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August 28, 2004
A Lamp!
After stopping by the school on Thursday afternoon (where I happily received my lamp from the International Office!), I hopped back on the bus to go home. I made a quick detour to Willy:s, where I picked up a light bulb for the lamp, as well as some other goodies (a chocolate bar, for instance). I was also drawn into Blomster Landet, a giant greenhouse that sells all sorts of plants and flowers. Since I am still lacking a fully complement of furniture, I decided that a few plants would help spice things up in the meantime. I wandered around in amazement for almost a half hour, marveling at the selection of plants. There were hibiscus, gardenias, a whole slew of indoor plants, bamboo, etc. I walked away with an African Violet pot, a Gerbera pot (at least, that's what Roya calls them—I think we have a different name that I can't remember), and a plant that looks like tall grass. I am quite pleased with myself, and am determined to keep them alive past my standard 3 weeks.
After getting home, I cooked a lovely meal of couscous, tomato, and broccoli, and even had enough left over to make leftovers (on the agenda for lunch today). Then Laura, Tomomi, and Kerily came over for birthday cake, which Roya had made for Laura earlier in the week, but never got a chance to eat. It was a lovely experience to have a group of people sitting around our kitchen table with cake and rosehip tea (which Laura made from rosehips she collected from one of the paths in Karlskrona). Our little get-together really made the apartment start to feel like home. After the dishes were done (all by hand, and made more difficult because there is no garbage disposal), I helped Roya assemble some of her furniture, and got to look through pictures of her 5-week trip to Argentina this past spring. It was amazing.
We called an early night, in anticipation of our "very important compulsory" meeting in the morning. It turned out to be largely repeated information for me, although I believe it was helpful to some of the students who had arrived later in the week. Unfortunately, I was in a very grumpy mood, and didn't enjoy any of the "group time" our program organized afterwards. I think a large part of it was that it was one of the first completely cloudy days since I've been here and it just sapped my will to live. In fact, I had several (at least 4-5) people come up to me and ask me if I was feeling ok—I guess I looked pretty crappy on the outside, as well as feeling crappy on the inside.
I've come to appreciate just how much control the weather has over my moods—and yesterday was an example of how a cloudy day makes me anti-social. Realizing how close I was to snapping at someone (Speak English faster! I've already seen the library! For goodness sake, who cares where that table goes!!), I decided to skip out on the evenings festivities, consisting of a dinner for all new students and dancing afterwards. Instead, I went home and enjoyed a little alone time. I considered writing a long rant of all my complaints (which could have potentially run for 10 pages), but I decided to wait until the morning. I ate the rest of my chocolate bar (for its mood-lifting properties, you understand), drank a huge glass of water (in case I was grouchy from dehydration), and jumped in bed.
This morning, the sun is shining and I have a new lease on life. Interestingly enough, last night I had another very graphic (but nice) dream about one of my fellow students. It's going to make it very difficult to act normally in his presence from now on, since I’m liable to start giggling at any moment.
So it's 9:30 a.m. right now, and my plans for today include a stop by the local farmers market in the town square, a trip to the ATM to withdraw money for rent (which I will pay on Monday in person at the apartment company), and general walking around the Centrum in search of more apartment necessities (a rug, curtains, pictures for the walls?). At six, a group of Sustainability students are planning on meeting at the Tourist Bureau to welcome any late-arriving students, then going out for drinks somewhere nearby. I'm hoping my good mood will last that long.
