« Project Complete | Main | Wow, a Live Update »
September 02, 2004
Process Overload
Well, as many of you might have guessed, I didn't get up at 7 a.m. as planned. Instead, I slept in until 9 a.m. and I don't feel a bit guilty about it. Class started at 10:30. and the majority of our time was spent reviewing the process of preparing the report. (I can't tell you how many times the word "process" has been used over the past week—it's mind boggling.)
We also discussed protocol for meeting the Swedish Crown Princess when she comes to visit us tomorrow. Honestly, you would think we were 4th graders getting to meet the President. Do you think we need to be told to be respectful? Or not to jump up from our seats and run full-force towards her (lest her security detail "forcefully restrain" us)? There was also a kind reminder not to come to class hung-over—duh!
Class broke at noon, and we all had a brown-bag lunch in our common room. Kristoffer, one of the Swedish guys in our program, shared with us an amazing presentation on the environmental and social standards in Sweden—and showed us pictures of "fair trade" and "organic" seals we might see on consumer products and food. We also learned a little bit about recycling in Sweden, something that's been on my mind since the cardboard pile has grown in enormous proportion in the 10 days. It's now threatening to take over the living room, and is a definite deterrent to any potential 3rd roommate.
In class news, Person "A" has been unexpectedly called back to the United States and will be leaving our program after Friday's class. So I will unfortunately have no more exciting reports on his antics.
I needed a little "alone" time after our lunch, so I came home (after visiting the library to check email and update my journal—discovering in the process that some emails from yesterday might have gotten bounced back because I was over my hotmail limit) for the afternoon. We received our coursebook and class schedule today, so I spent some time perusing that and reading a couple articles in preparation for tomorrow's lecture. Seems interesting, if redundant.
And then I spent some time trying to figure out what I want to do when this year is over. We've spend some time in class talking about "visioning"—that is, actively imagining the way you want things to be. I realized I don't really ever consciously take time out to think about the future—it just sort of comes to me. So I spent a few minutes trying to "see" my life in a year. You can imagine, of course, what happened next. I fell asleep.
I had this bizarre dream (clearly related to my thoughts prior to napping), where I lived in a giant bubble-house (made up of parachute material so it was very billowy) with some of the other SLS students. This was no ordinary house, but a whole series of connected bubble-rooms, one of which housed the bubble-royalty. Anyway, the dream was very random, but once again featured my secret love interest (this time, in a very platonic way—sigh).
Thankfully (for my sleeping schedule), the nap was only about an hour long. I woke back up to find a beautiful afternoon had emerged from a cloudy day. I opened up both of my windows to full capacity and propped myself up at the desk with my feet hanging outside. In this manner, I continued reading my coursebook until a knock on my door signaled that my new bed finally arrived!
I've now put together the new bed, given the old cot back to the Student Services people, and tested it out—very nice.
Currently, it's just after 8 p.m. and I'm going to stop typing and get ready for a fun evening of dancing at the Student Pub (on campus). I haven't been yet—I hear it's mostly 18-year old Swedish boys getting drunk, but the International Students make up their own little corner. So we'll see.
And now, a brief list of things I wish I brought with me:
* One of my belts.
* My messenger bag (a little dressier than my backpack).
* Bok choi (at least I wish I could buy it here, I've had a craving for days).
* A desk lamp.
* Some pictures for the walls.
* My curling iron.
* Band-Aids (I sliced my finger open this morning—on the dull side of the knife—while making lunch).
Yes, I could buy all these things, but I have them sitting in my parents' attic right now, collecting dusk. (Except for the desk lamp—I can't remember who took it.) Sigh.
