Exam week and Birthday

It was my birthday last Wednesday, I turned 18, an age renowned for its immense celebration but did I celebrate? Not really, no. In fact, the weekend that has just passed I did not celebrate like a normal 18 year old would. Why not you may ask. Well, because I'm an IB student and we spend all our free time like we do at school - studying. Except for a measly birthday dinner with my family that lasted around two hours because I needed to get an early night, I did not celebrate at all. Both Saturday and Sunday were spent revising for the exams I have this week.
Bad timing? Yes, I agree.
Here's a little picture of how only the next two days look:

And that's missed out the history exam I had today and the biology exam I'mm having tomorrow. Oh well, I guess I don't need a social life or even to have time to go to the gym. Something I'd usually dread, I long for. I just hope I do ok on these exams so that all my lost time was worth it.

Right now I'm writing my TOK essay first draft and then I will move onto some History revision and then I will finish my evening with Biology, I can't wait. It's only a few months left now until the exams though. In a way it's nice; it means IB is over and I am free of it forever. All that awaits me now is university and then a life of working to try and make ends meet with some kids on the way and a husband and whatnot. In a way it's pretty bleak to think that way and I know if I study hard I'll have more opportunities to do what I want in the future, not just anything to make ends meet.

Uni chioces / grades I'm getting now.. grades I want

I'm about three months into IB second year now and things are really in full flow. I'm really starting too realise how last year was a piece of cake in comparison to this year. Now we're getting Internal Assessments done in all subjects, orals done for English and Swedish and everything is really starting to feel much more real. These things actually count to my final grade and that's scary because last year was just practise, I knew if I messed up it wouldn't count at the end of the day. If I mess up now, then it's my final grade I'm messing up and that's scary...

I had a hard time deciding between the UK or Sweden for university but after much consideration, I decided I would take a gap year and then go to uni in Sweden. This is mainly because all my closest family is here now and it's free to study! The only problem with me studying in Sweden is that it makes me feel like studying the IB in english was kind of a waste of time. I mean, it's my first language and it means that high school life has been easier for me.. but it means I haven't been able to practise my swedish as much, which is necessary because it's my second language and I need to be tip top for a swedish uni.
There are pros to the IB though, I know I'll be 10 times better than everyone else at structuring and writing essays and I'll be able to source unlike anyone else. Swedish schools don't focus as much on essay writing as IB and that's sad for them because universities definitely do!

At the moment I'm doing ok in my subjects, like everyone, I wish I was doing better but I'm really trying to study more to change that! The only subjects I was really unhappy with my end of year grade was biology and Swedish. For biology all it takes is a little bit more revision and really trying to understand the stuff (easier said than done, that stuff doesn't make sense to me!) but for swedish it's more complex. As I said, it's my second language and I only really started learning it when I moved here just over two years ago. The problem is, that the level I'm studying at is at a first language level and it means that I don't get very good grades. It's frustrating because it's hard to learn all the grammar, etc and even though I'm taking a swedish course on the side of IB, I don't seem to be improving.

Oh well, if I improve in these two subject areas, I aim to get a 34/35 at the end of the year plus however many points I get for the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge.