distractions that surround us

"talented, gifted"... hm... what was that again? Oh yeah, "begåvad (-t -e)"
Lets see, whats next on the list. "obvious" ...
My feet are getting tired.
That woman over there looks very interesting. I wonder if she got up like that or if that was intended.

Those and others are thoughts that 20-year-old Antonia Hulha has when she walks to school in the morning. Usually you can see her wearing a big black coat that is tightened in the waist and loose in the bottom with the tips of her skirt barely visible underneath it. Her neck and chin are completely enveloped in two different scarves, one soft and nice for the skin and one thick enough to keep any form of cold away from her. Her hair is loosely wrapped into a bun and her gloved fingers are tightly grabbing onto a piece of paper that she seems to be carrying around with her where ever she goes.
That little piece of paper is a compilation of her recently discovered swedish words translated into either German or English - which ever fits best. Or to say it with different words: a multi-lingual vocabulary list.

If you had met Antonia on the streets only a few days earlier and had tried to talk to her she wouldn't have reacted to you. You would have maybe tried to speak up, or, if you'd still fall short of getting a reaction, look at her more closely in order to make sure she was the right person. This would go on until you would have decided that a little bit of physical contact can't hurt and softly tipped her on the shoulder.
She would have jumped out of her skin, turned to you and lifted off her amazingly oversized headphones off her ears. Headphones, that used to be connected to an mp3-player filled with music of all genres. Headphones, that used to flod her ears with so much music that she couldn't focus on her list.

But no more. No. Antonia said good-bye to this technical monstrosity in order to focus 110% on her vocabularies.
But while she is thinking about the correct translation of the word obvious she is now distracted by the black snow piling up left and right of the street or the dog on the other side of it, too small to keep up with its owner without running. Every once in a while you see her shaking her head, trying to regain focus on her studies, but her new concentration only lasts a few seconds until she finds yet another thing to be distracted by.
This phenomenon makes it very difficult for her to study adequately and at times she gets quite frustrated. So if you happen to meet her on the street ask her which word she is thinking about. That will help her regain a few seconds worth of concentration.