As of January this year (2002) I'm a student at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. But don't let that fool you into thinking I'm a lucky guy who always knows what he wants to do - it took me a long time to muster the will to actually go through with it.
I used to think being a doctor sounded cool when I was a kid (after I'd realized I couldn't be a knight), and I did nurture that thought throughout the years - but my motivation was up for a more serious boost.

In 1994 (when I was 15), I went on a trip to East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda), visting my maternal aunt who works there as a missionary. Up until then I had still done a decent amount of travelling, but nothing that brought me this close to the people living there.
Here, I met, lived with and befriended a lot of people who while not owning or earning much, never failed to extend a heartbreaking welcome or being generous in sharing what they did have.
I met children wearing shorts I'd made in textile handicraft in sixth grade, and given to my aunt because I didn't like them and sure as hell didn't want to wear them. But these kids didn't have anything else to wear. They took me out in the mornings to look for chameleons, and they were wearing those shorts, and I felt like the biggest asshole on the planet. It was the first time I really saw how things can be different if you're not born wealthy, how many things you take for granted that everyone doesn't have.

A lot of these people had relatives or friends, ill with or already passed away from malaria or AIDS. Several of the ones I met aren't around today. All the while, no one complained. Me, I felt that I wanted to help them. I felt that I would indeed become a doctor, the best doctor in the world, and care for those whom no one else cared about.
I know it sounds rather idealistic and all, but it's how I felt. I wanted to make a difference, do surgery in tiny mud-made huts in the light of kerosene lamps, and save lives.

So my path seemed decided here, but over the years, in spite of knowing what I wanted, laziness set in. After finishing high school (natural science program) in 1998, I did one year of military service, and then ended up working, first as a writer for a webmagazine (nowadays put to sleep) for about a year and a half, and then six months as a "retirement-fund consultant" for SPP (Swedish company that, believe it or not, handles retirement funds).
The writing was great work that was pretty much dropped in my lap when I left the military. I enjoyed this a lot, and if it hadn't been for the magazine being terminated around New Years 2000/2001, I might have been there still.
As it was however, I ended up at SPP because I needed money (and it did pay rather well compared to writing), but it was, as you might have guessed, boring beyond belief. If nothing else though, those six months seemed to make me certain I'd had enough of quasi-qualified work, and led to me consequently applying to medschool for the autumn of 2001. (I spent my first semester at the University of Uppsala, and then switched to the more closely located Karolinska Institutet this year.)

The reason all this took me so long was not that I didn't want to study medicine or be a doctor anymore, but the fact that I didn't really want to do anything at all. You know, pretty much like Peter Gibbons in Office Space - if I had a million dollars, I'd just remove myself from productive society, not be an asset, go travelling, and slack about. It's as simple as that. I didn't want to acknowledge the fact that I wasn't fortunate (rich) enough to get away with this, so I kept hesitating, not wanting to apply and get into such a lengthy and seemingly life-determining education.

This is how I felt, and to tell you the truth, on occasion, those thoughts return. It's not that I don't like what I'm doing, or the long-term goal to which I strive, but I am inevitably lazy and undisciplined. I like staying up all night, sleeping all day, having lots of free time and no responsibilities.
Still though, I guess feelings like that can't be avoided in my case, but on the whole, I feel rather fortunate. I do like this, and it feels, most of the time, good to be involved in it.

To round it off, I guess I could say that I like the notion of this being an international, in some respects even universal line of work. I take some kind of subliminal comfort in knowing that no matter where I end up, in another country, or, theoretically on another planet, chances are I'll be able to use what I know in a good way.
No disrespect intended to occupations related to law, economy or the likes, but I could never feel an honest attraction to them. They only seem to apply to concepts we've created for and within our own society, just in order to deal with it. Move them outside that frame of reference, and they become pointless. Even ridiculous.
Science, writing, art, handicraft, medicine - all these subjects appear to go beyond that - although they may vary with location, they do not just apply to us and our rules of handling things.
I take comfort in thinking of that, and sometimes, it makes me feel I am - at least for now - on the right track.