My mates are going Aussie
During high school, I concluded that I suffer from some kind of procrastination. Still going on strong, I'm noticing now while trying to write this never ending essay. However, I don't care about it for the moment, tonight the essay is the last thing I will think about! My beloved Karin will have farewell party since she will be off to Australia for a few months. My best friend, lifeline, psychologist and personal adviser will be on the other side of the planet and my only rescue is Skype. No matter how happy I am for her, I have tried to suppress the fact that she is actually leaving soon. Perhaps not surprising given that we cry before I go to Bosnia in the summer, but other side of the world feels a little worse. As if that isn't enough, my dear Agnes will also spend several months there (damn Australia) and will have her farewell dinner tomorrow. I'm going to miss them so much! But I hope they have the time of their lives in the land of kangaroos, and that they don't force me to come and take them home myself after a few months...
Pictures from 2011
First days of January
The first days of January are always the same. After New Year's eve I usually lay half dead in bed with no energy at all, philosophizing about how fast time has gone by, waiting for life to start again, longing for spring that suddenly feels a little closer... Nothing new this time. These days I've only left the apartment once when me and my mom went to town to see what's left after Christmas sales. There was apparently some good things left since both me and my mom got home with a few bags each. But then again, we are self-proclaimed experts when it comes to picking up real bargains.
Besides that, I have just been hanging out with my bro' Natalie, with my boy Jasmin (called him and whined with my cutest voice until he left everything behind to come here - worked great), watched som tv-series, played Call of Duty and just laid in bed some more. Something else that is exactly the same every year is that I leave the school stuff for the Christmas holidays last days and feel more like hanging myself than taking care of it. Nothing new this time.
New Year's Eve
2011
As 2011 draws to an end, I'm trying to summarize the last year in my head to write a traditional last post about it. It's definitely a year worth remembering, a year of changes and a new beginning. I graduated high school and finished my wonderful time there in the best way possible, I started at the university and I enjoy it more than I ever could have imagined, I have done several shorter and longer trips and got wonderful memories. But most importantly, I learned a lot about myself this year, I have wonderful people around me and they are all well. I am so grateful for everything. Each year gets better and better and I am afraid that something will turn for the worse. Then I realize that it is mostly a question of attitude. You have to love life, love what you do and love the people around you. Then most of it will turn out good! Since it has worked well so far, I will finish the last post with something I say every year:
I hope that 2012 will be an even better year than the 2011th. It will be, it is what you make it.
Egypt - part 3
One of the things we did was driving quads in the desert. It was really fun and the environment is awesome, especially when you are in the middle of nowhere and don't see anything else than desert no matter where you look. It felt like being in a video game! It was really worth it! We drove until we reached a Bedouin village where we got to ride on camels and hear about the Bedouin way of life, before we drove back again.
The Red Sea is full of life. It almost makes the Adriatic Sea, which I'm used to, look dead in comparison. In Makadi Bay there are corals everywhere, even in the shallowest water, and you don't even have to snorkel or get water up to your stomach to see fishes in all different colors. After we had been snorkeling for a while (unfortunately we were too much of cowards to dive in deeper water), we waded out again to take some photos. It was then when we saw some big fishes we were NOT prepared to see. Thank God that I didn't see them while I snorkeled, I would have probably died of a heart attack. Afterwards, we got to know that the bluespotted stingray (on the picture) is toxic. That was pretty much it for us... back to the Adriatic Sea. But it was still very cool!
The last day was just chaos and a real "hangover day" when we didn't know whether to laugh or cry. There was something wrong with our toilet that overflowed and surprised us with a flooding in our room when we woke up. Aida was totally sunburnt and behaved like a vampire who can't stand sunlight, I got a fever and stomach problems and eventually even Jasmin and Erna started to feel bad. It was comedy at the airport. But even that was a part of our wonderful trip and the last day is the one we will laugh at the most when we look back at our vacation. 
Egypt - part 2: Luxor
Since we didn't go to Cairo and the pyramids, we instead decided to go to Luxor for a whole day. We both felt that we didn't want to just be at the hotel for a week without experiencing some of the country. We were guided throughout the day and heard a lot of interesting facts about Egypt and Egyptian history, the pharaohs and their crazyness. Really interesting! It is hardly possible to imagine how old everything is and how they managed to build it at the time.
After seeing the Karnak temple we went on a boat trip across the Nile to the Valley of the Kings and the Pharaohs tombs (which we unfortunately weren't allowed to photograph) and saw some other sights nearby. In addition to the sights we experienced some of Egypt outside Makadi Bay and the "tourist-Egypt," which made the day even more interesting.
Egypt - part 1
I'm home again
Now I'm home again after a wonderful week in Egypt, more exactly in Makadi Bay. Me and my boyfriend have both enjoyed the heat and experienced things we've never done before. Because of the riot in Cairo we didn't go to see the pyramids, which for me is like going to France without seeing the Eiffel Tower, but we did other things that compensated for it! We laid the sun, snorkeled among fishes in all different colors, drove quads in the Sahara desert, rode camels, went to Luxor and saw the Karnak temple, visited the tombs of Pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings and just enjoyed life. As icing on the cake, we met new friends who we had great fun with. Fate brought us together with two wonderful girls, also Bosnians, who this week have experienced some crazy things with us that not even some of our friends have before. After a few days it felt like we had known each other for years, and thanks to them we didn't have to feel like boring seniors during the evenings. It was simply an awesome trip. It was also my first vacation during the winter and I must say that it feels both strange and wonderful to feel the summer heat in winter.
But now I'm back in reality and have to unpack my bag, which probably contains a few kilos of sand and maybe one animal or two, and then I have a lot of photos to upload!
Off to Egypt!
As I said, I need a trip to Africa. Time to leave this continent for a while. See ya!
Sunday without sun
If there is anything inexplicable I believe in, it's my gut feeling. Sometimes I think I have special powers when it comes to that. Some of my friends believe that too because of all times my gut feeling has predicted the future. This morning I woke up with a really bad feeling in my stomach. No stomach pain, no hunger pain, no menstrual pain - just a bad feeling. Then something happened, without my influence, that made the day a really shitty day. Of course.
But it will get better. I can console myself with that I atleast have got a lot done today. I have cleaned my room and my closets, ironed my clothes and refreshed myself from head to toe. After the project I realized how badly I've been taking care of myself lately, I just haven't had time. I need this time off. I need sun. I need a trip to Africa.
Baby when the lights go out
I am alive and I am free! For a few weeks anyway. Christmas break has officially begun, however, most of us have already started the break this week. Yesterday the class celebrated after school with food and pre-party, and then the Christmas party at school. Later some of us went to Konstfack's Christmas party. Fun night, but very long! Got into bed at five o'clock in the morning and have been lying in a morning-after-coma all day today. Didn't get better with this awful weather. But whatever, I'm free, woho!
Venice
I forgot how hard it is to write an essay when you really don't feel like it. This essay in architecture history is the first essay I'm writing since high school and I was hoping for more motivation since it was so long since last time... But no. I think architecture history is interesting and I love listening to the lectures, but to read 100 years old books is much less interesting, and the last thing I need after the project.
Since I'm reading about Rome and Venice, I started to look at old pictures from when the family drove through northern Italy for nearly five years ago. We visited Venice, Verona and Bolzano - all very beautiful cities. Except for laughing a bit at myself, my almost blonde hair, bangs and absence of eyebrows (what the hell was I thinking?), I got a great desire to go there again when I looked at the pictures. I'd appreciate it much more now.
The last two pictures are at the Villa Rotonda outside Vicenza. My brother an me just could not understand why my father thought that this building in the middle of nowhere is so interesting that he had drag the whole family with him. Five years later I read about it in every book I open in architecture history... I guess I should say thanks mom and dad for dragging us two grumpy kids everywhere. It took only a few years to begin to appreciate it...
It's not how your life is, it's how you live it
It feels like I'm one day ahead. Yesterday felt like Friday because we had our final presentations, cleaning and hanging-at-the-pub-time after school. No one had energy left for a proper celebration, the project sucked all the life out of us. And we can't relax yet because we have more tasks next week. We'll have to celebrate later.
Today I am "free" from school to write an essay in architectural history. I feel that I need a break from school and will therefore spend the day with my boyfriend that I haven't seen for a while. I should go to the city library before meeting him, but the rain and my tired mood makes it very difficult for me... Couldn't it have snowed instead?
Weekend... or is it really?
I'm back in my workaholic mode and I spend almost all my waking hours at school, including weekend hours. Our work rooms are, as usual, our second home. We work, hang out, eat and litter there. It is more messy than you can imagine, but we enjoy it there, in our own waste. However, yesterday at nine I left school for a moment to take a glass of wine with my girls. We ended up at Ambassadeur where we danced until three o'clock. In retrospect, it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but last night it seemed absolutely necessary. This morning I felt great - or maybe not - but went to school anyway, where I have spent all day and also will spend Sunday. My model is getting finished and I am so happy and proud of what I have created. It's this feeling that would give me the energy to spend ten times more time in school than I do now. Did I say that I love my education?
I'll be back when I'm done with the project.
Here I go again
I am totally CADfucked - my new word for being brainfucked by AutoCAD. I've "cadded" for three days and the only thing I see when I close my eyes is a bunch of lines. And despite that, I have not a single finished drawing yet! I really underestimated how long time it takes, especially because I'm still learning how to use the program... I was just about to tell you about the stupid mistakes I did, but realized that none of you will understand or find it interesting. You see, this happens to me often these days, I want to share something funny or interesting with my friends or boyfriend, but realize that they won't get a thing about the architecture stuff. The problem is when I have nothing else to talk about... as you may also have noticed here on the blog? We at school are talking the same language and have all become nerds, you can't avoid it when studying architecture. I guess you become a nerd in whatever you study. Sometimes I wonder what my friends would say if they had heard what we're talking and joking about during the day. Sometimes it's so nerdy that I start to laugh in the middle of the conversation, like the other day when a classmate and I feverishly discussed the T-squares and other drawing tools all the way to the subway. After a while I wuz like... what the hell man?
Anyway, it was a good day today. I felt fresh and alert, despite four hours of sleep. For a change, I started to build my model today. Can't wait until everything is finished! But until then there will be late nights at school. Good thing I enjoy being in school more at night than during the day.
Sunday
This Sunday was, if possible, even more slow than what my Sundays usually are. No energy whatsoever. The energy ran out even before the weekend started. It is dangerous with pub after school when you have not eaten since lunch, I was screwed already after my first glass of wine... But I had fun. Unfortunately, there wasn't much party mood left for Saturday. There was certainly much dancing and celebrating at Haris' place, but on the way to town me and Jasmin decided to go home instead of going to the club. In spite of that we woke up like two zombies this morning. I've noticed that my stomach can't stand anything anymore, neither coldness, alcohol or food. Buhu. I almost gassed Jasmin to death tonight.... juuust kiddiiiing... or am I? (I hear my mom saying, "A NICE LADY?!")
Now I just want Monday and a new week. I want to go back to school to tie up on my project, I want that satisfying feeling when you see the result of a work you've been doing for a long time. I'm psyched and ready.
Guess if I was happy when my mom came home from Germany with a bag full of goodies. Guess if I got a stomach ache.
Busy week
I have not been as effective as I wished for this week, even though it has been long days in school. Story of my life. Can't I just once feel "oh, this went fast, I'm done!". It doesn't happen to me. It is not meant for me. Today, for example, I wasted over two hours(!) trying to find a missing feature in AutoCAD. I wanted to kill AutoCAD. I was so frustrated that when I finally found it my classmates witnessed a few tears of joy. It felt so good to beat the computer. I wonder how many battles I will fight against all the programs we have to learn.
Tomorrow after school, it is finally time for the architect students' new bar to open. Our pub burned down this spring and has not been fixed until now, that's why architect students had to crash other pubs at school or outside of school. Atleast we have been very successful in keeping up our Friday tradition in spite of that! This Saturday we will celebrate Haris and on Sunday I will, if I have the energy which I highly doubt, bring myself to school to work on the project. Go me.
Random about school
On my way to school today, I met my counselor from high school. Maybe not a big deal, but I feel a big gratitude for her. She helped me many times when I had my "I don't know what to do and I feel like crying"-moments. I went to her so many times that she among thousands of students knew my name, what class I was in, which grades I had and what I wanted to study in the future. And she got engaged in helping me, she emailed KTH for me, found out information for me - things that she really could told me to do myself. I've thought about sending an email to her to thank her again and to say that I got in to Architecture school and how I'm very happy, but I never did. Shame on me. Today I luckily got the chance to, face to face, tell her how much her help meant to me. And she asked if I want to come when the school has "carrier day" to talk about my education... Of course I will! If someone last year during our carrier day would have said that maybe I will stand and talk about the architecture programme I would have said no to the way.
If someone last year would have said that my second project will be to draw an entire hotel, I would have said no to the way... But now I drawing a hotel. It's amazing what you can do if you have to. In the beginning I got nervous when we got a new task and thought how the hell I would do this? I felt like the only one who thought that way. But that way of thinking is gone now, you just have to see everything as a challenge that you will overcome if you want to.
Speaking about the project, it's time for my loved ones to say goodbye to me until it's over. Soon I will once again find myself in that state where nothing else exists other than school. I haven't missed the stress, but I must admit that I've missed those late nights at school and being so engaged in the work as I was during the last project. I have much to do and the deadline is approaching, and it's irritating me that I still feel pretty calm. You see, this is my problem, I don't start to perform properly until I get panic, and I get panic when there is too little time left. But it's cool, I can do this.
MetalStorm
Both me and my boyfriend are game nerds who so easy become addicted to gaming. It doesn't matter if it is a small mobile game - games are made to be played. The latest on the list is MetalStorm on the iPhone, a game where you fly warplanes. Perfect since we can meet each other online and play together against to others. Perfect since it only took me a few hours to get better at it than him. Here he gets pissed off because I'm supposed to let him shoot me down for him to get money, but I can't help shooting him down over and over and over again...
Note: 1. How many times my boyfriend calls me retarded. 2. His excuses that he "flies slowly" and that "he got disconnected". Anyway, the best thing about this is the love we feel for each other when we shoot down everyone else together... Or who am I kidding, the best thing is when I shoot him down three seconds after the start MOHAHA.
