Wool is not cotton

And yet I made the awful mistake of mixing the two up. How did I do that? Well, it was in Swedish and now my pretty green sweater that I got for my birthday last year shrunk. My brown sweater that Marielos gave me shrunk. My friend Mariella helped me stretch them out... I'll see what happens tomorrow when they dry

And I cut my finger so it hurts.

Just like a fairytale

Summer is over and I'm back to my old non-job as a PhD student. After long travels, no sleeping pills and delayed flights, I finally got to my little town of Umea. The first thing I did? I went on Facebook. My friend had this as her status:

"Being a graduate student is like becoming all of the Seven Dwarfs. In the beginning you're Dopey and Bashful. In the middle, you are usually sick (Sneezy), tired (Sleepy), and irritable (Grumpy). But at the end, they call you Doc, and then you're Happy."

Doesn't that just capture the pure essence and joy of doing your PhD thesis? I would have to say yes! :D

On the bandwagon

Did you hear? Michael Jackson died!

Well, of course you've heard. Everybody has. And everybody's posting something about the late, great, king of pop. I have to say, even though I'm not necessarily a fan, even though I hadn't thought about MJ in years, now that he's gone the world feels different.

I don't know why. Somewhere along the lines of his extravagance, weirdness and theatrics, I lost sight of so many great songs. So I decided to join the bandwagon and post a video. This song reminds me of my dad singing with my brothers and I. We were never any good, but there is something about singing in the living room with your dad when you're a kid that you never forget.

So where there is love...

Up-staged

I think it is completely unfair to poor Farrah Fawcett. The poor thing spent three years setting the stage for the grand finale, and then on the afternoon on the day she finally dies... Michael Jackson goes and has a cardiac arrest.

With one clean swoop he ate up all the celebrity gossip online time, all the newscasts, all the printed press room and poor Farrah only got some one-liners.

So now the king of pop is dead, leaving Madonna to be the dowager queen, and a battle between Prince and other suitors for the tittle...

Breakfast date

I really don't see as much of my best friend as I would like. It's not our fault though. She's a leader for trekking expeditions in Asia and I'm a PhD student in Sweden. If we are to have real time together, we both have to be in the same country... which makes it difficult from the get go.

In fact, when she turned 25, it had been over two years since we last saw each other (she's now 27). We decided after that big a bout that we would make an effort to hang out at least once a year -and have done it successfully these last couple of years. Now, she's training to climb Everest -as part of the seven peaks thing- and she's here to get a visa stamped on her passport. She's here for five days.

In her hectic timetable, we managed to fit in Sunday brunch. So over waffles, strawberries and black tea we caught up. We laughed, made fun of people that were not necessarily around and talked about boys, life and everything we could fit in about 90 minutes. She's coming back in October, for the whole month, but I won't be here. This means I'll be missing a visit from her and from Alejandro.

-The things one sacrifices for school.

On being back home

It's been a full two and a half weeks since I came back, and I've managed to fit quite a bit into it. Jet lag posed the usual problems, but a weekend at the lake fixed them. Who knew early to bed, early to rise made your body adjust to the time changes better and faster?

And I got myself an intern, and no job. And my car broke down and got fixed -with no job. Can you tell that not having a job for the first time in over six years is starting to worry me? -and is also strangely relaxing.

And next week I plan on starting the meetings for my fieldwork, writing a proposal for workshops, asking for money and riding out June. Being home is great, and I like it... but I can't help but miss my bike, my korridor room and the things I've left behind in Umea.

Monkey do...

My friend Denise has assigned me the fun task of writing 15 things I like. As I lack the wit of my sister in arms, I will just write things that make me happy (or laugh, which in my case is more or less the same).

1. A nice piece of chocolate after a long day.
2. The way my skin smells after a day in the sun.
3. Having one too many glasses of wine with my wonderful girlfriends.
4. Having a late-night Skype conversation with someone I love.
5. Being a 'best man'.
6. Writing.
7. My family.
8. Cheese and butter... and Scandinavian bread.
9. Baking a cake that turns out beautiful.
10. The way it feels to get into bed after a long day.
11. Saying 'no' to my advisers when I don't agree.
12. Having my advisers say that I have a talent for academic writing.
13. Understanding a bit more Swedish than I though.
14. Meeting old friends in new places.
15. Cider (of course).