Author Archives: Alexandra

Sun, sun, and sun

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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.

The storm has finally passed and today was the perfect day. The sun was up when my alarm went off at 7:30 which meant no snoozing. I had breakfast and went straight for the beach. It was already a nice temperature because of the ocean breeze. Without it, it would be unbearable being directly in the sun. I used a lot of sunscreen but still managed to get a tiny burn on my chest, left underarm and upper back. But it is not bad at all, will probably be gone tomorrow after some aloe aftersun lotion.

So, today I was just lying on a sunbed, reading, drinking a couple of drinks and just enjoying life.  I can also cross something of my bucket list, today I had a coconut drink on the beach. It was really good!

Last night I finished reading on page 170 (of 390), and now I only have 20 pages left. I am gonna finish The Scorch  Trials in two days, I wonder if that will be a record for me, a book in two days?

After the sun set behind the palm trees I decided to go for a walk along the beach to check out what was beyond the huge Barcelo hotel complex. I walked for 40 minutes until I reached the end of the peninsula we can see from this beach (it is tiny and very far away). I saw a white big bird, a heron maybe? Not sure.  I found a nice spot to sit down and decided to stay and watch the sunset. I sat down on the beach and started reading. After 20 minutes a man comes up to me on his motorcycle and starts talking to me in Spanish. I told him I didn’t understand “no hablo espanol”, but he kept going in Spanish anyway. It’s funny how these people think tourists understand when they just repeat whatever they are saying twelve times. Eventually I understood when he said cinco and pointed at his clock. I pointed at me and then at the resort with a questioning face. He said si, and I understood that I couldn’t be there after 5 pm. I missed the sunset with 20 or 30 minutes. That sucked. I hope I get to see some really nice Caribic sunsets on the other islands.

When I came back I took a shower and then I got so tired I got stuck in front of the TV watching Ice Age 2 and the beginning of Horton Hears a Who. I couldn’t stand my growling stomach anymore so I went to grab a quick dinner.

Now I am back and was hoping to watch The Maze Runner that my mom uploaded to Dropbox, but I forgot that I also have to download it to my computer from Dropbox which takes forever and ever! I guess I will either have to watch The Lorax on TV or finish my book. Or maybe I should just go to bed, I am going on a tour to a beautiful island tomorrow and the bus is picking me up at 7am.

Oh, right, I got my third final grade today! Architecture history B+, yes! Sustainable Environments A- and Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering Lab A-. Now I am just waiting for Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering.

Sun and The Scorch Trials This pretty much sums up my whole day!Coco Loco drink Coco Loco drink in a coconut, white rum, coconut water, coconut cream. Surprisingly good!Beach beyond Barcelo The “peninsula” beyond the Barceló hotel complex. The sand wasn’t as nice, the water was all brown, the sand was not as fine and there were a lot of rocks and corals. It looks pretty from afar, but close up, not so much.White birdThe white bird.

Last day of the storm?

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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.

The storm is hopefully over now. The sky has cloudy right now, but the wind has decreased a lot and no rain. I have high hopes for tomorrow (according to Google weather). Last night the storm was at its worst. I woke up at 2:30 am, probably because the bed is hard, or my mosquito bites were itchy, or because the rain just poured down like crazy. All above made it impossible to go back to sleep, so I stayed up until 5am and finished my book. I loved it! So much I had to start the second one The Scorch Trials right away. And today I actually finished a third of the book. I think I will watch the movie now before I go to bed.

I tried going to the beach at 10 am (I decided to sleep in since I didn’t get much sleep last night), but I could only last 20 minutes before I gave up. Way too windy. I went home, read until I fell asleep and woke up again at 2:30pm. I decided to give the beach another try, and it was warmer, a little less wind so I stayed until 4:30 when I headed back to shower and read some more. I love that I can just spend hours and hours reading now without worrying about anything else. At 6:30 I had dinner at the buffet, went back home, read some more, and fell asleep again for my second nap of the day. At 10 the Tropicalissimo show started, which was just a dance show with lightly dressed women and some men. It was okay, I had a couch all to myself and a strawberry daiquiri in my hand.

I am crossing my fingers and toes for a sunny day tomorrow, I have gotten some color, but I wanna start working on my tan for real now. I can’t come back home and still be pale.

Now it’s movietime!

IMG_20141216_101247 My breakfast this morning was delicious. Today they had both pineapple, mango and passion fruit!IMG_20141216_104251 IMG_20141216_225800

Hard Rock Cafe Punta Cana

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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 am pretty sure this was my 13th visit to a Hard Rock Cafe, my second one alone. I really don’t mind eating by myself and I had a nice time there by myself. I had a pulled pork chicken sandwhich and a cosmopolitan drink. I learned later that I could get free refills, so I ordered a pomegranate martini too. The last one was really good! I couldn’t do more after that, Hard Rock Café is very generous when it comes to alcohol in their drinks. And there was something else that I really liked about this HRC visit. A waitress walked around with an iPad where the guests could request music. I didn’t need to think that through, Three Days Grace of course! That was new since a month and I hope all the restaurants worldwide does that. It was great!

Before that I hung out at the beach for a few hours. Only since noon though since it was really bad weather in the morning and I decided to take a nap until the dark rain clouds cleared. They did eventually, but it was still cloudy all day. But when the sun was out I truly enjoyed it. I think I even might have gotten a little bit of color. Especially in my face. No burn!

I can’t really say that it was all just pleasantries at the beach today. There was a guy a little bit away from me and I saw that he was staring. Eventually he came closer and sat down on the sand 3m (10feet) away from me. After maybe ten minutes he came up to me and told me I was beautiful and that he was going to the bar, and wondered if I wanted something. I said I could take Piña Colada and I was hoping he would be gone after he gave it to me. Why did I even think that? I should have said no. Anyway, he came back and sat down, very very close to me, and started telling me several times again that I was very beautiful, that I was sent here by god, that he thought my eReader was a mirror and that I was admiring myself in it, AND that he loved me. I know that it is a cultural thing for men here to approach women and be straight up honest with them about their looks, but if they (this was a Dominican guy, but he lives in Cancun normally and was here on vacation) are at an international resort he should know that he can’t act like that. It was the creepiest thing ever! And clearly he didn’t get that I was uncomfortable and just wanted to be alone. I told him I had a boyfriend (and he answered that he just wanted to be friends, but seriously, who says stuff like the things he said and “just wanna be friends”??) and that I was here to relax after a tough quarter, but he didn’t understand. Even the family close to us saw it and gave me sympathetic looks. And I had no idea what to say, I am so bad at telling people to leave me alone. If I am not brave enough tomorrow I will just stay at the pool, in a different bikini (oh yeah, the creepiest thing was that he told me that he had kept his eyes on me since yesterday morning!), with my hair in a bun. I just wanna be alone and relax, that’s why I am here.  I don’t wanna be bothered by guys who thinks I am beautiful just because I have blond hair and fair skin. Guys here seriously stop in the middle of the street, stare at me, and tell me that I am beautiful. Oh, and at the bar today a guy totally checked me up from head to toe several times while I was ordering a drink. What’s wrong with people here? I am not that beautiful!

Anyway, now that I have that out of my system, it was a good day except for that creepy dude. I read a lot (only 30 pages left now in The Maze Runner), and I got to be on a gorgeous beach in 28C. It was windy, but it just made it bearable. The sun here is really hot. But I am hoping for a cloudless day tomorrow. With today’s weather it’s too cold to go in the water (the water is fine, but it’s cold in the air).

Dark clouds Just look at the contrasts between the dark sky and the turquoise ocean.Strange ship Hard Rock Cafe Punta Cana Hard Rock Cafe Punta Cana inside a shopping mall.Hard Rock Cafe drinks Free refills on drinks, yay! I know I have free drinks at the hotel, but these were so much better.HRC Three Days GraceThree Days Grace – Break! ❤

Rain

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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.

Warm summer rain is my favorite type of rain, but not when I am on a summer vacation. I got half the day with sun and I had about four hours relaxing by the ocean before I had to run to shelter to avoid being too wet. I did have a very nice time at the beach when I was there though. I had a pina colada, I read some in The Maze Runner, took a nap or two, went in the water several times (like yesterday, about 80F), and just enjoyed the sun (it was actually scattered clouds, but I liked that, since this was my first day out in the sun and I hate getting burned). It was sad that the rain came, but I did need lunch so I went there and had some from the buffet. The rain kept going for hours so I just stayed in my room, reading some more and then taking a nap for two hours. Getting that much sun made me tired. And I can proudly say that this is probably the first time I haven’t gotten burned on the first day of a vacation. Yay for me! I think I did get a little color, but it’s hard to say.

The weather is supposed to be the same every day until Thursday when it will be a little bit better. That’s not very fun. But as long as it is not raining it is beach weather. It is still warm here, I guess 70F when the sun is gone and 80F when it is visible. I am planning on staying in the pool tomorrow if it is raining. Just laying on one of the underwater beds, drinking drinks. Doesn’t sound too bad either. But I cross my fingers and toes for amazing paradise weather.

I had a salad for dinner at the buffet. I had originally made a reservation at one of the restaurants here, but when I thought about going to a restaurant all by myself I regretted it and cancelled the reservation. I also saw on the note I got that the restaurant I chose was a fancy one, and I don’t even have nice clothes with me. The buffet will be good enough this week.

Now I think I will continue to read until I fall asleep. I did bring up a strawberry daiquiri to my room while watching the last three episodes of the Swedish Christmas Calendar. I hope that will help me sleep. It was probably not the best of ideas to take a nap that late during the day. And maybe the alcohol will help me sleep through my thousands of itchy mosquito bites. I learned today by the way that malaria exists here on Dominican Republic, but fortunately only on the west part of the island, so I am (hopefully) good.

Okay, time to read The Maze Runner. I so wanna finish that book so I can watch the movie.

Legs or hot dogs Legs or hot dogs?Pina Colada on the beach Piña Colada on the beach! This is the time for me to try drinks for the first time (first time drinking this one).Incoming rain Right before the storm.Rain Rain…Rain = new pool It rained so much we got a new pool on the lawn!The poolThe pretty pool. I haven’t spent any time there yet, maybe a part of one day.

Barceló Bávaro Beach Resort

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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.

This day has been amazing, awesome, great, fantastic, and all the other positive adjectives. It started with me waking up with an uncountable amount of mosquito bites (I hope they don’t have any stupid diseases), then packing everything and trying to communicating with the receptionist again. After a while and talking to another guy on the phone I gave up and asked her if I could get a taxi somehow. She called someone and a guy named Jose picked me up. He spoke English very well and explained to me that the receptionist lady tried telling me that she would need to go to the bank to get the money out for me. So she tagged a long and gave me 6500 Dominican pesos. I paid 10100 for the whole stay, so that was fair I guess. We dropped her off and then we decided that I needed a tour of things. So this super nice guy drove me around all day to all these amazing places.

First we went to a beach called Macao Beach. It was incredibly beautiful, but much seaweed. The waves there were huge and a lot of people actually surfed. We only went there very quickly so I could see it and take some photos. That is a very common beach to take wedding photos.

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Back on the road and I got to drive for a bit, that was fun and thrilling. People here drive like a-holes but I managed to survive. Jose told me that the police here doesn’t care about how people are driving so tickets are never handed out. The school buses here aren’t used as school buses, but as hotel employee shuttles and they drive even worse than the average Dominican. I also learned a lot of about the four different palm trees that exists here. There is the national palm tree that is called the Cana. The second one is the banana palm, the third the coconut, and the fourth one, the super skinny and tall one. Everything on that palm tree is used for something. The trunk is used to build houses here, the green ”spine” on the top is used for something I actually forgot now. I know that the heart of that can be eaten. And the leaves are used for building roofs. That is sustainability.

We stopped for lunch next and we had real Dominican food. It was good, but way overpriced. I had a fried whole fish, shrimp, djuka and platano frito. Djuka is a potato-like thing that taste kinda like potato. It was deep fried and looked like thick French fries. Platano Frito is a banana-like fruit if I don’t  misremember completely. It was all very good. We also had a typical Dominican Republic drink called Mamajuana. It is called Dominican Viagra (I am not 100% sure why, but I have a guess) and consists of rum and sweet red wine (and sometimes honey), all poured over a special type of leaf. It was good.

IMG_20141213_121432IMG_20141213_115036A cute marketplace right next to my hotel where I am definitely going.

Our next stop was Cap Cana, an incredibly fancy place. First we went to Playa Juanillo which was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. That was exactly like Google’s pictures of the Caribbean. Blinding white sand, turquoise water, tall palm trees lining all the beach. I was breathless. I went in the water quickly and Jose took some pictures (so I won’t have to take selfies all the time).

IMG_20141213_130955 IMG_20141213_131317 IMG_20141213_131906 IMG_20141213_131934 PANO_20141213_131016

The next stop was Hoyo Azul, a freshwater pond in the middle of the rainforest. When I got there I once again had a jaw-dropping view. That water was so intense blue and clear it was ridiculous. I jumped in and the water was cool which was welcomed in today’s heat, around 85F (the water at Juanillo Beach was 80F).

IMG_20141213_143550 We saw a green snake!IMG_20141213_144013 Rainforest trail.IMG_20141213_144525Before the amazingness. IMG_20141213_145146 The amazingness.IMG_20141213_145347The cool amazingness.

PANO_20141213_150200I found a new feature on my phone. The panorama feature has four sub features. One that takes twice as big pictures and one that takes circle pictures. I had to take like 20 pictures to make this one. It actually turned out pretty okay compared to reality.

Our last stop was at an excursion place where I booked a day trip to Saona Island. I chose Tuesday, but after checking the weather today I think I should reschedule to Thursday. According to Google there will be a chance of rain and storm every day until Wednesday. I will call tomorrow and reschedule to Thursday. That island is supposed to be very beautiful and that trip is best when it’s good weather. We are taking a catamaran out to the island and then also to a natural pond out in nowhere (in the ocean). The water is only waist high, super clear, and there are a lot of starfish. I am excited for it.

And then to my new hotel. It is humungous and several different parts. I am staying at the “all adults” place, and then there is one right next door where kids are allowed. I love this hotel, people here speak English, it’s huge, it’s pretty and the room is really good. They have cute Christmas decorations so it feels like Christmas (kinda). When I was checking in at 4pm I was served fruit punch and then got help with my suitcase to my room. I got my bracelet which tells everyone I have all-inclusive. I have to admit that I like it. It does not feel weird eating alone because there are a lot of other people doing that too. And the rest of the day I will just be alone at the beach anyway.

IMG_20141213_171602 The room is pretty sweet. I just wish I had gotten a king size bed instead of two queen.IMG_20141213_172501 View from my room. I can see both the ocean and pool.IMG_20141213_184240So many things in the bathroom!IMG_20141213_172841 The beach right outside my hotel is so pretty!IMG_20141213_195354 The hotel night-time. All the palm trees has lights on them.IMG_20141213_210343 The hotel lobby.IMG_20141213_210453A christmas tree!

Right after I checked in, I went to the beach for a little while, the sun was down, but it was still nice. Then I went up, took a shower and went to eat the buffet dinner. The food was good, but I have to think about how much I am eating, I was hoping this trip would get me skinny again. I had a glass of wine with the food, and then went back to the beach. I lay on one of the sunbeds closest to the ocean, right under a palm tree, watching the stars, listening to the waves rolling in, and watching the occasional shooting star in only shorts and t-shirt. I don’t have a word to describe it. It was everything I love about life.

IMG_20141213_211512

I am planning on going up early tomorrow morning and spend as much time by the beach as I can. I hope that the weather will be nice and that I will be able to get some color. So far none, maybe a little bit in my face, because I do have this aftersun tiredness going on. Or maybe I am just exhausted from being out and about all day. Tomorrow anyway will be a day all about relaxing. I look forward to it.

Dominican Republic!!

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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 am here, I am in paradise! It is warm, there are palm trees everywhere, the beach is amazing, the water has an amazing color, and it just feels like paradise in the air. I have that stickiness all over my body but I love it! It is tropical heat.

It has been hella day tho. It started yesterday morning with the final, then the super excitement for what was coming. Until I (FOR ONCE) checked the flight status online and I saw to my horror that my flight from SLO was canceled due to the big storm. I almost started crying! After trying to find a ride to San Francisco where my next flight was and without success I called United Airlines and they managed to get me on a flight ten minutes earlier than the one I was supposed to. And I flew to LA instead of SF, then to Washington DC and on the same plane I was originally going on. I didn’t lose any time at all here on Dominican Republic and that was a huge relief. I went with Matt to Avila where we had a glass of wine, while watching the extreme waves. That also made me very happy. Too bad that 1.5 hours can go by that fast. But it makes sense, because I really enjoy spending time with him and when you have fun, time flies.

I packed after he dropped me off at home, but I forgot my computer charger which I realized on the flight from LA to DC. And fortunately (even with the 30 minutes delay) I had two hours at the DC airport and could buy a charger. I had to go to another terminal with a shuttle, but I still made it to my flight.

The first flight, from SLO to LA was the worst flight I’ve ever been on. First of all, it was a propeller plane so it made a ton of noise, and second, because of that storm it was very bumpy. I am normally not afraid when I am flying because I do it so often, but I actually was this time. A lot of G-forces were applied to my poor stomach as well, so for me it was like sitting on a scary medium rollercoaster for an hour and I have to say that I felt really sick after that.

The second flight was okay, I “slept” most of the 5 hours. Except me sleeping on a plane isn’t really sleeping because I wake up every time my head falls down, or because of noise or whatever. It was still nice to get some sleep.

The third flight was just weird, I was tired, so I couldn’t read, but I couldn’t sleep either. It was annoying. Luckily it was only 3 hours long.

And then I was here. And of course I forgot the $10 for the tourist visa so I had to go through a lot of work when I tried to exchange money and had to go through backways and stuff. First I had to withdraw Dominican Pesos. $300 = 11 000 Pesos, my wallet is so thick right now! And then I had to take 500 from that and exchange to $10 so I could pay for my tourist visa. I got a new stamp by the way, now I have three.

I took a cab to the hostel, which isn’t a hostel. It is an apartment in a residential area, and the woman living there made a room into a hostel dorm. On the website it said there were several different rooms, both privates and doubles and 6 beds. And it doesn’t look at all like the pictures. I am disappointed. It got even worse when I tried to talk to the receptionist (the woman who lives here and doesn’t speak a word English). Why have a hostel operation when you can’t speak with the guests?

I stayed in my room for a bit while my phone charged. Then I started walking to the beach (50 minutes away instead of 10 like it said on the website). On the way a bus stopped next to me and asked me where I was going. Adventurous as I am, I jumped on and told him Playa el Cortecito. The two guys on the bus were really nice and gave me their number if I ever needed a ride or anything. That’s the second guy since I arrived who were overly nice to me. The first guy was the guy who took my payment for the visa. He desperately wanted to meet up later. That was awkward so I just left.

Anyway, I came to the beach, and it was very pretty. Much more seaweed than what Google shows, but it was still amazing. It was pretty windy and big waves (not California big, but big enough for a red flag), the sand was white and very fine. Pink in some places even. I walked a long while on it in both directions. I felt a little bit out of place when everyone else was holding hands with their significant other, but I still enjoyed it very much. It was very much too bad that the sun didn’t set in the ocean, but behind the island. That means I will have to be up early to catch as much sun as possible the rest of the week I am staying here.

Then there was another guy who hung out or worked (I don’t know to be honest) at a cute restaurant, so I stayed there for dinner. A French-speaking guy from Canada also joined and it was an okay evening until the Haiti-guy started almost screaming at the other guy when they had a conversation about spirituality and whatever it was. I didn’t wanna be rude and just leave, so I sat  there and was freezing my butt off (even if it was probably 75F, the wind and my sleep deprivation made me cold). But eventually I couldn’t listen to that conversation so I stood up and then the Canadian did that too. We shared a private taxi home and it was ridiculously overpriced, 2000 pesos is what I paid from the airport to the hostel. Stupid native people who try to scam tourists…

When I came back to the hostel I realized what kind of place this was and started to feel uncomfortable. I don’t wanna go through a lot of trouble just to go to the beach when this week is about just relaxing and calming down after dead week and finals week. So I asked the receptionist with google translate if I could get a refund if I checked out tomorrow. She said yes, but that we would have to deal with it tomorrow morning. Great! Instead, I booked an all-inclusive resort right by the most beautiful part of the beach (not where I was today). It will be $800 more, but it will be so much more worth it. I was expecting to have the normal hostel experience with a lot of international young people. Instead I am alone here with a middle age Dominican who I can’t even talk to. No, this was totally worth it! I can’t wait to go there tomorrow morning.

What else happened today? Probably not much. I am very tired and have a headache. Not enough water. But I haven’t seen any stores where I can buy, and the tap water here is apparently a big no no. I am not even supposed to rinse my toothbrush in that water. At the hotel I will have complementary water bottles in my 47 square meter room (that is slightly bigger than my apartment in Sweden!). I am so excited for tomorrow!!

Punta Cana A small part of Punta Cana.Playa el Cortecito Playa el Cortecito.Playa el Cortecito Playa el Cortecito.Sunset at Playa el Cortecito Sunset behind the tall palm trees.Blue toenails in the sand The blue nail polish did look good in the white sand.Playa el Cortecito Playa el Cortecito Onno beach front restaurantOnno, the beach front restaurant where I had dinner.

Quarter #1 is over

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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 just finished my third final and I feel so free! I love this feeling. The test today went okay, I think it is a pass. I know that I’ve had a lot of difficulties with the Byzantine time period, when Christianity became big in the world and all the churches and basilicas and whatever were built, so I probably messed up on all of those questions. I just can’t see the difference of those churches. But except for that I felt that I had studied a lagom amount of time and recognized everything on the test. The Asian names where difficult tho and I mixed them all up.

The test last night went okay too I guess. I didn’t really try since I already had passed the class, this test would just lower my A to a C worst case scenario. But I answered a lot of questions, skipped a lot. But I think if I get a C on this test, then I will still get an A in the rest of the class.

I am still waiting for my result for the extra credit assignment, but I am not worried about that class anymore. And I don’t have to worry about classes next quarter either. Today I got an email telling me that I got one of the classes I was waitlisted for (Introduction to Urban Planning). Yay! I am not dropping Introduction to Environmental Engineering until I know for sure if I can take Public Transportation (which has Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering as a prerequisite). I guess I could take 16 units (4 classes) next quarter, and take another environmental engineering class in the spring quarter, but I don’t know if it is worth it.

Why am I writing about this? I don’t wanna think of school at all right now, and for the next three weeks. (except for reviewing some German to be prepared for next quarter)

 

After my final last night (which by the way, was the Sustainable Environments) my roommates picked me up and we went to Olive Garden to have one last dinner together. I have to admit that the food I got wasn’t that good. Or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for eating that late. But it was a nice dinner nonetheless.

When we came home we had a little Christmas and opened gifts. I got suitcase tags from Rachel, a Jamba Juice giftcard from Lauren and a photoframe from Kelsey. In there are four different pictures of us, and when I saw it I started crying. I think I realized at that point that Kelsey is actually leaving. She also wrote me a super sweet card. I am gonna miss her so much!!

After that I walked around in the building handing out Christmas cards and they were all very appreciated. We hung out in our apartment for a while and I started studying at 1:30am. Fell asleep at 3 am, got up at 6 to sit through three hours of presentations in Transportation Engineering. It wasn’t too bad, I studied for the final and listened to the most fun ones. Some of the videos made were very funny!

Now I am planning on doing nothing until 2:30pm when Matt is picking me up :).

And at 8:35pm tonight the plane takes off and I will be on my way to Dominican Republic!! I can’t wait!!! I am planning on updating my blog as often as I can. I won’t have too much to do during the evenings, so if I have access to Internet then maybe even every day. So excited I can’t even!

Roommate date Mani-pedi This color will look great in the sand tomorrow :). It’s stupid how much prettier a manicure and pedicure can make you feel.I survived!I survived the two hell weeks! Basketball gameKelsey and I at the basketball game last weekend.

Studying and more studying

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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.

Ugh, I am getting tired of this, can’t this week be over already? It’s not too long left now though. My first final tomorrow evening, and the next one the morning after, and after that I will be on my way. One more day of studying and I am done!

The test tomorrow will not be too bad. If I get more than 75% on the test I will still get an A as a final grade. But it is still stressful to go to a classroom and now that there will be a test waiting for me. So that’s what I’ve been doing today, I studied for that test, I also finished my Architecture History summary and finished the extra credit assignment for Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering. It felt so good to submit it and after that was crossed off my list I now only have two things left, yay!

I should probably go to bed now and read in my new book. I finished Revenge of Seven last night and started reading The Maze Runner. Goodnight!

Kelsey's Christmas giftKelsey got her Christmas gift from the British boys today, a golden egret and a pair of British socks.The egret is placed on our counter now and just looks glorious!

Four days left

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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 just packed everything, except for my underwear (I only have 24 pair of panties, so I will need to do laundry right before I leave) and it feels a little bit more real now. Still very much surreal though. I think I think too much about school right now to realize where I will be in five days. One of the things I look most forward to is to just chill at the beach and read. I am gonna read sooo much! I’m hoping I will finish at least three, four or maybe even five books in those three weeks. Can’t wait!

Today I was at the library most hours of the day. I tried to do the extra credit assignment for Transportation Engineering. I kinda understood what I was supposed to do, but it would take hella long time to sort all the data. Everything was given in the same column and I don’t think that was the point. I will go to office hours tomorrow and ask the teacher about it. I will also ask him to calculate my grade because I have no idea how to do that with a curve. I realized today that if I fail this class, that means I am one class back when it comes to transferred credits. So I will either have to switch German step 3 in spring quarter for an engineering class, or just take an extra class that quarter. Or take it when I get back home, but that means I won’t get my degree in June, which I really want. And I am so glad I enrolled in a class too much this quarter so I have a backup plan in case I can’t take Public Transportation. Everything will work out in the end! 🙂

After giving up on the extra credit assignment for the day I studied Architecture History all day until 9:30 when I biked home. Ate dinner, wrote 20 Christmas cards, wrapped some gifts, and packed. A productive day, but now the clock tells me it is 2:30am. Time for bed and another long and hopefully productive day tomorrow!

Wild Mustangs? I have heard that wild mustangs roam these areas so I am guessing these are them? The fence is to keep wild animals (like mustangs and deer) off the street. Pretty cool!90 % packedI think I could have managed with a backpack and a carry-on, but this will be so much more comfortable. The suitcase is like half full, and the stuff on the side will go in a backpack. Excited to thousand!

Busy busy busy

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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.

And now it’s been three days since the last update again. I seriously can’t wait to leave this all behind. I am not too overwhelmed, but I always have school on my mind and it is really exhausting. One of the midterms I could probably skip and still pass the class, but I will of course study for it anyway, because it would be fun with one good grade this quarter. The other final is a bit harder, but it isn’t until Thursday morning so I still have time. I will start focusing on that one tomorrow.

My biggest priority right now though is to nail the extra credit assignment for Transportation Engineering so I can take Public Transportation next quarter. I will start on that tomorrow.

So, the last two days. Thursday was my final in the lab class. It felt awesome when I did it, but the day after when I got the grade, it turned out to be a C-. It is still a pass so I am not complaining and my final grade will probably be a B since everything else is A’s. I also found out yesterday that I totally failed my Transportation Engineering midterm (that’s why I need to do the extra credit assignment). In the evening on Thursday I actually went out on a date to the Grad where the line dancing thing is. It was a very nice evening and I had 100% more fun this time than last time (probably because I was sick that time). We had a couple of drinks, talked a lot, and danced. Line dancing is fun.

Yesterday, hmm. I guess I was at home and studied? Oh yes, and in the evening we were a bunch of people going to the Christmas Parade in downtown SLO. It was nice, but mostly because of the company. Back home there was a surprise party for Toby, since he is leaving. I only stayed for like an hour and then went home and to bed. I slept for 11 hours, woke up at 9am. I actually went to the library today to study. I was there with the guy from Thursday and I got some done, not too much. I don’t have any motivation to study… I try but it only gives me C’s. I miss Chalmers! We had a late lunch together and then I went home and didn’t get anything more done until after midnight.

SLO Christmas Parade

At 7pm we were a bunch of people (everyone is procrastinating!!) who went to see the basketball game between Cal Poly and Menlo. Cal Poly owned the other team. Final score 72-35. It was my first basketball game every, and it was cool. Two of my neighbors are on the team, but redshirts, which apparently means that they are on the team but they aren’t allowed to play any games until next year because they are transfer students. No idea why, but that’s just the way it is, so I am just gonna accept it.

Cal Poly vs. Menlo Cal Poly vs. Menlo

After that a lot of people came over to our place, we ordered pizza, and talked for hours and hours. It was a fun night but I feel bad for not studying… I did some, but now I see double, so I will go to bed and try to find more motivation tomorrow morning. Goodnight!