Author Archives: Alexandra

Surprise party

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Yesterday was a very nice day in almost every way. It started with four hours of work as an au pair recruiter. We were part of a “after  graduation” fair at a high school in Gothenburg where we talked to students about what to do after graduation. Some were interested, most not. Maybe a bunch of people will come to the next meeting because of it, we will see. I had a great time there and four hours just flew by. And when I got there I was met by the receptionist who I recognized a lot. It was the old receptionist at my high school many years ago. She recognized me after a few moments of thinking. She is very nice, I like her!

We got free lunch and a lot of fika. Right after I had a thesis meeting with Veidekke to attend to. They are very pleased with the result so far. We are gonna make some minor changes before Wednesday and then we should be done. Except for the writing part of course…

And right after that I met up with my cousin and her friend in downtown and showed them how to get home to me. They left some things, changed clothes like four times and then went to a concert with The Fooo. A Swedish boyband. And I mean boyband, they are 16 year olds… They have been famous for a year since they were up on stage before Justin Bieber when he was here a year ago. And girls are crazy about them for some unknown reason! They had been lining up outside the place where the concert took place since Tuesday! Apparently the first in line got to meet the band before the concert, but yesterday afternoon the band had walked along the line and hugged everyone. I guess those girls in the front felt kinda stupid. I think these guys are famous because they are so nice to their fans. And that’s not a bad thing. But they do look awfully a lot like Justin Bieber and that is a big no no for me.

When they had left I prepared the rest of the cake and called mom and asked her to pick me up at 17:45. She thought we were going to her friends to plan our trip to London, but it was a surprise party. She had no idea what was going on. Didn’t thought about the big bag I brought with me, or the cake (which was supposed to be there originally but then cancelled because of allergies, but I told mom I talked to the allergic person and it was fine), or the fact that I was doing the dishes while she waited downstairs to give the people at the party more time, or that my brother wanted me, not mom who were living with him, to drive him to his girlfriend (the party really) on a night before he had to work at 5am and when he just spent the entire week with her in Rome. Clueless and surprised when she saw everyone!

It was fun being part of that! So we ordered Greek food for dinner, drank wine, ate my cake and then mom opened her gifts. From me she got a new pair of sweatpants and two pairs of earrings. I bought the same ones because they were so cute. She never noticed me wearing them this last week though.

I got a lot of book tips from Gudrun, one of mom’s friends, who has the same taste of books, movies and TV shows. We had a great night, but I got tired quickly. I got home at 0:30am and tried to be as quiet as possible. My cousin were already home since two hours and had gone to bed. I am surprised. She is fifteen, she should be able to stay up all night, right?

Anyway, I was extremely tired, but still couldn’t resist playing 2048 on my phone in my bed for half an hour before finally falling asleep with the phone in my hand. That game is seriously addicting. The goal of the game is to get one tile with the number of 2048 and you do that by putting two equal tiles together. So two 2s become a 4, and two 4s become a 8 and so on. I’ve played it a lot lately, but I can’t get a tile with more than 1024. Stupid…

Anyway, it was a very nice day and I think today will be as good. BBQ in Slottskogen and a lecture from the architects of the new city library as part of the opening ceremony. Or maybe I will skip that and go back to bed? It’s not human to get up at 7:30am on a Saturday.

My cousin and her friend were satisfied with the concert and had a great time and no problem finding their way back to my place. They tried to be extremely quiet when making breakfast, but I am a light sleeper and wake up from pretty much anything. I wonder when they were planning on waking me up, haha.

Birthday cakeThe cake I made for mom was a success!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients
*400g of condensed milk
*150g butter
*300g Digestive crackers
*1l of fresh fruit (like strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or whatever)
*1,5 double Daim (á 56g) (Daim=Heath bar but better)
*3dl whipped cream

How to
*Boil the can of condensed milk for 2,5 hours. The water is supposed to cover the can at all times. (Or you can buy a can of preboiled condensed milk, called Caramellised condensed milk)
*Let it cool off completely under cold water. The milk is now a caramel cream.
*Cover the inside of a pie form, diameter 24cm, about 8 pieces, with plastic sheeting.
*Melt the butter. Crumble the Digestive crackers into tiny tiny crumbs and mix it with the butter. Put the mix in the pie form and put it in the fridge for an hour.
*Remove the cake base from the form and plastic and put it on a plate.
*Put the caramel cream on the cake base as an even layer.
*Mince the Daim and whip the cream. Put 2/3 of the Daim in the cream. Put the whipped cream on the caramel cream.
*Last, put the rest of the minced Daim on the cake and then decorate with fruit.

Here is a link to the Swedish version of the recipe.

50

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I found out today that I didn’t get the job at Burger King. I still haven’t heard from Hemtjänsten so I am a bit worried I might not get that one either. And if I don’t, then I won’t have a job for the summer, no income, a very expensive rent and a lot to pay when it comes to my next abroad experience… I know I’ve learned to be optimistic about everything, but right now it is very hard. No one wants to hire me and it is totally getting to my head! It really means that there was someone a little bit better than me, but it’s not a very comforting thought right now.

I’ve gotten a lot more emails from Cal Poly with information. I haven’t gotten answers about how to get an apartment/room yet, but it seems like I need to pay $1100 right away as a deposition. How the fuck will I get that kind of money when I barely have enough to pay my own rent here in Sweden? How will I be able to buy a plane ticket to even go to the US? Or the visa? I will get a 25 000 kr grant from Chalmers, but not before November which is bullshit. That money is supposed to help us exchange students to pay for the flight ticket and so on. Bullshit!

I’ve also found out that to apply for specific classes at CalPoly (May 9th) I need to provide the professor syllabi and grades to show him/her that I have the right prerequisites. I can’t explain how much I want all these preparations to be over. I just wanna be there and have everything figured out. This is almost overwhelming with everything else that is going on.

It is very obvious that my streak of luck is long gone…

I tried to study some structural engineering at school today and it actually went okay. I solved two problems in like four hours but then I found out I didn’t get the job and spent the last hour playing on my phone. So I decided to go home instead. Have a little dinner and then join mom at the gym for an hour of yoga.

It was a tough class today and it hurt. In my mouth! This stupid wisdom tooth hole is still hurting pretty bad. It’s been more than a week. It should be okay by now!

 

I want to go to Kent’s concert here in Gothenburg on June 1st. But the problem still stands, no money=nothing. I really hate being in this situation where money means everything and the lack of it is ruining my life. I am getting back to my old self who worries, I am sad and can’t see the optimistic side of things. Not good. I need something good to happen! Like now, please!

 

Oh, right, the title. Today was mom’s 50th birthday! She didn’t seem that old when I met her so I think she will be fine 🙂 No party today, but she wanted to celebrate by doing yoga. And tomorrow she gets the day off because she is turning 50 or 60. I like that company, they are very nice and generous with days off. Happy birthday again, world’s best mother! ❤

Job interview and the doctor

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Yesterday I went to the doctor about this B12 problem of mine. A new investigation was put to action and I took a lot of blood tests. Big bruises on the insides of my arms now. I hope I will find out why I have this deficiency once and for all. And I also want B12. It is getting to my head and I am ridiculously tired all the time.

Today I had another job interview. This time it was at Burger King. I think that sounds more fun than at Home services. But it is only a part time job and I think I will get much more money from the old people job. That is a dilemma… I think I need to wait and see if I get any of them and then compare salaries or just take whatever I get.

What was so funny about this interview though was that the interviewer recognized me. I had no idea who he was. But then it turned out that we were in the same class in middle school! How small isn’t the world? Back then he was a tiny guy who didn’t speak Swedish very well. Now he was tall with barely no accent at all. Wow! I still think it is cool that I was being interviewed by a former classmate.

In the afternoon I was working with my thesis partner at Chalmers on our report. I hate writing. But we have come a long way and I hope that we will be done sometime next week. I won’t be able to do anything  else this week, maybe Sunday. But I have a lot to do. Structural Engineering studying tomorrow at school, baking a birthday cake for mom, yoga, working at Cultural Care, thesis meeting, London trip planning, visit from a cousin, BBQ in Slottskogen… Lots of stuff to do all the time. No wonder I am so exhausted.

Today was the opening of the City Library here in Gothenburg. I didn’t have time to go there today, but since the opening is going on for the rest of the week I am planning to go there on Sunday and listen to the architects of the building giving a presentation and take a look at my beautiful plaster and glass walls.

Yesterday I decided that it was well overdue to clean my earrings. Silver tend to get a layer of something on it after a while. So I searched online and first tried toothpaste, which didn’t work. My second try with aluminum foil balls in salty boiling water worked! A few, not to tight, foil balls, salt in the water, get the water to boiling point and then boil the silver earrings for five minutes. Almost as clean as new ones. Perfect! I like these household remedies :).

 

The last thing I want to write about before passing out on my bed is that I’ve gotten a lot of emails from CalPoly lately. I accidently turned off the email function on my phone and realized that today. I got a welcome email from the international center giving me my account information and CalPoly email. Of course my username is HBEMM (Hanna Bemm). I think I will get used to everyone calling me Hanna next year.

Another email was from University Housing telling me that they were happy to offer me space in their beautiful campus apartment for the upcoming academic year. That is great news! The problem is that I don’t understand what I am supposed to do now. So I sent a long email to that international center asking a lot of questions about everything. In a week I will have to sign up to the classes that I submitted in my application to the exchange program several months ago.

This thing is complicated! It is so much easier here where you apply for schools and programs and then get accepted to all the classes that is included. You sign up on a webpage and there you get a list of apartments you can apply for. So much easier!

This CalPoly thing is getting really real now. About four months until departure!! It will get even more real when I get my welcome package with all my legal papers (so I can apply for a visa) and tons of information from the school. Excited, oh yes! But at the same time, I wouldn’t mind staying here in Sweden either… I love my new  life here!

Easter BBQ

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The Swedish spring goes on! Today was as nice as yesterday, a few more clouds, and a breeze, but it was perfect. I’ve been sitting out in the sun in Sjövik all afternoon in shorts and a tank top. Super awesome!

My dad and Karin had a BBQ party today, so I borrowed mom’s car and drove out to them at 2pm. I got a comfortable chair and sat there until it was time to eat. As appetizer there were Swedish easter food, like pickled herring, salmon, Jansons frestelse, gubbröra. Really good!

And the main course was grilled pork and lamb. Really good that too! Chocolate cake for dessert.

It was a very nice afternoon!

 

Before I drove there I tried a trick mom told me she read about somewhere. All my frying pans and pots are black underneath. With sugar cubes that easily went away. Amazing.

Sugar cubes

I also found extremely cheap flight tickets to the US. I was told on Saturday that Norwegian Airlines has started with direct flights from Stockholm to Los Angeles. September 1st, 2500kr!! That is ridiculous! I was afraid that I was gonna have to pay 10 000 for a roundtrip. Now it seems like half that price. Awesome! I’m not gonna book anything though until I am certain of what I will do. Maybe I won’t even fly in to LA, but somewhere else for a short vacation before school starts?

 

Now, I will watch the latest Game of Thrones episode, eat some easter candy and drink påskmust!

Easter lunch

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I had a very calm day today. Except for all the aching in my body of course. It’s hard playing that much beach volleyball in one day. That was the second time I played since I got back home and I can feel that today, my whole upper body is pretty much dead and now in the evening I’m also starting to feel it in my butt. But it was totally worth it, and it’s awesome having muscle soreness in your stomach!

What’s not so nice about my whole body aching is that that includes my tooth, or lack of tooth. It’s not exactly the hole that is hurting, but my whole jaw bone. And it’s not always, just now and then, but when it does hurt, it hurts crazy much! I am gonna call my dentist on Tuesday and ask her if this is normal. I can’t imagine it being so…

Anyway, today was all about having an Easter lunch with mom. Pickled herring, meatballs, prince sausage, shrimp cheesecake, smoked salmon and of course easter must (påskmust). So delicious! And for desert I got an easter egg full of candy. I don’t think I will ever be too old to get one of those!

I hugged my cats a lot and had a nice time on the couch with Stuff. I pet her nose and she copycat me and put her paw on my nose. So adorable! And we held hands while we watched a part of Return of the King.

In the afternoon mom and I went shopping. She needed a shoe shelf and I needed more painkillers. So we drove around to different stores and bought everything except what mom needed. We found some really cute tête-a-têtes, small easter lillies (daffodil is the correct name according to wikipedia). 5 kr for one pot so we bought one each. Really pretty on my kitchen table.

When I got home I watched one episode of Once Upon a Time and played Guild Wars 2 the rest of the evening. It’s a quite addicitive game…

I hope tomorrow brings as good weather as it was today. It really felt like summer! It was way too hot for a jacket and everything is getting greener by the day and the sky was completely cloudless. I love this season! My dad and his fiancé have a BBQ tomorrow and if the weather is as good, I will probably go out there earlier to get some of my tan back.

Swedish springThe Swedish summer is amazing. But I actually think I enjoy spring better when it is like today!

Easter Cup

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This day has been so much fun! I am exhausted but happy. It takes a lot of energy to play beach volleyball. And I have to say, me and Dzejna did very well today and were this close to coming second in the group play. The first game we played we won with a lot of points. Our second game we lost with the same numbers and the third, that was the most intense game. It was so close and the first set was totally ours except that they won eventually with 18-16. The last set was also close, not as, 15-12.  We played awesome though and we were happy and cheering each other on all the time. We have come a long way!

This meant that we came third in our group which also meant that we were out of the tournament. The first and second team kept playing, but the third has to judge the next game. So as usual we had to stay for a couple more hours before we could go home… I hate that system! It’s so much better to be last/fourth and just go home. But we were also soo close to coming second. Stupid.

I had fun anyway and I look forward to the next tournament, whenever it is.

 

The weather has been awesome on this Easter eve. Blue sky and no wind, it really felt like summer today. I kinda wished we would have played outside. If it’s nice weather tomorrow again I will occupy mom’s balcony after our easter lunch together.

Easter Cup 2014My new phone has a good camera too, puh!

 

Yesterday I got a phone call from a Burger King here in Gothenburg. That was one of the places I applied for a summerjob a few weeks back. And they wanted me to come in for an interview on Wednesday. It is closer than that old people job which would be so much more convenient. But we’ll see what happens then.

In the evening I was with mom and some of her friends on their game night. They have that now and then and this time I was invited. I didn’t have anything better to do so I joined. It was a very nice evening and I taught them how to play Munchkin. It took me a while to remember, but it worked out in the end. It is a very fun roll playing card game.

Job interview

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I have to say that I was surprised after the interview I had today. Before I walked into the home care service office in Torslanda I thought this was my last resort. But to be honest, it actually sounded like a nice job. Except for the diapers and help in the bathroom stuff of course, but nothing is perfect. I will either work during day or evening and I would be fine with both. If I work during the day I would be done by 4pm and would have time to head out to the sea and enjoy the Swedish summer, and I would be able to work as a beach volleyball coach too. If I work evenings I have time to sleep and be outside during the day. And the ocean is very close! And it isn’t too bad of a salary either. I will be able to pay my rent, save some AND buy a plane ticket to the US. Awesome! I will find out next week if I got it or not.

The only bad thing about it is that it is out on Hisingen and it will take me 40 minutes to go there everyday. As long as the buses goes okay, which they usually don’t do in the summer, I will be okay. It’s not too bad to commute, but it could of course be so much better.

My cheek is pretty swollen and it hurts a lot. Last time it was fine by the end of the day. I really look like a chipmunk… I hope it goes away soon, it’s embarrassing. And I will be able to play the beach volleyball tournament on Saturday! I am really excited about it and I might even have a tiny audience.

And speaking of teeth, when I came home after the interview I had mail from my dentist. They want me to come in for a normal examination in three weeks. Silly, I’ve been there three times the last couple of months. Maybe I will postpone to August, right before I go to the US. Or maybe I should go now and let them take a look at my newly healed holes.

The painkillers are making me a bit off, but I probably should go to school to study some anyway. Or maybe I should take a nap like the last couple of days. It is well needed. We’ll see if my study partner wants me there or not after lunch.

A pulled tooth and a new phone

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My second wisdom tooth is gone and I am finally done with this horrible teeth-pulling-thing. I knew it wasn’t gonna be so bad, but I was still very nervous and my heart was racing. I did feel the needles this time but I didn’t flinch, guess I am a viking.

It felt like it was more difficult with this one compared to the other one, four weeks ago. But I don’t know. I was freaking out when I heard a machine starting up. It felt like they were filing the tooth or something and I was afraid this one wasn’t as straight as the X-rays said. But mom told me after that it was just a water sollution to clean. It totally felt like a drill/file or whatever though. Scary.

Mom drove me home and I got stuck on the couch for one hour while I waited to take out the thing the dentist put in my cheek to stop the bleeding. It didn’t bleed much at all this time which was a relief. The last time it kept bleeding the whole day.

Anyway, when that thing was out I fell asleep in my bed and slept for three hours. I could have slept more, but I got hungry. So I rinsed and ate some yoghurt and ice cream. Not together.

At three I met up mom at Siba by her job. The line to get help was long like last time and that feels so unnecessary when I, both of the times, knew exactly what I wanted.

Well, I got it and I am surprised it only cost 3000kr. That’s not very much for one of the better phones on the market right now!

We stopped at the grocery store on our way back to my place and back home I had an early dinner and watched a few TV shows. Then I charged my new phone, played a little GW2 and then set up my phone. It went super fast! I just wrote my Gmail address when it started and it even downloaded all the apps I had on my old phone. Very convenient. What I really don’t like about it is the lack of a normal text (SMS) app. It wants me to use Hangouts which is the worst shit ever! The idea to have SMS, MMS, phonecalls, videocalls, in the same app is good. But it doesn’t work. It didn’t give me the name of the person I was texting with, just the number. And how am I gonna remember all those numbers? This has apparently been a problem with Hangouts for months, but it is still not fixed. So I downloaded a new text app that I put to default, Textra. And so far I like it. You don’t even have to open the app to answer the text, you can just get a popup window, and when you press send it goes back to what you did before. Awesome!

I rebooted the HTC One X to factory settings and I hope my dad will enjoy it as much as I have these past two years. It is a great phone! He is very curious about the awesome camera. I hope my new phone camera is as good, if not better.

I should probably get to bed, I have to be in school again tomorrow. Or maybe I should watch another Once Upon a Time…

Google Nexus 5

Cal Poly 2014-2015

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This day has been getting better by the hour from the start! First me and my partner finished the big thing on our thesis, the only thing missing are some emission numbers for excavators. We emailed a guy about it today. Hope we get an answer, we have asked a lot of people and no one has been able to give us what we want.

After three hours of work in the morning I went grocery shopping and then home where I got stuck on the couch in front of the TV. In the evening I went to the gym with mom and she was kind and gave me a ride back home.

At home I cooked a soup full of chlorophyll, consisting of spinach, green peas, broccoli and lime with a feta/avocado topping. It took a while, probably because it was the first time I ever cooked it, and I was texting/on the phone at the same time. The result anyway, was a very calorie controlled and yummy soup. Completely green. And what made my late dinner even better was that I ate it in front of Game of Thrones, the second episode of the fourth season. I was almost laughing out loud at the end. I knew it was gonna happen, but it was a huge relief anyway! When I read that part in the book I was so happy I didn’t know what to do. Haha! I really want The Winds of Winter to be released soon. It’s too long between the books and I forget what happens…

After that I was told by my dad that you can see Mars on the sky today. I thought it was on the 8th, but it was clearly visible today to, right above the full moon. So unbeliavably cool! And what’s even more cool is that my phone could get it on picture! Too bad I’m getting a new one tomorrow 😉 That was the second piece of information my dad gave me. He transferred money for my birthday present, Google Nexus 5!

And the last thing that really made the end of this day awesome was my acceptance email from Cal Poly! Now it is completely completely done! I will get a lot of papers in the mail pretty soon and then I can start getting my visa and figure out when I will get over there and buy a flight ticket. I am so excited!! Less than five months 🙂

Oh, there is one more thing, this is the last night with my troubling wisdom tooth. Tomorrow it will be gone! And even if I will be in pain this week, it will be the last of tooth aches hopefully forever!

I should probably go to bed, I have a dentist appointment at 8am tomorrow. Mom is picking me up at 7:30. I don’t wanna go through it alone, even if I know it’s not gonna be too horrible…

Full moon and MarsThe tiny dot just above the moon is Mars! I’ve always been very fascinated by space and seeing that big red dot in the sky made me really excited! Almost like seeing dolphins and turtles in the wild.

Tooth ache for the last time

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So bad timing for another stupid tooth ache. It started a few days ago but today I woke up and it really hurt. And it is still getting worse. I am so glad that these problems will be gone forever in two days!

The right one that got pulled almost four weeks ago stopped hurting like a week after, but I am not sure it healed properly. There is a hole there and I am afraid that food will stuck. I have to ask them if that is how it is supposed to be like on Tuesday.

Today I was at IKEA with mom after a short 40 minutes of work. Not many people wanted to be interview today so I had only one. At IKEA we had lunch and then bought a few things each, like potato smashers, candles and a new and bigger box for Cards Against Humanity.

The rest of the afternoon I was on the couch and accidently fell asleep watching Once Upon a Time. I hate being this tired all the time!!

Next week will be a short one and after that I need to start studying structural engineering for real. I thought I was gonna be better at studying this time since I only have one class, but I am just too lazy, so it will probably be like normal, the last two weeks before the exam, 24/7…