Washingtonians out there, no plans for today?

If you live in the DC area and don't have any plans for today, come to House of Sweden where SWEA (Swedish Women's Educational Association) arranges a Christmas bazaar.

Your blogger is a part of the St. Lucia procession mentioned and is looking forward to sing for you.

We Swedes know how to create a cozy Christmas atmosphere, I promise. Check it out and don't forget to taste a cup of glögg!

Take the classroom home to 305.

Friday night. Going through old notes for final exam in PR class. Sad, but true. Not that I have a lot of energy left, but I still don't want to give up now. I'm not a quitter, that's just how it is.

Two weeks left of performing in the classroom. The two weeks of Christmas break in northern Sweden that follows will be well needed to charge my batteries to get prepared to perform out on the field. Even though I'm extremely tired at the moment, I get so excited when I think about the spring semester.

But first things first. Let's bring home this semester and make sure to come out of it alive and kicking.

"Malin Bergström is now listed as in a relationship"

I saw a great clip the other day on how bizarre your online life would be if you applied this behavior to your offline (by some referred to as real) life. The clip is really funny and it made me think about other weird Facebook things.

Your relationship status for example. 

I think the post that has generated the highest number of comments on my Facebook wall was when I "went from being single to in a relationship." Lots of likes and a fair number of comments. Mostly of the "congratulations"-kind, but also a few brave ones who asked who "the lucky one" was (not that I'm saying that a person would be lucky to be in a relationship with me, but oddly enough that's how people tend to see it when we pair up – totally different topic, I'll elaborate on that one another day).

As if relationships weren't complicated enough, Facebook creates yet another issue. When are we going to become "Facebook official" and can we be a couple without "being in a relationship" online? How will people know? Should people know? Why are people so interested in our relationship status? 

And then, what happens if it ends?

I find this whole relationship-online-thing so very interesting and I would just love to see what would happen to my wall if I suddenly ”went from being single to in a relationship.” I was going to examine this the other day, but my family would probably never understand that it was merely an experiment and I don’t want to put them through yet another “Oh Milon...”

I would prefer a potential relationship to take place offline, in the real world and I don't need no social media to confirm it or disseminate that information. It's just too weird.

“You guys are crazy for getting married,” Miranda from SATC said here
and don’t I look a bit skeptical too?

Camping on campus.

Now I'm tired of this. I'm packing upp my belongings and will head towards the gym instead.

After that, group meeting before communications class. So little time and work left. I will try to enjoy the good things about being a student, instead of moaning about the feeling of never really have some time off.

Off to treadmill and weights. Today, I'm gonna push it to the max!

Not all gingerbread cookies turned out great...

...and not all tenants should be allowed to operate in the kitchen. If she's not setting off the fire alarm while cooking omelettes, she's dropping meatballs in Grandma's coffee or burning gingerbread skulls in the oven.

But we still love her so. I believe we wouldn't laugh half as much as we do, had she not been living with us. No need to say cheese, Iron Ass knows how to entertain us!

Welcome December.

December 1 and of course we started the morning with Julkalendern. We all agreed that this year's Julkalender has potential and we will most definitely watch every episode until December 24.

Merry Christmas – now it's absolutely legitimate to say so!

Tweet, tweet. Now I'm there too.

After som notorious nagging from my dear roommate (okay, it probably took me less than 30 seconds to be convinced) I am now an official tweeter: @malinbergstroem

Milon, Grandma, Malin, do you really need another platform for writing whatever comes to your mind? Isn't this blog and the Swedish one enough? Do you really need to be fed with more information than you already are? How about all the Facebook subscriptions and the various Web sites you've got bookmarked?

Well, as I see it, I have no other choice. As a matter of fact, this is the choice. All this is what I want to do, what I want to work with. I should be out there, tweeting away all my nonsense and follow what others might say that will probably be of greater importance.

I'm already hooked. Tweet, tweet. As mentioned: @malinbergstroem

Wow-factor and I want to stay here [insert several exclamation points].

The Washington Post tour was fascinating. We got to sit in on a budget meeting and it felt so surreal – the way they talked about what I read in the paper every morning. It all actually exists and these are the people who decide what I'm gonna know and learn when I go online or go through the print.

"We've got so-and-so covering Cain today, Romney is being accompanied by so-and-so and we've got our team following the development in Britain." Wow.

Another wow is the fact that I was just contacted, within the short period of ten minutes, for two more internship opportunities. Of course, I have already signed my contract and I'm thrilled with my placement, but I still got some feeling of excitement.

Can't they just please, please leave me as a post-it on the wall and let me come back to them when my spring internship ends? I really want to stay here! I need good advice on how to proceed with this. I think I will consult with my father. He is wise.

A tour in the real world.

No journalism class today. Instead, we will leave the classroom and go out into the real world. One of our professors has arranged a tour at the Washington Post – after lots of nagging from especially B1 and B2.

I'm excited and I think – at least I hope – the tour can give me that extra energy I need to get through these last weeks. I can't wait to leave the classroom for good and continue my studying out in the real world.

But until then. A big cup of coffee and just hang in there!

To all the parents out there.

If you are anything like me, you will like this column, written by Ruth Marcus for the Washington Post. She is discussing the issue of the First Amendment and how it conflicts with the so often tough online communication climate. Where does one person's freedom of speech end and another one's begin? When is it freedom of speech and when is it simply an assault?

It is quite complicated, isn't it? Whatever your answer may be, my respons to this column is simple: dear parents, please have your beloved children understand that what goes around, will eventually come around.

And when it does come around for Miss Sullivan, I hope Mrs. Sullivan will be there holding her hand. Because not even the bad ones should be offended in public.