Rays




Just for a few days.

Laugh like a fool, or don't laugh at all



A regular friday ? Oh no. Sun (snow), quiet breakfast table and holy Chuck Taylor-weather.
And as topping on the chocolate chips on the sprinkles on the whipped cream on the very best B&J - J's in town.

Youth knows




Serendipity.
What is life, if not the newly woken sunrays of early March?

No secret handshakes, simply kisses hello and kisses goodbye



Here I am - a daughter (and now only-child since my second brother escaped the nest a few weeks ago) undescribably proud of having yet another doctor in the family. Who knew the feared D-day would turn out such a great day, from start to finish - with friends and family there to help and support.

Friday was BLACK SWAN. Entering the theatre with high on expectations, two hours sitting as if on newly sharpened nails accidently tipping half of the popcorn over the couple in front of me, exiting with arm hairs still raised hours after the end credits. It should have gotten more Oscar's.

No limits



Lajla

Surrounded by beautiful people, inside and out. Morning darkness is fading along with my hair color. Fridays are for celebrating birthdays, especially 18th:s. Excitement.

Waterfall in slow motion











Moena, Italy.
Slow down and let minutes go by as if they were clouds passing on a summer blue sky.

Vitt, vackert, visst.




Blog activity low lately, requesting apology from friends, family and tout le monde. However, Naima activity high - hours and hours spent nailing the processes of our metabolism, the theories of Archimedes and Isaac Newton, acting out Beethoven's miserable life in the Concert Hall of Gothenburg. Almost a week of living the dream, devouring russian romanticism with nightly nibs of more modern thinking. Along with a dad that just turned half a century, and a mother that just finished a thesis I will both flee and sadly be parted with the city covered in mushy, wet, heavy snow. Missing all the fab(ulous) things here at home, the Italian dolomites for a week of winter sport break will sure be  more than great. Don't fret - I will make sure I do everything I can to keep all my body parts intact. Now - 30 hours in a bus. Fab.

Seconds



Second movement, second semester, second year.
Living and loving.

To all you hillbillies and rednecks out there...


... and to all the rest of you people around this globe that for some reason are stuck in my heart. Did I mention that I miss you? And not just a little, but way too much? I want to wish you all the best as we go into the new year. I want all of you to gaze forward into the future - but not without first casting an eye to what has already passed. Remember the places we saw, traditions we learned, bonds that we made, experiences we had and the family we found. Take my love with you, and think of us as you celebrate the New Year of 2011!

Hasselblad


Dreaming white





Simply J. No words.

Cold chaos

Snow, everywhere! Except for the fact that all people traveling at the moment are stuck (it took my brother about 30 hours to get home from Newcastle, England) and that all homeless must freeze like nothing else, I can't help but to be secretly happy for the thick white coat our whole world has been covered in. Clean and serene it just quiets everything up, slows things down. Gives everyone a good excuse to cuddle up, with good company and a big cup of tea. I'm not complaining.

Let us entertain you

 

After spending all of the last 14 days at school, I can despite my lack of rest and crappy nutrition truly say that I wish it would have lasted longer. "It" being the most important project at school during the whole year for us juniors (second grader in our high school), a prestigious tradition - a revue (an entertaining show) for all the students, teachers and our parents. We are presented an opportunity to in only a few weeks time organize, create and present a comical show to fill 2 hours of our dear guests' time. Late nights, stressful schedules finally not only brought us all 150 people in my class together, but also could invite people to a night of entertainment and laughter. We've uncovered the secret, and found what we believe the perfect balance - just give a fair mix of teacher caricatures, guys dancing in dresses and prostitute make up, good songs performed by the band, parodies on the character of the school as well as the characters at the school, a really good dance number and some satirical depictions of important event in the world during the last year , and you will have an audience more than satisfied. (The picture is of one of my friend's Lady GaGa-eyelashes. She and 4 other girls did the dance to "Bad Romance" while two guys stood in front of them dressed as two of our male teachers singing "Bad Bromance".)

 

The exciting adventure that this has been, however, is about to be over very soon. The very last days we have performed this show five times, which means we only have one more show left. Our expectations for today being one of the best ones are high, since the audience will be all the first graders in our high school. Finally, we will take a proper farewell to this whole spectacle that's been our whole lives for the last weeks by a big party for the school tonight. Well, mainly for us second graders actually, but we're kind enough to invite the other grades as well. From what I've heard even some old students are planning on showing up!

 

Time to get ready to sing "Young Folks" for the last time, and laugh at all those jokes I've already heard a million times but still find hilarious. Oh, and did I mention that this class is extremely talented and simply so great and that I love them all?


A softbox of happiness



Simply a very nice Saturday, we escaped the snow chaos and had some wonderful hours simply euphorically happy. A studio, fully equipped - even the "Carola-fan", and two old Hasselblad cameras, newly loaded with fresh film.
Wow.

The end is near (only 8 months now...)


Yes - we have lightning scars in out foreheads.

Non, je ne regrette rien



Serendipity


Vacation.
Peace out.

Polar bears

I really would not be surprised to see one strutting down the street on the way to school. No, Americans, do not fret, I am just kidding. Seriously though - I did forget how cold it gets. But I honestly can not even attempt to be sorry or complain over it, since it means that I can use my lovely aubergine-purple dream coat that the US blessed me with.

Technically, the length of the days are getting shorter and shorter, but somehow my body and mind simply refuses to go along with this, which makes me very lucky. My unseasonably long days are crammed with school, fika with friends, crazy marathon cello lessons and dance evenings. I am after six weeks of it even more in love with the speedy, competitive jazz classes as well as the smooth, flowing modern dancing. In terms of ballet, every week I find more and more of those muscles that have been on vacation far too long. Me and my friend J also made an excellent new discovery a few weeks back; the only thing it took for us to get completely stuck was five minutes of that locking class. We now spend every free second practising the "scooby-doo" to James Brown's old classics.

To compensate for the dryness of this very blog the last few weeks I will offer you a treat. My dear old Nikon has (along with my unknown muscles) been awakened from his (also far to long) sleep, and was only a week ago dragged into the woods along with me and J.





Slow





So, it feels like life is going with an incredible speed of 1000 miles an hour, and so much is going on at all times. But a busy life is a good life! Ended up with the greatest class ever (aren't we charming in wetsuits?), and have been having way too much fun at school. And we were of course natural talents on wind surfing on our athletics day. And americans, let me tell you - the ocean is not at all as cold as you think! And about 60° with a wetsuit is not too bad at all!

Today, I'm staying home sick, the only thing I can think about now is watching "The Holiday" and drink hot cocoa.

"Are we going to compare Beethoven with Lady Gaga?"

Yet another totally packed day, like all the others! PE in the morning where we were tested on how fast we could run 2 miles, and suprisingly my last month (year) of being a couch potato has not affected my cardio at all as much as I expected. But after that me and a few of my classmates had a two hour lunch and then English class where we thoroughly read some Shakespeare.

Then I met up with some old friends (a few whom I haven't seen for over two years) to just reunite over a coffee to catch up. So much fun, it feels like just yesterday we walked around in the school, listening to the stupidest music and just worrying over stuff totally not worth worrying over...

Finally, it was a good rehearsal as a preparation for this weekend. I'm playing with a youth symphonic orchestra, and this weekend is our last intensive weekend, and then we're touring in the beginning of next week. The program is totally around Beethoven, and the whole concert is built up around a script, which is read by me and three others. So we are practically acting out and telling the story of Beethoven, while the orchestra plays different pieces in between. But it is a very different experience from being on stage as a musical artist, and the director here told me to NOT be as acting out as I am now, and try a different approach.

Now it's time to pack for this weekend, bringing my Physics book of course, and just be happy that I just got my permission to start practice driving!

earlier posts
Who? I am Naima - someone who loves life, playing the cello, photography, dancing, friends and simply most fun things in this world. After my year as an exchange student in the States I have had my eyes opened for the rest of this globe and all its wonderful people to meet and places to see.


Idag är det , it's
's day today.