Midsummer weekend really gave me that freedom that you can only feel in the summer. I forgot about work and everything else. We barbequed, hung out in the sun and went on fishing trips by lakes and the sea, which seems to be the summer's new hobby. I'm really not a "nature person" but I feel peaceful in body and soul after this weekend. It might be worth spending a little more time on outdoor activities after all. It will be hard to go to work tomorrow, but 3 of 6 weeks job is completed and the reason for all this working and saving is quickly approaching. Craaazy.

Game day! Since there were almost only Bosnians from Sweden on the boat I had for a moment forgotten that Riga also would be full of Bosnians from Bosnia, Germany, Denmark, Norway and other European countries. As soon as we left the bags at the Radisson Blu (where everyone else from the boat also lived), we went out to the city, took pictures with lots of other fans (could barely take a photo without someone bombing it) and continued the cheering party in the center of Riga.

The supporter trip to Riga started in the best possible way, on the so far hottest day of this year, along with the best group of family and friends. Our little crew consisted of twelve people including our parents, it felt like organizing a class trip... As expected, we enjoyed a wonderful atmosphere the minute we stepped on the boat, and it lasted during all three days, as did the sunny weather. There are only three things that I will complain about, but we'll come to that later. The most important thing is that we WON! With a high five! 0-5 to Bosnia & Herzegovina. You don't understand what it means for our small nation to be so close to a position in the World Cup for the first time. It's hard to explain, but just look at us supporters and how persistently we're cheering despite all setbacks. We'll get there, aBd.
 
The first hours were spent on the deck where we enjoyed the sun, hung out with other friends and sang along with everybody else as soon as a guy showed up with an accordion, a.k.a. harmonika. And where there is a harmonika, there's soon people dancing kolo. In other words: The invasion had begun mwahaha.

I'm alive! After a crazy trip to Riga with a win for Bosnia(!) there has not been much time for recovery since I already on Monday had to wake up at 6am for a new work week. Illness, pollen allergics, menstrual cramps, lack of sleep - everything came together this week. Several times I have come home from work and passed out with clothes and makeup on, which only happens in a critical condition. Tomorrow I will therefore stay at home to rest, for real.

 

 

Tomorrow it's FINALLY time for the trip that I have been waiting for since the drawing of lots! A boat full of Bosnians will arrive to Riga where we'll meet Latvia in World Cup qualifiers. Jasmin and I were actually in Riga two years ago, who would have thought that we would go there again so soon? I guess it will be just like in Estonia in 2009, or in Paris in 2011, when it was an invasion of blue, yellow and white all over the city. The boat leaves tomorrow and the party starts as soon as we step on the boat, and hopefully keeps on going for three days (please God, let us win). The difference from when we went to Estonia is that it's much more organized with artists and DJ's, and I don't know yet if it's better or too much for a supporter journey, it remains to be seen. For me it would be enough to put on a CD with some "Bosnom behar probeharao" and "Zivot je bosna" to get in the right mood. I'm so psyched!! IDEMOOO!

Saturday offered more festivities. The evening started at Nadines graduation party, with very good Lebanese food and a lovely atmosphere. Good to see that it's not that different from Bosnian parties, people start dancing right away and eventually everybody stand in a circle and wooo at the one who ends up in the middle. The difference was that all lebanese seemed to know belly dancing, haha. Afterwards we went to Yunite, a club for former Yugoslavians, but this time both me and Erna brought some Swedish friends to the place. We all had loads of fun! And on the way home, it had already become light outside because it's finally SUMMER!!!

Celebrating Miranda's birthday at this allotment has become something of a tradition. I unfortunately missed last year's celebration, but the one two years ago will never be forgotten, when the only thing we talked about was our graduation. Time has gone so fast since then. I am glad that we still hang out and that it always feels the same way when the group get together. Unfortunately, not all seven from our group was there that day, but it still was as wonderful as always, and we were as happy as always about that it's finally summer and that you can sit outside in the evenings with good company. I got full on the world's best(!) chocolate cake and the mosquitoes got full on my blood.

 

Lovely summer in lovely Stockholm, how I've missed you two together. Given Sweden's bad summer weather last year, I must take advantage of every single sunny day this year. I even have a list of things to do and places to visit, so I'll always have many options when someone asks me "what should we do today? '. On Tuesday we just walked around town, wherever the road took us. I love playing tourist in my own city, so we decided to go up in the City Hall tower. Unfortunately, they have set up a grid which ruins the nice feeling a bit, but the view is still great. Then we continued walking along North Mälarstrand to Rålis, both of us eating an ice cream. If only every day could be like this.

 

 

What a woman, queen, goddess. I don't know how to describe her! This is the first time I've seen Beyoncé live, and if I admired her before, it's nothing compared to now! She has an incredible charisma and star quality, I have never seen anything like it live, at the same time she seems so humble. She IS girl power. She gave us a fantastic show, with 43569 costume changes and a new theme for each song. The only thing that bothered me, and that I will never forgive myself for, is that once I managed to sneak in a system camera, I forgot the memory card in the computer. I wanted to kick myself, hard. Apart from that, the evening was perfect, Amela and I went home in a state that you could describe as slightly hypnotized, especially after standing a few meters away from her at one point (you could just look at her until your eyes pop out ). The spell was broken when we both had to get up early for work, but a bit of the energy we got is definitely still there. You know, who run the world...

 

Here are my short video clips with sucky iphone quality, but what to do. They show a bit of the opening when she just turns up out of nowhere, then when she is walking around on a platform in the middle of the arena, and finally her beautiful tribute to Whitney. We sound like howling dogs in the end, HAHA.

I just want to say THANK YOU! Thanks to you who write nice comments and during these last months even have thanked me for a good blog, despite the infrequently update. It's great that you're still here! A few of you have also written that you're proud of me even though you don't know me, isn't that just wonderful? As happy as I am over your nice words, I'm also glad that I have readers who can enjoy others happiness, and, alhough I don't know you, you take a bit of your time to write a comment that makes my day. The comments say much more about you than about me.

 

Sometimes I can get a little surprised when you describe me so wonderfully. I post nice pictures and photos from special occasions, I emphasize the positive in my life, but I write very little about what I think and how I feel, and about myself really. It may be possible to get a fairly good idea of a person anyway, but from my perspective as a blogger, it can seem a bit strange since I think the blog show a very small and superficial part of me. I would like to share more of myself, I feel I have much to give, and if it can somehow inspire someone, that's absolutely wonderful - the nicest thing to hear is that you are an inspiration. The blogs that inspire me the most are those who are very open about themselves, but I don't really know how to blog in that way anymore (I still save all the longer texts in the draft instead of publishing them). I used to give a lot more of myself but it has become more difficult with time, perhaps because I have become so aware that there are actually strangers who read my blog and the more I open up the more vulnerable I become. There are those who don't know where the boundaries lie. Unfortunately, it's easy to forget that there are indeed wonderful people with whom I would gladly share much more, people who might find something to get inspired by. Some of you I even recognize the names of, and know that you have been following me for a while, maybe I've looked into your blog or Instagram and it feels like I know you on some strange level, even though I barely know anything about you... Besides the fact that you are there. And share my joy and my experiences. That's probably what still makes me hold on to the blog, thank you for reminding me of that every now and then!

 

 

Summer is here and suddenly you get showered with all the pleasures of life, and my Instagram gets showered with pictures. The last few days I have finished the last project and had a vernissage, I have reveled in the sight of all blooming despite my pollen allergy, I have enjoyed spontaneous picnics, walks and drinks, and I have celebrated my boyfriend's birthday both in Uppsala and in Stockholm. It was also my mom's birthday yesterday, but her celebration takes place at a distance since she's enjoying Istanbul at the moment. I love this time of the year, it feels like falling in love all over again.

Last weekend Zeljko Joksimovic and Halid Beslic had their concert in Norrköping. It had the worst possible timing - the weekend before the project submission. But there is no re-partys, only re-examinations! In my case, complementaries. Because of me being in my working mode, it afterwards felt like I had dreamed this fun break in the middle of everything. My worn-out body and lack of sleep, however, proved it wasn't just a dream, as well as all the photos!

 

Haha yeah, it's a freakin' minivan, and it was absolutely our smartest move. As soon as we got into the van the party started! And lasted a bit too long... In three hours we had only gotten halfway, as we first stopped for a lunch break five minutes into the trip. Then, after half an hour driving, I realized that we forgot the concert tickets (absolutely our dumbest move) and must return home, and after another hour we had to take a pause like we had driven half the autobahn. Once in Norrköping we got lost AGAIN even though we've lived in the same hostel several times before and all have iphones with GPS. We all agreed on that it would probably take us two weeks to drive to Bosnia and that we would lose at least one person on the road.

 

Uppsala is, as always, the place to be at Walpurgis Night and May Day. I thought that last year's celebrations would be hard to beat, especially given the weather this year, but we made it even better this time. At first we drove around to different places in Uppsala and met som friends at the Ekonomikum park, but fled as soon as the rain struck.

 

 

You can tell that summer and fun times are comming up. Parties, coffee breaks, "after work" drinks - there is more energy for everything. And now it's not long before the real fun begins. May Day, two concerts in May, the trip to Latvia in June and... summer, summer, summer. The one thing everyone is nagging about with a desperate longing. The only problem is that you have to finish your studies even though it's so much other things you'd rather do. The usual problem this time of the year...

 

Although I should be studying 24/7 now, I still have spent some time on my social life. Weekend is still weekend. Aside from from several birthday parties, I've also met my beloved girls (must do that before I go underground with the project). Sitting in the sun with Karin, five hours at a bar with Amela, listening to Ernas stories while on a car drive or taking a long walk with Natalie makes me overloaded with energy. It's also one of the main reasons that I'm longing for summer so much, I want to spend more quality time with my closest friends.

 
And now it's 99 days left to the U.S. Two-digit, YEY.

This year's first sip of rosé in a sidewalk café, a perfect end of the weekend! My future politician recently returned from Brussels and had a lot of interesting to tell, and as usual, fill me with my necessary dose of her. After every meeting and conversation, I always feel so lucky to have this wonderful woman in my life. And is there anything more wonderful than seeing your best friends doing what they enjoy, being happy and just radiating positive energy? I just want to sit in our little bubble of positive energy forever and ever. And drink wine. In the sun.

 

Since everybody is pale after the winter and slightly camera shy, myself included, food images from Instagram will have to do as some form of representation of what I've been doing lately. If I even remember what I've done... (this is why you have a BLOG!). The week started very strange. I suddenly got sick the night of Sunday and had a fever that persisted throughout the day no matter what I did. I had so much pain in my body and I thought I was screwed for the rest of the week, but the next day I woke up like nothing had happened. I was not even tired as you usually are when you've been lying half dead the day before. What... the...? Good job my little white blood cells.

 

Time has flown by since then and the rest of the week has been spent writing essays, preparing presentations, and again a lot of reservations and other preparations - it never ends. But I like it (to a certain amount), I get energy from it. And time goes by faster. I have never ever been so mindfucked when it comes to the perception of time as I am now. Because of this never ending winter I constantly have to remind myself that it is almost May and that January was not yesterday but a few months ago! Still waiting for that horrific pollen shock... I have prepared myself with tablets, nasal sprays and eye drops, this year I'm ready. Bring it on biaaatch.

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And so the weeks at work came to an end, just when I started getting used to waking up early. Or not. Tomorrow I return to a ton of school work. Ah, life... I have at least earned some money for the summer. I must give myself some cred since I have saved up over my expectations these months. It feels really good to stick to a challenge you gave yourself, and know you're getting closer to the goal, in my case, the trip to the U.S. I think it's always good to have goals to strive for, big or small, whether it is to save up for a trip, study for your dream profession, become fitter or whatsoever. You are motivated and you feel good for each step closer to the goal. So... don't be goalless... neither in a soccer game nor in life.