pictures never convey reality. It was breath-taking. I sat on top of a hill overlooking the water for 15 minutes and there was just total silence. And this is only a 10 minute bike from my apartment! I will definately have to go there more before it comes dark and rainy here!

Otherwise I am just working on my assignment on Carbon Cycles and Ice cores, which is due on Tuesday. In theory, we have tomorrow off but most of the time will probably be spent on the assignment.

Finally, I added an explanation/overview of what I study on the Random Thoughts page, if you are interested. Comments and questions are always welcome.

What a crazy week. Wednesday and Thursday were loaded with exams and presentations and then of course we had to celebrate, which meant that attending class from 8:15 until 3:30 today was rather painful. But now it’s the weekend and K. is coming. Can’t wait. She was the first to visit me at college and the first to visit me here. We are going on a boattrip around the Archipelago Sunday and I have off on Tuesday, so it will be a fun few days.

Now I quickly have to brag about our swedish style celebration yesterday. the weather has been georgious for the last few days, so after the last exam yesterday we decided to head out to Monique’s house, hang out on her dock, eat cheese and bread and drink wine. It was just amazing. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera. But if you look at the nature pictures in the gallery, you can imagine what it was like.

On a completely unrelated note, I cooked for 5 people on Wednesday - and they all enjoyed it too. My mom will be so proud of me.

Ok, that was a boring blog entry. But really nothing exciting happens here (except that people in the program are starting to become real, which makes for some very interesting conflicts, but they are not that exciting if you dont know the people). Maybe the next entry will have to do with some of the things I study.

I hope you are all well.

The highlight of my day was that I finally joined a gym and even better went to Dance Aerobic class. Wow, that felt good, even after so many years. And it turns out the theme for the month is “Bollywood rockstar” - and thats exactly what we did. Indian moves combined with an aerobic workout. Surprisingly, I managed even though the instructor, of course, spoke swedish. But I did understand “grapevine” every now. haha, thanks to 10 years of dance classes. At least I learnt something. So I will be incredibly sore tomorrow, but it was totally worth it. Next class is Saturday! I thought of all my friends who have danced in Diwali while I was trying to keep track of what was going on.

Oh and what a cultural experience it was. Not only will I finally master the numbers 1 through 4 in swedish, but the women there were stereotypically swedish. Styled and looking perfect. No sweat. And here I am in my Oxfamily T-shirt and my F&M sweatpant, red and the face and out of breath. Maybe one day I will discover the secret to their perfectness. Until then I will just keep shaking my booty to “bollywood rockstar” music and be happy.