Congratulations

Rejoice, good folks, for today, the twelfth day of the ninth month in the Year of the Dog, is the day that my only sibling concludes her sixteenth revolution aroung this giant ball of flaming hydrogen and helium we use to call the Sun. In other words, happy birthday, sis! I do not know why the turning of 16 years is of such importance, at least in Bulgaria. According to the legislature, one stops being minor at 14, and is adolescent until 18. Come to think of it, that can be the exact reason - reaching the halfway point between child and adult. A bit like Caesar when crossing Rubicon. Heh, imagine Caesar's sixteenth birthday in the context of modern European society. Brutus, Marcus Antonius and Octavianus Augustus gathered around the birthday-boy, singing "Happy birthday to you!" in latin, and then little Caesar sighs and says "Alea jacta est", and then blows the candles.

The two years after that are filled with stress and work and fun and all the emotions you can think of plus a couple of those you can not. And by saying filled, I mean filled to the brim and overflowing. Truly a great time. Sis, I wish you that you can live it to its whole extent and never ever regret a single thing. *kiss*

In other news, the immunology exam came and went. If I have ever learned something usefil while studying, it is that you have to go to the lectures. The first two questions were horrible. Well, horrible for me, because I had missed the first lectures due to the great organisation of the Swedish migration board. Really, those guys could sleep their lives if only given the chance. But that's past. The good thing is that I attended all the other lectures, thus was able to fill the remaining five pages of the exam with my extremely beautiful handstyle, characterised by one of my Swedish teachers as "Mordor runes". Other victims of my handwriting say it's "not very readable". Strange. Seems perfectly readable to me... Oh well, c'est la vie, as the denisens of the Parisian streets like to say. I still may be able to get over the "high-score" threshold and get better credentials in my academic transcipt. *hopes so*

Another strange thing. Swedish exams. Now the only thing that those lack to become a "bed and breakfast" is the horisontal resting facility. We are usually given between four and six (sometimes even eight) hours for our exams. I am in my third year here and still can not comprehend the meaning of this. For God's sake, why? I have never needed more than 80 minutes to hand in my papers. Ok, so I write a bit fast and am always sure in my answers. Even if the others need twice that time, 160 minutes are about 2.5 hours. What are the rest used for? I'll tell you what. For rest. Yep, in the middle of the exam you can take out one of the many snacks you brought with yourself, drink some cold coke or a warm beverage from one of the myriad of thermos bottles, strech up, probably take half an hour nap... you name it. I wonder why we can't just bring along an HD-TV and a PS2 and have some fun. Screw the exam! The authorities explain that this is done to reduce stress in the students. The downside is that it also reduces concentration and motivation. Imagine the following: You are writing an essay and are just about to come to a personal revelation. Suddenly someone behind you starts wrestling with the candy paper bag or pouring tea in their cup from about half a metre height, the resulting splash booming in your ears and swiftly eradicating all rational thought. Huzzah for the bed-and-breakfast exam system!

I guess I couldn't finish without complaining of something. But don't be disappointed, there will be plenty of complaints in the next ramblings. And in the light that I've recently discovered what my tax money are being used for, one of them is going to be pretty extensive. See you next time.