Intensity

Oh my ... when I wrote my last entry I had my mind set on writing every day ... so much for that plan! :)

This week has been intense to say the least, one more day left and hopefully I can get at least a little rest and recreation during the weekend.
But here's a bit of a summary of this week so far!

I was at Uni before 8 a.m. on Monday morning to attend a seminar on a B.A. Degree essay on Ruth. Just being able to attend these things are amazing - if anybody had told me that five years ago there would have been absolutely no way I'd believed them! :) I actually had no business being in this seminar, apart from the fact that I knew the author of the essay, and the teacher on the OT course (where I'm mentor) was tutoring the essay ... it's supposed to be "open seminars", but I think it's not common at all to have people not in the seminary group attending the seminars. Luckily I knew the examiner for the essay who is also the head of the seminar, so I figured I'd talk to him. I met Anna, who wrote the essay, when I got to Uni and it was nice talking to her. The examiner came fairly early, and he's really nice so I think he was mostly happy (and a bit surprised!) that I wanted to join in the seminar. :)

The essay was really interesting and it was a good seminar with a lot of interesting questions and discussions. During the essay seminars I've been to before, there hasn't been that much discussions from the seminary group - it's been mostly a dialogue between the respondent and opponent and just comments from the examiner and tutor ... but there were a lot of relevant questions raised here which made the seminar even more interesting.

Right after the seminar we had a lecture on Isa. 40 - as usual very interesting!! I started talking to the teacher after the lecture and she had some papers I was going to get so I ended up following her to her room. On the way there we ran into one of the student counsellors and as there has been some trouble with some of my grades, he stopped me to say that he'd talked to the OT professor and apparently everything was sorted out now.
I talked a little with the teacher when suddenly the OT professor showed up ... I thought he wanted to talk to the teacher and she thought he wanted to talk to me! *lol*
Eventually I ended up trying to get some studies of my own done, but I ran into a friend and we ended up having a really long chat, so I didn't get that much done.

I went shopping during the afternoon and when I got home I had an email regarding the job I applied for at a theological book store ("Arken") ... and I didn't get it! :( Apparently they're not doing great at the moment and had decided not to hire anyone ... I was quite upset, not that I had expected to get it, but it was so definite and I know that sooner or later I HAVE to find a job, and it's difficult to find the balance between finding a job and completing my studies.
By chance I discovered that my Department at Uni, CTR, is hiring one person full time as a student counsellor and receptionist!! I was quite stunned, and almost panicked when I realized the last date to apply was on Tuesday!!!!
It was really late and I was exhausted when I found out, so I realized that I would have to deal with it on Tuesday!

I went to lectures on Tuesday but developed a severe stomach problem during the morning. Since it did pass during the day it must have been something I ate, but it was quite disturbing while it lasted, and I had to go home straight after lectures. During the afternoon I felt better and I did managed to check up on references and send an electronic application for the job! *gulp*
The job starts on June 1, so I guess it won't be that long before I know if I get it ... again this would be a job that would suit me to the ground - but I don't have very high hopes I'll get it (too inexperienced, I suspect!) - but I have gotten some lovely comments from people at the Department and that feels really great! :)

Yesterday I went to lectures, but had a severe headache all day, which messed up most of my plans ...:( I have great difficulties relaxing my back and shoulders and neck, and I suspect that's where the headaches come from - so I'm going to have to start working on that. I didn't get much done yesterday which really bothered me, because I do have a lot to do on my own essay!
I also had an "incident" during yesterday - I really don't want to talk about it here, but it was something that really disturbed me and that I had a very hard time letting go of (and still do!) ... so the headache didn't get any better because of that ....

Today was lectures again, a bit more discussions than text-readings today which was very interesting. While the students were discussing in groups I had an interesting little "grammatical" discussion with the teacher and I value that a lot ... I'm very interesting in theology, naturally, but more and more I notice I am genuinely interested in the Hebrew language as well! :)
After lectures we had a mentor meeting, today I had it on my own as Elisabet were unable to come. We talked a bit about the text-interpretations the students will start on soon, and while that is not quite my strong suit, I think the meeting went pretty well! :)

I went home after that, and I have again battled a headache today - but I have managed to get some cleaning done and also prepared a bit for tomorrow as lectures tomorrow are a bit special. The Old Testament Professor will give a lecture on the Theology of the Psalms and it's usually very interesting - he is a great lecturer! After the lecture there will be a little get-together and I'm sure it will be really nice! :)

Phew - some summary! :) Hopefully I'll be able to write more regular blog entries in the future!