It's the one day a year that everyone calls/texts your phone, emails you, writes on your Facebook wall... it's like you're the princess for a day! I always loved that about birthdays. You get presents, and cake, and flowers, and cake, and cards, and did I mention cake..? Because I really do love cake...
Anyways... moral of the story is I love birthday cake almost as much as I love my birthday. (Although it's pretty darn close to being tied) You can imagine, now that you know how seriously I take my birthday, how depressed it made me to think about having to spend it across the world.. with no phone number for my friends in the US to text, a distinct lack of presents, and no cake! Despite the fact that my best friend would be here to celebrate it with me with me, and despite the fact that most people don't get to spend a birthday in a foreign country, it just wasn't the same knowing that I wouldn't get any birthday text messages or birthday cake!
By this point I'm sure you're asking yourself "Honestly, how horrible could her day be to make her this disgruntled...?" Well, wonder no more! I'm going to tell you!
To start with, my day started out at the ungodly hour of 6:45 a.m. Don't roll your eyes at me! I don't care if you got up earlier than that! It's my birthday! I shouldn't have to see the sun until I WANT to see it! But anyways... higher learning (even in a foreign country) doesn't break for a Christina's birthday party come to find out. And so, like a responsible adult, I got up to eat my breakfast with enough time to be awake and make it to my 8:15 Swedish for Beginners 1b class. I literally almost fell asleep in my bowl of delicious cereal that I was eating while looking through my "Happy Birthday!" Facebook posts. It was just too early of a morning. So I decided to treat myself to another 20 minutes of sleep. After all, class wasn't for over an hour! I had showered last night. I didn't need to be awake.
Wrong. My short snooze turned into another two hours of near comatose after I, unknowingly, turned off my alarm when it sounded at 7:30 and continued to sleep. I was woken up much later by Ryan pointing out that we had missed our class and that it was now nine in the morning. Awesome.
But that was alright! After the initial shock of missing one of my two total classes this week wore off, I remembered that our professor teaches two sections... one at 8:15 and one at 10:15. Perfect. This was still going to be the best day ever. Especially now that I was well rested!
Ryan and I both got ready and walked to campus together. We parted ways as I went to learn some Swedish in our class for both of us and he went to pretend to learn in his class that is being taught in Swedish. I got to the classroom that I thought class was supposed to be at, only to find it dark and deserted... with no one waiting outside the door like I expected. I guess there wasn't another section taught at 10:15 today... which means I got out of bed before noon for no reason. Even more awesome.
After that, I sulked back to the apartment where I continued to read more "Happy Birthday!" emails and Facebook posts. I even looked at puppies that I pretended I could have for a birthday present to help cheer me up. Ryan came back from class and we went to have lunch with Shannon and Tyler at the pizzeria on campus. After all, I couldn't very well cook for myself on my birthday! That's crazy talk!
I checked our mailbox on the way through the lobby hoping to get another birthday card or the package my family sent. It is always better to get birthday cards and presents on your birthday...
***** On a side note, I would like to thank everyone who went out of their way to send a birthday card across the world to Ryan and I... Marcia, Brian, and Jonas Culkins, Grandma Hanson and Grandma Cooper, Cindy, Marty, Kyle, and Jen Bogart, Denny and Ann Williams, and My Nana and Grandpa! (I think that's all the ones we've gotten so far. So if you sent one and I didn't mention you, it just means that we haven't gotten them yet.) You all touched our hearts with your gesture and you'll never know how much we appreciated getting something other than Swedish junkmail and rent! Thanks again! *****
Moving on... I checked the mail. And what to my wondering eyes did appear?! A slip with my name on it saying I had a package! I was SOOO excited! My parents package managed to make it all the way from Walker, MN to Lulea, Sweden on the exact day of my birthday! How awesome is that? I honestly don't think they could've planned it better even if they tried!
Mood now lifted ten fold, Ryan and I walked across campus to the grocery store to retrieve my package. I should mention here that they don't deliver packages to your apartment. Tyler got a calculator shipped here from the United States, and found out that you pick up packages from the campus grocery store. Weird, right?
Moving on again... I got to the grocery store, handed my ID and slip to the cashier lady, and waited very impatiently as she went to the back room to get my box. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, she finally came back. Without my birthday present. At first, she told me that perhaps my slip had just been put into my mailbox and the package would arrive at the store shortly. But after conversing with a fellow worker, she corrected herself only to inform me that my package would not be delivered to their location. To make matters worse, when I asked where this other mystical location was, she replied simply... "It's hard to explain. You should ask a friend." And then she handed back my ID and slip. And went back to work.
It's like she didn't even care! She didn't even take the time to notice that the Date of Birth on my license clearly showed 09/14/1988! Which, obviously, made today my birthday! Ugh! How frustrating. Now it was my job to find where the Swedish postman decided to drop off my precious package... Not something I wanted to tackle on an empty stomach. It was time for lunch.
We met up with Shannon and Tyler at Porson Pizzeria. I ordered my favorite: chicken pasta. Ryan got his usual: kebob e pitabrod (kebob meat on pita bread). I'm sure you can probably guess by now with the luck I was having... but I definitely didn't get chicken pasta. Instead, I got the lunch special... skinka pasta (Ham pasta). I was one very unhappy camper.
Being that I work in the food industry, normally I would excuse the mistake and eat the food placed before me. I really don't like to make a fuss... It's not that it looked inedible. It's not that I wouldn't consider ordering it in the future. And the only real difference between what was in front of me and what I ordered was the difference in meat. But I was tired of having things go wrong on the only day of the year I really care that they go right. So, before I took a bite, I had Ryan take it up to just see if maybe there was a mistake and I got someone else's food. There wasn't a mistake... at least not with what they brought me. They thought that's what I had ordered.
I ate the pasta rather unhappily. Although, I must admit that it was very good. I was just in a sour mood over my birthday not turning out to be the magical day I waited all year for.
After lunch, Shannon helped me look up where I'm supposed to pick up my package. It's a good two mile walk from campus. Not nearly as convenient as the ICA grocery store. Go figure.
Then it was on to three hours of Cellulose and Paper Technology lecture! Doesn't that just sound fun?! But do you want to know what the worst thing is? Going to class actually made my bad day better! I'm such a nerd that way. Learning about recycling paper products and watching videos on the gross/weird things they find during the process actually cheered me up. Did you know they actually found a gun once? Isn't that crazy? I know, I know, I know... I'm weird.
My day got exponentially better after going to lecture. Once I finished learning about the wonders of recycled fibers, Ryan and I took the bus downtown to eat dinner at the sports bar we went to a few weeks back with our Nebraska Friends.
We ate a delicious meal, drank delicious peach daiquiris, and sipped on delicious Coors Lite taps while watching last night's Monday Night Football match up with the New York Giants and the Baltimore Ravens. And even though the two teams played some horrible football, it was still fun to watch. I had a fantastic two hours of conversing with my husband about our great life over here and together we enjoyed spending way too much money on alcoholic beverages. I loved every minute of it.
I even got to talk with one of my very best friends, Jessica, for the first time via Skype tonight! Which was a present in itself. And I made a call to both of my parents as well so they could shower me with their birthday wishes like I knew they would. I honestly think they're the reason why I love my birthday so much. They always made me feel so special on My Day. There was always bouquets of flowers, great presents, lots of love, and birthday cake. Always. That is definitely something I will miss now that I've grown up and moved out. Ryan has some pretty big shoes to fill when it comes to treating me like the birthday princess I've been for the past 21 years of my life... But he's stepping right up to the plate. He's done pretty good for himself on year one if I do say so myself.
And so... as I sit here on my computer a thousand miles away from home, with no birthday cake to eat tomorrow morning for breakfast, and with the clock ticking away the final minutes of my 22nd birthday... I have to say, overall, this has been a pretty darn good birthday. Probably even one of the best, despite the emotional rollercoaster. It was definitely one I won't soon forget. But, in the words of the great Gary Wilkening... it was a day of "building character". Right Dad?
Moral of the story today, kids: The world won't treat you any nicer just because it's your birthday, but the people in your life who care about you will. And all the birthday wishes I got from family and friends, old and new, definitely made up for all the crummy everyday crap that came along with it today. No doubt about that.
Sorry about the rambling and ranting. I promise to keep it to a minimum tomorrow.
Wait! Just one more thing! It's only 364 days until my birthday!!! Or wait? Is it a Leap Year this year?
Peace, Love, and Swedish Meatballs!!!
-The 22 Year Old Bogarts :)
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