Arriving at the end of the tunnel

The last couple of weeks have been kind of a mixed experience. A little under three weeks ago I broke my foot while out dancing, which means I've been wearing a caste and walking around on crutches for a while.. We finally had our graduation ceremony, and I got my studenterhue (grad cap)  which is a Danish tradition - you normally get it right after your last exam, but we waited more than a month, which meant we didn't quite feel like graduates yet. A few days after that, we went on the obligatory truck ride around greater Copenhagen, visiting the homes of many of our class mates, consuming a remarkable amount of alcohol in the process. But more than that, the point is that you spend a whole day (12 hours in our case) celebrating, standing in the truck screaming, and people wave at you, yell congrats, the cars honk when they pass, and everybody smiles at you. As a friend of mine said: "It makes you feel like a rock star!!". And it did, and I loved going around celebrating. But it was also tough for me, quite an ordeal really, because I had to move around on one leg and crutches - I was proud I made it, but my leg ended up cramping pretty badly towards the end, and it did take some of the enjoyment out of the whole experience, especially since I simply couldn't make it to the centre of Kongens Nytorv for the final dance around the Rytterstatue. 

          On top of that, we this weekend had massive rain in Copenhagen, which resulted in a flooding of our basement - 25 cm water everywhere. Now, it so happens that my room is in the basement - and although none of my vintage clothes were harmed, my prom dress, several pairs of shoes, my CISV stuff from when I was 11 and all my pre- and middle school books were soaked through; I've been spending days trying to save them. Also, I'll have to get a new wardrobe, new bookcases, a new table and a new bed. 

         Finally, I've been worried sick about my exam grades; I needed 38 points on my IB Diploma to get into University of St Andrews, and I felt very unsure as to whether I had managed that. Laying out the worst case scenario, I could go as low as 34 points - still a fine grade, I know, but very far from what I expect of myself. Also, it would mean that I most likely wouldn't be going abroad at all, and that the university I would end up at in Denmark would be far from my first choice, because the translation between IB and Danish grades is so ridiculous. So yeah, I've been in kind of a bad mood lately.

But, as the title of this post indicates, I am not only seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but have pretty much arrived at it. In just over a week, I will be able to walk properly again; I was allowed to start my job later and didn't, as I'd feared, lose it over my foot; I managed to publish my class' blue book today (which I've also been stressing about), and was actually happy with the result. And finally, and most importantly, the IB exam grades were published today, and I managed to in all my subjects achieve my best-case scenario grade, even surpassing it in one case - totalling 42 points which is even more than I was predicted. And *poof* - gone was my stress and anxiety, and I can now simply be proud of myself and excited to be going to St Andrews! Even if one of the two friends I was hoping to bring with me didn't make it, she'll still be rather close by - so it is not the end of the world. 

So: University of St. Andrews, here I come!!!