Things since Norway

It took me long enough to get that up, so now I'm way behind schedule. Not that much has happened, which is nice. I've still been baking every Tuesday which keeps me sane and also keeps me from baking every sort of cake-cookie-bread-muffin-pancake all at once in my own kitchen. A very healthy habit.

I have a little over 4 weeks until I'll be taking the final for my current course and getting ready to head out all over Europe with Tyler. I can't wait for that. Well, I can wait for the final exam. We have labs two days a week now, which isn't too bad. It's a nice change of pace to have labs instead of four-hour lectures. My new lab partner is a PhD student from Romania, so it's lots of fun to talk to her. I've had great luck with lab partners over here.

I tried playing soccer (or football, if you will) the other weekend and in the span of a 30 minute game, I ended up with a skinned knee, scraped leg, and bloody nose. Not my finest points. The weather, though, has been gorgeous recently - getting up to 70 and sunny. Absolutely perfect for lying outside and reading/studying/sleeping, whichever seems like it'll be the most fun at the time. This does mean, however, that I need to find some place to buy sunscreen soon. I didn't bother with it earlier because who needs it if the sun is never out! But I'm starting to appreciate the Swedish weather. Spring is a good season here. The grassy areas are filled with daisies and dandelions which make them much prettier than most of the green areas you see back home, where they've been sprayed with herbicides and such things to get rid of all the small "weedy" flowers.

Another thing that I think is funny about Sweden is how much they like to barbecue here! I swear, once the temperature hit 50 they were barbecuing at least 3 times a week. Rain, sun, wind, cold, it doesn't matter. They will grill their food and nothing will stop them. It's pretty nice, and I think I'll have a big desire to keep grilling when I get home!

I also got my hair cut today! First time I had it done in Sweden, and I was quite nervous about it - not only did I have to worry about getting it cut by someone who I didn't know and who possibly didn't know how to work with curly hair, but there's a language difference, too. Not too big of an issue, since everyone here speaks at least a little English, but I'm good at worrying. It turned out pretty well and was definitely needed.

This weekend there's a barbecue with baking people that I'm excited for, as well as some hopefully gorgeous weather. Life is good in Sweden. Hopefully, if the weather permits, I might see if some people want to bike to the beach next week or the week after! I'm not sure how far it is, but I know that it's definitely bikable. But we'll see :-)

I miss you all!