Tired and dizzy

Posted on Monday, 2 March 2015, 22:11 by Alexandra

This day was not very long, but it felt like it would never end! I didn’t have my first class until 2pm, and was done by 5:30 and then spent two hours at the library doing two Urban Planning quizzes and all my German homework. After that I was completely done, had dinner, watched an episode of Once Upon a Time and now I am all ready to go to bed. I hope I can fall asleep. And also, there are people in the apartment so I guess that won’t happen anytime soon. Why are the walls so thin in this country??

Books

Posted on Sunday, 1 March 2015, 22:26 by Alexandra

This mono is definitely here, I am so tired all the time. But I still have my sleeping problems which is extremely disturbing. I managed to fall asleep at 11pm last night, without any sleeping pills. But I woke up at 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep for the next three hours. That sucked big time!

I was in bed most of the day yesterday reading and finally finished Bitterblue, the third and last Graceling book. It was so good, but I feel like there should be a fourth book, it wasn’t really a good ending when everyone left for different places. I had a hard time, like always, deciding what book I wanted to read next. After a long while I decided that I wanted to read the next Lorien Legacies: Lost Files novella, The Fugitive. It is only 100 pages and I should finish it tonight. After that I will read the first novella in the new companion series to The Mortal Instruments. I am so excited for that one. And after that? Hmm, Maybe The 100? These decisions all the time.

Week 9 starts tomorrow. Where did the quarter go? Two full weeks left in school, then spring break! Also, it’s March 1^st today! 3.5 months until I am done with school. Scary!

Long Thursday

Posted on Thursday, 26 February 2015, 23:36 by Alexandra

I only have two long Thursday’s left before this quarter is over. Today I was doing stuff non-stop from 11am until 7pm. It was a long day with my feverish and very tired mood. I survived though and got some new information about the internship process, I can’t really say the Urban Planning class was very giving today, German was okay and fun as usual, and we had a guest speaker for two hours at the lab. Was rough. I thought Shannon and I would be able to analyze the peak hour bus routes after the lab, but since it was after 6pm it had to be the off peak. But we needed to do that too. So we basically just sat on the bus route all the way around, wrote down the arrival and departure time of all the stops and also how many boardings and alightings. It wasn’t too bad.

Then I spent I short while at the Farmers Market and had dinner downtown before going home where I had a big slice of warm cookie/cake with ice cream. I see double now and so look forward to sleeping for as long as I want tomorrow.

Bake a cake

Posted on Wednesday, 25 February 2015, 21:52 by Alexandra

This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

I thought this week was gonna be super hectic, but turns out it is my slowest week this quarter so far. I am so happy about that!

But instead I am tired and have no energy for nothing, so after I got done with everything today I baked and then just watched TV shows. I baked an American cookie(/cake) with chocolate and caramel. It turned out divine and now, after a piece, and dinner, I am so full I can’t stand it. It is only 9:30pm, but I am definitely going to bed as soon as I am done with this post.

Today was very chill, I went to my two classes, and sat out in the sun in between for an hour reading Bitterblue. It is a thick book and with the lack of freetime and energy I’ve had lately I haven’t read as much as I would have wanted. I have such a long list of books I wanna read, and Cassandra Clare released the first book in a companion series to The Mortal Instruments. I so wanna read that one now, but I have told myself to stick to one book at a time, otherwise this would be chaos!

The quiz in Public Transportation didn’t go well at all, but I don’t really care right now. It is just one of three quizzes, and is only 10% of my grade. And I didn’t fail miserably.

Okay, time for me to call it a night, I will hopefully wake up not too tired tomorrow and prepare for a very very long day.

Here is the recipe for this divine piece of cake. It is in Swedish though, and I am way too tired to translate it tonight. If you don’t speak/read Swedish, use Google Translate, or ask me tomorrow. It is gonna be worth it, just ask my roommate Rachel ;).

News from the doctor

Posted on Tuesday, 24 February 2015, 23:52 by Alexandra

Okay, good new first, I do not have a lifelong vitamin B12 deficiency that needs monthly injections, that is a relief. But I wonder why my values were so extremely low that one time when I did the tests the first time in Sweden?

The bad news, and I don’t how to rank these two according to badness, but the first thing; I have mono. Again! How is that even possible? I have no idea, but I definitely have it, and it sucks monkeyballs! This means no sports that could potentially hurt my stomach, and more specifically my spleen and liver. So no beach volleyball, no volleyball for four weeks. It is a good thing that spring break is four weeks away so I will be able to play down in SD at least. But I am still very bummed about this. I don’t have any symptoms once again (except for my tiredness lately). Ugh!!

After I stopped being surprised on the phone very early this morning, the doctor told me she had more bad news. What?? Apparently my blood is showing an allergic reaction to something. They couldn’t see what kind, just that I had it. I did those tests years ago in Sweden, I am not allergic to anything except bunnies and Erythromycin (a type of penicillin). What could it be? Nothing that makes my nose runny or eyes itchy or anything like that. She told me to get Allegra for allergy relief. But I hate taking medicine if I don’t know what for. So tomorrow I am gonna call the allergy place here in SLO and ask how much those tests would cost. If I am allergic to something I really wanna know what it is.

Everything is going so well for me right now, I’ve never ever had as good grades as I have now, I might have an internship, I have a great apartment down in San Diego waiting for me if I get the job, spring is coming, and I have spring break coming up with fun plans, and an awesome last quarter in school with fun classes, surfboard crafting class, scuba certification class and just amazing California in general. So why do I have to pay for all this with my health? It’s not fair :(.

I guess, as long as I don’t have symptoms and am lying half-dying in bed I should be glad.

And speaking of bed, it is time to join it under the covers. I am done with studying for the quiz tomorrow, I finished my German homework and I’ve had my fair share of ice cream tonight. Definitely time for a date with my pillow. Goodnight!

A good Monday

Posted on Tuesday, 24 February 2015, 1:42 by Alexandra

This day started with a couple of blood tests to determine once and for all if I have a B12 deficiency that needs to be treated for the rest of my life. The two doctors in Sweden have so far told me two different things, so I’m hoping this will help me. I will hopefully get the results by the end of the week and we will deal with it after that.

I went back home to bed for another three hours after first skyping with mom for a while. Before class I went to a popcorn test for one of Julianne’s classes and then I had my two classes and ended the day with four hours at the library. I was done by ten, came home, and had nothing to do. I was so happy. I sat down, watched an episode of Arrow while painting my nails and just being happy. A big part of my happiness was the apartment I found in San Diego available for me right when I am done with school. Three Swedish girls are leaving in May and needs three new people moving in. I told them I was very interested and that I could come down and look at the apartment on Spring Break. She was also gonna talk to the building manager or whatever and get back to me with more details. $860/month, everything included, two pools in the apartment complex, parking spot for $55. And it is down in southern San Diego, close to beach volleyball. It is too good to be true, but on the other hand, everything seems to go my way right now :).

I had way too much energy tonight, so at midnight I started to clean my room, then I fixed my ripped jeans, and now when there is nothing more to do, I guess it is time to go to bed.

Montaña de Oro

Posted on Sunday, 22 February 2015, 22:17 by Alexandra

Another eventful weekend is over and I can’t really say that I am ready for this week to start. It will be a busy week again, with the Public Transportation project, tests at the Health Center, maybe more hikes and a party.

Today I went on a second hike in Montana de Oro which is a little north of here. The beach area was beautiful, rocky, sandy, and cool cliff formations. A seal was lying there, and we saw one starfish and lots of anemones. I thought it was gonna be cold since it rained this morning, but it was actually pretty nice out there with the sky turning more and more blue. Then we ended up on the Nose Trail hike which was 3.6miles, I was not really prepared for that in my boots and I got a big blister that popped right away. It hurts, but it was worth it, it was a pretty hike! And it felt better to eat the big burger at Sylvester’s afterwards, haha!

I actually didn’t take any pictures, but I will probably go back and take pictures on a more beautiful day.

When I came home I took a long nap, and then I have been chilling. Met the new Swedish guy in the building for the first time which was cool.

Now I think I will head to bed and watch Interstellar. Then up early tomorrow for the B12 tests. Goodnight!

Big Falls Trail

Posted on Saturday, 21 February 2015, 22:57 by Alexandra

My planned sleep-in this morning did not happen. But I am glad it didn’t. I went on a beautiful hike with Julianne and Sienna down in Arroyo Grande. It took a while to drive there and we had to drive through the river that went through the creek.

It was very foggy and not particularly warm when we got there, but the sun came out a little after a while. But it was still not warm enough for me to jump in the water. So first we walked and walked and walked. We never got lost but we took the wrong turns all the time. First we came to a tall waterfall where we stayed for a while. The water was full of salamanders and even a turtle. The trail was also full of salamanders, so cuute!

We were told there was a natural waterslide somewhere and it wasn’t by the waterfall, so we climbed up through poison oak (I don’t think any of us actually touched any) and find a trail up on the hill and kept going. We saw some pools of water, another turtle, more salamanders and then we came to a more “foresty” area of the hike. It was pretty, but we decided it wasn’t worth going that far so we turned around, and after a long while we saw the slide, and it was in the beginning of the hike, way before the waterfall. We stayed there for a while until a bunch of freshmen joined us and showed us you could actually go cliff jumping in that pool. The waterslide looked dangerous, but everyone jumped from the cliff. It wasn’t too high, I’m guessing 15 feet. I have done worse and since it was a cold day I didn’t feel too bad about being the only one who didn’t jumped. I can always go back!

Back home I had lunch, watched an episode of the Flash and took a 3 hour nap. Woke up at 7pm and have done nothing since then. I watched another episode of the Flash, I emailed the immigrant attorney and I guess I should go to bed early. But I know myself, that will not happen. I suck!

Cute salamander hanging on the ledge in the water. The first turtle we saw! Not as big as the salt water ones, but still very cute. I love turtles! Big Falls Trail waterfall The waterslide.

Career Fair

Posted on Friday, 20 February 2015, 23:48 by Alexandra

The past couple of days have been very interesting. Last night I went to the career fair for architects/planners/project managers/and whatever. I had looked up a few companies beforehand and talked to a lot of them. I was nicely dressed in Rachel’s clothes and felt more professional than I ever have. I think I did pretty well actually. There were especially two companies I was very interested in, both in North County San Diego and they both offered internship which then could turn into a fulltime job. Project Engineer Intern was the title and I was gonna help on construction sites and stuff like that. What I have done before pretty much. I am gonna email them both tomorrow and tell them I will be going down to San Diego again in the end of March. One of the companies specifically told me to come down and visit the office to say hi to people and go out and see some construction sites. I have a good feeling about this! I am very excited about this and hope I will get an internship for the next 9 months.

I talked to more companies and will apply for more internships than just these two, but those are the most interesting to me.

Today I talked to the visa specialist at the International Center and I got a lot of information there too. I learned last night that there is something called Visa Sponsorship (which basically just is when a company wants to hire you and give you an H-1 visa), and I asked this lady about the specifics about all of this. I have this 2-year rule that says that I have to be home in Sweden for the next two years after this visa expires. There is a way to waiver that thing. Which I would have to do before applying for the H-1 visa. And you can only apply for that once a year, April 1^st, and that is way too soon for me. If some miracle happened I guess it could happen (I am gonna email an immigrant attorney tomorrow and ask about this). So I guess I have to wait for that until next year, but I can’t start working until October 1^st, so that means I would have to go home to Sweden in March and then stay there until October. I wonder if a company would still want me if that would happen. I guess I will have to do a really good internship and hope for the best.

So for now my only option is to do an internship. It doesn’t sound too bad to be honest. It would be nice to spend next summer at home, working at Liseberg, living with mom again (because I guess I would have to give up my apartment pretty soon).

But one thing at a time, first I need to get an internship. Cross your fingers for me! 🙂

This morning I actually had an interview with another company, it went okay I would say. It wasn’t with one of the two companies that I really want though. This was the first trip I made to campus.

My second trip to campus today was to talk to the International Center (but no one was there at 3pm) and then discuss my B12 deficiency with a doctor at the Health Center. I explained my situation, that my first doctor in Sweden told me this is something that will never go away and that I will need injections for the rest of my life. The other doctor said I didn’t have a deficiency. So I will do all the test once again to determine what is going on. I will have to do that on Monday morning though, one of them was a test that needed to be done while fasting. Three tests in total, $50, but it will be worth it. If it turns out to be what the first doctor said and I will need injections every month for the rest of my life, the pharmacy will order a 25 pack of those doses just for me. $60 for that is not too bad. I think 5 doses in Sweden was like $10. They are also gonna teach me how to take them myself so I don’t have to go to a clinic every month.

My third visit to campus was at 6:30pm when I joined an intramural indoor volleyball team for their practice. One of my neighbors invited me and it was really fun. Not nearly as fun as beach volleyball, but definitely a good way to spend a Friday evening if nothing better is offered. Not as much ball contact as in beach volleyball, and I didn’t really get exhausted from the workout, but I still enjoyed it and might go next week to. Maybe I should even join a team myself next quarter? Unless they have intramural beach volleyball in the spring quarter which I have heard rumors about.

When I came home I took a shower, baked some cornbread and now I will take that cornbread with me to bed and watch the latest episode of The Flash and then pass out.

I had my hair down at the career fair, I felt pretty. It is kinda unbelievable that I am graduating in four months. I will have a Bachelor of Science in four months!! Crazy! My German midterm, these are the only marks I had on the test, and there were two more pages. Go me! (why not post random pictures when I have 13GB on this website to fill?)

Double A’s

Posted on Thursday, 19 February 2015, 1:36 by Alexandra

All this late night studying has finally started to pay off. Two days ago I got the result on my Urban Planning midterm and I got a 90%, which equals an A-. I am happy!! And today I got my German midterm back and I got an A! My name was torn off the paper and the professor told me it was because he showed it to another professor. Does that mean that my midterm was a really really good one? Maybe even best in class? Only two or three marks on the whole test and I am very very proud of myself. All the hard work I’ve put into school the last three weeks have really paid off.

And the German class in general was so fun today, I laughed all the time! We are starting to have conversations and actually talking in class now and it was just great. I love that class!!

Another cool thing that happened today was that I got the videos of all the 8 games of beach volleyball we played on Monday evening. Here is a link to them if anyone feels like watching. I played with Chris and against Wes and Cathleen. It was such a fun night.

What else happened today? Pretty much just studying, today before class as well as after. When will this ever end? I miss sleep…

Last night I was at the library until midnight. But after tomorrow the weekend will be here and I can’t wait!! Tomorrow will be a long day though. Doctor’s appointment at 9, then two hours to kill (maybe nap in the library?), presentation practice at 11, class at noon all the way until 6pm. And right after that there is a career fair for architects/urban planners and all the others in that area. I haven’t had time to research the companies yet, I will do that tomorrow on my two hour break I guess. I borrowed some nice clothes from Rachel and I hope I will get at least a few companies attention. If it is even possible with an internship at private companies. We will see. I also reached out to all the cities down in San Diego County and asked for internships. Please cross your fingers that I will get something down there! That would be a dream come true!