Oh The Places You'll Go: Cleaning Up Messes and Celebrity Sightings!

This week, oh this week!

This past week has been a good one! Getting work done on my project, almost to the halfway point! It's coming along but it would be much better if it was done.

I think in my four years of college I have found some pretty unique ways of procrastinating, especially on papers or projects! These things have included arts and crafts projects, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning out my car, and then the occasional FB check and the likes. It's not that I don't want to work on these projects or papers, it's that I have no motivation. This week's lack of motivation lead me to clean and semi-rearrange my room, pack up things to send home, read a book that I'm not really into but am hoping that by reading it I will be, laundry, and cooking. This past week has made me realize something. The only thing harder than having your final grade resting on said paper or project is not having any grade to worry about. One of the cool things about me being able to study abroad is that I do not need any of the credits I am taking here. It's always fun to explain that to people. Conversations usually go at follow:

Random Person (RP): So where are you from?
Me: North Dakota/Minnesota in the United States.
RP: Oh cool, so what are you studying?
Me: Here or there?
RP: Umm, both?
Me: Here, I am in the Intercultural Studies program. And back home I am a Communications major with an emphasis in Cross-Cultural. I actually graduate from my home university/college in May.
RP: Oh, so why are you here?

End Scene

The past few weeks I have been trying to answer that very question. And about several others like: Why am I here? Why would I choose to study abroad for my very last semester of college? How could I leave my friends behind as I run away to Denmark? Why would I voluntarily choose not to walk across the stage at my college graduation?

Now don't get me wrong, I have loved almost every minute I have been here. But those questions are important to me. Why am I here? I wanted to experience a new culture, what good is a Cross-Cultural degree if I never submerge myself in another culture? Why would I choose my very last semester of college to do this? It was the only semester that worked for me. But I think the important question is why would I leave my friends behind? I have no idea. But I am so thankful that there are things like snail mail, email, FB, and skype.

Recently though, there have been a few things that have made me second guess my decision to study abroad. Numero Uno: GRADUATION! I have received dozens of emails about graduation from JC and have seen so many Facebook statues: the countdown is on! Numero Dos: Jobs. If you think applying for a full time job in the US is hard, try it from another country! My favorites are seeing a potential job that I'm interested and as I read more into it I see "must be able to start June ___th". Having a semester that goes until June 28th is a little hard to work around. Numero Tres: Motivation. Nothing is harder than working on a project for a grade that will not appear on one's official transcript. The lack of motivation is kind of scary. I mean, why am I stressing over a project that will not affect my transcript? I have no idea.

Such an exciting post, I'm sorry! Let me tell you what else I have been up to!

On Friday, I was a rockstar. No big deal or anything. It just happened. Just kidding (cue Matthieu making fun of me)! Our kollegium had a Rockstar Party on Friday! It was so much fun! The sheer amount of make-up on my face and hairspray in my hair was ridiculous, but it added to the costume! It reminded me of game days, spending way too much time in front of the mirror attempting to get my false eyelashes to stay and perfecting my make-up; we won't even talking about attempting to curl my hair. But back to the party! We had quite a few celebrities at the party: T. Swift, J. Biebs, Miley Cyrus, Elvis (apparently he came back to life) and Madonna to name a few! The other's reps didn't want word out so.. sorry! Check out the pictures at the end!

Sunday was AIK cleaning Day! To keep the cost of rent down and to promote bonding, the residence of the kollegium work together to clean the inside and outside of the kollegium! The reward: pizza. Surprisingly, it's much more fun than it sounds!

I was lucky enough to get grouped with a few Frenchmen and a Dane. Go me! It was a lot of fun. Especially when my group stopped working so they could take photos of me cleaning and make remarks like "clean woman!" Needless to say, I felt loved by my group members! It was glorious! I did try to take the position of 'supervising' my group as they worked, but they turned their backs against me. I got sent to the kitchen where I got the privilege of cleaning one of the ovens. Exciting stuff! So I feel after Sunday I should put "comfortable cleaning and staying in the kitchen" to my resume! I probably will not, but I wonder if it will help my job search...?

But in all honestly, it's been a good week. Productive in the fact that I have a clean room and am almost halfway done with my project! But with the ups comes the downs, it's life. Hence the little rant at the beginning of this post. There are also other small things that can get a person down every now and then. Luckily though, I have some pretty awesome friends that, no matter what time of day it is here or there, will take time to listen to me. They listen to the good, the bad, and the stupid. I'm pretty lucky when it comes to my friends!

[People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou]

Suz

Photos:

T. Swift, Madonna, and I.

Some pretty cool rockstars!

I was lucky enough to get in a photo with Miley Cyrus, T. Swift, and Madonna!

The loving Frenchmen in my cleaning group.

Cleaning the oven. Yes, it's called skill!