Friday 30 September 2011

I've had a great birthday! :)


What a wonderful day! Maybe the best birthday ever! Life is so great :)

I started out the day with an (two) exams --> one in chemistry and the other one in physiology. I was nervous in the beginning but I got calm pretty fast as I read the questions and realised that I was prepared enough for it. We will find out in two weeks how it went so if it turnes out that I didn't pass them, then I guess I will need to take my words back, but for now, it defently felt like it went really good.

I biked home in the sun (!!)(never had sun on my birthday as long as I can remember) and had sushi lunch with my parents who celebrated me. For one, I got a Simon and Garfunkel album with 5 of their cd:s that I really really wanted (my favourite!). I have bought all of them before but as the years has gone by, I only think I can find one of them. It's so wonderful to listen to their songs again!

Anyways, then I went to the gym and meet Whitley there.. It was an easy "workout", we only walked on the treadmill for an hour but it was really nice to just walk there and talk with someone (as I've been burried in books lately).

And then my whole family and Whitley celebrated me in the evening and we ate the traditional swedish sandwish cake with smoked salmon.. :) And the day ended with a service at the church. So a really nice day!

Tomorrow, me and my mom are going to a spa about 1½ hours away from here where we will stay one night to celebrate a little bit more and to hang out! You have now idea how excited I am, especially as I've been reading and studying until it felt like my eyes was on fire.

Oh yeah, I shouldn't forget to tell you (again) that today we had our cat Alex for 10 years! He is so precious and so adorable! And also, after today, I've had my sugar fast for 9 months (I dont count the cookies I ate in the airport in New York.. I seriously was not aware of what I was doing.. who gives someone cookies in the middle of the night anyways?)! Yes, that means no birthday cake. We actually kinda stopped with that in our house anyways as no one wants it.

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes I got on facebook and through texts! I have so many good friends :) :)

Thursday 29 September 2011

Todays weather is ludicrous!


I had to share this with you. 29th of September and it's 34 degrees celsius in the sun, which is 93 in fahrenheit and 70 in the shadow. This is so weird.. We can compare it with that next week it will be 5 celsius (40 fahrenheit) which would be much more normal for this time a year over here. So shorts and flip flops today and winter jacket and gloves in the weekend?

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Exam, spa, birthday and 10 years with Alex


A old photo with me and Alex!

This weekend contains a lot of fun things for my part. First of all, my exam will be done at 12 on friday, which means I will be able to have a social life again, or at least for about a week :)
This friday is also my birthday so I will celebrate it with my family and Whitley in the evening. And another thing I am looking forward too is to go to the gym without being stressed in the afternoon after the test!

I have a cat that I got when I turned 15, which means that now on friday, we have had him for 10 years. He is very special and he druels a lot but we still love him. He also craves attention all the time. His name is Alex and I namned him after a model that I had a crush on when I was 15... And no, I wouldn't have done that now. We call him other names too - master of seduction, prince G, old G, lion king etc..

And then saturday-sunday, me and my mom are going to spend some mother-daughter time at a spa too celebrate my birthday which will be great to relax after these intense weeks of exam-studying.

But first 2 more days of studying :)

Sunday 25 September 2011

Do students gain weight?

What a wonderful day I have had! First church, then going to our big Ica maxi (grocery store) which was a lot of fun. I don't understand why I love going around in grocery stores so much but I really do like it.

The usual sunday nap obviously happened as well, and then we played some (american) football. We were 3 americans, 2 swedes, one from holland and one from nigeria (i think he is at least). I was so confused and didn't know what was going on but it was still fun. And then hanging out with Whitley the rest of the day and preparing myself mentally for all the studying I will have to do the coming 4 days..

One VERY good news (hopefully) is that two of my best friends Amos and Nandi that I got to know when I lived in England, are coming to visit in November! You have no idea of how happy I am to meet them. It's not 100 % sure that Nandi will come but I'm trying to nag on her about it so she will book her tickets :) I can not explain how happy I am too see them. They are so amazing and so wonderful people. I just wish I could live close to both of them again, and also share a room with Nandi again :)

About the posts topic. You know people normally gain weight when they are studying? I can kinda understand that now. It's a lot of sitting still and also a need of a fresh mind all the time. I do not have time to go to the gym as often and I miss it badly. BUT life as a student is still great, this would be the only downfall..

Okay, give me a good luck for next weeks exam :)

Saturday 24 September 2011

How amazing are we?

I have lost my social life. There is so much to learn, not only to the exam in less than a week, but for life.. I want to learn as much as possible and remember as much as possible after the exam. I know this is such a great opportunity to be able to study full time. I want to make the best out of that and as I said, learn as much as I can.

I'm nervous about the exams next week but I still think I will pass them. But seriously... where did my social life go? This week I've studied alot and I still have 2 more hours that I want to do today.. Tomorrow is sunday - which always means day off for me. Would be good as my eyes are hurting from all the reading. But it's also sooo interesting! And fun!

When it comes to the title of this post; here are some amazing facts about humans. We have 100 000 000 000 000 cells and 200 different types of cells. We have 600 separeted muscles and about 200 bones (I almost wrote legs there as leg and bone is the same in swedish.. good thing I didnt). Just imagine how complicated 1 cell is. I do not understand how people can believe that this just ended up like this, that there is no God who made us. I believe in a God who created us and I get more and more amazed the more I learn. How our bodies function so incredibly well, how it all goes together with all the hormones, enzymes etc.. For one thing, how our bodies cleanses our blood, gives it oxygen and how it gets rid of the carbon dioxide. And I know that all we are learning in school now is very basic and not even that complicated compared to all the aspects and depths of how it really work. I am so sure of that there must be a creater of this.

Today I took a break from school work the whole morning and half of the afternoon. We and Whitley went to aerobics with a bunch of bibleschool people. That was a lot of fun and it was so nice to sweat and get some energy. Tomorrow church, ica maxi and american football are on the "schedule".

Back to my studies. :)

Tuesday 20 September 2011

My tuesday - studies, gym and butter!

One of my gyms
I have my first exam on friday next week so now I try to study as much as I can. I have spent the day with the nervous system, the cell and the hormone system. I also realized that I have an old book from high school that is about all these things we have the exam on - but much more basic and easier explained. I looked through it today and got so happy because even tho it's not very deep, I still understand all the deep things in my physiology book better after reading the easier stuff.

I also took a break for working out today.. I tried a new class at the gym and I didn't really like it. It was very easy and didn't feel at all that I had worked out afterwards.. Well, at least I got to move a little bit and a break from the books.

Have I mentioned about the "butter crises" we have here in Sweden? People have started to eat so much more butter (and other high fat things) here in Sweden the last years and we also got less farmers so now there's not much butter left in the stores. They say the crises will go on until new years, so until then, I think we will have to import from other countries. Both my mom and I went to the store today but two different ones, and they didn't have any butter in the one my mom went to.. And I got the last one in the one I went to but it was the extra salted one, so still no normal one.
Speaking of butter... when I have looked for butter in America, I have only found butter that is around 40 % fat if I don't remember wrong.. Real butter is around 80 % but I couldn't find that anywhere.. Any americans who knows if I was just looking at the wrong places??


Last butter from the store


Saturday 17 September 2011

This makes me happy

Here's an artical about that all the schools in a certain area in Sweden might end their contract next summer with the big "catering" company they now get all their school food from. With the food they get now they have to heat it up twice, once when it's made and again at the school. I would call that food plastic food and it's so far away from how food should be like. Most of Swedens school has this system, and I'm guessing many other countries as well as you know. The artical is saying that they are trying now to make the politicians make a desicion that they will be able to cook their own food in the school from next fall so it will be fresh instead and it's looking promising. That makes me so happy and I hope that will spread to the rest of the country.

http://www.dt.se/nyheter/ludvika/1.3904906-koka-kyl-pa-vag-bort-fran-skolorna

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Updates

My life is still filled with physiology and chemistry. Random words on different body functions/hormones/enzymes etc etc is what is filling my head all the time right now. When I go to bed, during lunch, when I bike to school and back and all time inbetween those. The random words or chemical reactions never seem to leave me. It has made me thinking of maybe studying a basic medical year. That would be very interesting and also important when I work later on with nutrition.. We'll see.. But even though I feel like I've lost my social life for the moment because of the studies, I still love it!

Sidenote. I read in a paper that according to a brittish study, you can get 20 % better ability to concentrate and get a better memory by starting the day with eating blueberries!

They showed a program on the swedish television a couple of days ago about carbs vs fat. Mostly about LCHF. Very interesting... Defently worth watching if you know swedish. It starts about 18 minutes into the program.
http://svtplay.se/v/2530713/vetenskapens_varld/vetenskapen_bakom_kostraden_nya_manfarder_planeras

Not much else is happening in my life right now. I'm going away on a silent retreat this weekend with Whitley which will be very interesting. Something I have wanted to do for a while now.

Oh yeah, life without red meat is so far wonderful :)

Monday 12 September 2011

No more red meat for me

I have decided, after years of considerations, that I will stop eating red meat. I don't know if this will be for forever but I would like it to be so I will try. An exception would be if I'm invited to someone for a meal in a country where it would be rude to say no. I want to make this a habit, and I believe that it's the habits that makes you, not your exceptions. And the reason why I want to do this is health reasons so if it happens once a year that I would eat red meat, then I don't think that will have a big impact on my health as that would then be an exception and not a habit. BUT I would like to stop all together if possible.

So why do I want to do this?

First of all, the red meat I would eat most of in the past (past = before dinner today) would be ground beef. And thinking of what's actually in that doesn't make me that excited. I have had hard time (on and off) eating that because it's hard not to think of its contents.

Second, the cancer risk.

Third, all the antibiotics etc etc they give the cows/pigs/etc. And how they treat them. I don't really think of the ethical perspective right now but more of how it's effecting the meat - that we eat.

Fourth. If you haven't seen Food inc - make sure you will. They talk about how they give the cows corn and other grains/cereals to eat - even though cows are not created to eat that. There's a bacteria called 0157:H7 that gets developed in the cows stomaches when they eat like this, and it can be very dangerous and many people has died in America from this. Probably other countries too but we just don't hear about it. I read not to long ago in the book "the death in the pot" about how this works in Sweden. I really didn't think it would be as bad here but apperently Sweden is one of the worst countries. If you have the book - page 157 and forward.

Fifth. Many studies show that you live longer if you eat less red meat.

I might exclude chicken in the future. You can see a former post I wrote about chickens and see why.

And I don't really eat red meat that often anyways so I don't think it will be that hard to stop.

Hmm.. Which reminded me that I'm going away on a retreat this weekend and I haven't said I want vegetarian food... so this might start after saturday instead if it's too late to change it :D

Friday 9 September 2011

I'm at the right place - Ventricle, protein synthesis, intestines etc etc


I am now done with the first week of lectures! But still have hours to study tomorrow..

I must say it has gone so much better than I had expected. Not that I thought it would go bad, but I have understood more than I thought I would and my dicipline with studying on my "free time" has actually been pretty good. Well, not every day but in general it has gone pretty good..

I studied 10 hours of physiology today. I can not even believe it myself... "First" week of university and I spend 10 hours on a friday to study.. I hope that dicipline will stay with me in the future!
my sister joined me in the library for almost 6 hours today
I pray every day to God that he will help me with my studies and honestly I have never felt so in peace with studying as I do now. I know God is answering my prayers. But not only that, all my worries about choosing right/wrong program I had before starting are gone and I know now that I am at the right place at the right time! I enjoy every single bit of being a student and sitting down and learning all these things. (Okay I'll admit it, last hour today was a pain..)

Thursday 8 September 2011

Email from Erik and why my blog is called ludicrously crunchy


I got an email from my friend in London today. It's very special as it's hard to get him to write back, that's why I blog about it :D

He gave me his number as I've lost all my contact, and then he wrote this:

And is your mum's number still +46 73-xxx xxxxx (but with numbers)? Does she still use that number? Because she hasn't been answering my calls...

He had also copied what I had written on my blog about the ICA student card and were wondering why I love it so deeply.

Hilarious as we haven't spoken for more than a half year.. good way to catch up!

He also liked the name of the blog - ludicrously crunchy.. I'll tell you why. Erik was here in Sweden a few times when I was in bibleschool and we also went to visit him in England a few times. For some reason my mind got stuck on a line on a cereal box there which was "ludicrously tasty".. Ludicrously became a word that we started using a lot in my circle of bibleschool friends+Erik. I think it's my favourite word ever actually.
We(I) would use it in any sentence. I wish I could still do that but as it would be weird to say things like "that apple is ludicrous" or "i feel ludicrous today" or "i had a ludicrously good work out today", then I can't say those things around people other then my old bibleschool friends and ofcourse Erik. Or can I?
Oh and Erik - I'll reply to your email later on! :D

Wednesday 7 September 2011

What happened with all the freshmen pranks?

I have decided to not join on any more of our "nollnings"- weeks. I went on about half of them but I feel that I need the time for other things - like studying and napping.. I know, it sounds like I'm 2 years old.. But honestly, I've been so exhausted so a few naps has been essential for my survival, or thats how it feels like at least :) And I also don't want to fall behind when it comes to the studies.

Another reason is that there's so much drinking involved in these nollnings activites.. And as I don't drink at all and haven't for a few years and as I don't like places where the music is so load so you'd have to scream to hear each other, I've decided that I'll skip the rest. I wanted to go as much as possible to get to know the people in my class but now I've joined in a few activities and I'll ofcourse be able to get to know them more in school. I like my class and I look forward to spend more time with them but in other settings. The last nicer dinner will be in 1½ weeks but I will not be home that weekend anyways.

Today I feel like I don't have a life. I've been studying chemistry all day and still have a lot left that I want to go through before my next chemistry class tomorrow. 3 weeks and 2 days left till my first exam on uppsala university.

my life at the moment


I still need peoples numbers as I lost all my numbers when my old phone broke. So text me your name please if you haven't already or give me it on facebook.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

No studies in America next year

As I might have mentioned before, I am planning to study one of my three years in America, or in another country. I have talked to my school about it and apparently I have to be done with a half years of studies at the time I apply. The application for next year 2012/2013 closes at 21st of November, 2 months before I will be done with my first half year. This means that I would have to wait another year to apply, and then another year to go. So I would be able to go 2013/2014. It doesn't really matter for me tho.. It would be great to go next year but at the same time, I'm starting to like Sweden more and more (still don't want to live here all my life) and I'm trusting God that he has a plan for me and a reason for this.

I might go visit the states next summer instead. Or maybe not.. Me and Whitley also wants to go on a mission trip with her pastor next summer and we also want to travel thru Europe.. So I'd probably need to choose one of those things and the mission trip is what's most interesting so I have a feeling that is what will happen.

I'm starting to love being a student more and more! I know I wouldn't appriciate it this much if it wasn't for a few years of working and especially the type of work I had with the hours and such.. But it feels so great now! I have time to go work out in the middle of the day or take a nap etc.. And as today, I have studied chemistry for 5 hours and I will do another 3 hours tonight which might sound boring for some but I absolutly love it! Learning is a wonderful thing!

For my american friends - as I'd have to wait 2 years now, I hope you guys will come and visit me here instead before that!

Sunday 4 September 2011

First 10 km, and why I study nutrition

Today I did my first 10 km since I stopped running in the middle of the summer. I needed a break but now I'm back on track again! I didn't run the whole time tho, but did half of it walking with incline 15 and then ran the rest but it felt so good to finally start running and sweating again!

Yesterday I printed out almost 200 pages I need for the chemistry for university.. That made me a bit nervous and also as I know the test will be in less than 4 weeks and it will also include all the physiology.. But I will do what I can and I'm at the same time excited because it is things I've wanted to learn.

I knew I wouldn't agree with certain things school taught, and they have already made some comments that I don't agree with. One example is that milk is a great product.. Sure it contains vitamines and other good things but what about all the hormones etc they give the cows? And if it's such a great product - why do so many more people get lactose intolerance? Maybe because we are not really made to drink milk as much as we do? It's just a small example..
I still want to have this education because I also know they teach a lot of right things, and then I can go through it with the other nutritionists that I have a contact with thru my dad and hopefully in the end get a broader and bigger perspective of it all. An education also makes people listen to you - hopefully. So with this education I hope to be able to help people. Especially as christians, I believe it is so important to be healthy and take care of the body that God has given us and be good stewards of the gift that it is. It says in the bible that we should put away the things that hinders us, and I really believe that a bad health/overweight etc hinders us if anything! Sure, God can defently heal us but we also have to take our own responsibility.

But now it's sunday - which means day off so no more school talk. So now, shower, sushi and then movie night with my sister and Whitley!

Saturday 3 September 2011

First week done, and finally hitting the gym!

I am now done with first week of uni! It has been so much better than I thought and I'm so excited about all the lessons. I feel like a sponge that wants to soak up all information I can get! It feels so great and it really feels like I'm at the right place.

The week has been busy and I've been really exhausted so I haven't been able to go to the gym. But today me, my sister and Whitley finally went to the gym again and this time it felt so much better than last time! Me and Whitley also went to play basketball after the gym with some of her classmates from bibleschool. It was so much fun but the time really ran away and now I really need to start studying!! I don't want to fall behind this early on :)

Thursday 1 September 2011

I need your number!

Apparently all my numbers are gone... So please send me a text with your name!

A new phone, chemistry and physiology


I went to buy a new phone today. Not an Iphone (I don't want nor need one)
I lost all numbers I've saved since changing phone about a half year ago.. so if you have given me your number sometime the last half year, then please text me with your name in it so I can save it again.

We have now started with both chemistry and physiology in school. I think I wrote something about the chemistry yesterday? That one seems pretty easy but today we had physiology and that one seems a little bit harder. I'm really excited about all these classes and about learning all of this! I really really am... Right now I feel like studying for at least 10 years, but I know I'll probably won't feel like that later on..

Tomorrow - dinner for our class and our class "above" us. People are going out to party afterwards but as I don't drink alcohol and I like to go to bed early, I will only go to the dinner.