If you had told me last year that on the 14th of March all my serious courses would be over, I would have been quite surprised. But it has been quite busy balancing between all the extra courses I have been taking and a Swedish spring without labs and full time uni arrangements sounded like a really good idea.

It would have been different if there was anything neuroscience-related that I could have taken; there was this Neuroethics course I was excited about. However, I applied a couple of weeks before it started (as that’s the way it goes, at least it has been so far in my courses), and it was too late: apparently I was supposed to have applied two months in advance. So there it is. Molecular Cell Biology is finally over and From Brain to Mind finished this week. Basically the only thing that’s left is a Biochemistry of Gene Regulation class on Wednesday evenings, so it’s not like a vacation in the full sense of the word. Practically, though, one lecture a week feels like a holiday.

It’s all well-deserved, though. I put a lot of effort in the Molecular Cell Biology course. As the exams were approaching, I came to realise that I was out of practice. Studying hard did not come as naturally as it used to, and even though I didn’t need to score high, I decided to try to do really well. It wouldn’t be nice if when fourth year started I have forgotten all about studying; second year exams were a long time ago.

Now that I gave it my best, I can rest on the fact that I have 77.5 ECTS credits already (I need 60 for the year) and enjoy the transition from a sleepy icy depression to temperatures well above zero, birds singing, and blooming trees (ok, trees aren’t blooming yet, but I’m anticipating that change).

The evening course has a two week holiday before Easter: no lectures on the 4th and 11th of April, so I’ve booked a trip to Riga with some friends. Cruises to from Stockholm to Riga are ridiculously cheap (99 kr per person, both ways), but they basically include a night’s stay in open sea and just a couple of hours to spare in Riga. As we actually want to get to see it, we decided to book a cruise on the 31st of March and just not return on the ship for the trip back. We are staying for a 5-6 days and taking a one-way ferry back (30 euros). I don’t know why one-way tickets are so much more expensive than a return cruise…

I am getting excited about this. Perhaps we can couch surf, take a day trip to some beaches in Riga’s outskirts, cycle to a cemetery… There is a lot to be planned.

Until then, there are nations to visit and work in, movies to watch, music to explore (Björk has a new album!), people to see. I have time to pick up reading again. If the weather gets nicer, I think I would start going on cycling trips to grassy lawns to lie on with a book in hand.