Author Archives: Alexandra

Farmer’s Market

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Three hours of sleep last night again. What’s wrong with me?! But I survived a long day with my three classes, a nap, and a trip to the Farmer’s Market. In the lab we were divided into groups and then had one busy intersection per group and we were gonna count all the pedestrians, bicycles, buses and cars. I counted all the buses and the cars and in the beginning that was crazy.So many cars everywhere and they didn’t go where my paper said they were supposed to go. But I think my numbers are pretty accurate. We sat there for one hour and it was way more fun than sitting in class for three hours.

At 7:30pm I went to Farmer’s Market downtown with Lauren, Kelsey, Julianne and Margarita. We started our evening with going to the ATM to take out money. But my card was declined because of unusual activities. So I called the bank and talked to them for the next 20 minutes and couldn’t buy anything because I didn’t have any cash. They didn’t know what was wrong and didn’t help me in any way. Stupid Bank of America. They told me to go to the bank office and get a temporary card. The card I have works (as far as I know, I haven’t tried to use it in the past few days) in stores and online, but not with ATM’s. I am going grocery shopping tomorrow, I hope it works then. Kelsey was nice and lend me some money so I could buy pomegranate juice and a corn on the cob. I felt better after that.

I am going to bed now, I have a really really long day ahead of me tomorrow. But all fun stuff, it will be a nice day 😀

The IRS

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I took my medicine last night at nine, read for 30 minutes and then fell asleep like a baby. I woke up two hours later from loud roomies, but when I asked them to keep quiet, and they listened, I fell asleep right away again. I slept all the way to 10am and felt so well-rested. It was the best night I’ve had in a very long time!

I called the IRS in the morning and they told me that they just received my payment, not the actual form I filled out. So they need me to send them in again. And when that process is done, in 6-8 weeks I can send in my tax transcript to CSN (the Swedish company that gives me financial aid) which for some reason needs to see if I paid enough of my loans back last year. Why is everything so complicated? I should have just skipped paying taxes last year, it seems like it didn’t matter anyway and I could have saved $600.

I had lunch and then spent a few hours at the pool. It was very nice. Dinner back home and then I went to class. Today we talked about transportation and it was very interesting. I got so angry when we watched the movie “Who killed the electric car?”. The state of California totally made it illegal pretty much to have an electric car like 15 years ago. Or maybe it was 10. Anyway, the stupidest thing ever. Just so the oil companies can continue to earn millions of dollars every year. This greedy country makes me angry! That movie made me want to have an electric car in the future, zero emissions would be so great. But before I have money I will have to be satisfied with a gas car. I and Johanna looked into buying one today. We realized that we won’t fit surfboards in a small convertible so we need to buy a bigger car. I’ve been told that a Toyota 4Runner is very reliable and can go on forever and ever. I’ve texted two guys on Craigslist but it was probably too late for them to answer today, so I’m hoping for answers tomorrow. It would be so nice to have a car as soon as possible. It would make my life so much easier!

Time for bed! A long day tomorrow again.

Medicine

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I couldn’t fall asleep until 3 am last night again. My average hours of sleep is very low right now because of this stupid cough. I had just fallen asleep when I woke up because I couldn’t stop coughing. I took something for the congestion in my chest and got an extra pillow from Rachel and could after a long while finally fall asleep.

I didn’t feel bad when I woke up for some reason. Not tired at all. It’s surprising how well you can function with way too little sleep.

In my first class at 7:40am (Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering) we got our midterms back. I have to say that I am disappointed. I got below average. I wouldn’t say that it was bad, but when everyone said that 60-70% was pretty bad I started feeling bad. I got 66/100. And I skipped one question which gave 25p. So taking that into consideration I didn’t do too bad. I hope this doesn’t mean a fail (average was 78). I think I remember the teacher telling us in the beginning of the quarter that he would curve us. That basically means that he takes the average and makes that a C. But that would mean I would fail. And I can’t fail, I would be deported if I failed a class… BUT, he said in class that I and Johanna had just done our first midterm ever in our life and that we both survived and then everyone applauded us. Haha, funny.

We didn’t get our results in Architecture history class yet. I have higher hopes on that one. I really like that class, it is interesting. All of my classes are. I hope it will be as good next quarter.

After that class I went to the Health Center again. The sign said 1-2 hours of waiting because of staff meetings. I thought it was worth it and it didn’t take more than an hour anyway. The first nurse who helped me gave me a mask to cover my mouth. Silly. The doctor I met a little bit later asked me some questions and then told me what he would give me. He told me he didn’t wanna give me antibiotics because it probably was a virus and it could get worse with it. He told me that like he thought that’s what I wanted to have. Silly Americans. I don’t want antibiotics, I know that it is not good to overuse it. So he told me to get a mucus relief non-prescription medicine and cough drops. He also gave me a prescription with promethazine and codeine to surpress my cough and help me sleep at night. I really hope this work. If it doesn’t get better by Friday I have to come back and take tests and probably get heavier medicine. He told me that if you try to keep cough in, you can get pneumonia. I don’t wanna have that. I haven’t tried the codeine thing yet, I will do It right before I go to bed so I can sleep well for once. I bought all the things at the pharmacy in the Health Center, and it all was just $9 and the visit was free. Awesome!

At home I had a quinoa salad for lunch and then I took a nap for an hour and I managed to fall asleep right away. That felt really good.

At 3pm I went to the lab and we got the results from our last lab report. A 10/10. I’m doing best in that class, that’s for sure. Or maybe the Sustainable Environments class, I haven’t gotten anything graded there yet, but it feels like I’m doing well.

We divided ourselves into groups again, I ended up in the same group I’ve been in the last week. We prepared for Thursday for the rest of the time. On Thursday we are gonna sit at an intersection on campus and count the traffic, cars, buses, pedestrians and bicycles. That will be interesting.

On our way home I and Johanna stopped by the international center quickly. I realized today that I am not taking a majority of my units in the College of Engineering which I have to to maintain my visa status (I guess I could get deported if I didn’t fulfill it). This quarter I am taking 5 units in the College of Engineering and 8 in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. I really thought that the Architecure History class was in College of Engineering (don’t ask me why, I realize now that that was stupid). I panicked and I told Johanna and she said that she was in the same situation. So we went there and talked to a woman there. Apparently it is not a big deal. As long as it is approved by our program at our home university it is fine. Such a relief!

Rachel and Kelsey were home when I got home and we had a long and interesting conversation about religion. I am aware that talking about religion here in USA is a bit sensitive but I enjoyed it and I totally respect other people’s beliefs. I found out that I am the first atheist Kelsey ever met. And they are, both of them (I don’t know about Lauren), the first I’ve ever met who believe in it all, for example the whole Adam and Eve creation thing. They told me it sounded so unbelievable that everything was created with a big bang and then cells developed into things and then eventually crawled out of the ocean and slowly developed into what we look like today. So I asked them if it made more sense that God made Adam from clay and then took one of his ribs and made Eve. They both said yes. I respect their beliefs and will not try to convince them of anything else. But it is actually a bit weird meeting people who  believe that that is what happened. I could never in my life think that there is a guy/girl above the clouds who made a clayman and then created life in seven days. I do love religion though, like learning about all of them and try to understand why people believe the things they believe. So I told myself that I would take some extra units after Christmas and take a World Religion class if there was such a thing here at Cal Poly. But there isn’t. I wonder why. Maybe I should take a class at GU (University of Gothenburg) when I get back, just for fun. I don’t think I will have too much to do anyway.

Now they all are at a CRU-meeting which I learned today is kinda exactly like the church on Sunday’s, except this is for college students. I wanted to stay home, so I could go to bed early. I actually already feel tired. But it will be hard going to bed when I know I don’t have to get up early tomorrow. We’ll see what I end up doing.

No Health Center

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I woke up at six this morning because I was coughing. That went on for an hour and a half before I could go back to sleep. So after a long skype date with mom I went to the health center, but what I didn’t know was that everyone else was sick too. It would have taken me 1-2 hours and I had to meet up with my lab group an hour later to write the report. Stupid. I will have to go there tomorrow between my classes instead. Four hours should be enough and I hope I will have time to go home and have lunch before the lab at 3pm. It feels like it is going away, but I am still coughing too much for me to not do anything about it.

After we finished the 3 page-report about the dynamical cone penetration test we did on Thursday I went home, and talked to neighbors and played Guild Wars 2. I haven’t played that since I move to SLO. I missed it. The next chapter in the living world season hasn’t come yet though which is surprising. Well well. Halloween is going on right now.

I don’t get tired anymore. I don’t know if I all of a sudden grew up and don’t need as much sleep anymore (the same thing happened with my metabolism a couple of years back). I don’t like growing up. Or maybe I do?

Trying to get rid of the cough

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My cough has actually been getting better. I don’t know if it was the sun exposure (which always makes me happy) or the mucus congestion medicine. I still cough, but not as much.

I was out there for three hours, listening to music. I’ve found my old music again and I seriously get goosebumps when I hear my old favorite songs. And when I get new favorite songs. Like Three Days Grace new song Painkiller. I miss Adam Gontier, but the new singer, Matt Walst, is actually as good. LOVE IT! I look forward to their next album whenever that will get out.

Nothing more happened today, except that I cooked dinner for once. Chicken with mashed sweet potatoes. It was good, but the kale with it was awful. I think I need to throw that bag away and buy spinach again. Ugh.

Monday tomorrow, which means Sunday for me. I will go to the Health Center to get my throat checked out and then some studying for a couple of hours. I can’t really complain about how much I have to do.

Cold Canyon Waste Landfill

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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 morning was the first of my field trips in the Sustainable Environments class. We have too few in-class hours so we have to go to 10 hours of field trips to get all the units for the class. This morning we met up at 7am to go to the biggest waste landfill in the county. It was interesting, but it wasn’t very fun waking up after only 3 hours of sleep. I thought that going out last night was a good idea. It was, I had a great time with Lauren, Cody and Toby.

The fieldtrip was interesting. It smelled bad but not as bad as I was expecting.The most interesting thing about it was the fact that they used falconry to keep away gulls.

I borrowed Lauren’s car and gave it back to her at 10:30, before she got up. And I went to bed and slept until 2pm or something. I felt like crap so I made a small breakfast and started watching The Golden Compass. A big mistake. I’ve read the books and they are three of the best books I’ve ever read, but the movie doesn’t give it justice on any level. I totally understand why they didn’t make sequels. I probably should reread the books to take this bad movie out of my head.

I got tired and paused the movie and fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 8:30pm. I still felt pretty bad so I ate dinner and started watching Lilo & Stitch. Such a cute movie. I am gonna watch the sequel now and then sleep. I hate being sick. It’s the worst. It sucks that I am sick and stuck in bed when I have the whole weekend completely off for once. But I guess it would be worse if I had a ton of studying to do.

Cold Canyon Waste LandfillThis place used to be a canyon. Now it looks like a mountain. Falconry at the landfill Recycle CenterThe recycle center. This is something I didn’t understand. All the recyclables her are put in one bin because people are too lazy to sort better. So they drop everything off on the floor from the truck and then sort it by hand. Why not just sort it by yourself in your home? It was upsetting to be honest. In Sweden we are very good at recycling and we don’t complain about how hard it is to separate into 5 bins instead of one.Recycle center

Midterms

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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.

That was definitely a new experience. I got three hours of sleep last night (5 the day before and 3 before that), so I was afraid of feeling like crap today. But I’ve been feeling ok. The only real problem is that I am coughing and the coughing is making my throat hurt. It’s getting better.

The first midterm, Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering 80 minutes long, like the class. But that was not enough time for 7 questions. I just barely could do all of them and the last three minutes I was writing like a maniac. I skipped one question which I didn’t know at all how to solve, and in general it felt okay. If it’s not a pass I would be surprised. After the test I found out that our group got 10/10 on the group proposal. I am surprised at how well it is going for me in all of my classes. This school system suits me better.

I had to rush to the second midterm which was a weird one. We were in the normal lecture hall, with a scantron, which is a sheet with multiple choice answer. The first 25 questions were displayed through the projector, each lasting for 30 seconds, and we had the questions on another piece of paper. Those questions rolled twice and then there were 25 more multiple choice questions on that second paper. And two short essay questions and I think I understand both of them and wrote something understandable. I was 99% sure of 30 out of the 50 questions and the rest I had a clue what it was about. That should also mean a pass.

It feels so great to have this done, I know what it is about and don’t have to worry next time.

The second test was only 1 hour long and I was done before 10am. So I went home and spent the next three hours in bed watching Arrow and The Flash (I love that TV show, and Grant Gustin is probably the most handsome guy in the world). I tried to relax for once, it’s been a hectic week. And I think my throat need to take it easy. This weekend will be so awesome. A spot opened up in the Yosemite Stand Up Paddling tour with Poly Escapes, but since I’m not completely free of my cold yet I probably shouldn’t go on an adventurous weekend trip. I will probably go there in the spring instead.

The lab in the afternoon was pretty chill. We were first on Tuesday, so today we were last. But we were still out of there at 4:30pm instead of 6. I went home and almost fell asleep on my keyboard. I guess the lack of sleep has finally reached me (even if I took that energy pill this morning). But I had to stay awake. I had dinner plans with Julianne and Alyssa. At 7pm we went to downtown to eat sushi at Yanagi. We ended our dinner with sake. My first time. I don’t know what I was expecting, but not that. It was like strong and hot wine. It went down, but I’m not sure I would pay for it again.

We spent too long in the restaurant so we missed farmers market. We went to a candy store instead, bought some candy and then watched a movie in Alyssa’s apartment. We watched Coraline. Well, they did. I fell asleep, haha. And that’s what I wanna do now too. I will go to sleep and wake up when I automatically wake up. This weekend is all about sleeping! And of course, the field trip at 7am on Saturday…

Julianne, me and Alyssa Frozen Jelly BellyFrozen is my favorite movie at the moment.

DMV again

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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.

A long day has finally come to an end. I can’t relax just yet though. Two midterms is coming up tomorrow. And the lab report assignment we got yesterday has to be handed in in the afternoon. I did my part of it this afternoon. Honestly, it only took me 40 minutes to write that one page about the history of the penetration test of bituminous materials. I know I am doing great in that class (the GIS lab we had last Thursday gave me 19/20 points), but it is only a 2 unit class. So I decided to do the lab report half heartedly and then focus on the Transportation midterm tomorrow. That didn’t work out that well either. I spent two hours at the library studying with Johanna and Eric. I got three problems solved and a cheat sheet done. It is so weird that we are allowed to have one page full of equations and notes. The teacher should have written that paper. It feels wrong. I didn’t put much on there actually. I hope it will be enough. I am a bit nervous actually. I haven’t really had time to study much. I put most of my time into Architecture History. That class is 4 units instead of 3. And Arch Hist only has three tests, while Transportation has homeworks and other assignments that contribute to the grade. So it felt more important to try and remember all the 50 or more places. I haven’t done that too well either I guess. I have made a summary of it all and answered almost all of the short essay questions. I hope it will go well aswell. There is not much I can do now at 2am the night before. And it is multiple choice questions. How hard can it be?!

After my study session at the library I went to a house on campus to eat free dinner with Rachel. It was nice, and free stuff is always nice! Right after that I bought a chai latte at Starbucks and went to class. A paper about ecological footprint was due today. That was a very fun assignment, I liked it a lot! We took a test to find out how many Earths we would need if everyone in the world lived like me. (I don’t remember if I wrote about this before, so I will just do it again). I took the test three times, once for my life in Sweden, once for my life in USA, once for an improved version of my life in Sweden. The first test in Sweden showed 1.44 Earths, in USA we would need 4.09 and if I chose to not fly any airplanes and buy mostly organic and locally produced food in Sweden we would need 1.11. It was an interesting assignment and it was easy to get one page. The more I get into this subject, the more I realize that I want to work with environmental issues in the future. Super fascinating. In today’s class we watched a lot of videos and some parts of Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore.

After that I was picked up by Kelsey and Cody so we could go grocery shopping (at 10pm). I bought everything I needed, mostly vegetables, but also ice cream. That was my carrot this evening. I needed motivation and a reward system for studying this late. Shit, I just realized, that from right now I have 3.5 hours of sleep… Good thing I have very good-working energy pills to take in the morning. I can’t wait for tomorrow evening at 6pm when I am done with everything and can take four days completely off (except for the 7am field trip on Saturday morning, but that will be interesting as well, we are going to a waste landfill with Sustainable Environments).

Midterm studyingI am still sick. I’ve had a horrible headache this whole day. I’ve started coughing (I guess the ice cream was a bad idea…) and my throat feels raw. I’m not getting worse though, and that’s the most important thing right now. I don’t wanna be sick this weekend!

 

This day started with an appointment at the DMV. I had called the DMV office in Sacramento and they told me I didn’t have to retake the tests, but when I get there it turns out that I have to take the written test. The could make an exception and make mes kip the behind the wheel test. I wasn’t prepared at all to do the test. But I took the photo and went to the computer to give it a try. It went awesome. Two minor errors because I didn’t read the question thoroughly. But it doesn’t matter. I passed and within three weeks I will get my real plastic card! Yay! I hope this picture was good, the last one wasn’t with my sunburnt nose. This time I’ve actually stayed away from sunglasses so I wouldn’t get that.

Okay, so 7:40am tomorrow, first midterm of my life. 9am is the second one. Then I will nap until 2pm when I have to meet up with Steven to write on the lab report. Then a lab and then Farmer’s Market and sushi with Julianne! Can’t wait. Wish me luck on the test, I might need it. Or maybe I don’t, people keep telling me that I am smarter than I think.

No sleep

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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 think someone was punishing me for going to bed early last night. I was in bed at 9:30pm. But I didn’t fall asleep until 2 or 3 am. Worst ever. I got up at 6am and managed to go through the whole day without being sleepy. I couldn’t even take a nap at lunch. So weird. And now it is 2 am and I am still not very tired.
I am still sick, but it’s not too bad. I’ve been coughing a lot today and I’ve had a headache and I’ve been hoarse.

Class today was fine. I was very motivated for some reason. I felt ambitious. At lunch, when I couldn’t nap, I watched the pilot episode of The Flash, a new TV show. It was so good. And Grant Gustin is one of the most gorgeous guys in the world.

In the lab at 3pm we did a very short test. It was a penetration test in bituminous materials. In other words, we tried the resistance of the material which is put in paved roads. It is a new group project, and our group could do the test first (there was only one machine) but that means we have to go last on Thursday. We all did a test each, measured whatever we measured and were done an hour after class started. That meant more time to study at the library. I finished my summaries in Arch Hist and then walked up to PCV to pick up a package. It was from mom! She sent me bike lights, some candy and a glass nail file. Incredible how much mom’s pay attention. This summer when I visited her once and tried hers out, she must have seen how much I liked it. And now she bought me one and sent it all the way here. So very sweet of her!

Package from Sweden

At home I talked to Lauren and studied for the rest of the evening. I ordered permanent eyelash dye (no one can see my long eyelashes when they are so bright at the tip) and a Halloween costume. I decided to go for the viking. It suits me. And my awesome roommate Kelsey bought me a scale (which I of course paid for when she got home). It not only shows my weight, but body fat, body water and muscle mass. Well invested money.

While studying I started listening to Demon Hunters  latest album and I love it more and more each time I hear it. What an amazing album!

I talked a lot to mom as well, she is going to the airport now to go to Rome for a long weekend. I am jealous!

I will go to bed now and I really hope I will be able to sleep. I don’t have class tomorrow during the day, but I still have a lot of studying to do… Two midterms on Thursday and the lab report is due in Thursday afternoon. On Thursday evening I can relax for real for a long four-day weekend. Can’t wait!!

A sore throat

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I woke up this morning with a pretty sore throat. It’s been hurting all day, not extremely much but it has definitely been there as soon as mu cup of tea was empty. I did manage to study a lot though. I finished the Transportation Engineering homework at the library and then I summarized the third lecture in Architecture History. I still have three more to do before the midterm on Thursday. But I’m sure I will have time to do all that tomorrow when I will go to the library after class to study with Eric. For some reason I am not as worried anymore. The good thing about midterms is that they are only part of the whole grade, like homeworks and other assignments as well. It would take a lot to get an F here I think.

I feel feverish so I will go to bed now and cross my fingers that I will feel better tomorrow. There will be no TRX tomorrow either… I never get sick, and it happens now, when I am three days away from two midterms…

Goodnight everyone! 8 hours of sleep awaits me!