Spoke to Mom

I spoke to my mom yesterday. I pointed out that I was only getting 4 dollars a day for food under the current budget... and that was only if I managed to avoid spending money on much of anything else. I was going to suggest getting an extra 50 dollars a month, but before I could she suggested 100. That means I get 300 a month! AND I'm going to keep all the money I made for this pay period. Next month she'll transfer 300 to my account, the month after that we're going to see if I can put 100 or 150 towards it.

This means now that anything over 150 I'm going to keep. I need that extra 50 more and paying half of the money my mom gives me is pretty reasonable. I think so at least. I'm sure my mom will agree. I do need to remember to phone her Friday and say happy birthday! I'd send her a card but it somehow doesn't seem right to do for mom. I'll get her a bday present and give it to her late. Maybe when she comes and visits.

Just wanted to start the day off with some happy news. Time to go get breakfast!

Morning Happiness

This morning I was bad and skipped a class. This means I get to sit home until 2! I've done absolutely nothing of importance. I spoke to David for 2 hours. Updated my journal, typed up an email, chatted with friends, and generally just surfed the web. I tried to study, then I decided I didn't have anything that important to do that I couldn't take a morning off just to myself.

No studying! No cleaning! No doing anything! I just ate some eggos and have been sitting here being a bum. It's nice to do this. I miss having weekends where I could have breaks. This evening after my anthro lab I'm going to make a trip to the store. I need a broom and a toilet brush and maybe some cleaning rags. I think this means a trip to walmart. Although I hate going there in the evenings because the roads are so crowded. I might just go to Walgreens and buy stuff there instead. It'll be more expensive, but it's so much closer. If I have energy tonight I'm going to clean. I'm tired of the mess this place is in.

The annoying thing about being a student, I always feel guilty when I take free time. I know there is always something else I should be doing or studying. Like I have a research paper coming up soon... which is going to mean hours in the library. I haven't even chosen a topic yet. Oh well. My morning off is nice and enjoyable. In class today I should recalculate out how much money I'll get if I can keep everything after 150 instead of 200. That's going to be at least 200 more I think! Weee! I've also started one of those little fillin things on the back of my notebook. Each month I'm going to mark down how much I've earned. Goal is 10k USD, but not going to get there. Just going to try to get close.

Happy. :)

Swedish Attempt!

I actually wrote a nice letter to David in class today. I'll type that up and email it to him tonight I think. Perhaps after dinner. But meanwhile I'm going to try to write a short paragraph in Swedish.

Nu sittar jag här och skrivar på Svenska. Jag vet inte vad jag vill skriva så jag bara skriver vad jag tänker. Jag kan mycket mer Svenska nu än ett år sen. Jag förstår mer. Jag förstår nästan allt vad jag läsa i tidningen varje morgon. Jag förstår mindre vad jag höra men jag träinar. Jag lyssnar på Svensk Radio varje kväll.

Jag prova att skriva lite på Svenska i skolan när jag inte vill lyssna til mina professorna. Idag har jag skrivit en hel sid till David. Ikväll ska jag skicka den till honom. Jag försöker att prata lite Svenska med David också. Jag förstör honom bättre än Jonas. Jonas är svårt att förstör för att han använda ordar som jag inte vet.

Jag har inte mycket tid att lära mig Svenska. Jag jobba 10-30 timmar i veckan. Jag är på universitetet 23 timmar i veckan också. Inte alls i klassar, men jag är där. Jag måste också studera när jag har ett prov. Jag behöver mer timmar varje dag!

Där! Nu har jag skrivit lite på Svenska. Nu kan jag äta middag.

Depressed, but trying to be happy.

Well... I didn't stay in budget this month. :(

Means that's LESS month towards my move. I think I figured out some of why I've had such trouble. I get 200 a month. 60 goes towards bills. That leaves me with 140. 20 of that goes towards other things. (that 40 dollar jacket, the 7 dollar light bulb, toothpaste, shampoo, gas). That leaves me 120 for food. That's just 4 dollars a day. I don't know what I can eat for just 4 dollars a day! I could give up meat and veggies and my chocolate milk. I guess that would save me money. But that wouldn't be living, that'd just be existing. I don't think I could handle that. I already am going to be going a whole month before I get a single full day off from work+school. ICK!

I think the only solution is to ask my mom for more money and/or see if she'll let me keep more of the money that I earn. I think I might also not let her know how much I"m getting back from my trips when they pay me for miles. I did get a check for 176 dollars today. I'll put it in on Thursday. My paycheck I won't get until several days into next month. Maybe by the 6th if I'm lucky.

I'm trying to think of more happy things to write here. I replaced the lightbulb in my room all by myself. And I fixed it on the SAME day that it went out! A first for me! The lightbulb was a special one though, cost me 7 dollars to buy. ICK! I'm losing the happiness. Oh! I know! Tomorrow I can sleep in until /10/! My first class has been cancelled and I had an hour break after that, so I don't have class starting until 11! Weee! Another happy thing is that I got my Poverty exam back and I scored a 96%. One of the highest in the class.

I'll talk to my mom tonight and point out my per day food budget and see what she thinks. I'll also try to write something up in Swedish tonight. Maybe I'll show that to Peter, he'd like to see my Swedish attempts I think.

Newest Math

Pretty chart!

Month-----Pay before taxes---Mom Gets---I keep
Sept------$376-----------------$188---------$188
Oct--------$448----------------$200---------$248
Nov-------$264-----------------$132---------$132
Dec-------$216-----------------$108---------$108
Jan-------$176-----------------$88----------$88
Feb-------$480-----------------$200---------$280
Mar-------$424-----------------$200---------$224
April------$480-----------------$200---------$280
May-------$480-----------------$200---------$280

This isn't set in stone. This is before taxes, I'm going to split the money I get after taxes. This also doesn't include checks I get that pay me back for money spent. I'm keeping all of those, even the gas money. MINE. Since we now get paid for hours I don't feel like I should split it. I'll talk to Rich about it though. Hopefully I get lots of extra work, the more the better!

All this work wears me out, but it's ok. Next year will hopefully be worth it.

Happy!

Anyways! Happy! So is good! today has been a happy day in general. The exam wasn't very difficult, I got to talk to david lots, I got to speak to Jonas even more (and he's always interesting and fun to talk to). I actually went to aerobics. I made dinner. I made a yummy lunch. I just finished my shower... how could life get better? (besides studying tonight so I can be appropriately confused in class tomorrow)

Oh, and the book I ordered has arrived at the library... 201 swedish verbs, here I come! A new thing the library has is to let me order books from the CSU AND the UC system. The UC system has schools that actually teach Swedish! So I can get books! I should get someone to help me choose a few out once I'm done with this current book. I'll pick up the book tomorrow and maybe take it 'fishing' with me this weekend.

HAPPY!

Flight Tickets for Sweden Summer!

A nice friend suggested that I go with an open ended ticket when I go to Sweden. I think that's a great idea! When I magically find time, I'll price them. Might be a bit expensive, but it will be worth it for the flexibility. If I don't want to go home at christmas 2006, I can save the return ticket for another time. Or use it to go home and visit and then go back again afterwards! Plus if I'm working this will let me set it up around it. Weee!

It was a short note, but was something that I wanted to make a note of.

After Exam Tuesday!

I've now worked 10 hours! That's 80 dollars before taxes! I get to pick up my paychecks on the 16th and the last day of each month. It will be nice to see how much money I'll earn this month. The check for money that I spent on the trip will probably be in by Friday. That will be something like 100-150 dollars into my account. Yes! (ok, so it just replaces money that I spent anyways). Each little step forward is a step in the right direction!

Right now though I'm below 5,000 in my bank account. This is because I bought my tickets to Sweden this Christmas. The money for those was supposed to come out of next semester's 1500. So I guess I still have the money, it's just a bit different.

On another note. I finished an exam today. One more exam this week on Thursday. Hopefully I'll soon find time to start studying Swedish again. Maybe tonight I'll create some flash cards of verbs. I have Jonas checking my verb list for errors. If I put those onto cards then that'll give me something to study and work on. My verb knowledge is horrible!

New Plan!

If I talk my bf and friends into not visiting me until the second part of summer... then I can continue to work through the first part. This will give me more money for my Sweden move! And possibly for entertainment as well!

If they don't come visit me until mid July or so, I'll be able to work through the end of May, through June, and possibly partway though July! That'd be a LOT of nice extra money towards living expenses. I'd still be a parttime worker. Probably couldn't work more than 20 hours a week or so. I also lose my apartment at the end of July (theoretically). I agreed to stay on the lease for one year. After that my roommate gets to find a replacement for me. If I leave before then, I find a replacement.

More money making opportunities! Weee!

Back from my first weekend of field research

Well, I spent Saturday working. It wasn't very productive for them to have us there surveying. Between the two of us we took in 20 surveys total in 8 hours each. But they will pay us!

I worked an hour Thursday, two half hours on Friday, and 8 hours on saturday. That's 10 hours or $80 before taxes. Not too bad! Also I get paid for the miles driving. 375 miles (600km) at 41.6 cents a mile. If I don't have the numbers wrong that will be $156. I spent 45 on gas for the trip. Not too bad of a profit. To be fair though I'm going to divide the amount I get by 3. One share to gas, one to me, and one to the guy who drove my car. Otherwise we don't get any pay for the time spent travelling.

That gives me 132 dollars for the weekend after taking out gas and the money I'm going to give to my coworker as his share. That means my half of this is $66! Weee! That's 500 SEK at the current 7.6 exchange rate! It's not great, but not that bad either. Every little bit helps afterall!

On a side note I didn't get any Swedish practice in this weekend, there were too many distractions. (squirrels, pine needles, trees)

Swedish Learning

I finally finished reading "Pelle Swanslös" last night. It took me about 3 nights worth of work, but I finished it. I've also started listening to webradio P1 again. It gets me more used to hearing the Swedish. Even if I don't try to listen, it's nice to just be used to the sound of the words. Every little bit helps!

I've been trying to think of other ways to improve my swedish... So far I have this list.
Talk to my boyfriend on skype
Type on icq to him to improve my writing
Listen to webradio
Try and read Aftonbladet a bit everyday
Occasionally try to make sense of DN
Review my notes from Swedish classes last year
Try and write a somewhat long email to my bf once a week in Swedish

These things don't take up so much time each, but the little things should add up nicely. If I work hard enough I'll hopefully be able to get through SFI without spending too much time. Time spent in SFI classes is NOT spent with my bf or working or trying to find a job. Not so good!

I'll bring my dictionary to the lake this weekend and hopefully between studying and asking fishermen silly questions I'll have time to sit down and write out a nice long email. I'll bring my laptop too so that I can type some stuff up. If I do type something up in Swedish that is appropriate for all audiences, I'll post it here as well. This will make a nice record of how I'm doing I hope! I probably won't stick with it that well, but starting out motivated is always good!

Weekend Away

There won't be many posts this weekend since I'll be gone. I should have LOTS of spare time to think about more Sweden things. I should spend that time studying for one of my three Economics exams, perhaps all three of them. I feel this constant urge to plan for this trip. If I stop planning I won't know what to do. The planning constantly makes me feel like the move is not so far away. Makes me happier. It's something silly, but it works. I wonder if anyone else did this planning WAY in advance as well?

Weee!

I just found out that the amount I'll get paid per hour is /8/ dollars! Not 7! This means that if I work 20 hours a week next semester and do some occasional weekend work and stuff... I should be able to earn 2000 USD easy! Weee! that is after giving my mom 1200 USD. This means I should have at least 7000 USD for sweden next year instead of the 6500 I was trying to scrape together! Life just gets better and better!

I also earned 8 dollars today... apparently the meeting I sat through since it was for this project gives me one hour worth of paid time! Wee! Hopefully there is LOTS more of this paid time in the near future!

What I was going to Write about...

I was going to write about all the cool things I learned in class today, but I"m too tired. I learned lots of things about the economics of pollution, how race doesn't exist genetically, and some boring stuff about the US constitution. I think most people don't care. Although the teacher thought my add in remark during the lecture explained the concept... "So this is like paying the mob not to kill your family and considering yourself and society better off?" ehehehehe Ok. Will write more tonight if I have time and energy with all the studying I should be doing. I now have /3/ economics midterms next week. Maybe I can magically fix my own economy so that it has money?

Tired!

I'm just /so/ tired. Too tired to post the results of my calculations. Basically I just need more money. I thought about selling my car, but then I remembered I don't own it. *laugh* But I will be working this weekend. That'll bring in about 100 USD if I work 2 shifts at 8 hours each. I'll get to keep 50 of that. 50 USD towards my goal is pretty impressive! Every penny counts right now.

I wonder if I can live off of just 150 USD a month instead of 200... If the extra 50 is mine then I can probably just take out 100 in cash, pay my bills with the rest, and then when the money runs out during the month... no more stuff! Might be an interesting experiment. I hate having that much cash on me, so I could always hide the extra in my room. It'd make life easier for keeping track of money. I know my mom pays for everything in cash to keep track better. I'll try that at the end of September. Meanwhile I'll try to NOT get any more cash this month and just spend what I have.

Calculations in Class

Right now I'm spending my class time (productively not listening to the teacher) calculating out how much money I'd have per month with lots of different variables. Testing it with 6500, 7000, 7500, and 8000 dollars to start with. Checking each of those with 7.0, 7.2, 7.4, 7.6, 7.8, and 8.0 SEK per dollar exchange rate. Then checking each of those with 5 months, 6 months, and 7 months before christmas. (that's if I leave for Sweden in June, July or August.) Then I'm testing 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9, 10, 11, and 12 months assuming I come back after christmas. Before Christmas calculations involve taking my starting cash in USD multiplying it by the exchange rate... then subtracting 11,500 (4000 for swedish classes, 7500 for plane ticket). I then divide that number by the number of months. For after christmas it is almost the same, but I subtract 19000 rather than 11500 from my starting amount before dividing by the number of months. That's to add in another ticket back to Sweden after Christmas. I've spent one class period working on it already. I'll work on it more during my econ class this afternoon.

Hopefully by this evening I'll know how long I can stay in Sweden at which exchange rates with how much starting cash. I can probably survive at an absolute minimum of 4000 SEK a month. Because I can get about 1000 SEK extra working at the nations. Of course all calculations assume that I have not gotten a real job. I've estimated high on plane tickets as well.

That was a lot of math I know, but see... I have too much time in class when I'm not paying attention to the teacher. If I stop doing something with my mind during the time I'll fall asleep and then I'll learn even less of what the teacher says... Not good!

Residence Permit Question

I found some information today that helped answer my residence permit question.

Migrationsverket

It seems quite official and is up to date as of May of 2004. I'll check around later when I need a break from schoolwork if it's the most updated version.

Basically it says that as an EU citizen applying for a reason of family ties I must apply under the Aliens Act. Once I arrive in Sweden I can apply. I don't have to apply before hand and have all the restrictions on visiting. The board must decide if my relationship is serious or not.

There is also talk about regulations changing soon so that they cannot deny EU citizens the right to live in another country.

Today

Today I got around to mentioning to my mother how I plan to spend my next year. I told her I was saving up money so I wouldn't need her to help me pay rent or anything for once. She actually liked my ideas! She told me my plans were 'good plans.' If she likes my plans she can help convince my dad. I even mentioned that I'd be taking a year off to work a bit since school was driving me crazy. She liked the idea as long as I promise to graduate. I reminded her I'll graduate BEFORE I leave. I think she meant my masters degree, but still.

Another thing I've gotten her to agree with me on is that I get to keep half of any money I earn during the next year OR any amount over 200. Basically my mom pays my rent, books, tuition and gives me 200 in cash a month to buy food, pay bills and whatever else I need money for. I'm not really 'giving' her money. I'm decreasing the amount a month she gives me. Once I'm just on my own money I can save some too. Right now if I don't spend it, I lose it. I'm under direct orders to NOT starve myself so I can afford Sweden trips. Not on her money anyways. I can start doing this once it's my money. If I can live off of less than 200 bucks a month, the extra I can pocket.

Another thing, I'll probably be working this coming weekend, I'm frantically trying to get all my studying done so I won't be pressed for time. This should bring in some income. It'll be the 7 bucks an hour (barely over min wage) but hey! money is money! Every penny I can save is another penny towards my future plans. I should go get one of those ticker things and keep track of how close to my goal I am.

The other thing I accomplished will have to be in part 2 of this entry. These things get WAY too long otherwise.

Things to Bring To Sweden

I'll hopefully keep updating this when I think of new things.

*Things to Leave in Sweden in January
Winter clothes
Alcohol (presents)
Dress shoes?
bathrobe?
BOOKS!
medicine kit (if the stuff won't expire)
alfredo sauce
dip mix
Christmas Presents
David, Peter, David's brother, David's parents, Jonas
Little things for David's friends.


Remember!
*Photo Albums
*Camera
*Laptop

Days until Sweden!

I have 109 days or 3 months and 18 days until I leave for Sweden! Somehow that seems like SO much less than the 6 months I mentally calculated or the 4 months when I actually counted.

Check this out!

A nice link for me to check on constantly for updates on how little time I have until I get to be with my bf again!

Residence Question to Solve

Tomorrow I'll send an email to the consolate in San Fran and ask them about how to apply to live in Sweden. I need to find out if I should apply using my US or my Irish citizenship. I need to figure out which is in my best interest, which is easier, etc. They know everything there. They've been so nice to me in the past. I've never lived in Ireland, or even visited there. I wonder if that will prevent me from applying.

Being an Irish citizen I might have automatic insurance coverage, that would be just wonderful. I'd also probably not have to apply BEFORE I leave for Sweden, but rather once I get there. If I apply as US citizen I'd have to go to San Fran for an interview, I couldn't visit Sweden while waiting to hear back, etc. Sounds really complicated. Irish sounds easier if I can make it work. I'll post a reply tomorrow with the results of my email if I remember to send it.

The Dreamings of a Silly Girl

This entry here is mostly going to be what I picture my life as in the near future. It's silly but here goes!

From now until Christmas I'm going to study and if I can get some odd jobs for extra money, I'll take them as time permits.

After Christmas I'm going to Sweden for 3 weeks. I'm already starting to plan all the things I'd like to bring and then leave there. It'll mean less stuff to move when I actually do move over there. Bf has storage even though his apartment isn't that big. During this time going to visit his parents for new years (probably party with his friends). Going to also get to know his roommate better. Hopefully she'd consider keeping the apartment with him and just letting me pay a third of the rent to share his room.

After that trip I'll be working a hopefully paying job for as many hours a week as time permits. I'll have the job title 'research assistent' which would be a quite nice qualification to have on my resume. That's why I am sticking with this internship. I'm learning a LOT of useful skills. Hopefully they'll get me a job in Sweden. I'll save up as much money as is humanly possible. I'll also apply for my residence permit as soon as I leave Sweden. I have to make a choice about that... apply as an EU citizen once I arrive in Sweden (probably easier), or apply as a US citizen before I leave for Sweden. Lots of pros and cons there... probably worth another entry at a later date.

Beginning of June or late May I might go to Sweden. Unless bf and his friend want to come visit me here. Then I might go over there later.

Once I get to Sweden I'll try to apply for university courses. I don't know if I can because it'll mean I won't be earning much money, but I'd like to. I'd rather be in a master's program, but I have to apply for that in February at the latest for the following year... degree in hand. Can't be working on it. So I'll have a year off between degrees.

I'll have tickets home at christmas time. If I can't survive in Sweden I'll have to give it up. Hopefully I'll have had enough luck that I can buy a ticket back to Sweden and be able to live there on a permenant basis.

I'd like to enroll in Swedish classes through the university for migrants. Once I've lived in Sweden for awhile I should qualify. Perhaps by doing that I can get some government money towards school costs. They'd be loans I'd have to pay back... but it'd be something. With loans like those I could actually survive for a much longer period of time.

In the summer or spring I'd like to go home for a few weeks to see my family and maybe bring more stuff back to Sweden with me if all is going well. In the fall 2007 I'd like to start a master's program.

I wish myself luck!

Earning Money!

Well... next semester I'll have 1500 USD coming in... most of that will go towards my trip to Sweden after Christmas. Going there for 3 weeks to visit the bf and his family and my friends there. I got a good deal on the tickets which I bought yesterday. Leaving the 29th of December, returning the 19th of January. I love having a 5 week Christmas break! Tickets were 800 USD. That leaves me 700 USD to spend there or save. Hopefully I won't spend that much, but I'll spend at least 150 on visiting his parents and other transport costs with the airport. Anything I save can go into my saving for Sweden account.

I'll also have a job for probably 15-20 hours a week next semester. If I work for 15 weeks, 20 hours a week, at the minimum wage of 7 dollars an hour (assuming I don't get a raise, and assuming that my internship hires me on) I'll have 2,100 USD total for the semester before taxes.

That'd be REALLY nice. Right now I'm not allowed to save the monthly money I get. No skimping on food for Sweden were my exact orders. Feb, Mar, April, May... 800 from that 2100 leaves me with 1300 before taxes. So I can assume I'll earn 1000 USD next semester... that won't be enough even with my savings to get me through until Christmas.

I might end up not moving to Sweden until the end of the summer, and work at the internship for 20 hours a week as long as I have my apartment. The sad thing is I think I would save more money by moving back home and NOT having a job than having to continue paying rent here...

I don't want to take money from my parents for living abroad, especially since I probably won't be attending school for the first year there, but that is another post.

I'm not really sure how I can manage this, but all I can do is try my hardest to hopefully make ends meet!

More on Finances

I originally wanted to save up enough money so that I could live in Sweden for a year, assuming no employment. I just don't know how the heck I could ever save up that much money!

I figure I need at least 5000 SEK a month. 3000SEK for my share of rent and rent based bills (water, electricity, internet, etc). 2000 of that would be for food and other requirements like transportation. I'd need a start up base of about 7500 SEK for the airfare over there. I can probably get it cheaper, but better safe than sorry. I also want to have 2000 SEK saved up for each swedish class I want to take at the folkuniversitietet.

Summary:
Startup Costs
7500 Round trip plane ticket
4000 Two swedish classes
Ongoing costs
5000 month for food+rent

For a year that'd cost me 71,500 SEK... or pretty close to 10,000 USD. There's no way I can get that. I'm a student... I have an internship, but it won't start paying until next semester. I can't drive myself crazy by working another job on top of school. I need to actually pass my classes! I have 5000 in savings... I doubt I could get another 5000 saved in the next year.

My current plan therefore is to get 6500 USD saved up. that'll get me a roundtrip ticket leaving in June, coming back to the states in time for christmas, two swedish classes, and 7 months living expenses. If I can't keep myself alive there without resorting to begging friends for food I'll go back to the states. That means I don't have quite as much money to save up. If I pass this goal, I'll be doing better!

This budget isn't going to leave me with any fun money. I won't be able to go out to the nations very often for instance. VERY little alcohol either. No trips, no shopping sprees, very few fancy foods. It'll be a bit of a plain existence, but I'll get to spend time with my boyfriend again, so it is worth it. If I can't stand it, I come home again.

Finances

This is my biggest worry. How the heck will I manage to support myself once I'm over there! I can't rely on the boyfriend to support me, he's a student. I'd feel guilty forcing him to pay my way for anything. My Swedish isn't very good, so I don't know if I can get a work. Who would hire someone like me when there are lots of perfectly good swedes out there!

My ideas for jobs include...
*Working at the student nations again... they pay only like 20-30 SEK an hour, but it includes free food and is often night work. I can get some extra money this way.
*I could always see if I can get a babysitting job. Someone has to be interested in having an English speaking babysitter for their kid.
*Tutoring in English. Kid is failing? Maybe I can help... for a fee?

I can also do volunteer work in schools to help teachers with English lessons or something. That way maybe I can meet more kids and perhaps some parent will hire me out of pity? Or feed me at least! *laugh*

I had a job working with a 4 year old last year. She lived in the US with her family and had a pretty good command of English, they wanted her to keep it up. It paid pretty well. 100SEK for an hour and a half. With occasional perks of food and extra bits of cash. It was just once a week, but that money was always helpful.

I can also put up flyers around town advertising the fact that I'd like to help tutor in English. I don't have any degrees with teaching english as a second language, but I could always try to get TEFL certified or something.

I'll plot out my living expense estimations in the next entry. I'm trying to keep these things from getting too long!

Out of complete insanity, I decided I needed a place to post whatever plans I have with moving to Sweden. At least this way they'll all be in one place rather than scattered all over. My current system of writing out plans during class and then trying to remember which notebook things are located in is not working! Plus it gives me a place to vent what I'm thinking and planning without driving my friends any more nuts with my constantly updating plans.

I will just add a bit about who I am. I'm a 21 year old American/Irish person. I've lived in the US most of my life, except for the study abroad trips. I've never actually been to Ireland, but I have a nice passport that I think will be useful some day. I'm currently a senior in university. My major is international relations with a minor in economics. I'll graduate in May.

I'm currently planning to move to Sweden in the Summer. I have no idea how I'm going to go about doing this or anything, but I'm working on it. Keeps me sane to work towards this and makes me not miss my boyfriend so much. I would have the horrible luck to end up with a Swedish boyfriend while studying there. And falling in love with a country not my own is horrible! I just need to go back!

I have lots of concerns and issues to work out. I'll post a few more entries this evening (while NOT studying) to get myself caught up with what I've planned so far.