Final Season Approaches....can you hear the wailing?

All is well here at the little taste of Sweden we call Sjölunden, as we approach the end of a truly wonderful session. You can just begin to feel the buzz of conclusion in the air, with portfolios due Tuesday and our Slutterminsprov (final) on Wednesday, followed by our Studenten (Swedish-style graduation) that very evening. Yes, you can indeed feel in in the air, the scent of pencil shavings and Sharpies mingling with the beginnings of an emotional stormfront about to bring a mess of teary farwells come Saturday.  

And then there's the storm currently raging, a mixture of stress, minor exhaustion, motivation, and as always, pure awesomeness (because this is 

Sjölunden, afterall) that results in such moments as this:  (Mia, in a rare moment of repose) 

 And then there's this gem, in which Nils appears to have cracked (but that's just Nils)

However, to say that the ledare have not also been affected would be false, as you can see by this picture, in which Saga smiles bravely for the camera. 

All in all, things are going all right here, as all the studenter forge on through courses in life skills as well as Swedish skills, whether through lessons in personal responsibility or past tense conjugation. And here we sit, connected by more than just language or shared living spaces, connected by something that encompasses all of us in this moment. Not sleep deprivation, or the fact that we may never have been  friends in the real world, but something that is happening here and now, something that has been happening for the past four weeks. I don't know if there's a precise word for it, but the phrase "enkel gladje" comes to mind. 

I believe I need to go to bed now. 

~ Elvy