I’m finally back, and this vacation has been very enjoyable. Calm times. I wasn’t really looking for wild parties; I even had a pretty quiet New Year’s eve. It has made me think how little time I spend with my family, as it’s the third year that I live abroad, visiting only for Christmas and a part of the summer. I wish I could stay a bit longer this time; three weeks are not enough.

Now that I’ve come back, Sweden is not as cold as expected. Still around the 0, which is pretty nice. People here have been complaining about the lack of snow, but I’m in no hurry to get me feet wet and slip on ice when I’m walking to uni.

And I need to keep walking to uni; I don’t get any break. My last exam was today (Saturday) and the next semester starts on Monday. At least I’m definitely done with exams, I’ve had plenty. Apart from my exam before Christmas, I had a take home exam from the 2nd to the 7th of January, which is something I don’t wish to anybody. Then I had to come back for an exam-like presentation on the 12th, and another exam today. It’s puzzling having exams straight after the vacation. Much better to have them overwith in December, in my opinion.

A little vice of mine is whenever I have to study, I get addicted to something stupid. You see, I do revision marathons of 4-5 hours, and you can’t remain constantly concentrated for that amount of time. But you can’t go out, meet people, watch movies.. No, you need a way of chilling out for around 20 minutes when you’ve pushed yourself to the point you need a break. For me it was Doctor Who last year, the year before: South Park, and now it’s 9gag. I guess I’ve reached the bottom line, because Doctor Who is awesome, and South Park is interesting, whereas 9gag is a website for memes and funny pictures without any purpose whatsoever. I’ll try to find something better for next time.

So on Monday I’ll be in the introductory lecture of “Molecular Cell Biology”. I actually wanted to sign up for Evolutionary Genomics; I had sent an email to my coordinator ages ago, but when I went to her in person just before the vacation, it turned out they gave up the course. So as this Master’s course solution of mine disappeared, I guess I’ll check how the Bachelor’s courses are (this is the first Bachelor’s course I’m taking) and I’ll keep you updated. Edit: it was a Master’s course after all; I don’t know why I got confused there.

Sweden is not the cold gloomy place as it was when I left it. Two things have changed: the days are getting longer, and I’ve brought a warmer jacket. Life is good.