The sun is shining. I skipped morning practice and class. I’m sick. Now I have to force myself to do “work”. At 2pm: interview with the CR’s, at 5 pm meeting at the New U. Then it’s time to celebrate Andrews birthday. (Oh, and then I have to complete the entire “Hazard of New Fortunes” by Howell. It’s like reading a 473 page long textbook, formated like a manuscript).
One post a day.
I feel like writing something poetic. About life, existence, love? But right now all that’s on my mind are midterms. My first one is tomorrow. The illusion of me living on a resort/spa just indulging in life is slowly drifting away. Today it’s raining. Pouring down. Rain makes me think of home, of my own bed, my own shower, my own real life. Sometimes I miss it, today I do. But just for a moment; soon the rain will stop. Tomorrow the midterms will have passed. I can once again get lost in the beauty of SoCal and literary non-fiction writing. For now life consists of anxiety and thunder and sleepless nights. Tomorrow I’m hoping for laughter, wine and sunshine.
By the way. If any one feels like learning about encountering and living in a culture totally different than your own, check out my moms blog. (In Swedish though). My mom just came back from Greenland and now she’s spending a year working at a hospital in Riyadh. She’s my greatest inspiration.
I know I should update more often. But I just can’t seem to find the time. Everything is still so intense that the days just fly by. Tomorrow marks the end of week one in school and I already have tons of homework. Mostly reading and writing, and I really feel that I am improving. But at the same time there’s triathlon, fencing, everyday workout, golf. And then, I want to discover Cali. Tomorrow afternoon we’re leaving for LA and Westwood. Spending two nights discovering Hollywood, the Hills, UCLA and watching college football. And on Monday it starts all over again.
I love it though. I love every morning I wake up, put on a dress, and take the shuttle or walk down to campus in the sunshine. I love finishing swim practice in an outdoor pool watching the red sun set. I love having a movie night with my 31 house mates. I love spending (almost) the entire night discussing life with my wonderful room mate. At this very moment though, I begin to wonder if I might just be dreaming. Could this actually be real? Is this my life? Yes. I love my life and my current reality. Sometime soon, it might be just right around the corner, things are going to change radically again. But for now, I’m going to enjoy every moment of utter bliss.
(This feels like a really tacky post, but hey, maybe that’s what happens when life feels just like pink bubblegum, strawberries, rainbows and sunshine. Without conflict there’s no story, just words. I’m floating on a cloud of smiley faces. This is life, or something just like it. – Don’t worry, I’ll probably be back soon.)
Before I moved here I was thinking about going greek. Here are the reason I didn’t.
1- It hit me that I really do not like hanging out with a bunch of girls.
2- Everyone else pledging would be a freshman, I am a senior. They are 18 I am 22.
3- I would go for the parties, but, they’re not allowed to drink.
4- Of course, they drink anyway, but who would like to spend time around a group of wasted 18 year old girls?
I decided that going geek and joining a bunch of other groups based on interest is going to suite me better. Hence the triathlon club and the fencing club. Tonight I am going to sit down with the “club-guide” and figure out what else suites me. Here are over 300 clubs on campus so there’s no doubt I’ll find something else to do outside of the greek system, were they from an outsiders perspective only seem to sing and play house and occasionally get wasted.
So. I am pretty proud right now. Look at my killah’ face playing dodgeball. As Anna so cleverly put it “for someone who went in not knowing how to play you sure look like a pro!” This is purely bragging. I don’t care. Check me out!
Time goes by so quickly. I’m barely keeping up. Welcome week is intense. Yesterday there was a UC spirit rally and we set a new Guinness world record for the most people ever playing dodgeboll – 1700 something people in one awesome game. Of course my team – the gold team – won. Check it out here.
Then today was the first day of class. So me and my housemate Anna (who’s also a Lit Journ major) made our way to introduction to Lit Journ and reporting Lit Journ. So far, so good. The classes are intimate and the syllabus seems really good. Until Tuesday I have some light reading to complete and then I have to interview a stranger. Seems simple enough. The only thing I am worried about is the language – my English might sound good. But my grammatic skills are poor. I’m not going to stress out about it though, as of right now, life feels pretty good and I plan to keep it that way.
Oh, and by the way. The work out facilities right were I live are wonderful, me and Helena (another Swedish exchange student) fell in love at first sight last night. So, I’m going to be spending a lot of time there I guess, the best part – it’s all free. And, another thing. I signed up for a triathlon team… haha. First practice is on Saturday 9 am. Nothing to help you loose a hangover like a morning run. Hopefully I’ll still be on the team on Sunday.
Jag är utsuddad. När de onda tekniktrollen på Expert bestämde sig för att formatera om min dator, även om jag blivit lovad att de inte skulle röra varken mjuk- eller hårdvara utan bara fixa fläktarna, så rensade de ut bland hela mitt digitala varande. Okej, var det första jag tänkte vid upptäckten. Jag har ju ändå min bärbara hårddisk. Min säkerhet. Min livlina som dyker upp en gång varannan vecka, eller när jag funnit eller producerat ny ovärderlig information. Jag kopplar i min hårddisk i lugn och ro, fortfarande lycklig av att solen faktiskt skiner idag. Chocken träffar mig som en lyckstolpe mellan ögonen. Hälften av allt är borta. Hälften. Halva min uppsats som jag skrev på. Hälften av alla ord och tankar jag knappat in under olika sinnestillstånd. Bostadskontraktet till min nya lägenhet i Irvine (som om någon konstig anledning bara finns i ett elektroniskt exemplar på hela internet och absolut inte går att få tag på nytt). Jag vet inte hur, när eller var. Informationen har slukats upp av ett tomt svart hål. Å. Jag är så ledsen att jag inte vet om jag ska bryta ut i gråt eller skratta. Expert och iomegas bärbara hårddisk har digitalt tagit livet av mig.
Irina Bernebring Journiette 
