Category Archives: Sweden

Master thesis presentation (igcabka* graduation)

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So, today was kind of a big deal. After being enrolled at Chalmers since 2010 (7 years), or 5.5 years of full time studies, I am finally done. The report was approved a couple of days ago, yesterday we got the publication number and we sent it in today after we finished our presentation. I was honored by the presence of both my mom and dad and Karin during the presentation, and I honestly think that made me more nervous than I would have been without them.

The presentation went really well. I hadn’t practiced overly much, but, as soon as I went up there, it was like it all got stuck in my head and I spoke freely and only looked at my notes a few times. I stumbled on words a few times, but I don’t think anyone really noticed. And also, it doesn’t really matter, I am human after all.

So, what now? Well, I have applied for many jobs, nothing decided yet, but until it is, I have Liseberg. Hopefully this will have worked itself out after the summer so I can start being an adult for real then. I am really excited to start working and if everything goes according to my plan, I will have a blast!

This MSc degree will be celebrated by sleeping and reading (and maybe play som Guild Wars 2 again for the first time in a month) all weekend long! I can’t wait for some well-deserved time off before I start working at Liseberg on June 23rd. Sure, there are some stray days here and there at the school I am working at, but that barely counts. This time off will be the most amazing freetime of my life. I will enjoy every second of it, I swear!

 

*I guess can also be known as

26

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Back in Sweden after a very long week. But it still was over so fast. I am now older than when I left (which I could have said even if it wasn’t my birthday today, but it is a cliché, and sometimes clichés are fun), but I don’t feel too much different.

The day started with a nice surprise at breakfast at the hotel in Rome. The personnel gave me a pastry with a candle in it and wished me a happy birthday! That was so sweet of them. The green juice is green apple juice, really tasty.

We packed, and then drove out to the beach in Ostia, we just picked the closest one, Mamma Mia Beach. It was not as warm today, only around 19C, and a bit windy, so no swimming in the ocean for me. But I felt the water, it was cold (it wouldn’t have been impossible to go in, but I preferred to sit in the warm sand and enjoying the sun rather than shivering in the wind). We were there for about 45 minutes and then we had to leave for the airport which was only 15 minutes away. We had lunch, did a little shopping, boarded the plane and flew home to cold Gothenburg.

It is nice to be home, but I miss the sun and the warmth. You would think that it would be warmer than 6C here now in April…

Mom picked us up at the airport, drove us home and we went shopping. Late dinner in front of the movie Trolls, consisting of entrecote, potato gratin and pepper sauce. No cake for dessert since they didn’t have any at the store, but some Easter candy and a Budapest pastry.

It honestly didn’t really feel like my birthday today, but it really hasn’t the past few ones either. Downsides of getting older, eh?

Chip

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In August 2007 we ended up with a friend to Stuff, the extremely charming Chip. Like a chocolate chip because he was so dark brown. I do remember calling him a squirrel/terrorist/vampire/something else which I can’t remember now (maybe teddybear?). His tail was the bushiest I had ever seen, his teeth were big and showing and kind of scary looking sometimes, and he was an energetic kitten and always up to no good. He would always try to scratch my feet under the cover while in bed and I woke up so many times with long scratch marks under my feet. He calmed down though and became this huge, fluffy, tolerant and hugable pillow. He got big, 8kg, but still he was always my small Chip (lilla Chip). I remember we playing fetch when he was young. I remember him sleeping in my bed almost every single night. I remember not being able to play beach volleyball for a week because he gave me scratch marks on my foot sole the size of my entire foot one night. I remember him climbing up on my shoulders from the ground so many mornings because he wanted the ham I put on my sandwhiches. I remember him pulling down my sweatpants every morning for several months after that when he got too big to climb up on me. I remember him being super scared of birds and even insects. I remember mom telling me that he spent every day in my room after I left for San Diego, but after a couple of weeks of me being away, barely set his foot in there. I remember him being my tolerant subject of hugging during a rough breakup. And now I will also remember the candles the veterinarians put in the room where we got to say goodbye to him.

Even though Stuff will always be my first cat, Chip was the unusual cat who was always there. Stuff is a typical cat: “sure, pet me, but only under my conditions!” and she kind of always was her own persona; a cool cat. Chip was the opposite, enjoyed attention and always wanted to be close (not on you, but as close you could get, I guess it got too warm for him with all that fluff), and always stayed if you needed comfort from him. He was so charming, and so clumsy, he talked a lot, and followed you around everywhere. He was the perfect, fluffy, and caring cat!

I can’t believe that I will never lift him up again and compare him to weight-lifting equipment. I can’t believe he will never again come and greet me whenever I visit mom. I can’t believe he is gone…

I try to find comfort in that he was just diagnosed with diabetes and would have to live the rest of his life getting injections twice every day and also regular blood tests. At least he doesn’t have to go through that. And hopefully, wherever he is now, he is cured of all the things that troubled him. I am sure he will charm the pants off of everyone! He literally did that with me on several occasions. I am going to miss him so much!

Min lilla, älskade och underbara Chip! ❤

 

 

Valentine’s Day 2017

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img_20170214_215039Valentine’s Day came and went this year again. My thesis partner was nice and told me to stay home and enjoy it with my boyfriend, so that’s what I did. We had breakfast in town, we bought a bag of red candies and he spent some time with his dad so I could do a little bit of work at home. When he came home he brought me roses. He is so sweet, I love roses, they smell soo good and they are pretty. The cats liked them too so they can’t be on the table unfortunately, but they are pretty high up on the shelf above the TV.

 

The big plan for the evening was dinner at Fiskekrogen, a seafood restaurant in downtown. I am not an expert on restaurants in Gothenburg (more like the opposite since I rarely eat out), but I have got the idea that it is one of the finer restaurants in Gothenburg. The atmosphere was so romantic, the food was delicious and the service amazing. The price accordingly as well. But it was worth it, we had a night of luxury and shellfish buffet. I felt spoiled. We ordered a bottle of sparkling wine which was delicious, Billabong Wines, an australian non-alcoholic. I know what I want the next time I am celebrating something.

When we got home, we ate red candies and watched Deadpool. We saw it in the movies last year. Maybe this is a new tradition? It is a very funny movie, but at the same time very sad.

It was a nice Valentine’s and I am glad I had Jesper to spend it with! ❤

 

Nintendo Switch press release

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Yesterday was a pretty cool day. Jesper’s mom’s husband had called in to a radio program and won two tickets to the press release of the new Nintendo Switch press release. He couldn’t go (I guess?), so we got the tickets and got to see and play on the new console one day before the public. The real pre launch party is today and tomorrow and I have heard that the lines are sick to get in! Perks of being there yesterday, it wasn’t overly packed, everyone got a goodie bag and we all have a chance of winning one Switch. And Jesper and I have a bigger chance to win than most since we are 2 of 20 (the people from the radio contest) who can win, while the other “normal VIP’s” have a much smaller chance to win. Let’s all cross our fingers that we win.

The new console is a very cool little thing. You can pick it apart and play it in several different ways. Either as its own console, without the TV, or you can connect it to the TV and play on the small hand controls which are normally placed on the side of the screen. Or you can buy external controls, bigger ones and connect it to the TV and play. Or build your own bigger handcontrol with the two smaller one. Many possibilities.

There were not too many games to try yesterday, but the new Zelda was there and set up, Super Mario Kart 8 deluxe, Arms, Splatoon 2, 1-2 Switch, Super Bomberman R, Snipperclips, and another one which I don’t remember. The point of Super Bomberman R was to place bombs and kill the other players on a field. I won once at that one. That game was played on the small hand controls and it was hard, even for me who has small hands. You also used those small ones, but in another angle when playing arms, which was a pretty cool boxing game where the arms could be extended very very much. I had a very hard time clicking on the two buttons on top when you went into frenzy (fury?) mode, and even though you didn’t use the buttons in front of you, I still felt like they were in the way. Otherwise, it was a fun game.

In this version of Splatoon it was possible to play many people together, which you can’t in Splatoon 1 (I don’t think at least, we have tried on our Wii U, but couldn’t get it to work with multiplayer). It was hard with the gyroscope, but still fun.

The weirdest games I have ever seen was one which was in 1-2 Switch (many small party games, kinda like Wii Party). The only thing you did was milking a cow. Very weird and random.

Food was served at the event and we also saw a celebrity, Lasse Kronér, if I am not completely mistaken, haha! It was a fun event, and after seeing the crazy lines which were today, I feel VIP who missed that.

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A mix of pics

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img_20170112_111629  Not too long again the river that runs next to our neighborhoos was very very flooded!img_20170112_111424 img_20170117_083105  One morning on my way to school, this beautiful sunrise took place!img_20170117_083421 img_20170117_222618  It took a while for Ramses to get used to the new drinking fountain, at first he was afraid of it, then he slowly started to get near it, then he drank the spillwater Cleo had played with and now he is drinking from the running water like nothing.snapchat-453455119 We redid our hall, looks much nicer now. And Cleo approves!snapchat-646737467 img_20170119_163036 The same week as the sunrise (it might even have been the day after), we had an incredible sunset.

Kittens kittens kittens

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Since we bought the game Munchkin and got it from my mom the very same day last week, we went back to Science Fiction Bokhandeln to exchange it to something else. The zombie version of the game is a whole new game and can’t be combined with the base game, so we decided to get extra cards instead, we got steeds, sounded funny. We also got a whole new game called Exploading Kittens. Crazy game. We played it and it turns out that it is really fun. It is a card game and you are basically suppose to just lay down cards with actions on them, and then draw a new card. You lose when you get the card with an exploading kitten on it. They have a lot of interesting-looking games at that store, we might go back soon, hehe.

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And speaking of kittens, mine are also crazy. We turned the couch upside down the other day. No wonder they have no toys to play with! This time we tried a not-so-permanent-solution and put duct tape along the floor between the feet of the couch. Hopefully that works! So far there are actually still small toys not under the couch, yay!

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A couple of days in Sala

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It was a while ago now that I visited my grandparents in Sala (middle of Sweden). Dad, Karin, Jesper and I drove up there on Thursday and spent two nights and came back tonight. On Thursday it was extremely cold everywhere and when we arrived at 8pm it was -19°C (-2 °F). That was cold, it hurt in my nose when I breathed. The cold was still there the day after, so when we went for a walk around the lake it was -12 and the wind made it even chillier. It was not fun! The lake, Långforsen, was frozen over and people went skiing on it. With the snow it was pretty though.

We also took the car to show Jesper what was worth showing in the small town of Sala. The silver mine, obviously. A little bit of downtown, but that is it, nothing else up there, haha! I think Jesper wants to go there in the summer to go down in the silver mine. I kinda want too, it was so many years ago I was there.

The day ended with a good dinner, a burning fire in the living room and some time spent in their sauna.

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Today was much warmer, only -2 °C. The sky was blue and the walk around the lake was so much nicer today. I was only cold after a while, and that was only my hands after taking too many pictures. So here are basically the same pictures as above, but with a blue sky in the background.

img_20170107_122425 img_20170107_123435 img_20170107_123446 img_20170107_125208 img_20170107_123525 img_20170107_123544 img_20170107_123959 img_20170107_124255 img_20170107_124325 img_20170107_125712  Jesper, me, dad, and grandpa.img_20170107_131835 img_20170107_125855 img_20170107_130255 img_20170107_130524 img_20170107_131541 pano_20170107_125421 img_20170107_153003 On the way home it was extremely foggy, sometimes it was impossible to see the road ahead. While the sun was setting it was sooooo pretty!

Spontaneous book purchase

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Yesterday Jesper and I went to my favorite store, Science Fiction Bokhandeln (~The Science Fiction bookstore). I think it actually might be his too, since he always wants to go there. I have a long list of my favorite books that I want to have on my shelf (I have most of my library in the .epub-format), and yesterday I ticked one whole series off. Throne of Glass, one of my favorite series of all time. Next on my shopping list is Silo by Hugh Howey.

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The book bag also contained the main game of Munchkin. So we are prepared for game nights at our place from now on. A funny thing happened later when mom came over to pick up the keys (so she can feed our cats when we are away at my grandma’s for the weekend). She also brought the game of Munchkin since her group of friends couldn’t figure out (or was it something else? Can’t remember) how to play it, so I was promised it. What are the odds that she brings it over on the same day we decide to buy it? I really like coincidences, they are fun! Anyway, so now we have to return the oen we bought, and get another version instead so we have twice as many cards. I think Jesper wants to get the Zombie version. No surprise there.

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My Year in Books 2016

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goodreads-challenge-2016

The year has come to an end and I managed to reach my goal on Goodreads, 46 out of 25 books read in a year (I am about a third in in Metro 2034, but I won’t finish it before the challenge resets tomorrow at midnight unfortunately). Not too bad if I may say so myself. Many of them were very short, and my to-read-list right now only includes long books, so I won’t take 50 for next year’s challenge, but 40. I hope that I will reach all the way to 50 and beat my all time high of 47 which I had in 2013. No wonder I read so much that year, I was living in San Diego and it was obligatory to always read when at the beach, which I was all the time!

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Books read vs. pages read during the years.

My Year in Books 2016.