Oh sweet Christmas

On the 16th of December Connor and I went to Norway. On the flight we met Heidrun who I've not seen since I moved home to Norway after my exchange year. It was great seeing her again. Our flight was 50 minutes late and Heidrun missed her train to Drammen and ended up spending the night at my house in Oslo. To add salt in the wound someone also took her luggage and it took ages before we actually got out and managed to get to bed at home. She left early in the morning to catch her flight to Tromsø. On the 17th Connor, Tobias and I went to see the Hobbit. We had a spare ticket so we phoned Sandra and forced her to join.

 

To be honest apart from one wine night with Sandra and one night out with some friends from High School it was mostly family parties and nights spent on the sofa. It was freezing outside so most of the time we tried to stay indoors. I'm not going to bore you all with long stories so I'll just add the pictures =D

I now see the point of updating my blog everyday. That would really help when it comes to the end of the holiday and I wont have to try and remember everything that has happened and then writing it all out.

Pre-Norway

I am back in Edinburgh after a lovely time at home in Norway. Connor and I went to Oslo on the 16th and spent a great few days there. Connor was introduced to my dads side of the family and has now officially met all my cousins and aunts and uncles on my dads side. There is a lot of tings to write about and not a lot of time doing it on! Tomorrow we're heading to Morocco and tonight I need to sleep. Well, I guess I better start where I last left yous; my last day of placement. After my last day I had a lot of things to get organized. Worst of those things was the packing. Trying to balance between winter clothes for Norway and summer clothes for Morocco and not dying because you have too heavy bags was very hard. I ended up thinking fuck it, I'll just suffer with heavy bags. and oh man did I suffer! It's strange how I just never learn. The day before we went to Norway Connor kidnapped me and took me to the German market in Edinburgh. After about a ton of hot chocolate and sweets we went home and finished packing (for me more like repacking, but oh well)

and then we went to Norway =D

Half way there

Today was my last day of semester 4's placement. I am now half way through my education. It feels very strange knowing in one and a half year I'll be a fully qualified nurse. My placement at Alva Medical center was great. I had so much fun with the staff and I feel like I have learned a lot. It's been great being there and I am really going to miss the staff and a lot of my patients as well. It's always sad leaving a placement, but it also feels really good knowing that another step is over with. Tomorrow I'm going up the university to get my vaccines for going to Morocco after Christmas, then I'm heading off to Edinburgh for a few days. On Sunday Connor and I will get our asses on a plane and go to Norway, where we'll stay over Christmas. I have so much to look forward to (apart from the -20 degrees at my parents house in Norway). Life is really good and filled with blessings at the moment

December loving

The worst thing about having a boyfriend is that I now have two families to buy Christmas presents for. I realized what this actually meant yesterday when I went out to do my seasonal shopping. It not only took twice the time, it also cost me twice as much. Luckily for me, a boyfriend also means twice the presents and twice the love and attention! 1st of December really sneaked up on me this year. Only reason why I even noticed was because of the Cleanliness Champions online deadline I had to do by 12pm on the 30th of November.
The Christmas lights are up in Stirling and yesterday the city looked really beautiful. I got up early to go shopping (like my mum taught me to do as a kid) to avoid the chaos that comes with thousands of people also wanting to shop. Two thumbs up for mum. I went to the thistle center at 10am and by the time I was done around 3pm the place was so packed it took me 10 minutes to leave. The only people left on my list that I've not got present for yet is Connor and mum. A non-christmas-present-present for mum of course. Today is wrapping day, and hopefully some inspiration on what to get for Connor and mum will fall into my lap as I am doing so.
I've also used up all my storage space for this blog so you'll have to settle for one picture for now.

Countdowns

It's a little bit funny how I always count down to something. Some of the countdowns are stressful like exams and others are great like hanging out with Connor or going home to Norway. I always imagine that the moment I reach that specific point in the future, I'll be completely chilled out. My most resent experience with this was the essay that was due on the 20th of November. The moment it was handed it I felt more like a deflated balloon and was ready to cry than chilled out and relieved. It is pretty ridiculous. I guess it has something to do with holding all the stress in for that long and than all of a sudden it's over. My countdowns at the moment is for the 16th of December, when Connor and I go home to Norway for Christmas. A very happy countdown indeed! My second countdown is also very exciting: Morocco the 28th of December. Only 32 days. Life is good. November is always a great month. My sister and my best friend's birthdays and all the Christmas decorations are coming up in all the shops. The Christmas lights have been put up in Stirling and it is truly beautiful. I'm excited to walk on Karl Johan (main street in Oslo) and see the lights there. That is one of the things that gives me a true Christmas feeling.
I took a few pictures of the decorations in Stirling, but none of them turned out all that nice so I'm talking this one of a website

Happy times

Life is truly good. Placement is educational and I am getting along well with the staff, my laptop is back in business and I have caught up on all my work for university (apart from the essay due on Tuesday). With 28 days before I go back home to Norway there is nothing in my life that can bring me down. Not even that 3000 word essay that is due on Tuesday. Last weekend I was in Edinburgh having a quiet weekend like I usually do. Connor fixed my screen like a true hero and now it's as good as new. That we went out for James' 20th and it was a great night out. It was mostly his friends from college and there was a huge age variety there. Connor and I left early when the group went to Tranent for a karaoke bar. We grabbed a Chinese and went home around 12.

The whole week I've been stressed out by the thought of my upcoming essay. Not that I have actually tried to do anything about it. To not gross everybody out I wont go into further details than that my essay will be about necrotic toes and diabetes. Connor came up to Stirling yesterday and we went to see the new James Bond movie Skyfall. I loved it. It had stepped away from the really serious James Bond that we saw in Quantum of Solace and more back to the old James Bond that gets a girl or two or three during the movie and jokes about a lot more. They did this without making the movie cheesy and making the fighting scenes horrible. The best thing about it was that when I left the cinema I wanted to go home and watch the old ones again. After our 007 adventure we went back to my flat and made Chiken curry. We ruined the rice but the rest was lovely. Connor took the last train back to Edinburgh and now I need to get this essay on a roll. Fingers crossed I don't fail! 

(Smashed computer; Connor fixing it; how it looks like now)

One born every minute

On Saturday morning I walked to the train after my last night shift on the labour ward. It has been quite an adventure and so far it's been the most exciting placement I've had. While I was on the maternity unit I got to see a lot of stuff. My favorite part was witnessing a birth. I have truly never seen something so wonderful before in my life. My dream has always been to become a midwife and after my first shift on the labour ward I was sure that was what I'd end up doing after finishing my nursing degree. However after 3 weeks I've realized that it's not the direction I want to take in life and I am very relieved. So far I've loved everything the university has taught me and all areas of care I've been sent to has had something about it I loved. All of those are still on my list of things I would like to specialize within. It's good to know that I can cross midwifery off the list. Don't get me wrong though, if I get the chance to, I'll definitely take another shift on the labour ward. While I was there I got to see 5 births. I cried at every one of them. It was very emotional and I am so happy I got the chance to see that. Words can't really describe what it is like to see a human being entering the world and being put to it's mothers chest. I could not be happier. It has been the most inspirational 3 weeks of my training so far. One thing I will not miss though, is the very early mornings and very late nights

On Monday I started my first shift at Alva Medical Centre. When I phoned up my mentor from my first placement picked up the phone and I was so relieved. It is always easier when you know someone there. Unfortunately I managed to smash my laptop screen (well, actually it was my phone that had superpowers and got jealous of all the attention my laptop has been getting lately and decided to "get rid of it" by flying at the speed of light into the screen and by doing so becoming my only source of entertainment), so I had to go down to Edinburgh and pick up my old laptop, Mr. Craptop, and leave my new one there. Luckily for me I am going out with the future Tony Stark or Bill Gates (as long as it's something to do with technology and he'll make a lot of money I'm good) and he can fix it for me. He also made my old laptop not as terrible as it used to be, but his resources are limited and he doesn't preform miracles so it's still terrible compared to my new one. I am suffering my way though this blog post with a slightly broken keyboard and no enthusiasm to look over my spelling as that only makes me depressed. My new placement is great and it good to be able to refresh the skills I learned on my first placement only now I actually know why we are doing the things we are doing and I can contribute a lot more!

Baby world

So my first week of maternity placement is over and I have absolutely loved it! Pregnant ladies and newborn babies everywhere. I have learned a lot over the last few days. There is so much I didn't know about before starting this placement. The thought of getting pregnant scares me a lot more now than before, but I also want to steal all the cute wee babies and bring them all home with me. Mixed feelings much. Next week I have a few shifts on the labour ward and I am really looking forward to seeing a birth and maybe also a Caesarean section if I am lucky! I'll keep yous updated on my progress. Now it's time to clean Connor's room (if I can be bothered) 

Placement 4

I'm just back in Stirling after a long weekend in Musselburgh. It was weird taking the half past seven train back again. When I stepped of the train I almost went on and got the bus to Uni. Time has passed so quickly since our first placement that I sometimes forget that I live in Bayne Street now and not in AKD. I am glad Bayne Street is more quiet than AKD, because placement was hell when I was forced to listen to the rest of the block party all night and go to bed when I was getting up. The life in Murray Hall was tiring as well. It was quiet but it did not feel like home and I really found it hard to sleep there. All I wanted to do was to be in Edinburgh with Connor. All my friends had moved into their flats then in the center of town and I felt a bit lonely up at campus. My 3rd placement wasn't all that great either, so that might have contributed to it. Whenever I go on placement I turn into a zombie that hates humans that are privileged enough to do things like sleep or eat proper food. 3 weeks dealing with women in labour and newborn babies can't possibly change that. I wish I got the enthusiasm from my first placement back. This time all I want is to get it over and done with. Hopefully I'll be filled with energy and all that tomorrow morning at 6:30! I am happy to get a maternity placement, but I wish it came with a bed and not much work at all. Oh well, I knew what I signed up for so here it goes. I'll try and post a wee blogpost tomorrow after placement and let yous know how things went. I'm writing this from under my covers and I am about to fall asleep. Right now I need to go to bed!

Im so smart. s-m-r-t

On Tuesday we had yet another dreaded exam on our hands. I had revised a lot, but I still felt very lost. When I got to uni I had stayed up all night reading over my notes and drinking energy drinks that only made my stomach hurt. I sat next to Lorraine who was really hyper. I honestly wanted to give her a good slap across the face. She didn't make it any better once she told me that the eye was one of the topics for the exam. Guess who had no idea? Yeah that would be me. Luckily I had revised the other topics in great detail so I still passed the exam! (and Lorraine left the building slap-free) Oh happy days! Like Stirling uni's student nurses' tradition the exam was followed by a night out in Dusk. The day was also filled with other good news. I found out I passed my semester 3 essay. Unfortunately I did not get the grade I hoped for, but a pass is a pass :)

Next week we start our placements again. I am really looking forward to going back out there. Lectures is really boring and I honestly feel like I learn a lot more by being on placement. However, I've still not been able to get in contact with them, so I'll just show up on Monday morning and hope for the best. I am with the Rose maternity team, which is a community midwife team. I am really looking forward to that as becoming a midwife is my dream.
Apart from uni life has been very stressful the last few weeks, and with a lot on my mind the blog ends up being last on my list of priorities. Sorry for that, but family and education comes first ;)

Over and out

Lets go to the beach

I have an exam on Tuesday and of course that means that it's time for me to update my blog in a desperate attempt to avoid revising. Not that I'm not revising. I've been sitting since Monday with my head buried in notes and all I've wanted to do was to run away from it all and never look back. Who cares about becoming a nurse anyway? Unfortunately I do. So I have to spend a lot more time revising the whole of semester 4 to pass this damn exam. Great times. My next placement is a split one. I'm going for 3 weeks in a maternity unit then 6 weeks with district nurses. I am so happy I got maternity!
To make it seem like I live an interesting sporty and healthy life I'll post some pictures of when I went for a walk along Musselburgh beach the other day. Image is everything. Can you imagine if I didn't inform all types of social media of my active lifestyle? What a waste of a walk that would have been :P

The Witchery

Yesterday was Lee's 50th birthday and despite me managing to ruin the Morocco surprise a few days ago last night went smoothly. The moment Lee left the house to go to a retirement part of a friend of hers we transformed the kitchen into something very sparkly. Balloons and banners were put up with cake, flowers, champagne and gifts. Then we all got ready and headed of to The Witchery. It's a lovely restaurant up close to Edinburgh castle. It is also the restaurant Lee and Dannie got engaged in. The night was perfect and Lee had absolutely no idea. Connor and Jack both had bought new suits for the occasion and they were both very handsome. The meal might have been the best one I have ever had in my life. Everything was perfect and I actually did not have any room for dessert (I know it sounds like a like, but I am telling the truth). We all had haggis for starters and then I ended up with steak for my main course. The size of it was quite massive, but that's the way I like it. Dannie had done a great job organising it all and he is getting two thumbs up.

Mum and dad

Maybe it's time for another blog post. I always manage to postpone writing these things. The last few days I've been planing what I am going to write, but to be honest you always end up hearing the short version. Guess I better get started: My parents were here this weekend. It might have been the happiest I've been for ages. Living this far away is really hard. Each time we say goodbye it's always a few months until the next time we see each other. This time it's only until Christmas, but it's more the fact that when I do see them, it's only for about a week or so. They were only here for the weekend this time. I was so excited on Friday to go along and pick them up from the airport I might have passed out. Connor is a real soldier for not giving up on me despite my very frequent emotional outbursts. Dannie drove me to the airport and then dropped mum, dad and me off at the hotel. They were staying at Radisson Blu at the Royal Mile. The hotel was stunning and the bed was the biggest one I have ever seen. I was slightly jealous. Unfortunately mum and dad arrived quite late and after a quick pizza and chat they went to bed, and I back to Musselburgh.
The first day I showed my parents around Edinburgh. Primark and the Castle was our main attractions. Mum loved Primark (or she loved the prices that came with it). Saturdays main event was going up to Musselburgh for a meal with Connor's parents. I was really nervous as it was the first time mine and Connor's parents were going to be introduced. Luckily there was no reason to be nervous at all. The language barrier was not as big as I thought it was going to be and after a lovely meal (that James somehow managed to sneak his way into joining) we went back to Lee and Dannie's house for some drinks. Reports from both sides the next day indicated a successful night. Could I ask for anything better?

Sunday was a bit different. Connor managed to (I am convinced on purpose) give me his cold (OK, so maybe it wasn't his fault). We started the day by climbing Arthur's seat. The view from there is absolutely stunning and I got some lovely photos of mum and dad up there. After our little adventure we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch. I almost fell asleep at the table as the previous night had replaces sleep with Connor coughing and me sniffing. Damn cold can go where the sun don't shine. I went back to the hotel while mum and dad did some shopping and sightseeing. The bed was a lot better than expected and I slept for a good two hours before dad woke me up. He traded places with me while mum and I went out to buy me some new shoes. Nothing fancy just a new pair of trainers as the ones I used to have were my little brothers that I took once he grew out of them. At night I showed mum and dad Greyfriars Bobby and then we went to the Filling Station with Connor for dinner. We had a lovely meal before we went to the hotel for the rest of the night. Saying goodbye was surprisingly hard and I cried the whole way home. I might be 20, but I'll always be their little girl.

Now they are in London for the rest of their holiday. Not going to lie. I am slightly jealous.
Dad turned 50 yesterday and I really wish he had stayed here for his birthday, but instead he just had to settle with a phone call and an early birthday present while he was still here. I have the best parents in the world, the only problem is the distance!

The crap category

In my last post I mentioned the "crap category". Most of my things probably do end up there. When I moved back to Scotland slightly over a year ago I had brought two suitcases with me. When I moved into Bayne Street on Saturday I had 4 large and two small suitcases, 4 bags and 3 handbags (and remember that this is not counting the huge pile of crap at Emily, Lesleyann and Melanie's flat). Lee drove Connor and I up to Stirling. The thing is that Lee's car is quite small and the Jeep is not starting. Jack was also coming with us since he and Lee were both going on to Fife to visit Connor's grandparents. This meant that there was a limited amount of space in the car. Some how we managed to squeeze it all in, but Bamse (my large teddy) had to sit on Jack's lap. I think pictures will illustrate my point better than words will

I could probably do without 2/3 of my stuff, but I'm not the kind of person to throw things out. I will be like "oh, I'll just bin this" and then my brain will go "STOP! What do you think you're doing, you might need that piece of stings in the future, what if the world all of a sudden runs out of strings and you'll be the only one left with some. You can not bin this. It's a matter of life and death". It's hard to have an argument with yourself like that, and I usually give in and keep it. As I am organizing my room now I keep on finding a lot of stuff that I tell myself that there was no reason to keep, but I still don't bin it. Oh brain, why do you have to make everything so complicated?

It is starting to feel like home

I have been slowly putting up all my stuff and making my room feel a lot more like MY room. My old room in Norway was tiny, but it was 100% mine. I am really looking for the same kind of feeling in this room. It's hard to put everything up, because it still feels very temporary. I've moved so much over the last year that I don't feel very settled. It's also the fact that I go to Edinburgh all the time and it really makes me wishing for just one place that is just mine and that I can come into and feel like it's my home. With a bit more effort I think I can get that feeling here in Bayne Street.

My old room in Norway
Home to me is a room filled with stuff. Not necessarily messy or unorganized, but it has to look like some one is living there. For me to have that feeling there must be a lot traces of their lives there. Like yous can see in the picture I have my walls filled with: pictures; souvenirs; jewelry; and I guess a lot of it can go in the category crap, but it's filled with memories and there is constantly something to be reminded of. It makes me quite sad that a lot of this is now packed away in my basement in Norway. I want it all here with me so I can reminded of all the wonderful things in my life. Then again I have gathered so many things in the year I've spent here that I probably wouldn't be able to fit it all.  One of the things that makes me sadder than the picture of my old room is the picture I took of my room the day I left

Yes I am totally having a very sentimental moment.
Well, like I said I am finally starting to build up that feeling here in Bayne Street. I'm not ready to show a picture of my whole room as it is still far from organized, but I will give you two of some details

This is me for now. As I said, I promise to add photos once everything is organized and looks good enough for photos to be taken.

Hello flat

I can't help but love my flat. It has two bathrooms, a huge living room/kitchen and my bedroom is actually a decent size. My flatmates are really nice and organized and I live right next to a massive Tesco, a two minute walk from the city center and so close to a Chinese and Indian take out that I smell it through my window. My diet will suffer for this and I'll probably be unable to loose weight, but for now, I'll just enjoy every moment of it. I'll add pictures of my flat once I have organized it and completely unpacked. Right now my room is slightly messy. By slightly it looks like someone blew up my wardrobe. Living right next to Tesco wont only affect my diet - my wallet will be heavily affected as well. Today I managed to spend £50 in there. They have a huge sale on home ware so I bought a new cutlery set, some new glasses and a lot of food.
My birthday party on Saturday was absolutely fabulous. Connor and James came up for the party. Lesleyann, Melanie and Emily had really done a great hosting job. I even got a wee birthday cake. We had pre-drinks at their flat them disappeared to Dusk. It was a brilliant night that ended quite early and we were home about half past one. I live so close to the center that I could actually walk home. With my killer heals off of course. I Truly have a lot of great friends here in Scotland.