Hello, blog!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've mostly been revising for my exams and doing my level best to ward off whatever illness has stricken me this time around. Right now I'm operating under the assumption that this is just the usual End Of Semester Sludge that invariably gets me down, and doesn't appear to care one way or another which country I'm in--I'm a stress-related illness magnet. Everyone's got a talent, right?

The 17th of May came and went, and was plenty of good fun for everyone involved, even if I did have a splitting headache most of the day and was too short to get many decent shots of the parade or its participants. (I do have a very shiny, very small photo of the Royal Family, though! Not bothering to upload it because it's not that impressive.) We started the day with breakfast on campus and ended it seeing a free concert near the harbor... where I apparently ended up in the pølse queue behind Alexander Rybek of EuroVision fame. Don't ask me any questions about him, I really couldn't tell you anything useful since I'm no EuroVision fanatic--but he did perform later in the evening, and his violin skills were pretty extraordinary.

If the tone of my writing seems a little off today, that's because my mood is rather off, too. I think the closer it gets to time for my departure, the more I am taking strides to distance myself emotionally from the inevitable pain I'll experience from leaving. There are plenty of reasons for me not to do this: Being in a grumpy mood is, unfortunately, contagious. I've still got lots of adventures left to embark on before I leave, including Vonnie's visit and possibly Ben's, and a trip to Bergen with both Mike and Tim. But I know that when I see them off to the airport and have to say goodbye, that will be my last goodbye to either of them for quite some time. It's hard not to be sad in the face of that, and I'd probably do this blog a disservice if I didn't write a little bit about those feelings.

I have both my Nordic languages and Norwegian language exams next week, so I should probably get back to studying for another hour or so. Tonight, I'm going to watch the Champions League final, Bayern-München v. Inter Milan--go Bayern!