Get ready for it

“I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise – to fly”

Indeed, things falling into place does feel like flying.

A couple of months ago I mentioned a letter I had to write to the University of Copenhagen, a letter motivating why they should accept me on this course that’s very important for me to get on. I’ve heard it sometimes might be hard to get in because it’s quite a popular course and it has people coming from different countries, so I was a bit nervous about not getting in – but I did! I found out a while back and now the admission fee has been paid and I’m officially going! I only need to figure out the living situation in Copenhagen for the three weeks in august – but let’s not focus on the problematic stuff.

The topic of the course is “International Health” and it’s all part of a bigger plan that’s been growing in my mind for many years now. Over the last couple of months I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want and what I’m doing to get it. In the career department I’m on the right track, but on the personal department I’m definitely lagging behind, I’m not where I thought I’d be at all and I’ve been feeling quite sad about that. The thing I realized though is that when I say “personal department” everybody, including myself, assume I’m talking about a future family – and it’s a fair assumption, but it’s not completely true. I’ve always imagined myself traveling more, working abroad, and contributing where I can, right now I think that part of the personal side is missing. I haven’t focused on it for so long that I almost forgot it was there. All those thoughts resulted in me applying to the course and writing what appears to have been a kick ass motivational letter! I’ll share an abstract from it with you…

I was born in El Salvador to parents that during my early childhood were forced to become political refugees and move to Sweden. Though not having experienced the turbulence firsthand, my parents did raise me knowing the consequences of war and making me aware of how poverty, political instability and lack of proper healthcare can affect people’s life. Growing up knowing this I determined early on that if I could, I would one day try and help people in these circumstances. Being a doctor I now feel I can do just that.

Hotter than a pepper sprout

I’m not sure you know how hot a pepper sprout is – my sister does after our last visit to a Thai (?) restaurant – but I imagine it’s nothing compared to how hot it is right now in my apartment. All windows are opened. I’m wearing a thin loose cotton shirt and underwear, that’s it, I can’t handle more and I’m still waaaay too hot. The best part of this place is definitely the light – the worst, the windows without drapes. I thought I’d found a spot on the hardwood floor in the hall for a while, but now that spot is also drenched in sunlight and I’m considering moving into the bathroom, preferably the shower. I know you’re not supposed to bitch about the sun in these parts of the world, in a matter of minutes it can be gone and it can start snowing (well maybe not snowing, but you know what I mean…), but I’ve always said spring is my time of the year – bright, warm and without risk for hyperthermia.

Still, there are some great things about this time of year, among other things the overwhelming amount of green. These are some of the greens and blues I’ve seen the last couple of days – and a bowl of “koldskål” which I really can’t explain what is, but it’s good and it’s refreshing!

Sunny side up

I’m really good at focusing on the negatives – I remember when I wrote for the university paper we had a whole page dedicated to bitching about everything and anything. I never had a problem contributing, then at some point we figured we needed a page for everything that was great – and let’s just say we used a quite bigger font on that page…

So today while on the bus to work I started thinking about the things that make me happy – and to my surprise I wrote for the whole bus ride and there was just an endless stream of tiny beautiful things that make my heart swell and my lips curve. I thought I’d share some of them with you.

The smell of newly cut grass, or wet pavement

Spending an entire day reading a really good book – forgetting to eat, drink or shower!

Getting an IV in on a really difficult (that means chubby, wriggly and uncooperative) tiny human

Baking something really tricky and succeeding – I have to admit, I do a little dance in the kitchen every single time just to celebrate!

Hearing my daddy laugh really really hard

Brunch with my girls!!

Laughing with my sister – this very often include sharing one set of headphones, singing out of tune, laughing at other people and to some extend being really mean with each other…

Oh, well – I’ll share some more at another time. I have to get back to my Mad Men episode! (And yes, still at work hoping that all kids in the surrounding areas are safely tucked into bed and don’t wake up until tomorrow after eight!)

A month in a minute

One month down and not even close to insane. I must say, I’m just a little tiny bit proud of myself. I am however extremely annoyed with the store that has my computer – they said up to three weeks for the repair, and that was last week, and I still have no clue as to when they might return it to me.

In the meantime I’ve been missing writing and blogging – it’s weird how you get used to it, writing about your day and your thoughts. It gives a kind of outlet for all the thoughts that otherwise just get stuck in your head for days on end. It’s also a very good distraction from the rain…

Well, let’s see if I can summarise shortly the last month – work, shopping, seeing friends, work, celebrate my birthday, hours of skyping with my sister, work, planning trips that don’t result to anything and work some more. I guess that’s pretty much it. The best part is not freaking out about my birthday. I think I did for my 25^th and I was afraid I would again, but I’ve been way to busy and there as been way too many other things to freak out about that turning 28 just wasn’t that big of a deal. I always get a bit sentimental around my birthday; I miss my family and having someone that goes out of his way to make it a nice day. Sometimes I get that panicked feeling of time running out or having missed so much in my life that I can’t get back again, but this year wasn’t that bad. I know I keep underestimating my friends and I know I shouldn’t and that it probably even is a bit insulting to them – but I was so utterly surprised when they decided to come over for dinner on a regular Tuesday to celebrate me. I didn’t want to do anything because I know people are busy and I don’t want my birthday to be an extra stress factor, but they wanted to come and I guess that makes them wonderful friends and me an ungrateful “don’t-know-what-you-have”- bitch, but what else is new?

Anyway, we had a wonderful evening with girl-talk and some wine and I felt like a young girl of 25. I can’t even believe I once freaked out about turning 25 – what a stupid little girl I was, luckily now I’m a mature sensible woman of 28!