Another year older, another year wiser.

It seems like just yesterday I turned 25... 24... 23. Time sure flies by quickly. It was my birthday the other day (June 18th); I turned a whopping 26 years old. That number does not roll off the tip of my tongue, but then again, neither did "25". I'm sure I'll get used to it! Another year older, another year wiser, right? 

My 26th birthday was primarily spent on campus, cramming for a final exam in Psychopathology that I had in the evening and for the Organizational Psychology final exam I had the following day. An exam on my birthday and the day after was definitely not ideal. It was a fairly uneventful day, but there were quite a few things that made my 26th birthday special. 

I woke up to text messages, emails, and phone calls from family and friends. These continued throughout the day, and it was great being distracted every now and then while studying. I bumped into friends on campus, who stopped to have a chat and give me a birthday hug. As many of my classmates in Tromsø know far too well, I love hugs. I made sure to maximize the number of hugs on my birthday. 

I met up with my fellow Norwegians, Anita, Anne, and Isabelle, before our Psychopathology exam. None of us felt as prepared as we had hoped to be, but we were in good spirits. I was especially in good spirits after Anita surprised me with a birthday present. How sweet! 

Anita got me a very cool box that looks like a book, salt and pepper shakers very suitable for a future psychologist, and a Strip-O-Gram. I anxiously awaited a knock at the door from Simon "Sexy Legs" McDonald when I got home after the exam. Alas, Sexy Legs did not show. I was really hoping to see him in the blue Power Ranger costume! Perhaps Anita gave him the wrong address? 

I went to Max Brenner with Devan after finishing the exam. Max Brenner is a café that specializes in chocolate deliciousness. We had the chocolate fondue; melted dark and milk chocolate, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, banana bread, and a Belgian waffle. As Heidi would say: BEETUS. After getting our sugar fix, I headed back home to start my next cram-session. This time, Organizational Psychology was the focus. 

Isabelle stopped by with some caloric study motivation, a sweet card, and a hug. Bonus points for getting candy with suitable names: Smarties and Lifesavers! 

This whole semester I've been jokingly saying that I refuse to turn 26 in Australia because so many of our friends are so young. I'm talking 20ish year old young; Devan turned 21 the day before me! Oh my gosh. Needless to say, I was happy that Isabelle let me live in my little fantasy world of only turning 24 on my birthday. 

Aside from the cards from the girls, I also got some cards in the mail on my birthday. I LOVE getting mail. There's nothing like opening the mailbox and seeing envelopes with your name on them! 

All in all, I would say it was a pretty good day. Thank you to everyone who took time out of their busy day to wish me a happy birthday! You are wonderful. 

Yesterday (June 19th) was also a very good day. As my birthday was spent primarily studying, we decided to celebrate the following day. We had our Organizational Psychology exam in the afternoon. Crossing my fingers that we all passed! There were quite a few tricky questions, and at times I couldn't help but laugh. 

It felt great to get that final out of the way, so we also wanted to celebrate being done with finals. Well, we're technically not quite done. We have our last final in Health Psychology on the 30th, but that should be a breeze compared to the other ones. It feels marvelous to be done with Organizational Psychology!

Isabelle and Anne took me out to dinner in the evening. We went to a nice Italian restaurant in Surry Hills, and ate delicious pizza and drank red wine. Delicious! Anita joined us for drinks later in the evening at a bar nearby. It was a great night with great friends!

Today (June 20th) I slept in, and got packed for my first adventure as a 26 year old... Bali! I'm really looking forward to spending six days in the sun. Ah, it will be grand! Sydney will be there with me for the first half, and then I'll be on my own for the second half. 

Love, 

Suzy, the 26 year old