Author Archives: Alexandra

Thesis presentation at Veidekke

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The thesis is a day away from being finished. I can really see the light at the end of the tunnel now! This morning we presented our thesis at Veidekke and they were satisfied and liked it. They gave us a lot of tough questions, but in general they liked it and told us they were gonna use the template for their next environmental review this year. But it was just a proposal so they will probably have to change it and then update it eventually. It felt really good afterwards!

The next thing on the days agenda was the opposition on another thesis. It also went well so the last thing we need to check off the thesis list is the report. We will write on it tomorrow morning and hand it in as soon as we are done. Exciting! In 15 hours I will be done with my thesis, such an awesome feeling. (well, if it gets approved, but I would doubt it, it feels like they are stricter now and pointing out everything they find is wrong or should be improved, but in the end it is just pass/fail so I think it will be fine).

Right after the opposition I walked home to Chad who has the luxury of living three minutes from campus. Together we walked down to Liseberg. We were there the whole afternoon going on rides. I felt sick after most of them, even with the motion sickness pill. We went on Balder, Kanonen, FlumeRide, Lisebergshjulet, Höjdskräcken, AtmosFear and Helix. My first time on Helix (the brand new rollercoaster) I sat in the front. It was a really good rollercoaster, but I felt sick after and rested in the Lounge, our break room. I’m not sure I was allowed in there when I wasn’t working. But I really needed to sit down without any people around. We actually went on it again, but not in the front. Both times we skipped the line though. Perks of being a Liseberger.

AtmosFear wasn’t as bad as I remembered. It was awful going up on it, I was almost panicking. But I survived and wasn’t feeling that bad afterward. The pill I took made me feel really bad and extremely tired though so we just sat down and had a small dinner at Trebello and then went home. It is still very light out and almost 10pm. It is okay to go to bed, but because of the light it doesn’t feel like it… But I can’t keep my eyes open, so I will go to bed, read two pages, and then prepare for a really long day tomorrow! First thesis writing, then work until 11pm. I look forward to work again, in this stage of my life I think I prefer to work on the attractions instead of going on them.

Thesis presentation at Chalmers

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One of two presentations is done and it feels really great. Our examinator liked the presentation more than the report and was surprised at how good it was in comparison. A relief but at the same time not. We got the presentation approved which is one less thing to check off the list, but the report is still not good and we have to prepare it for a final hand in on Thursday. We got a lot of feedback though and will sit a little bit with it tomorrow before our second thesis presentation at Veidekke. And we will have most of Thursday before we both have to go to work at 4pm. I’m sure it will work out and I will be so relieved on Thursday afternooon!

After the presentation I went home for a bit and then went back to Chalmers to watch the launch of the Chalmers Formula Student car. I wouldn’t have gone unless Chad hadn’t invited me. We haven’t seen each other in a week because of my stupid working hours. Tomorrow we will have the whole day together at Liseberg though. I bought motion sickness pills today. I hope they work and that I will be brave enough to go on the attractions where I now work and “hated” a couple of years ago.

 

Time for bed! One presentation, one opposition and thesis report writing is waiting for me tomorrow morning.

Friday on a Monday

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This is a really weird feeling. Today is my Friday, my last day of work before two days off. This will be a very unusual summer. But I am not complaining, not at all. I love my job and it gets better and better every day. I didn’t get a new attraction today and could work on my own the whole day. I was mostly at AtmosFear but also a couple of hours at Höjdskräcken and Lisebergshjulet. A Monday on Lisebergis the nices thing ever (until all the kids get out of school in a week or two). So few people the park was practically dead. The weather was amazing and I so wished I was there in my freetime. It was the perfect Liseberg day! Sunny, with some clouds, lagom warm and no people. Not even Helix had a particuarly long line (I was told, I still haven’t gone on it. I could go on it on a break if I wanted to, but I want to wait).

I decided today that I want to go to Liseberg in my freetime pretty soon. So I got my employee tickets and asked Chad if he wanted to join me on Wednesday after our presentation at Veidekke. I’m not gonna have time to go on Helix by myself before so he will have to deal with me freaking out. I think I should buy motion sickness pills before that. Just in case. It will be so weird going on the attractions that I work on normally, and where my friends will be working. I am really excited about it. It will be my reward for almost being done with the thesis!

When I got home I sat down and watched the latest Game of Thrones episode while eating candy. I really felt like I deserved that after 6 long days of work. I was actually very grossed out at the end of the episode and had to look away. I didn’t remember that happen in the book, not exactly like that anyway. Ew, it was gross! I am sad that it is only two more episodes of the season… It would have been okay if George R.R. Martin would release the sixth book in the series. But that will most likely take many more years…

This morning was spent in school, first working a bit on the thesis presentation we are gonna hold tomorrow, and then we listened to a couple of other thesis presentations. We didn’t have time for more, I needed to go to work. It seriously only takes 20 minutes to walk from Chalmers to the backside of Liseberg.

The presentation isn’t until 2pm tomorrow so we will have the whole morning to prepare. That’s why I don’t do anything tonight. I am not nervous about tomorrow, we know what we have done and it can’t be a disaster unless it comes from someone else. I am confident.

5th day of work

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My 5th day at Liseberg is over and I am still in love with it. I love working with people so this is really perfect for me. Of course there are annoying people and some scary and angry people too, but I haven’t met them yet. Not the angry ones at least! But annoying, the “Guldpass” kids who think they are soooo coool but really aren’t. I can tell that people appreciate what I am doing for them, and that is such a good feeling! For example when you say something funny when the guests are at the top of AtmosFear and are laughing and giving my high fives or thumbs up when they are down. It’s amazing!

Today there was a young guy, maybe 17, who threw kisses at me when I was in the booth pressing buttons on AtmosFear. He waved all the time too and smiled and just being silly. Yesterday though there was an older guy (about my age) who flirted with me when I was at Höjdskräcken. I didn’t notice it at first, and then my colleague told me about it. As long as it is innocent it’s actually a bit fun to be recognized.

Today there were also a gang of Guldpasskids who were pretty okay. I checked their bracelets and one of them checked my nametag and greeted me by name. I greeted him back and he told me his name was Hugo. When I a few moments later checked his safety things right before I started the ride he asked me to make the ride even scarier. I thought about what I could say in the mic, but I seriously think AtmosFear is the scariest attraction so I said something like this: “My new friend Hugo wanted me to make this ride as scary as possible, but since this already is the scariest attraction in the park, the only thing I can do is to wish you Good Luck!” And right then it dropped. Of course I said this with a very serious voice. He thought that was very funny!

I was supposed to get Helix, the brand new and extremely popular rollercoaster. But one of the attractions in our area was broken and a lot of people were sick from other areas so I was at AtmosFear most of the day. I had my test on Höjdskräcken and passed it galantly! I am in the pool which means I will get as many attractions as possible, so I will get a new one tomorrow, and that will probably be the rollercoaster. So super cool! That will also mean that I am allowed to go on the ride while I am in training on that attraction. I’ve never gone on it. I hope I dare and won’t be crying when I get back to the platform and back to work…

 

I won’t start working until 1pm tomorrow so I will have time to be in school before that and work on the presentation and watch a couple. We all need to do that to get our thesis approved. My ambition is to be there at 8am, and then go straight to work. It’s gonna be a long day. But then I have my “weekend” when I will have to give two thesis presentations. But that will be easy.

3 attractions

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Three super intense days are over and I seriously have a hard time standing up right now. Everything hurts, but I am happy. I really feel at home at Liseberg, already made a lot of friends and I don’t feel weird goofing around with the guests. I love it!

I have had three full days so far and I’ve learned three attractions. Well, the third I got tonight, one hour before I got off, but still, that’s not too bad! My first attraction on Wednesday was the big ferris wheel, Lisebergshjulet. I am glad I got that one as my first, it is really easy. So easy that a day later I was an approved driver of that attraction. I am not allowed to push the buttons on that one, but only check people’s tickets, get them safely aboard the gondolas, let them out, and hang out with them when they are waiting. Super easy and fun.

On my second day I first had a checkup on the wheel, to make sure that I knew everything and I had time to ask questions. The next two hours I was at Atmosfear, the big free fall up on the mountain on Liseberg. And after all that new information I had the “test” on Lisebershjulet. I managed though and had three hours in total on there all by myself (except for the operator who pushes the buttons in the side room). I did good and had fun there!

Atmosfear is harder! There I need to press buttons, and there are a lot of them. But I’ve learned and did really well on the “test” this afternoon. A test is pretty much just a supervisor asking questions about the attraction. How to open it, how to run it, how to close it and what the normal errors are. It is so much easier to “study” for this instead of an exam at a university. It is easier to learn by doing instead of learn by reading. I had a few hours today by myself after that and it was fun. I felt more secure when no one was watching my every move. And I could say anything in the microphone without feeling stupid. That’s something that gets easier every time you do it. It is extremely fun for example to count down when they are on the top and stop on 7 or something. Or repeat on number several times; 10, 9, 8, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7…. When they come down after that and have stopped screaming they start to laugh and one time they applauded. I need to come up with fun lines to say. The fun thing about Atmosfear is that I can talk to them on all the way up, there are speakers on the gondola. Extremely fun! I also counted backwards in German today.

My third attraction, that I just got an introduction to is Höjdskräcken. It is very similar to Atmosfear, it is a free fall but smaller and is actually pushed down from the top instead of just being dropped. It is only 12 seats on it instead of 36 and I will be completely alone on that one when I get it approved. And you can’t talk to the guest when they are up in the air. I guess there are other ways to entertain myself on that one. Need to figure them out though.

My first two days I worked until 11pm and tonight to 8pm. I don’t have time for much else right now. I would have worked on the thesis when I got home, but I forgot my notes at Liseberg, so I will study on my breaks tomorrow. I have another 8pm day tomorrow and on Sunday I will only work until 6pm. Luxury! In total I will have worked 7 days straight before my first “weekend” on Tuesday and Wednesday. And that’s when I have my thesis presentations. I can’t say how much I want that to be over so I can enjoy work more and get a routine on my life again.

 

If anyone can come up with fun things to say in the microphone (or just straight to the guests), please tell me. I want to be a fun Liseberger! 🙂

World’s best job

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Dear 10 readers,

I am alive, though extremely exhausted after my two first days at the best job ever. I have been working until 11pm both days and early mornings thereafter equals no blog at the moment. An update will come eventually (maybe on my first day off; on Tuesday). I should probably focus on work, sleep and thesis at the moment.

Yours sincerely,
//Alexandra Bemm, attraction driver at Liseberg.

Sand in my eye

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I’ve been home in Sweden for a few days more than I have left. Why does time go by so ridiculously fast? It’s not that I don’t look forward to going, I do, but I really enjoy being back home. Tomorrow I will start working at the world’s most fun job, and when you’re having fun time goes even faster, which means that I will be at the airport saying goodbye way too soon. I should probably buy my flight ticket soon. I don’t want the prices to go higher. Maybe before the week is over.

The only thing I don’t have for the visa interview is a printed photo and the confirmation page of my appointment at the Embassy. I am picking up the photo tomorrow morning which means I have to book the interview. I think I will just go over the day the 11th of June. It will be hell sitting on a 5am train, but I could sleep, or read, which is not too bad. A book I’ve been waiting for for a year was released today, and with this reading pace I have now I will probably read that on the train in two weeks. Or maybe it will be done, I don’t know. The book btw is the sixth and last book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Heavenly Fire.

This morning I was in school working on the thesis. Both I and my partner are getting tired of this. Our supervisor at Chalmers has gone underground and we haven’t heard anything from him in weeks! We get different information about the formalities of the report from different people in charge and that is really a pain in the ass annoying this close to the finish line! Today we decided who is gonna talk about what on the presentations. And we are gonna work with what we want to say individually. I hope I won’t be too tired after work to be able to do a good job.

*ONE HOUR LATER*

Never mind what I wrote above. The interview appointment is schedule for June 11th at 9:30am. Train tickets bought for 700SEK and I will have a few hours on my own in Stockholm that day, but then a lunch at Hard Rock Cafe might be a good idea?

I just also bought my flight ticket! This is so real now! On September 12th I will be leaving Gothenburg and fly to Los Angeles. I am gonna take another flight from there to San Luis Obispo, but I’m not gonna book that right now, if it turns out that I can get a ride from there from my peer contact or someone else. Or maybe I will decide to rent a car and drive up along Pacific Coast Highway 1 again. I mean, it’s just a 13h flight, I’ll probably feel okay.

Tomorrow morning I will go to Chalmers, print my last paper for the interview, then head to the photo store I was in today and pick up my printed visa photo. …. I was just gonna write that I will then be totally ready. But the truth is that there is always something else to do. I willhave to go to the interview, wait for my passport to come back, book my hostel for the first couple of nights in SLO, book the last flight from LA to SLO. And packing of course! Moving my stuff out of the apartment. Saying goodbye…

I feel like I have everything under control anyway and that is a good feeling. I can stay focused on my thesis now! I’ll probably have some time for it tomorrow before work. Oh yes, I have my first day at Liseberg tomorrow! Excited or what!!

 

At 6pm I was at Beach Center with Dzejna and two other. One of them, Anna, I knew since before. But the third, Erika, never showed up because of stomach cramps 30 min before we would play, so she sent her “sambo”(=the person you are in a relationship with and living with, but not married) instead. We didn’t mind, he was a nice dude and the games were very even. I won mostof my games though and I played really well. Except my serve which didn’t work at all today. But my sets and spikes were as good as ever. What happened during our gameplay that wasn’t so good though was that I accidently threw a lot of sand in my wide open eye! I sat down, closed my eyes and was afraid of opening them. The others ran and grabbed my water bottle and poured it in my hands so I could rinse my eyes. I must have gotten most of it out, because it didn’t hurt. Phew! I remember what happened in 4th of 5th grade when I got a grain of sand in my eye and it swelled so bad that I had to go to the ER… I don’t want that to happen again. It’s been a few hours now and it still doesn’t feel particularly weird, so it’s probably fine :).

I played some Guild Wars 2 after school today for the first time in probably 3 weeks. I missed it! I wanted to play some more after beach volleyball, but it got really late now all of a sudden….

 

Ugh, this got longer than I expected. I should probably get to bed and read through my information papers I got from the attraction department last week. It’s a lot of pages I should read before I start working… But at the same time I also want to read Throne of Glass… Soon I will be able to read whatever I want, and do whatever I want in my freetime! The benefits of working compared to studying 🙂

Structural Engineering exam

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It’s done. I’m free! Almost. The anxiety a test at Chalmers brings is gone and that feels soooo good! As the other couple of times it was a 5 hour exam and I sat in the lecture room (so weird sitting in a classroom where I have lectures, normally we sit in special rooms we use when we solve problems) until the very end. I wrote something on 7 questions out of 8. Not an answer on all of them, but I can still get some points. I can’t really say how it feels. I guess like the other times and that it can go either way. But it’s good to know that I could give as many answers after just a few days of studying instead of two weeks. Or maybe I won’t get a single point. I’m not gonna think about this, it’s done and I can focus on my thesis instead. I’ll take it again when I get the result in a couple or three weeks.

After the test I was in school for 1,5 hours with my thesis partner writing on the report. We got the feedback from our examinator and it wasn’t too bad this time. She even said we might get this appored before the summer. Good news, awesome! I got hungry at 3pm, went home, had lunch and then spent a while on my couch reading, and then falling asleep. I love this freedom feeling! I could have had summer break now, but what does two extra weeks matter?

Test tomorrow

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I could let you think that the lack of posts the past couple of days has been because I’ve been studying, but it wouldn’t feel right to do that. Yesterday I was actually out drinking a little bit. Probably wasn’t the best of ideas two nights before a huge test. But I seriously haven’t been feeling the urge to study. I’ve gone through all the old tests (not solving the problems, but remembering where to find all the equations in the books and in wich order they all come). I’ve read through all the theory questions and written new summaries of all the different types of problems, and I feel like that is what I can do with this motivation (or lack of).

I am disappointed in myself, this was supposed to be my triumph. 75% of school, so I would have had more time to focus on this stupid course, but no. I’ve done everything but. When I was in London i secretly gave up. I have been trying since, but not wholeheartedly. And I will not be disappointed when I don’t pass this one.

I will go there tomorrow, do my best, and hope for problems that I know how to solve. I am really good at some of them (I actually solved one of them yesterday without the answer key), but the problems are random, and so far I’ve been in extreme unluck. So maybe this third time will be right!

Even if I don’t pass I will be so relieved to be done with this stress. I am gonna try to do a little almost every day of the summer, get deeper understanding of the subject, and try again in the end of August.

 

I didn’t study much today, but instead I got some visa preparations done. I paid another stupid fee, the one called SEVIS (or  I-901). I have no idea what it is for, but $180 is now gone from my bank account… I have been looking into when i should go to the US Embassy. It would be awesome to go on 1st class by train with my brother when he is working on July 22nd. But Chad isn’t in Sweden 22-23, and I don’t want to spend almost two days in Stockholm by myself. So I asked him when he could join me. So maybe 11-12 of June. Or my third option, going with the 5am train on the 11th, go to the Embassy at 9:30am and go back home in the afternoon. It will be a tough day, but I think that is the easiest option if I don’t have any company.

I am missing five things to bring to the embassy (I hope I haven’t forgotten anything); Proof of Fiancial Aid (which I will get from Chalmers tomorrow), SEVIS reciept (which I will print tomorrow), Confirmation of appointment at the Embassy (I can’t get this until I’ve made the appointment), Extract of the population register (I will have to call Swedish Tax Agency tomorrow and ask them to send on to me, and a printed photo. I am waiting for someone with Photoshop to fix the background. It’s not that much left until I have a new USA Visa page in my Passport 🙂
I really need to go to bed now and read through some of my notes again. I am surprisingly calm about tomorrow. I remember getting all hyped up about exams two years ago…

Stress

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I wish I could fastfoward my life three weeks, maybe four just to be sure all of this is over. I have so much going on and it’s not doing me any good. This stupid test on Monday for one. It’s Friday tomorrow and I just started… It doesn’t feel too bad though when I did half a test today. A lot comes back when I reread the old exams and theory questions. But I am still not expecting a grade.

The thesis is not going so well. Our examinator and supervisor at Chalmers are very negative towards our report and seriously can’t say anything good about it, except that it was a bit better since the first draft. It sucks! I hate this project. We got confirmed that we can have our presentation at Chalmers on June 3rd though at 2pm. That’s something. Now we just have to book a room and talk to Veidekke and ask them if we can give the presentation in the morning the same day.

My visa application is confusing. I have a very nice picture that would look good in my passport but today I got paranoid, what if it isn’t and I go to the embassy with it and get neglected? I took this photo myself, but I seriously don’t want to pay a fortune to go to a photographer. I am concerned about the small shadows in the background and they might go away in photoshop. So will try that and then go to a photo store and ask them if it is an okay photo for a US visa. It hopefully is, I am looking straight forward, I have a neutral and not an exxagerated expression, white background. But slanting shoulders and small shadows in the background. I don’t think the shoulders should be a problem, what if I looked like that? Maybe I have to walk crookedly at the embassy. And then there’s the problem of when I should go to Stockholm. I need to book the appointment very soon in case the spots run out. I want to talk to my brother and see if he works on SJ a day when I am off work. I am not sure he knows in advance when he works. But I will ask him. Otherwise paying a shitload of money on a regular train or taking a car and stay the night with my uncle and cousins. Or convince my dad to come with me again. Unfortunately I can’t get it with a weekend this time since I am working. Complicated! I also have to make 100% sure what I need to bring to the embassy. It can get nasty otherwise…

My new visa picture(?) to the left, and old one to the right (taken by a photographer).
AlexandraBemmVisa 2013
I think this should be okay with a lighter background and no shadows.

My last stress thing is that I start working on Wednesday and I will work every day until our presentation. That will be fun. Long nights or early mornings at Chalmers!

The awesome summer weather is making sitting inside all day miserable. This morning at 7am it was 20C outside, that is ridiculous!! And by the afternoon it was way warmer. I really hope it will be a nice summer.

I have tried to study today, but procrastinating is at its best during exam times. I have calculated an estimated sum of what I will earn this summer and it’s not too bad. The total for three months will be about 60 000 SEK, which is what I earned during the whole 2013. But the taxes are much higher here. But I won’t have any trouble with rent or living expenses at least. Great!

 

I need to go to bed now, read a little fiction, and get up early to continue with this nightmare of studying I am living right now…