The month of May is a blur. I don’t remember anymore what I did, except long days of trying to write and making figures, in the computer lab in the Geoscience building together with Roweena and Jessica (among others), and alone at home. I can’t remember if I did anything else, even properly go outside to enjoy the blossoming spring of the southern suburbs of Stockholm.
I did do other stuff, though. Even if I don’t properly remember it. There is photographic proof. I baked. Cookies, that I fed to Josh, Dries and Roweena. And I made “cold-raised” breakfast muffins, that I brought to a study session at Elli’s.
I think it’s one of the things people tend to find weird about me, the fact that I don’t really like baked goods. Eating bread or cookies or cake, most of the time I don’t mind it, but if given the choice, I prefer vegetables or fruits or ice cream. But there are always home-baked goods at my house, because I so enjoy the act of baking. The feel of the ingredients in my hands, different textures. The smells. And I like the way it looks, when I put the whole yield of muffins or buns in a basket or a bowl, how delicious and excessive it makes my kitchen seem. So. That’s why I do it. Bake. (There’s also something incredibly satisfying with the smiles on people’s faces when I bring out a cake or a box of cookies at home or at uni, I so enjoy other people’s enjoyment.)
There were also student council-related meetings with important people at hotels and university conference rooms. They were likely my last, at least as a student, after a long career of being the student representative in almost every council and advisory board at the Stockholm university science faculty. I should have cherished them. I’ve enjoyed the university politics, after all. Instead, I couldn’t focus. I think it was the thesis, too ingrained on my brain for me to be able to follow the discussions about course descriptions and student rights. Instead, I drew knitting patterns for my mittens. My kind of doodling.
And that was it. The very undramatic end to my student representative’s career.
Katja Malmborg 