Alla goda ting måste få ett slut

It's only 3 weeks until the semester ends. My goal is to see all of this town before I go. My list of sights includes: Kvarntorpshögen, an open air art exhibit set on a gigantic oil shale slag heap in Kvarntorp. It has awesome sculptures and it also just happens to be partially burning at any given time; Naturens Hus, a cafe set in a nature reserve. I really want to see the nature reserve and Lake Hjälmaren in Spring. The cafe is just a starting point; Wadköping, a picturesque example of a Swedish old town right in Örebro. It is an open air museum with cafes, markets, and theatre.
Exploring all these places is a good way to spend a day, especially now that the weather is changing. Yesterday was such a perfect day. It was 20 C, about 70 f, sunny and green. I went for a bike ride through the woods behind Brickebacken. There are trails for walking or biking and even places to have a small fire and barbecue. I love Sweden in Spring! If only every day was like yesterday. Today I planned to ride my bike down to Kvarntorpshögen, but it's cloudy and looks like it might rain. I don't really want any more pictures with a cloudy background, so I decided to wait until next weekend. I guess I'll have to fit in two trips next weekend!

The semester coming to an end is bittersweet. On one hand, all we exchange students have come to depend on one another over the past few months. We are surrogate families to each other in a lot of ways. When the semester ends, we all go back home and possibly never see each other again. People who live close may see one another again, but for the most of us, it will be goodbye forever. On the flip side, a few will become friends for life. We won't know until it happens. Also, for me and many others, the end of classes means traveling really begins! Another American guy and I have booked flights all over Europe. First, Berlin, Germany, then London, England, then Barcelona, Spain, then Paris, France, then Prague, Czech Republic, then Rome, Italy, and last Bratislava, Slovakia and possibly Vienna, Austria. It's the trip of a lifetime and I could not be more excited about it. It's my dream come true! Fingers crossed that the Icelandic volcano doesn't ruin our plans! I'll be sure to write more about this later.

3 weeks left also means that studying has became priority. My environmental science project work is finally coming to an end and then I will have to finish writing my paper. In 2 weeks I have an Oral exam in Swedish language, and just a few days later, the written exam. Words cannot express how difficult it is to get motivated for homework while on student exchange. I would rather write this blog for hours, or clean the apartment, or go to the gym, or stare out the window than study, but I have to do it... So, I better get to it :D