School Starts

It's been an overwhelming few weeks in Sweden.  Orientation was full of hearing the worst case scenarios: x% of international students get suspended for plagiarism, x-number of international students get run over by a car while on their bike, x-amount of international students will not pass their thesis dissertations, etc.  In my spare time I had to figure out where to buy a fully-illuminating light for my bike, how to translate the Swedish on ingredient lists in the grocery story so I don't buy something that'll make me sick and run around town registering at the Migration Board and Tax Office - you can't do anything in Sweden without a personal identification number that comes from the tax office.

But I made it through the beginning.  And I even began to make friends.  My program is filled with some of the most incredible, inspirational people from around the world that I have ever met.  I now know a Scottish doctor, Thai army nurse, Spanish pharmacist, Swedish midwife, Indonesian natural disaster worker, Zimbabwean rural health worker, South Korean health outreach coordinator, Pakistani ICU doctor, Danish physical therapist and many others.  

Last week some of us decided to have a picnic at the beach.  We navigated the grocery store together, threw our selected food in our bike baskets and took off for the Western Harbor.  It was a great night of sharing food, learning about each other and watching the sun set over the area the Baltic Sea meets the North Sea.

New friends enjoying the evening

Øresund Bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark

Yesterday was my first official day of class.  It wasn't unlike a first day in the States.  We went over the course objectives and syllabus.  School is a little different here in that we take one class at a time.  My first class is 5 weeks long with 4 oral examinations and a final research paper.  We have mountains of reading to do with much of it being technical from medical journals.  With my undergraduate work in English Literature, I feel prepared to read but not prepared to take in all the technical terms.  Though, I do feel a slight advantage on my doctor friends for whom English is their second language.

The Clinical Research Center, where I will spend the next 2 years

I had forgotten the feelings that come with being a student.  My type-A, perfectionist, "failure is the end of the world" mentality has resurfaced.  This doesn't fit with my laid-back, no rush, I lived in Uganda and California personality.  As much as I want to take each moment as it comes, it is very easy for me to become overwhelmed and want to march off taking control of something.  When I hear some of my classmates have already read all the course literature before we even started class, my heart races and I feel behind.  A good friend from the States sent me an email reminding me to calm down and breath.  (She knows me well!) This is good advice for me.  As much as I am after the education, it is also the experience and the knowledge I will gain from others that I am after.  I will work hard and I will enjoy my life too.

In college my dear friend Bridget used to think I had magic powers to stop time.  During the stopped time I would do all my work while everyone else was frozen.  Then when I was finished I would resume time and everyone else would just be starting their homework.  I used to laugh at this but now I think I might be the one frozen while my classmates read all the course materials.

So I must be off, back to the mountains of reading that will hopefully make sense to me.  But don't worry, I have social plans for tonight too - living and learning as best as I can.