Being a packrat pays off!

Will be in London for three days. It will be my first solo trip not counting trips to or within Sweden or The Philippines.

Needed a somewhat formal shoulder bag and none of my usual bags would work, but I unearthed this in one of my many storage boxes.

Mid-December to mid-January was an anxious time for me with my fate for the spring semester hanging in the balance. I was pretty sure that things would work out, but the lingering doubt was draining nonetheless and I'm hoping this little trip will give me a much needed energy boost.

Have seen shoes hanging at various places before

...but not a bra on a tree...until yesterday, that is.

Spotted at a local bookstore

The last name caught my attention and the back cover confirmed that the author is Filipino. Don't think I've ever seen a book by a Filipino author translated to Swedish before.

Merry Christmas!

After I placed the gifts under the tree, The Big Niece informed me that she could do it "righter" and then proceeded to rearrange the presents. :p

Christmas shopping done

Now eating at IKEA's Christmas buffet before heading home.

Where the wild things are

When the SIL heard I was going to a Christmas market, she asked me to buy reindeer sausage. I didn't actually make it to the Christmas market in Gamla Stan (Old City), but there were some stalls at Centralstationen. I ended up buying one of each of the specialty sausages, namely bear, deer, moose, reindeer and wild boar.

Where's the pizza?

Ordered a ribs & wings platter at Pizza Hut. I dislike it when cole slaw is the default side dish, but I actually liked their version.

Mumsy, is that you?

Commuter cards with a photo of the crown princess and her prince were released around the time of the royal wedding last year. They supposedly sold out quickly, but I somehow got this when I purchased a new card at KS Solna a few weeks ago.

As The Big Niece and I waited at a dimly lit bus stop on Saturday evening, I showed her the card and figured we were going to talk princesses since she's at that age. Instead, she cut me off and declared "That's just Farmor!"

[Farmor means father's/paternal grandmother.]

Look C!

This is what happens when you enlarge the photo and increase the contrast...

Do you believe me now? :p

After the OSCE storm

We took the test in batches of 6, but to safeguard against cheating, we all had to come in at 0800 and then remain in the classroom until we were done. They supplied us with sandwiches and beverages in the meantime.

My start time was 1030, but got pushed back to 1045. I slept last night and didn't get much studying in, but I managed to skim through the examinations, interpretations and procedures sections of the OSCE book while waiting. At some point, I looked out the window and spotted a helicopter hovering for quite a while (yes, that's the speck encircled in the photo).

At the start of the OSCE, I was really terrified, but I got calmer with each station. May have been too calm by the 6th and last station actually.

Thought "Oh, crap!" the two times I entered a room/station to find that the examiner would be one of our regular teachers. Most lecturers pop into our lives for one or two lectures. The regulars, on the other hand, know your name and the course objectives. I really didn't want to make a fool of myself, but I need not have worried as they were quite supportive.

Anyway, I thought you would be done for the moment you gave a wrong answer, but that wasn't the case and it turned out to be a valuable learning experience. Had also expected it to be procedure-heavy and had been stressing out about that, but all the stations involved diagnosis and treatment recommendations instead.

After we were done, we received a cinnamon roll and a hot beverage.

A few hours later, I received an e-mail from the course secretary informing me that I'd passed. I'm so relieved to have that behind me and so grateful for the people that believe in me especially when I struggle with believing in myself.