"Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play..."

Well, not exactly, but you get my drift.

Finally all of my exams are done and I'm home working my arse off at the hospital. That's why I haven't been able to update for a while. Demasiado trabajo... After what, 3 years wherein I've worked every summer at the hospital, I (finally?) begin to get the need to expand my horizons; i.e. I want to try something else next summer.

Mind you, working at the hospital is great fun (despite the heaps of gossip, backstabbing and grapevine tendencies), but each time I've arrived at the sterilization unit to work they've introduced a new system. The latest one is by far the greatest and does not only apply to this hospital, but to the whole Norwegian network of hospitals. Everything has become all computerized now, with bar codes and labels that have to be put on. Gone are the days wherein you could just pack whatever that came from the washing machines by the operating rooms without knowing their names (I'm referring to the smaller packs for individual instruments that are separated from the actual larger sets of operating instruments). Uh-uh. Now you actually have to know what each of the thingumajigs are called - which, to an ignorant summer employee, can be rather daunting, especially when the stress level is at a high point. ("Should I ask what this thingy is called, or should I just leave it where I'd found it?" "Will they bite my head off if I ask?" "Should I do this or that?") And obviously the stress rubs off on the rest of us, because we really do want to help, but we aren't exactly capable of dissembling, reinstalling and creating the more complicated sets of instruments. We can only do so much. We do try to lighten their burdens at least a little bit, but unfortunately all we can do with regard to those complicated sets of instruments is to pack them. (I'm thinking about an incident which happened two days ago during my late shift. I won't elaborate.)

Anyway, that's basically where I am at the moment. Kind of frustrated with the new system (especially during last week, which was my very first for this summer), but still hanging in there.

Oh, and yes, grades are in. That is, all except for ONE - which is also a source of frustration for me these days. But seriously, if the exam paper states that the grades are to be published 2-3 weeks after the exam, it would be an idea to actually stick to the friggin' deadline!!! The exam I'm referring to took place on May 25th, i.e. it's already passed the deadline of 3 weeks. Can you believe it? I certainly hope our teacher hasn't left for her summer vacation without correcting our exams!!!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Anyway, besides these sources of ever-so-slight irritation I'm happy to be home. I must admit it felt kinda weird to see my home town again. I had the same feeling as when me and my parents see "our" old house in Lyngdal. Like this was my home, but now it... sort of... isn't. The difference is of course that my parent's house is still my home. This chronically manure-infested area is in fact my home and will be so in saecula saeculorum ("forever and ever"); more so than Lyngdal. Despite the sometimes aggravating small-town mentality this windy little coastal patch will always be where I'll find my roots.

*getting all sentimental* Enough now... ;-)

Happy vibes to the world,
Elise

Aaaand we're done! :-D

Two days ago I finished my first year here at U. of Oslo. My final exam was in Spanish, and dare I say one of the better ones. I just hope I'll get reasonably good grades for this as well as the rest of my exams... Anyway, enough school talk for now. I'm done with this year, and all I'm going to do now is to chill out and work. Conflicting concepts, yes, but those are my plans. As well as to catch up with people I haven't seen in ages. I can hardly wait to see them again!

Yesterday, however, was the day wherein me and my friends ended the semester with a bang. Sort of. If not a bang it was at least a crack or a thud. Afternoon and evening with pizza, salad, looots of fruit, cookies (mmm...), candy, chips and dip - not to mention Farris with ice cubes, lime juice and sugar... Yummy!!! And last but not least, GREAT company! (Man, I should have brought my camera... Ah well...)

Ugh. And now it's raining. There have been a few real big gusts of wind as well. Reminds me of hooome... *sigh* It won't be long now. Heading home on Wednesday after a quick trip to Bergen, and then work the week after.

Hm. Not that much to say at the moment, really. Just felt a little bit bored, so I thought I'd put some nonsensical smalltalk in here. (Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla...) Anyway. Dinner.

*bounces off to kitchen to create yet another culinary treat worthy of the Cordon Bleu* (Riiight.)

Fluffy pink elephants, marshmallows and tar,
Elise

Tweety's song!!!

Taken from the Looney Tunes cartoon "Puddy Tat Trouble" (1951):

I'm a tweet wittle bird in a gilded cage;
Tweety's my name but I don't my age.
I don't have to wowwy and dat is dat;
I'm safe in here from dat old puddy tat.

Haha! XD Now for the vid... :-S

And for the record, I was never here. I was busy reading for my exam in 2 days. And I still am.

We shall overcome. Unless that mean ol' puddy tat screws things up.

Positive vibes, peace, love and harmony,
Elise

*whimper*

This is it, guys... In about 14 hours we'll be taking our exphil exam!

Wishing you all the very best of luck!!! We can do this, people!!! :-D

Four-leaf clovers and horse shoes to all,

Elise

"Blog": (Def.) My little vent...

A little less than 2 more weeks until my first exam this semester. Excuse me while I scream:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!!!"

*running around room and screaming like a maniac*

There. A little better. Not much, but a little.

But on a more serious note, I think this is one of those exams that will turn out alright. At least that's what I'm hoping for. You can never be too sure, you know - even though it is only multiple choice.

What I'm most worried about is Brit. Lit. We've only had one essay hand-in, you see. In my opinion this is not a good enough foundation to actually write a seemingly sensible essay. The fact that we haven't really had enough time to run through each of the texts on our syllabus more meticulously is also worrying me a bit. All we did was sort of whizz through each of them; barely taking into account the main themes of each text, some recurring images and - if we're lucky - the use of diction, etc. To me this is not enough, and it is so extremely frustrating! I don't feel prepared to take that exam at all! I'm not even sure if I'll feel prepared the days before that exam, even.

Yes, the Brit. Lit. exam's still some time ahead. But it still worries me.

Another thing that's currently my pet peeve is how the exams are spread out throughout this month. We aren't even done with all of our classes before our first exam starts! Now that is annoying!!! SERIOUSLY! I prefer to know we're over and done with all of our classes before our exams start; you know just concentrate on one thing at a time. This was the arrangement we had last semester and that was an arrangement that I liked. So, UiO - puh-leeeeaze do NOT start experimenting on new schedules (like what the gov't has a tendency to do for elementary and junior high)!!!

I'm sorry, I just had to let out some steam. There's nothing I can do about this situation. There's no use complaining, really. All you have to do is just to make the most of it. Stop whining, suck it in and make the most of it. (Although sometimes it helps to whine a little, as in this case.)

Enough already. I'll shut up now and go to bed.

Argh,
Elise