HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

Wishing all the readers of 'Another Day - Another Destiny' a

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!

Some people close to me have had a rough year and my thoughts are with you especially hoping and praying for a better year to come!

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays and I wish you all the best during 2009!

/Jessica

2008 Summary!

New Year's Eve is here, so it is time to summarize the year of 2008 now!
While some people close to me has been going through a rough time this year - and my thoughts are with you, believe me! - 2008 has for me personally quite possibly been the best year ever! I have experienced a lot of things I earlier never ever thought possible and I am genuinly grateful for this year!

January 2008 started off with heavy studies and I went through a big oral exam in a course in Systematic Theology in mid-January! It was my second oral exam, for a 'difficult' teacher and the grade covered half a semester! I went through it and am personally very happy with how I performed. I was one single question away from getting the high grade VG, and I have to admit that still bothers me some, but I'm still very happy with getting through it the way I did!

Right after that I celebrated my 30th birthday, and that day was made unforgettable by Johanna and Sara - thank you SO much again!!

During the spring semester I studied full-time, added one 'reading-course' and followed the Hebrew course (also full time) unofficially - and did great!! I took in total 5 exams (official and unofficial) and had G on the smallest one and VG on all the rest! :) Something I never ever thought I would be able to do!!

Summer was pretty regular to tell the truth! Some things really good, some things not so great!

This fall I have taken full-time Greek, and managed to ace both written exams (technically I had 71 of 72 on the last one, but in all honestly, that was a typing error!)!! Besides that I have also gotten started on my essay, and even though I really wanted to finish it now, I am still very happy with my accomplishments this semester.

I was also asked to be mentor for next semester, in Hebrew, and even though I'm very anxious about that, I feel so extremely honored to have been asked - I just hope I will be able to do a good job of it!

So once again, for me personally I have greatly enjoyed 2008 and I am amazed to have been able to experience such a year! There's no way I dare hope for 2009 to be as good as that, but I will definitely do whatever I can to be able to develop and grow as a person and do the best I can to get yet another wonderful year!

General Update!

Wow, long time since I've made an entry here now! My reason and maybe excuse for this blog neglect is the fact that I have more or less been out of internet access since I got here.
So, what has been going on?

My Dad and his family came back safe and sound - though a bit tired - from their trip to Florida and the kids had certainly grown a lot.
Christmas was for once TERRIFIC!! I don't like the Christmas holidays and I stand by that, but Christmas this year has been the best one in a long, long time. I don't want to go into details here, but I think I will always look back at this Christmas with a smile on my face for a long time. I spent almost all of Christmas Eve with my Mum, and we had a wonderful day!! Christmas Day was spent with my Dad although we 'pretended' it to be Christmas Eve for the children's sake. (In Sweden we celebrate on December 24th with Santa and presents)

Since then I have spent most of the time with my Dad and his family although I have had some quality time with my Mum as well. Mostly things have been really good, kids at their age (4½ and almost 2) are fantastic to be around, although I am not at all used to living with so many people, so the intensity sometimes gets to me. I don't have that much time for myself, and I am a person who requires a lot of alone-time. Still, so far the holidays have been really good! :)

I'm now celebrating New Year's Eve with my Mum and after that we don't know for sure. I will probably go back home on January 5th, but we also want to celebrate my Dad's birthday which is a few days later, and we still haven't decided on how to manage that ...

A few more entries will come tonight, when I'm finally in front of the computer... Please excuse me for not sharing any pictures with you, I won't be able to upload photos from my camera onto a computer until I get home, so I'll post a picture-spree then! :)

Happy Holidays!

Stressing as usual, having a lot to do right before I'm leaving! This year, it's not just about me postponing everything, I think, because I really am VERY tired, and everything I try to do, tend to take a really long time.
Still, I'll hopefully be able to leave here in reasonable time, as I have at least a 6 hour-drive ahead of me, probably longer due to the weather!

So just a short post to wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2009!
All the Best!

(I might be able to get limited internet access when I'm away, and then I'll try to give you an update, but otherwise I'll be back in January!)

Take care!
/Jessica

Public Apology!

Things are pretty insane right now, to tell the truth!
I have been extremely tired lately, and things have been very confusing and I'm now trying to prepare for my holiday trip north, which isn't the easiest thing in the world. I had hoped to be able to leave tomorrow, Friday, but that is completely out of the question now. I really have to leave on Saturday, but it's going to be a tough time until I'm ready to go.

This entry will be a public apology to pretty much everyone I know. I know I have been able to meet a few of you now before the holidays, but not as much as I would have wanted to, and a lot of you I haven't even had the chance to meet! Believe me when I say I am truly sorry about that, I really wish I had stayed in touch better and that we had managed to get together. There's not much I can say, other than the fact that things really have been very chaotic and very confusing lately. I do hope that I will get better at staying in touch with my friends when I get back here after the holidays, I will definitely make an effort to do so. My spring semester will be quite different from this one, it will be intense, once again I will do more than full-time studies and I will also have my job as a mentor to consider, but since there are no lectures, I will be able to control my time in another way, and there will not be specific demands made on me every single day - so hopefully I will be able to catch up with those of you I have neglected now!
The apology also applies to more "online" friends and activities. I have cut back on such activity gradually, as the rest of my life - studies! - takes up too much time, but there are a few things that I'd like to hold on to, but that I have been neglecting too this semester. Mostly it's blogs! I do try to catch up and read blogs, but I have been terrible at leaving comments, and for that I am sorry! I am not active in a lot of Forums or Message Boards either nowadays, but there are two that I really like and want to stay in: Zunshine.com Message Board and AmandaTapping.com. Please know that I will also make an effort to be more of a regular there starting next year!

Okay, that's all for now! I just wanted to make this public before I dash off and will for the most part be out of internet- and computer access. I'll try to make a Goodbye-post before I leave, either tomorrow evening or Saturday morning!

And The Earth Shook!

Had quite an "interesting" experience this morning ...
I got up at about 5.30, did the usual cuddle with Zorro in front of the TV and started writing in my diary. Zorro settled down and fell asleep, just as he always does. All of a sudden, he jumps of from the couch with a loud "miaooo!" and rushes to the window - and seconds later, my entire apartment starts to shake ... really shake! I was completely unprepared, and didn't understand anything, at first I figured there were some construction work going on but quickly realized that my entire concrete nine-floor building would not shake like that ... It didn't last very long, but it really was an earthquake!! That's like ... impossible!! *shock* I've been in an earthquake??!? That can happen in California - or in the movies - not in my hometown!!
But it did ... It's been all over the news today, it was a rather large one, that measured 4.7 on the Richter scale - it's the worst earthquake we've had in Sweden for over 100 years! *yikes* The centre of it wasn't that close to where I live, but not too far away either, about 70-80 kilometres ... Nothing seriously damanged, though the electricity disappeared for a lot of people ... Some wake-up call, huh?!

I went into town around 10 this morning, I had a few errands to run, but they didn't work out at all. I thought I'd be really nervous about meeting the professor, but for some reason I wasn't ... always happy when that happens. I arrived at the Department fairly early, but I did find Johanna, so we chatted for a little while.
I met the professor at 11.15, and we had a really good conversation! It totally worked out, and I'm very happy about that. He'll be guiding me on all my courses next semester (the essay now being postponed, two so-called "reading-courses" and one larger essay), so it felt really good to have this talk now. Pretty much everything worked out the way I hoped, I didn't feel 'inferior' at all and I felt that he totally understood where I was going! Wonderful!

Then I went to meet my friend and her little boy! I don't think I've seen them since late september, and wow, he'd grown a lot!! *lol* He'll be one years old soon, and he was such a big boy! :) I also enjoyed catching up with my friend since we hadn't talked for so long!
Took me a while to get home, crowded buses and trains that were late, and by the time I got home I was completely exhausted!!
I have a million things to do right now, and I don't seem to get the energy to do even one of them ... not good!! Since I'll be leaving at the end of the week, Friday or Saturday, I really need to start working everything out ... but I'm SOOOO tired ...

I haven't heard anything about the Greek lecture, so I guess tomorrow is on ... at least I hope so, because if I do another trip in vain tomorrow morning, I'll probably be ready to kill someone! After the lecture we have a mentor-meeting, but I hope I'm not too exhausted when I get home, because I need to start getting organized now!

Take care!

An Unnecessary Trip!

I haven't had a great day today unfortunately, even though some things have been pretty okay.

I woke up feeling like a zombie this morning, I was really tired, and I was actually considering skipping lectures ... but since I missed a few last week, and we're going in to the last three lectures before the holidays, I got my act together and went ... Only to find out, after having waited for nearly half an hour at Uni, that the lecture today was cancelled!! Apparently the teacher's son had fallen ill and he had to stay home with him!
I know these things can happen, and it's nobody's fault, but my mood dropped like a brick wall!! I was furious and this combined with a few other issues sent my mood below zero! There was nothing to do but take the next train home!
Our teacher is usually really good at communicating through emails, and when I got home I found out he had sent an email about the cancelled lecture this morning! At first I was a bit upset, partly due to the fact that I hadn't checked my emails before I left, but also because it doesn't seem like part of a normal morning routine to actually start up the computer and check for Uni-related emails! And then I found out that he had sent the email a good 25 minutes after I had already left, so no matter what, I would have had made that unnecessary trip ... *sigh*

Moving on to a bit more positive news though - which turned out to be today's mail! I usually only get bills and bills and more bills, but today I got some really FUN mail! *yay*
I had made scraps of my little sisters and Zorro and printed them onto T-shirts for them for Christmas (feels safe to write about it now, since my Dad and his family are in Florida and will not check out the internet *lol*). I got the T-shirts today and they turned out pretty nice! It's hard to know the sizes, I think these were a bit too big, but hopefully the girls can wear them this summer as well! :)
I have added the scraps, and a few more, to my Picasa Album (Cute Sisters!), so feel free to check them out! (And anyone I've forgotten to send the URL to, just let me know and you'll get it!). There are also some new scraps in the Jessica digi.scraps-album at Picasa, if you want to check them out.

The other thing in the mail was a book I had actually forgotten all about! :) My Dad's sister's husband (!) is a professor of History of Religion (though not at the University I'm attending), and when I spoke to my aunt a while back, she mentioned he'd been part of a project regarding Ararat and Armenia, and they had published a book as a result of this project. She said she'd send me a copy of the book, but it had completely slipped my mind ... until today when it arrived in the mail! :) I won't have time to start reading it right away, but I'm definitely hoping to read it during Christmas holidays. I have some other books (or is it just one?) written by someone I know, and that is actually kind of a weird and funny feeling!

Now I'm mostly worrying about tomorrow! We got another mail from the Greek teacher, and aparently another one of his children has fallen ill as well, so we won't have lectures tomorrow. I am, however, meeting with my essay professor, and I'm gonna have to tell him that I won't be able to complete the essay during this semester. I'm not looking forward to that one little bit, even though I know, on a logical level, that shouldn't be such a big deal! After all, it is my decision, my responsibility and I have made the choice to prioritize the Greek courses this semester- but I know I have a tendancy to feel "inferior" in these situations and I try to start defending myself - which I shouldn't! - and the whole thing turns into a great big mess. Guess I shouldn't think too much ahead really, but it's hard not to. Still, it's only a brief meeting, and I'll just have to cope!

After the meeting awaits the fun stuff! :) I'm going to visit a friend and her young boy, he turns one year old in a little while! *cute!* I have only seen them once during this semester (!) since things have been so chaotic, so I'm really looking forward to that, it was nice we managed to find a time to meet before the holidays.

And then all I have left is a MAJOR clean up of the apartment and all the packing and preparations for my trip north ... And probably a lecture on Wednesday ... *phew, I think I'll keep busy!*

A Difficult Decision!

I have had to make a difficult decision this weekend, and while I'm not happy with it, I think it's the only decision I could have made under the circumstances. That doesn't make it any easier though ...

I have decided to, for the time being, drop my essay! I really really wanted to finish it this semester, but now I've come to realize, that's just not possible. I know I have, ever since the start of the semester, given the Greek courses priority, for a number of reasons. Partly because it is required that you spend a number of hours on it every single day, you have to be prepared for every day, which means you have to study regularly and a lot. I have also felt, almost from the beginning, that Greek has come rather easy for me. Even though I want to continue with Old Testament and Hebrew, I find Greek a lot easier - and that means I have been able to perform very well ... which of course makes me want to prioritize Greek.
I have had a hard time figuring out this essay, and I think at least part of that comes from the fact that I have always had my Greek studies lying on top of me. Even when I have set aside time for work on the essay, I have been occupied with what I am supposed to prepare in Greek ... and that simply doesn't work!

I have made one last effort, to put all my energies into the essay ever since the last exam, but for a number of reasons, it won't work. I won't be able to finish it in time, there's just no way. I know there's nothing more to do, I know I can't pull it off, but I still feel bad about having to postpone it ... Still, I don't see myself having any other choice at the moment!

So now I'm gonna try to reset my brain to go back to Greek and studies of the Galatians! :)

Actually Relaxing!

While my life is a chaotic mess at the moment, I have actually had some time for relaxation as well these past few days!! And much needed so, that's for sure!




Friday night I was invited to dinner with Sara and Johanna! We haven't seen each other in ages, Sara and I hardly ever see each other since she's moved on from the Theology Department, and even though I see Johanna occasionally, we're often off to one thing or another and don't have time to talk properly! I really enjoyed myself, and could actually relax a lot! I was a bit worried beforehand, since I'm so stressed out and worried about everything right now, that I wouldn't be able to wind down, but I really could! We had a great time with yummy food and lots of laughter - just the way it's supposed to be! Helen dropped by as well, a little later, and I haven't seen her since we were at Sofiero in May (!) so that was really great too!!


Sara is preparing the desert ...

... while Johanna is laughing! :)


Sara and Johanna doing 'the African Dance'! *lol*



And yesterday I was invited to Lena, to see their new apartment! Since I haven't been feeling the best lately, and mostly complained about everything, it was great to be able to see her outside of Uni, in a more relaxed environment! I also got to meet the sweetest, cutest little cat ... and I guess Zorro will be jealous now, but she was such a little darling! :) When I was getting ready to leave, she turned on the charm full-stop and I could hardly make it out the door! *lol*
(Sadly I had forgotten the camera ...)

It feels really wonderful to have been able to relax like this in the middle of everything that is going on right now, but I have to admit I'm finding it difficult trying to get back into the harsh reality now ... I have some rough times ahead of me, and I'm hoping to be able to blog my way through them as well, so you'll know what's going on ... so keep an eye out for updates! :)

Good But Irratic?!

Another strange day!
I'm making this a short entry, because I really don't feel that great at the moment, but I wanted to at least check it.
The good news of today is that we finally got our Greek exam back - and I cannot complain about the results ... I had 71 out of a possible 72!! *Yay!* What did bug me is that the mistake was more or less a typing error, which feels so stupid! I had made an analysis of verb correctly when I did it, and when I typed in the text that I handed in, I wrote it differently! So, so stupid! I know it doesn't matter in the long run, and I'm still really happy, but it would have been totally cool to say that I had top score on both exams, especially when it was so close ...

Other than that, my life is currently a mess - which is why I don't feel good ... I don't want to get into specifics, especially not right now, but at least you'll know why I might not update here every day, or why I'm (for those of you who know me in person) not that pleasant to be around right now ...

Take care!

Disappointment!

I haven't had a good day at all today ... and that makes me rather frustrated, because I cannot afford to have days like that right now.

I didn't feel great this morning, and I even considered skipping the lecture, but since we'd been told we would get the exams today, I gathered my composure and managed to get going. I know I have a hang-up about this stupid exam, I think it has to do with the fact that I did so well on the last one ... and now I kind of feel, and I feel that other feel, that I have to match that, do just as well on this one - which isn't an easy goal to reach! I think I will accept pretty much whatever result I get (unless I've failed!), just so long as I get it and can deal with it.
So, I got to Uni, feeling completely dead, and the first thing our teacher says is that he was too tired to grade exams yesterday so we won't get them! At that moment, I just felt like walking out of there and going home! Which of course, I didn't! But I did feel utterly disappointed, and I'm starting to wonder if we are ever going to get the exams back!

We went through the first chapter of Galatians today, and I wasn't prepared of course. He didn't except it, but I did get a few comments from him ... Afterwards I wanted to talk to him, one on one, and explain about how I hope to do in the future, that I have to prioritize my essay but that I'm hoping to attend lecture and work out the exam. We were a bit late, I had hoped to meet Lena, and we were having a mentor meeting, so I was hoping to catch him right away ... yeah right!! Apparently another student beat me to it, and got into a rather lengthy discussion about the New Perspective on Paul or whatnot ... I waited and waited, everybody had left (supposedly gone to the mentormeeting), another group of students wanted to use the room we were in ... Finally the teacher acknowledged me, but he didn't finish the disucssion with the other guy, so I had to say something in front of him, and quickly and it just felt totally messy! I know the teacher basically understands (we've been discussing the fact that I'm studying full-time Greek and doing a Hebrew essay on several occasions), but I had wanted to get a 'real' talk going with him - which was completely impossible!
I felt really disappointed after that but went to hunt for Lena - instead I met Johanna, which was a lot of fun!! I'm meeting her and Sara on Friday night, and I'm SOOOO looking forward to it! I don't think I have met Sara since September or something! *gasp* And then I managed to catch up with Lena but only for a few moments, because she was having a lecture at 10.15 - and I'm afraid all I did was basically complain about everything, so I guess I wasn't that much fun to talk to ... *oops*
I had hoped to catch the 10.22 train and rushed down to the station, only to see it leave the platform ... thank you very much! Granted, the train leaves every half an hour, but at this point, it felt like forever ...

I haven't had much luck in turning my bad mood around during the afternoon either, so things bascially feel very confusing and frustrating and generally upsetting!
ONE good thing happened - I had an early Christmas card from my sisters (they must have posted it before they left for Florida!), with a wonderful photo in it ... I think this is one of my top favourites among all photos - and I'm making it into the Pic-of-the-Day!

Pic of the Day:



Isn't it a GREAT photo?!? I just love it! :)

It's Official!

I don't quite know how this day turned out - some parts feel good, others feel bad, some feel strange and well, I'm just generally stressed out, tired and very confused! :) But I guess I should start at the beginning!

There had been some debate last week on our schedule for this last course, I didn't have the energy to get involved, but figured we'd get an updated schedule in time ... oh no! I was fairly sure we were having lectures today, and part of me thought it was 8 o'clock-lectures, the other part thought 10 o'clock. I went in early of course, and it turned out we were having lectures at 8 ... though we were only four students there, and a few in the group came in at 10 ... a little miss in the communication! :)
I expected to get the exams back, I had been thinking about this all weekend, as I cannot put an exam behind me until I actually get it back and get the results! And to my big disappointment, our teacher had been sick during the weekend and hadn't graded them yet! *SIGH* He said we maybe get the back tomorrow! *fingers crossed* For some reason I'm totally hyper over this exam, and I really just want to know the results and get it over and done with.
We continued on Paul and the Galatians today, and I think I was in better shape today than last week, because I think I at least got most of it! :)

After lectures I tried to do essay studies in the library, but I didn't do so well. I had a headache that kept getting worse, and I was going to do the Hebrew translation on the text I've chosen for my essay ... which was NOT easy! I haven't even looked at a Hebrew text since mid-June, and even though I do remember some parts of it, you tend to forget A LOT! That in combination with the headache didn't make my studies very efficient!

A while after 1 o'clock I went to meet the woman responsible for the Mentor Activity (The SI-programme - Supplementary Instruction), with regard to her email. It was very good to meet her face to face, and I got some more information on what's involved ... and now it's official: I will be the Mentor for the Hebrew course next semester! *gulp* I know this is a wonderful opportunity and a fantastic chance to develop ... but I'm still pretty freaked out by it. I know I cannot deal with it all now - I have enough to deal with as it is right now! *rolling eyes* - but it's hard not to keep thinking about it!

After the meeting I went straight home, but I haven't been feeling very well this evening ... I've had some physical symptoms, and I've been thinking a lot, and I generally feel a bit disoriented at the moment ...
I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow's lecture, though I think it will sort itself out once I'm there. I have decided that whatever time is left before Christmas Holidays, I have to work on my essay. That means I won't have time to prepare or study Greek the way I'm supposed to. I have every confidence I will pass the exam (since it's not a regular written exam), but we got an email with some attachments from our teacher today, and he was adamant about what we were supposed to prepare for what day, and what he wanted to do each lecture! *gulp* I mean, I'll just have to deal with it when it happens, and he's going to have to accept and respect my decision, but since I'm not feeling that great tonight, I am a bit nervous about how it will play out.

I'm going to call it a night now, when my mood is like this, I find it best to try to get some sleep.
Take care - and please keep your fingers crossed I will get the exam back tomorrow (and that I did okay of course! *lol*)!
Seeya!

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My Life At The Moment!
Currently reading: Novum Testamentum Greace - Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
Currently watching: The Simpsons
Currently listening to: Nothing
My Plans for tomorrow: Lectures, Mentor meeting (maybe meeting Lena?), shopping, studies, cleaning

Holy Hannah!

Wow, this has been a very eventful week, and I have tons to blog about now. I haven't been feeling very well all week (for different reasons) which is why I haven't had the energy to blog ... but I guess I'd better give you an update now!
This entry will be thematic in structure, I think it's easier to do it that way, than in chronological order ... So here we go! :)

The Exam on Wednesday
Yes, Wednesday was the big Greek-day! :) I was in a complete state of panic all day, not sure where that comes from, but I have been feeling terrible just prior to written exams lately. Guess that's not all bad, considering how I did on my last exam though! :) I had planned to get to Uni early and spend the morning studying, but things at home (also studying, but still) ended up taking quite a long time ... and when I got to the Department I met some fellow Greek-students and we ended up having coffee and chatting instead. That's not usually my last-minute-exam-preparation, so that made me even more nervous and hyper!
As for the exam, I have stated to almost everyone that I will not say anything until I get it back! I think it will get way to complicated if I try to make some kind of assessment of it now ... I'm hoping we'll get them back on Monday, so you'll get my thoughts on that then! :)

Some Bad News
The bad news this week is that I'm missing out on mine and Annika's annual Gothenburg-Liseberg-Christmas tradition! :( We usually spend one day in December there, as we don't meet very often, we exchange Christmas presents and just try to get in the Spirit of Christmas as best we can ... but yesterday I got the stomach flu and can now not stay that far away from a bathroom! :( It really sucks - we've had this tradition for a number of years now, and I really wanted to go ... and also, I sooo don't have time to get sick! :( I try to "cure" myself as best I can, but I'm still feeling pretty rotten! :(

Family Related - Some Semi-Bad News
I got some not-so-great news from my Dad the other day. My two little sisters, 'M' and 'I' had been playing together, 'M' is a quite lively four-year-old and she drags 'I' along in wild games. They had been jumping from 'M's bed, and 'I' had landed badly ... the spent an entire day in the Emergency and they thought she might have a broken ankle!! Considering the fact they leave for a 2-week long trip to Florida in two days (!) the timing was the worse possible!! After lots of X-rays and examinations and consultations, it turns out it was "only" a crack in one of the bones of the foot! She's not suppose to support her leg at all though (not easy explaning that to a 2-year-old though!), and there were talks of having to cancel their trip!! They will be going now though, they got clearance from the doctors, but I imagine the trip will be a bit rough considering someone will have to carry her pretty much around the clock ...
I talked to my Dad again yesterday, and she seems to be doing a little better - so I'm hoping they can still enjoy their trip!!

What About Studies?!
Okay, here's an update on studies ... On Thursday morning, I accompanied Lena on an essay seminar. I really had nothing to do with it, as it was a seminar for Systematic Theology and History of Christianity (sorry, these are my translations, so the subjects might have another 'official' English translation), but Lena had invited me, and I really wanted to see how a seminar like this worked, as this is what I'll be doing with my own essay in January. And it was good to have been there! I felt the seminar wasn't great at all ... actually ... it was completely non-structured, and confusing and strange, but that gave me an idea of what I don't want to experience (and from what I can tell, our seminar will be more structured)! It also gave me great ideas on how to perform both as an opponent on another essay and as a respondent on my own! I have gotten tips from other before, but it is something completely different to actually see it for yourself! So even though I didn't like the seminar as such, it was really good to have been there.
I the afternoon we had the introduction to our next Greek-course, on The Galatians. I was completely exhausted so even though this was more theological than linguistic, I didn't get much of it ... The general structure of the course is yet to be determined, as this was a general introduction, but I have made up my mind on how to study these two weeks before Christmas holidays, and I hope I can make it work.
The idea is to show up on Greek lectures (we have added lectures as well, so I think there are 8 or 9 left before the holidays), but not do anything else. I will not prepare text or read the literature, and the reason for this is two-fold. Partly, it's because of the examination on this course. We will not have a regular written exam, but instead to an interpretation-report on part of the Galatians. This is something we do at home, and it will include both a language-oriented part (we have to do a translation of the text and motivate it) and a theological part, where we use various commentaries and literature - and fact of the matter is, this is something I can do without having to prepare for every single lecture! The other reason is that I have to write the major part of my essay in less than two weeks!!!! I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done, but there's also the part of actually doing it! I have a meeting with the professor on December 16, and I have to have gotten a lot done until then, if there's going to be a point to the meeting at all - and I know I won't be able to get much done during the holidays (and right after that, we have to be finished)!
So, compromising all these thoughts: The idea is to attend Greek lectures for 2 hours a day, and the other 22 hours I will work on my essay (possibly managing a few hours sleep every night too??)!

The Spirit of Christmas
A little about the season to come! Because to tell the truth, my 'spirit of Christmas' this year is a big, fat Zero! I generally don't like Christmas one little bit, and for various reasons it's even more complicated this year, but I can usually stand the 'preparation' for Christmas, the decorations, the Christmas music, shopping for gifts and all that, but this year I'm completely anti everything!! I think it has to do with the fact that I'm so genuinely exhausted that I can only barely try to keep up with what I have to do ... just the mere thought of spending several hours decorating and fixing here is just too much right now! So I'm hereby declaring my apartment Christmas-free this year! Granted, I can go so far as to listen to Christmas music - and naturally I'll be getting Christmas gifts for those near and dear to me ... but that's it! It might sound harsh, but to tell the truth, I have never been that big of the Spirit of Christmas - and as for getting in the spirit here and now, what's the point? I have to study 24/7 up until the lectures ends, and then I'll be gone and not home until all the holidays are over ... so really, what is the point?

Last But Not Least - Some GOOD News!
Here's me hoping you have managed to get this far, because I have been saving the best till last! :)
I had an email yesterday, which to me meant more than a lot that have happened to me lately - and I don't think I have grasped it completely even now! The email came from a woman conducting postgraduate studies at our Department (New Testament Exegesis), I know who she is because she has been involved in the Mentor-activity this semester, but I have been fairly sure she doesn't know me. Well, this email said she's responsible for the Mentor activity on the Department, she's now looking for a Mentor for the Hebrew course next semester, and when she had discussed this my name had "come up", so she basically asked if I wanted to do it!!!!!!!! *GASP!*
I know I have been thinking about it - we've had the greatest mentor in Greek-studies this semester, which inspired me as well, but I have been going back and forth with it ... can I handle it, it's a great thing to do, but will I cope, how much time and energy will it take etc.
But being asked to do it?!?!!? That is SO cool, and I'm still in awe!! I have no idea how she got my name, because I've basically only discussed it with my closest friends, but still .... There's no way I can turn it down, obviously, and I think it will be merit to take with me, and somehow I just have to make this work!!
Well, I won't go on and on about it - this entry has been long enough already, but for those of you reading Swedish, I will make an entry of this in my ~ Cogito, ergo sum! ~ blog later on, so keep an eye out there - it will be more detailed, as it is easier to talk about specifics in Sweden!

Wow, this was some entry to get through! :) But at least I'm up-to-date again now, so hopefully I can blog more regularly after this! :) I'm feeling not only stomach-flu-sick but also completely exhausted, this semester has well and truly caught up with me now, but I know I won't be able to wind down until about January 20, so I guess I'll have to hang in there somehow! :)

I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying your weekend!

Still Confusing!

I have had a pretty good day so far, but I'm still feeling totally confused about the upcoming exam - which is starting to get on my nerves!

I went to Uni early this morning, a few things not-so-great, but then I met Lena, which was wonderful!! We haven't seen each other in ages, so it was great catching up!!
Lectures at 10, our teacher said he'd email us during the weekend, what texts to prepare - we hadn't heard from him, and it turned out we'd use this last lecture for questions and repetition, which felt really good! First off, we found out the exam will not cover the entire Gospel of Mark, "only" the first 10 chapters, which are the chapters we have dealt with during lectures. I think it's good, the exam won't cover things we haven't discussed, of course, but I still can't help but feel a little disappointed, as it was said from the beginning we would in fact cover an entire Gospel (that's also the reason it's the Gospel of Mark, that's the shortest one, so despite the fact that the Greek language isn't the best, they chose it because we were supposed to be able to get through all of it) ... But my thoughts on that are quite extensive and this blog is not the right place for them.

My personal confusion got started almost right away though! From what I can understand the exam to be like, I might have difficulties getting a good result on it! I seriously doubt I would fail it, because I have studied so much, but as I have probably said before, just barely getting a passing grade is not really my goal ... The idea of the exam, as far as I can tell, is that we get a portion of text from the Gospel of Mark, say 5-6 verses, and we are to translate them, using a dictionary as help. After that, there are some grammatical questions to answer as well. The questions won't be too bad, I think, I am interested in languages, their structure and how they function, so I should do okay on that. But I'm worried about the text! Even though we're only having 10 (out of 16) chapters, it's still a great deal of text to cover ... it's not something you simply learn by heart beforehand!
But when I sat through the lecture, it felt really okay ... we repeated some grammatical constructions, and went through some questions, and I felt I knew the stuff then. There was nothing where I felt out-of-the-loop or anything like that. So judging from the lecture, I do know a lot of the stuff ...

After lectures we had a mentor meeting ... and that felt okay too! We were given a text to translate in pairs, and I think that worked out really well! It was a very well known text (Mark 8:27-33), but I still felt I could translate it in a good way, and there were only a few words I had to look up.

It felt great things worked out so nicely today, but I still feel really confused and insecure about the exam. It's not just a bad feeling though, because I felt the same way before the last exam, and that worked out really well!
I'll try not to go on and on about all this, fact of the matter is, I'm gonna study around the clock like a maniac until the exam, and then all I can do is hope for the best.
Just one thing is very annoying, the exam takes place between 3 and 8 in the afternoon!!! What idiot thought up that time?!!? *deep sigh* I really hate afternoon exams, so that's kind of frustrating! I guess the only good thing about it is that I can get a few more hours of studying in ...

Now I'm going back to Mark again!
Take care!

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My Life At The Moment!
Currently reading: Novum Testamentum Greace
Currently watching: Stargate SG-1 season 7 (Lost City)
Currently listening to: Nothing
My Plans for tomorrow: STUDIES!!!!