I am eighteen ...

Last month, I had my midyear theoretic exams, they were really hard, and as these were the first exams we have in college we were in shock!
The professors said it is very common in engineering colleges , but I felt really frustrated, because I used to take high marks always in high school.
We still didn't get used to the way our professors explain, and in mathematics we face a huge difficulty as the professor abbreviated 14 lectures to one!! So we didn't understand a word, and I went to the Dean with few students and postponed the exam after many trials to convince him.
My holiday was fine, I spent the first week in Mosul, I had 9 homework of geometrical drawing, I spent two days working on them for 12 hours till I finished them, you can't imagine how my back was killing me by then.
On Friday 29/1 I celebrated my 18'th birthday, my friends visited me and we had a nice celebration and a great time, during supper my English high school teacher called to wish me a happy birthday, so I told her I have a surprise and opened the speaker, my friends and I said "HELLO MISS", she was so happy to speak to her previous students, I am the only one who's still in touch with her, we had really nice conference.
Age 17 was great, I achieved one of my biggest dreams which is going to the college I love, and I made my parents more proud.
I got rid of my night bruxism, and I feel less tensioned than before, and I am working on being more relaxed.
I experienced many things that made me stronger in person, as well as left an impression that will stay in my heart forever.

I am more mature than last year, and I look at many things in a new prospective, it is a normal thing of course, but it is amazing how one year in human's life can has such an effect on his personality .. the biggest lesson I learned was it is ok to make mistakes sometimes, as long as I learn from them , and it is better to be good in many things, than being perfect in one field, the things I got though taught me a lot, and I am really grateful and thankful for god for keeping me and my family alive and safe..
My wishes for my 18year , is having a good health, and seeing my family and mom having a happier, safer life, and enjoying their health, I also want to publish my book, it is a long journey ! but my book is in the final stage (I hope), I also want to succeed from the first trial in collage.. I am planning to learn driving, and get a license..
Now , as I am 18, I can vote although my voice will make no defference!!!, I'll do what I can to make this country a better place. I know many people are frustrated and some will not participate in voting because there are a lot of cheating in results, but as Ghandy says " you should be the change you want to see in the world" , I can't fix Iraq, but I can be a good citizen do my duty, it is my job.. I really wish to live a peaceful life this year ..
I wished for so many things before I blew my candles, but the first wish was living in peace, I wonder how many times will I blow the candles and wish the same before having a free, peaceful country!!!

On Saturday I went to Baghdad, my mom had an appointment with the doctor, and thank god , her health is fine now .
In Baghdad I celebrated my birthday again with my grandparents, we spent a nice time ..
My brother had a high fever , so we didn't go anywhere except in the last two days..
On Wednesday , we had lunch in a lovely restaurant in al Rubaii street (my favorite place in Baghdad), and we also went shopping , and then we went to a nice park , my brother and sister played , we enjoyed our time so much ..
Then in the next day, we went to the zoo and a place called " Al Zawraa", it has nice gardens and a lake, it is the first time we see al Zawraa.
Baghdad was empty this visit, the Shiites were in karbala as they have ceremonies there, that's why we took this chance to go out, see al Zawra! The streets were empty.
What was weird is the so many signs and flags in streets, those ethnic traditions came to Iraq after war, it is painful to see the country in this way.
The funniest thing is when we went to al Zawra we saw many people calling their relatives and saying " you will not believe?! Al Zawra is almost empty, there are only respectful families with their kids, take the chance and come" .. people avoid going to al Zawra because the majority who visit it are from rotten level in our community ,although it's nice place with beautiful nature..
We saw many families from mosul, and the journey was perfect .. a woman said to me " we'll come to al Zawra, every year like this time!!"
Then, on Friday, we had lunch in my relatives house, and the supper at the restaurant ..
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This week in college was nice, I did well in mathematics, and we had some break time, the weather is cool and I spent lovely time with my friends, one of my friends "N" got engaged, frankly I find it weird as she's only 19, but she's glad and this guy loved her since she was in high school, so I am happy for her..
Her engagement party will be after the election, so we are excited..
Sunshine