Paula Dubbink wonders what it is, that the Spring Term always seems to fly by in the blink of an eye. Or actually, international student life in general. Is her time in Sweden really coming to an end?
Living ‘in the moment’ seems to be the hype nowadays. Yoga, mindfulness training and meditation – there’s a ton of courses and training that want us to forget yesterday’s failure or tomorrow’s deadline and instead tell to focus on the here and now. And be all zen.
And I guess I need a course or two from a nice guru. Even if I might feel quite zen at times, both ‘here’ and ‘now’ like to fool around with me. As soon as I think that I have grasped who they are, they have changed their names to ‘next week’ or even ‘the coming month’. No clue how they do it, but it’s reality. And while time still goes relatively slow during Fall term, when Skåne is weighted down under the awful weather and darkness, Spring term is just plain madness. When the days lengthen and lengthen, time starts to play tricks with me.
One moment I’m still collecting my gloves, shawl, ankle warmers and winter jacket before I dare go out, the next moment I have to rush through my wardrobe searching for a summer jacket and sunglasses. One second the teacher explains about what to bring for my trip to Jerusalem, the next second I’m back in Lund, writing my final paper for the very same course. One moment it’s still February and suddenly we’re half-way in May.
Before I came to Sweden, I studied some student website and discovered not only that something like Lundakarnevalen existed, but that I even would be around to witness this once-in-a-international-student-lifetime-well-only-if-you’re-lucky-event. That will be a nice closing-off for my time in Lund, I thought, comforted by the thought that 2014 was sooooo far away.
Lots of ECTS, fikas, library hours, Swedish word lists, friendships and only a few eye blinks later, Karneval is here. But I’m not at all ready to consider it the end of my time here. My non-zen head is already planning for all that comes after the Karneval: my mum coming over for a visit, for the celebration of Midsummer and how to make my deadlines while still enjoying the Karneval. Why should this be the end of my time here? I can impossibly have been here for two years already. Right?!
I guess that not making my thesis deadline has one positive side. I’ll be around a little longer, at least. And I’ll try all I can to hold onto time as good as I can.
