Happy happy happy days

So there is big news with the Swedes nowadays! Mats got into the journalism-program after submitting an application and being interviewed. There's some stiff competition, so that's good.
And I have gotten a new job! I was actually considering quitting my job since it was damaging my heart and soul (ok, that's somewhat over dramati). I just don't like it at all anymore. Just as I was trying to device I got an email from one of my teachers at the department of media and communications at my university. It was a request, asking if I wanted to work at the departement for six months helping out on two different research projects. I didn't even apply, and they thought of me, so that feels real good. So in September I'll start working as a reseach assistant, which is a job I think I can learn from a lot. It's nervous too, of course, and who knows if they think I can do stuff that I've never done before. But I don't care, it's a great opportunity and the pay isn't too shabby either.

So I have now quit the job, I only have one week left, which is a wonderful feeling. Then I'll be seeing some of you in Ireland in the beginning of July, which will be real fun too. Hopefully I haven't killed Mats and the mother on the car ride there. Ok, that's also a bit dramatic.
After that I'm actually free for a month or so. I haven't had a real vacation from work and or studies in a long time, so that feels great.

All in all, everything feels great. I'm very happy with the way things are working out, and it feels a bit weird since it's not a very common feeling. You just don't get offered jobs out of the blue, you know? I'm sorry for gloating a bit.

Love to you all from a happy Joanna.

Interesting twists

Hi all!

So I passed the exam on the renaissance. Expected, even though I only passed with a margin of a few points. The on to the next exam, this time it was the enlightenment and romantic era. And I was convinced that I failed it, considering that didn't even answer one of the questions (who the heck is Condorcet?!) and made up an answer for another. But lo and behold, yesterday, Monday, one day before I was supposed to retake the exam, I actually looked at the results. I passed. With a higher margin than last time. Go figure. Sure, no points for the question left unanswered, but I maxed the one with the made-up answer. Once again, go figure. I hadn't read anything on John Stuart Mill's thoughts on freedom of expression and simply guessed. And it worked. Academics never cease to amaze me.

On May 3rd I attended and completed the various entrance exams for the journalism program here at the university. A current events test, a summarize-this-article-test, and a personal letter explaining why I want to be a journalist. The procedure is this: one does the entrance exam, and waits for an invitation to be interviewed by faculty members. Out of all the applicants only 60 people get interviewed, and only 30 or so actually get accepted. I felt I did pretty well, but considering that there were about 400 people there with me, I thought my chances for getting in were slim at best. But amazement struck again, and yesterday I got an email from the department saying that they wanted to interview me! So I'm not exactly in yet, but for some reason I feel pretty confident that I'll get in now. I have a pretty varied academic background by now, meaning that I'm somewhat educated in the ways of the world, and I have good language skills, so I think I'm pretty much exactly what they're looking for. Now to make sure they realize that.

Oh yeah, and I swung by Hungary last week as well. Four days in Budapest, the Paris of, well... Hungary. At the end of April, a friend of mine who's a member of RadioAF, the student radio station, called me one morning, said that a group from the radio were going and that they'd had a cancellation, in case I wanted to tag along. So I did. So yeah, four days in Budapest with 35 strangers, plus cheap alcohol, equals lots of new friends. I went to see the Raoul Wallenberg monument (didn't find it though, settled for king Charles XII's rest-stop on his way home from Turkey 300 years ago instead), toured the Buda Castle, and experienced one of the world's largest wine cellars, with over 30 kilometres of walkways and tunnels. Of course a tasting was included in the tour, which turned ridiculous after "tasting" five kinds of wine, which were pretty good. Don't really remember what the other 15 were like, other than that they were ok. The guide and the pouring lady got sloshed as well, so we wouldn't feel awkward getting liqeured up at 2PM. On a side not, I saw Europe's largest wine cask, which was like five metres high, and ten deep, and blessed by a pope. Hungarians apparently take their wine seriously. Kinda hard for us to do though, when a tour with "unlimited tasting" only cost €20.

Below are some photos that I took with my cellphone, as I forgot my camera at home.

Kobánya Kispest, our first impression of Hungary. Beautiful, just beautiful!

Buda Castle, seen from Pest, just outside the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.

The Hungarian Parliament. Built from limestone, which is why it requires constant renovation. Good job, guys.

The Budapesterian suburb of Budafúk. And no, I'm not making that name up.

Pest, seen from atop Gellert Hill in Buda. The climb up there almost killed me. Later found out that there were buses which run every 5 minutes.

Oh well, that's me for now. Közönöm!

Picture Update

Thought I'd put some pictures up here that you may not have seen. They're from April 30th (for those of you who haven't already seen them on Facebook, that is).

I would also like to thank the Americans for the nice card they sent me for my 25th birthday. Pulled at my heart strings just a little.

The controlled chaos that is April 30th in Lund. An estimate of 5 000 people come to the park and hang out. This year we had really great weather too.




Some of my fellow friends who also go to Lund university. Lovely people. They actuelly all happened to be in my class in high school in Trelleborg.





Ok, so this might not be my proudest moment, but it was darn fun. I just felt I needed a little rest. When you start drinking at 11 in the morning you really need to take a break now and then.

Happy Birthday to me!

"Celebrate good times, come on!"

Mamma mia

The Economist had a very funny cover the other day, with a big picture of Silvio Berlusconi and the text: "Mamma Mia! Here we go again!". Exactly my feeling. Funny and sad.

I just wanna go home

I'm bored out of my mind. Why do I work here? Why?!

Snow on St. Paddy's...

I hate the weather in this town. It's just weird. This morning, when I home to go to the library, it was warm and sunny. Well, when I say "warm", I don't mean warm, but at least it wasn't cold. Anyway, not a cloud in the sky. So, I dressed accordingly, wearing only a t-shirt and my jacket, no scarf and no gloves. And I didn't bring an umbrella either. So, after spending a few hours deep inside the university library, studying, I get up to leave for a seminar which I was still incredibly unprepared for. And lo and behold, when I step outside, it's freaking snowing! And it was windy too, a bonafide snowstorm! So, a five minute walk later I arrive at the cultural sciences department where I'm currently at, looking like a [very wet] snowman. And of course the temperature had dropped quite a bit, which wasn't very nice, considering my spring-ish attire. After the seminar, the snow was still coming down in force, so I decided to take the bus home. But no, I'd left my bus-pass at home (I'd walked into town back when the sun was still shining). And I didn't have any change on me, so I had to walk. And the snow just kept coming. And still is, at 9:30PM. It's a little funny, since we haven't really had any snow at all during the winter. Of course, it's only logical that it comes now. The weather hasn't really ever made sense here in Lund.

Anywho, I passed my last exam, the first sit-down exam I've had in over two years. Now, I didn't pass with much to spare, but you should know that I really didn't study as much as I should have. For some reason, however, I seem to actually remember what my professors say during the lectures, which is totally weird, and never happened in my Peace & Conflict Studies and Human Rights courses. Oh, I should probably mention what I'm taking this semester, the course is called "History of Science, Learning & Ideas", and is basically the history of philosophy, with some science and learning thrown in. For my last exam we were dogging through ancient Greece, Rome and the Middle Ages. And I tell you, memorizing almost 2000 years of philosophers, theologians, and scientists, is pretty hard. You try to explain the difference between the Greek philosophers Anaximandros, Anaximenes, and Anaxagoras, and we'll talk. Of course, I could do it, but I wouldn't want to bore you. Anywho, now we've moved on to the renaissance, with fewer names, easier names, and easier to organize, as the different people acutally have fundamentally different ideas, instead of changing ONE minor detail of their predecessor's theory (as was the case with alot of the medieval philosophers and theologians).

Let's see, what else is going on? Right, I'm heading to Malmö next week, for a concert. The artist is Stephen Lynch, an American singer/comedian who sings very funny songs. Titles range from "Altar Boy" to... well, that's the only title which is funny to me, the contents of the songs are very funny indeed. Check him out if he ever comes your way.

And there should be a new song or two on Tapet's MySpace page. Check that out too.

Cheers
Mats