Promotion, surgery, and lots of other things

Posted on Friday, 10 June 2016, 0:03 by Alexandra

I honestly want to write more often, but I have been so busy. My first year as a master student at Chalmers is done, and I think I passed everything. The last two grades haven’t been registered yet, but I have a good feeling about it. The last assignment we did in International Projects was really interesting. We acted as consultants for a company who wanted to build a pharmaceutical plant in Uganda, so we did a full analysis of the process and I would love to do that as a living in the future if I am lucky enough.

And speaking of school, I have decided to stay at home in Sweden this fall. I have done the whole studying abroad thing, and I really feel like being home this fall will be nice and easier. It just feels more right to stay at home.

Another big thing that happened was that I got promoted at work. A few weeks ago I got the surprising news that I will be an operator at Helix, which means that I won’t just check the restraints, I will actually be the one in charge of the whole attraction. Lots of responsibility, but I am so excited! The training for the position will start on Monday and I will be done on Midsummer Eve. This does not only mean that I will get a much higher salary, but I will be stuck on the Mountain and not be in the pool anymore. I won’t be at the Balderado area where I am stuck with two attractions. This whole spring I have been mostly there and have actually gotten pretty badly injured because of the monotone work I did there. My hip and knee is all broken. According to my new schedule I will be in the pool this fall again, but hopefully they will fix it so I am only on the Mountain then too.

The only other Liseberg-related thing I can think about, is that one day last week when I was heading down to lunch, a pigeon flew into my face, that was kind of weird.

And speaking of other jobs, today I got two more! First today I tried to work in an Yves Rocher store downtown. They thought I did a good job and I will start working there as soon as I have time and they need me, yay! Right after that I was at an interview for a company where students act as substitutes in schools on different levels. I got that job directly after the interview was done. That will be so exciting! But since school is done for this academic year, I will start in August with that.

Hmm, anything else? Oh right! I recently did a new PAP-test, which I do every three months since the cell changes won’t go away. And they still haven’t. So now they have decided that it has taken long enough time that it is time to remove it. I got an appointment for surgery next Friday. I am a little nervous, but not too much, I am sure it will be fine. I am glad they are finally going to do something about it and hope it will go away for good.

Everything is also fine with Cleo and Ramses. We made some big changes around here about three weeks ago and Cleo seems to be feeling a lot better now and hasn’t peed in the bed since then. Every morning, Ramses is so cuddly and sleeps by our faces, and some mornings Cleo does it too. He is still scared and doesn’t like to be hold when he doesn’t want to. But I love them both.

Now I should probably go to bed, I have a 10 hour day at Liseberg tomorrow. Here are some random pictures from the last month:

Ramses got neutered but couldn’t stop licking himself, so he had this cone on for a few days. It was not super nice waking up early in the morning when he wanted to cuddle and we got that big thing up in our faces, haha. I played a tournament in the beginning of May with Miriam, and we actually came in third in the B-finals. Not bad at all 😀 My oldest cousin graduated high school last week and in two weeks she is moving to USA to be an au pair. She will have an awesome year. Västtrafik has out in new signs in the trams to thank everyone from different backgrounds that go together on the public transit, and this sign shows a man holding his phone. I thought it was funny. Cleo wanted to come with me to school. Ramses as well. This is Cleo every time I take a shower. He literally uses his paw to withdraw the curtain to make sure that I am still alive, haha!

Northumbria or Chalmers?

Posted on Thursday, 21 April 2016, 0:14 by Alexandra

When I applied for this master program late last summer I didn’t expect to get in, the name of the program sounded interesting, it could be a good back-up plan if I didn’t get a job, which I didn’t. So it turned out great. I had no idea what it meant to pursue an MSc degree, and even less what International Project Management meant. It basically means that I prolonged getting a job with two years and being part of a class of around 40 people where a big majority of them are foreigners. It also means that, to get international experience, one semester abroad at another university is an option. That semester is coming up and I have no idea what to do. I know from experience that writing it down can help, and also some help from my few readers perhaps? The university abroad is called Northumbria and is located in Newcastle, England and I would spend 3 months there (mid-September to mid-December).

Here are the pros and cons I can think of at this moment.

NORTHUMBRIA
+ If I go and then do my master thesis on my own I will get 2 MSc degrees.
+ I will get more experience
+ It will hopefully be fun (I have heard that there are lots of drinking going on there and since I don’t drink I am afraid that I will feel left out).
+ It is only 3 months away from home.
+ Jesper and I can scratch more countries on our Scratch Map if he comes and visit me (England is close to Sweden and it is rather cheap to fly there).
– I have signed a contract for Liseberg until mid-October.
– It will be expensive and I would have to take extra student loans.
– I will be away from Jesper for 3 months.
– I will be away from Cleo for 3 months (I am pretty much the only one he really likes).
– I won’t be able to play any beach volleyball (and just as I was getting started with it again…).
– The courses don’t seem too interesting and I can’t change them:
Research skills and methods of inquiry
Project, Programme and Portfolio Management
Risk and Value Management
Project Sustainability

CHALMERS
+ I can transfer the German credits I got at Cal Poly so I can study 50%, work more and make more money.
+ I can choose whatever classes I want to. And I can choose to take either 2 or 4 depending on if I want to transfer the German credits:
Urban Metabolism
Managing Stakeholders for Sustainable Development
Project, Simulation and Modeling in Urban Planning
Quality Management
Environmental Impact Assessment
+ I can start early on my master thesis if I want to.
+ I can save money.
+ I don’t have to quit my job at Liseberg.
+ I don’t have to be away from Jesper nor Cleo.
+ I can play lots of beach volleyball.
– I will only get 1 MSc degree.
– No abroad experience.

I have already figured out where I want to live if I go, so that’s not a stress element. I made a brief budget and with the extra student loan, after both rent back home and in Newcastle, I will have about 6500 SEK per month to spend on food, cell phone and stuff. And that is without the money I will be able to save after working at Liseberg all summer.

It would be so nice to continue my good life here at home and only study 50% this fall and take it a little chill. But at the same time, 2 master degrees and a semester abroad sounds like fun. I don’t know what to do. Last day I have to decide is June 1^st, so I have a little more time. But before May 10^th, I have to pick classes for Chalmers for the fall and I have to apply for university housing in Newcastle as soon as possible… Decisions.

And here are some random pictures:

Jesper’s new baby sister Joeli. Such a cutie! She didn’t make a sound during the whole time we visited. And Benji, the proud big brother couldn’t let go of Youtube. Family birthday party, Ramses is of course in the middle of it all. Having two cats means always being observed. Cleo and Ramses had a party when Jesper accidently spilled food. Ramses sleeping in the sink. My new background on my phone.

A quarter century!

Posted on Monday, 11 April 2016, 22:59 by Alexandra

So, 25 years ago I was born. Twenty-five years! It is a big number and definitely a milestone. It’s crazy, but I can’t do anything about it than thank everyone for their happy-birthday-wishes today. I had a wonderful day, it was the most beautiful spring day ever! Not a single cloud anywhere to be seen and it was warm in the sun. Sure, I guess it could have been any other day than a Monday and a school day, but it was still okay. I didn’t do much, went to class, went grocery shopping, cleaned the apartment, played a little on my new Wii U (that Jesper gave me yesterday) and waited for Jesper to come home from work. Soon after that mom came over and we made dinner; tacos. And for dessert; princess cake! Doesn’t matter how old I am, there should always be a princess cake, haha!

It’s been a long time ago since I updated, and not because not many fun things have happened, I just kinda lost my will to write. So here comes a bunch of photos from the last three months instead (sorry, but many of them are of the cats).

Ramses There was a period when the cats pooped shapes, here was a cat! Cleo is sit-sleeping. You can’t go to the bathroom alone. They removed the soles from my shoes not once, but twice!! They got a new active toy which they love, blinking balls on a rollercoaster. This is the cutest picture ever. I did not put them like this,they fell asleep like it! They always sleep along my legs or on them when I am sitting on the couch! Never alone. Even if they fight a lot, they still seem to like each other. Ramses is very chill! We had some very pretty sunset the past months. Semla mudpie Ramses the chill. St. Patricks Day. IMG_20160401_192251 Jesper and I went up to my cousins in Nynäshamn a week ago. We had a great time up there, played a lot of cards, walked around in the harbor, enjoyed their new hot tub with an ocean view and just hung out. IMG_20160403_112435 I got new toys for the cats, and it did not take long before one of them was in its natural habitat. Now it is completely gone! Cleo is such a beautiful cat! Rachel (for those who don’t know, to the right, and my former roommate in California) came here with her friend Elyse to visit for a few days. We went out to the archipelago and enjoyed the amazing Swedish spring on the west coast.

Here is a link to google maps where I uploaded a sphere picture taken at Öckerö after my 17-year old cousin told me about it, haha! (I am getting old):

Other than what I have taken pictures of, I am doing well in school. I am almost done with my first year in grad school, one more to go. Last quarter I took a class called Leadership & Communication and the home exam I wrote with another girl was super interesting: Why do people follow destructive leaders? We brought up Hitler and Trump as examples and it was the easiest finals week ever. I haven’t gotten the grade for it yet, but it should arrive very soon.Then we had three days in school and then two weeks off. I needed it, just relax for a bit. Today was the first day back after the break and on Wednesday we have a presentation. A few more weeks and then the summer is here and lots of work at Liseberg (where I actually start in two weeks already, but not full time until the last week of May).

I have also been reading, but haven’t finished anything new in a while since I am reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and it is long. The new ereader (Kobo GLO) is working perfectly!

I have also played a lot of beach volleyball and have already have many ups and downs. I hope I will have time to play this summer as well, even with lots of work at Liseberg (or maybe SKANSKA if they will contact me about my application I sent in a month ago).

I should probably go to bed now, I am not as young as I was yesterday and I have a lecture tomorrow at 9am. I can’t make any promises about more frequent posts, but I can almost say that the next one won’t take three months.

Desert Safari and kitten

Posted on Sunday, 24 January 2016, 2:15 by Alexandra

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 travels. This full post can be found here.

Our last day in Dubai was amazing and was over so fast. We started the day at Kite Beach. It was a beautiful and warm day, we spent some time in the water and it was just awesome! We got back to the hotel at 1pm and we actually had time to take a taxi to Deira City Center and crossed our fingers that that Max hadn’t closed down as well. And it hadn’t. We ordered a normal Frisco meal with fries. They said they had Crispy Fries but it was not the same as in Sweden. The Burger wasn’t the same either. But it was still worth it.

We got back to the hotel and had time to pack everything before we got picked up for the desert safari. A humongous Toyota Land Cruiser. It was the two of us and another Indian family of four. The first stop was at a Dune Buggy place, it wasn’t included in the package and none of us went. Then we went straight out in the desert, the road just ended and there were so many cars! We all went in a long line and it was a bumpy ride. I guess I should have known, but I was surprised at how bumpy it was, I felt sick. We then stopped for some pictures in the desert, the sun was setting and it was beautiful. It was windy and we had sand everywhere, but it was nice. We then took normal roads (and at the end in the dunes) to reach a camp that was set up in the desert. It looked like a small small circular city where there were small stalls where we could pick up starters, coffe, tea, sodas and then later a buffet table. The food was okay and I guess the closest to the Arabian culture. We sat on pillows on the ground and in the middle of the whole camp was a stage where people danced. Right outside of the camp there were two camels that we could ride as well. That was scary, especially when it rose and lied down.

We got back to the hotel at around 9:30 pm and the taxi came and picked us up at 11pm to go to the airport. The flight would take off at 2 am, but it was delayed and we didn’t take off until 3am. And also because of winds the plane had to take a detour over Poland and make a landing to refuel. And that meant that we lost a lot of time and therefore missed our connection flight in Stockholm. We landed when it took off at 8:30am. The next Norwegian flight that we didn’t have to pay anything for was at 5:45 pm. We could book with SAS, but that would have been expensive, so we stayed at the airport the whole day instead of being home with Cleo and chilling. In total we stayed up for 40 hours with a few hours of bad sleep in the plane from Dubai to Stockholm. It was brutal. I am still tired, even if I got a good amount of sleep last night. I guess it can also be because I spent two hours this morning playing beach volleyball. We were only 4 people there so it was a lot of practice time. I was dead afterward.

I am still not 100% recovered, but I have a full day of just doing nothing at home tomorrow which is good, but then on Monday, school starts again.

Today was a big day. After practice I met up with Jesper downtown and we picked up the scratch map we left for framing before we left, we then bought a frame for the pictures we bought in Dubai, and our last stop was Webhallen where I bought a new eReader. My old one was drenched when my water bottle leaked last Thursday on my way to practice. Too bad, that was a good eReader and they are not sold anymore. So instead of a Sony, I now have a Kobo Glo HD which has light in the screen which is a huge plus! It actually seems like a really cool eReader and much more complex than my old one. I think I will like it.

And then we made an even bigger purchase, we got Cleo a Friend! He looks almost exactly like her, but he is fluffier and a boy and 1.5 months younger. He is adorable, and didn’t complain at all when we drove him home. He was curious and then fell asleep. When we got home Cleo was super curious about this new little guy. But she is very rough with him, playing all the time, refusing to leave him alone and he is much smaller than she and can’t defend himself. I guess she is making sure that he knows that she is in charge here, but she is kinda overdoing it. I know that she is very playful, but I hope she will calm down and not be so rough with him, he is just a baby! But I guess in a month or so he will be as big and will be able to hit her back. They have slept together twice, but as soon as nap time is over they are fighting again. I really hope this will calm down soon and that Cleo won’t hate us because we brought a smaller cat here. All of last week she was with mom and her two cats and apparently she was all over them there. She would never leave the two oldies alone so we thought a friend for her at home would be nice too. But I don’t think she realizes that the cat she played with most at mom’s was 8kg, while she was only 1.7kg and this new one can’t be more than 1.2kg. We will let the small one sleep with us tonight with a closed door and Cleo on her climbing tree and hope she will behave better tomorrow.

We don’t have a name yet, so if you have any suggestions for a fluffy red boy, let me know.

It is so beautiful in Gothenburg right now! It is kinda sad that we missed this last week when it was this much snow. Unfortunately tomorrow it will be above freezing and therefore everything will melt… On our way to Orust through Winter Wonderland to get our new family member. And here he is! At first she followed him around like an extra tail. And then she started to get rough and play with him. One nap was okay and they were like siblings lying there. And then there was some more fighting… And another nap, closer this time! And then some more fighting.And lastly before they went their seperate ways to sleep in different locations, Cleo washed him. Cute! I think this will work out, we just have to give them time (especially for him to grow more).

Wedding, new apartment, Cleo and so on

Posted on Thursday, 17 December 2015, 22:27 by Alexandra

I think it is easier for me to just post pictures from the last month and let them talk for me. I don’t know why I don’t feel the urge to write anymore, it is kind of a bummer, but here is a small update since last I wrote. Many things have happend, for example we moved to a bigger apartment, we went to a wedding, we got a cat, I have worked at Christmas at Liseberg, there was snow one evening, we went to see the final Hunger Games movie, we watched all Star Wars movies to prepare for Episode 7 which we will see in four days, I was at Sofia’s kid’s namegiving ceremony, and I have drowned in school work. That is some of the things that happened. And also, we spontaneously booked a one week long trip to Dubai in January after my finals! We both really need it, me after a hectic semester in grad school and he needs to take some time off from his security guard job. This is surprising. How can One DIrection be the band I listened to most this year?? I don’t understand! Fall Out Boy is more suprising now that I think about it… 42 thousand minutes of listening to music this year. Chip. Stuff. Jesper and I before his dad’s wedding. Jesper’s dad and his new wife Roxanna.Jesper’s super adorable baby brother with a vest and a tie. Roxanna is half Iranian so there was a traditional Iranian wedding ceremony after the church. New shoes that can handle the Swedish winter (=rain and sometimes slippery ice). On the 8th of December we left this apartment that has been mine since the summer of 2011. Christmas at Liseberg is pretty with the fake snow and all the lights. But it is cold to work outside in the just-above-freezing weather. I got rid of a lot of work shifts to focus on school which was needed. So far I have two courses done, and I got a 4 out of 5 in both of them. Not too bad. But I have to admit that grad school is much harder than undergrad. I am so stressed and with tough classes this quarter, work, and the move, it has not been an easy month. Now I have only one more report to submit in 4 days. I should be able to finish it tomorrow so I can go up to my cousins on Saturday to celebrate Christmas and work on Sunday and Monday.

The move and this little cute furball. Her name is Cleopatra, but we call her Cleo. She is the sweetest, cuddliest, kitten ever (I think it has been too long since Chip and Stuff were kittens so I don’t remember correctly, but this one is more energetic and cuddly at the same time). She was born on September 7th this year and we drove out to Trollhättan the day we moved in to our new apartment to pick her up. The first few days she was extremely talkative, we are guessing since she was insecure and felt scared, because now she doesn’t talk at all almost. We noticed right away that something wasn’t right with our new little family member so three days after we got her we brought her to the vet for vaccination and to chip-mark her. It turned out that she has scabies in her ears (really bad), and since none of our cats had it before. We noticed that her ears were black, but didn’t think too much about it. So twice a day until her next vaccination on January 8th, we have to clean her ears. I feel like it was really bad of the previous owner to sell us a cat with scabies, but we have loved her from the moment we picked her up and gladly help her get better. She acts normal though, runs around like a normal kitten should, and according to the vet she is perfectly healthy, except for the scabies. It already is a lot better and I hope it will all go away soon so Cleo won’t hate us every morning and evening when we thoroughly clean her ears while firmly holding her, she is not a big fan of that. In the evenings (when we let her if she is not too annoying and playful) she sleeps between us, it is super cozy! Eventually we will probably get her a friend and a big climbing tree (our living room is huge, I will post pictures next time I update my blog so you will see our nice apartment. However, we are gonna replace a lot of furniture eventually).

This is what the living room looked like before we put everything to where it should be. Coziest cat and boyfriend ever! She loves to climb and my back is all scratched up because of it, haha! Four days ago I went up to Trollhättan again to go to my second cousin’s baby’s namegiving ceremony. Lots of cookies and cakes were offered and the cute baby finally officially got his name, Ville. Waking up like this is not too bad! Cleo playing with our tiny Christmas tree. Cat selfie! The Christmas gift I got from Liseberg, 1.6kg of expensive Chocolate. She loves to walk around on the keyboard, annoying when I am trying to study. We have a washing machine and dryer in our apartment which is the best ever! Cleo enjoyed it too, cutie! Last night we were baking Christmas sweets. Lussekatter, Mozartkulor and Knäck. The knäck didn’t turn out firm enough, but it was still very good! Lussekatter!!Studying when she is sleeping in the lap is not too bad.

Halloween at Liseberg

Posted on Monday, 9 November 2015, 23:00 by Alexandra

I can’t even remember the last time I updated this. But living my normal life here in Sweden doesn’t really seem read-worthy. But on the other hand, some things have been happening lately that might want to be good enough to post here.

First of all, a week ago the first ever Halloween at Liseberg ended and I was part of it the whole week. We had exam week that week and since we barely have any exams in this program I chose to accept the schedule I applied for before I got accepted to this program. I ended up quitting early a few days and taking one day off to finish a big paper of 5000 words on project management, but worked all the other days. It was fun and I really enjoyed it. It was more exhausting than a normal summer week. Acting was actually a little part of it when we were working on AtmosFear – The Experiment. It was too bad the story behind the Experiment didn’t reach out to the guests. Doctor Volt is a “mad scientist” who wants to create a superhuman. To run her experiment, Atmosfear provides the electricity needed when it falls down and the adrenaline the people get from going on the ride will help them survive when Doctor Volt saw them apart. No one understood this story and therefore didn’t want to go on the ride (the Experiment was after the ride) and that made things very complicated for us. It was chaotic but I hoped the supervisors learned something from it and will give us a routine for next year. It was tough working without one when it is normally very strict with routines.

It was a fun week, the weather was good, and Liseberg got 200,000 guests during that week compared to the 80,000 they had counted on. The haunted house tickets sold out every day, and yes, it was full in the park. Very pretty decorated also.

So, my first quarter at Chalmers (again) is over and I would have to say that I did pretty good even when I missed the first 3 weeks out of the 8. Project Psychology was an interesting class. I haven’t gotten a grade on my 5-page paper about cross-cultural business behavior yet, but I hope it will be a pass at least. The second class was harder, Project Management. We wrote a 5000-word academic essay. I had troubles with that one. First of all, 5000 words is a lot (half of my whole bachelor thesis)! And I had to do more research than everyone else since I wasn’t there for the first three weeks of lectures. The week it was gonna be handed in, I was working full time and the week before, when I had planned to finish it, I was sick and could barely get out of bed for five days. I was stressed, but I handed it in on time and in a week we will get the grades for it. I am nervous.

This quarter is not that interesting, we are taking one class called Financial and Management Accounting and the other one is called Organizational Project Management. We have a lot of papers to write in OPM and one exam and a couple of workshops in FMA. It will be a busy quarter, but there are fun things to look forward to as well. For example Jesper’s dad’s wedding on November 28th and our move to the new apartment in Kvillebäcken on December 28th. This weekend we went shopping for the wedding, Jesper spent almost 5000 SEK on a suit and I bought two dresses and a blazer for 3000. The dress I am gonna wear at the wedding is gorgeous, the other one I will probably wear on Christmas or New Years or some other time, it was just too pretty to not buy it.

What else has happened? Not much I think.

Jesper and I went up to Sofia and said hello to her baby. I think the kittens craved attention because the baby stole all of it. This one was adorable! Mine and Jesper’s pumpkins. The dismantling of three of the attractions at Liseberg. We were babysitting Jesper’s adorable 13 month old brother for an evening and overnight. We had perfect Halloween weather on October 31. Foggy and colorful. We had a very pretty fall this year! Oh right, this was a big thing that happened recently. The tram broke down in the middle of the tunnel on the way to Chalmers. We were let out and had to walk through the rest of the tunnel. It was very very cool! Last Thursday (four days after Halloween was over) I was back at Liseberg to signmy contract for Christmas at Liseberg which opens on November 20th. My first schedule I got before Halloween only had five days on it, my new schedule last Thursday had 10 days, and today I got a new version with 12 days. I need all the extra money I can get. I will try to be smart about my studies this quarter (I have said that every quarter in school so far, bt maybe this time it will happen?) so I won’t be stressed out of my mind.Liseberg is kinda scary witouth any guests…

Catacombs, Lafayette, Louvre

Posted on Thursday, 24 September 2015, 18:43 by Alexandra

Our last day in Paris was rainy. It started with more than an hour in line to go down in the catacobs under the city. It was cool and a little bit scary. At first it was just tunnels, but then the skeletons came. 6 million skeletons lined the walls. It was ridiculously many skulls. And one looked like a real head, that was scary!

He was looking for secret passageways, found none (luckily I would say).

We then had lunch and met up with Helena at the fancy pancy shopping mall Lafayette. It was a very cool shopping mall, but only brands and ridiculousy expensive and not even nice clothes. Tiffany’s had a counter there and a diamond ring for 174,000 euros. Craaazy! We didn’t stay there too long and then walked to Musée de Louvre. There were no people in line at all. So nice! So we just went straight in, Jesper and I didn’t pay since we are European citizens and under 25 (kinda close for me though, *gulp*). Mom and Helena walked very slowly through it all so we separated directly. That museum is huge, probably bigger than the British Museum. We gave most of our attention to the famous things, like Mona Lisa, Nike of Samothrace, Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, Venus de Milo, Rebellious Slave and probably other stuff we didn’t know were famous. We walked around a lot and saw everything except the one part of France’s history, we learned afterward that that was one of the best part about the museum. Eh, well well.

At the end of the visit we sat down among statues and were dead. Four long days of walking and the huge museum to end the trip killed our backs and legs. My lower back and calves were hurting so bad. My feet were saved by my awesome new shoes.

#tourists Nailed it. Nike of Samothrace. Emeralds!! Big (and apparently famous) painting. “Consecration of the emperor Napoleon I and coronation of the empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on December 2nd 1804”

We learned that before the palace of Louvre there was a fort there, and in the basement was the foundation to it. Pretty cool. And Jesper walked into the picture as always ❤ Venus de Milo. But first, let me take a selfie. Rebellious Slave by Michelangelo. Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss. Exercising with a phone on his arm?

On Thursday morning we left the apartment and headed for the airport where I read more than 100 pages in Shift. That book was amazing, I finished it shortly after and am now reading Dust, the third and last in the triology.

I took this picture with Jesper’s phone on the way to Paris. The sunrise over Gothenburg!

I have been super busy with school and stuff that’s why this post is a week late. And I probably won’t update now for a while again since my computer is broken and at the repair shopa and will most likely take two weeks to fix. I have Jesper’s tiny thing to work with until then. Probably good so I won’t spend time playing games when I should be focusing on school.

Three days ago I went to an apartment viewing out in Kvillebäcken and the day after, on Tuesday they called me and said we got it. So on December 1st Jesper and I will get a firsthand contract to a newly built apartment in Kvillebäcken, one bedroom apartment, 54 square meters. From October 1st and until then we will live in my old student apartment. Even if it is a nice apartment it will be nice to have an apartment that is ours, not mine.

Kelsey in Gothenburg

Posted on Thursday, 3 September 2015, 13:53 by Alexandra

I just dropped off Kelsey, one of my roommates at Cal Poly, at the airport after she spent a few days here in Gothenburg. We had a great time together and did a lot of things. She got here on Monday while I was at a course to learn how to use the cashier system at my new job (oh, right, I haven’t written anything about that yet, I will get to it), so mom picked her up at the airport and I was home when they got here. The first thing we did was go to the grocery store to buy stuff for dinner. I wanted to make something Swedish for her so I made korv stroganoff. She loved it. In fact, she loved everything she tried. Back in Cali she was kinda picky and didn’t like to try new things, but here she tried everything and liked it all. I am proud!

On Tuesday, we walked around downtown and had a fika in Haga where the big cinnamon buns are. I’ve never had one before and it was so good. I showed her Avenyn, Nordstan (where we of course went to 4-Gott and bought Swedish candy), Haga, Linné and later also Eriksberg. Axel met up with us at Café Husaren and then tagged along when we went out to Eriksberg for Gothenburg’s best pizza at Sannegårdens Pizzeria. It was good, but I have to say that I didn’t like the dough, it didn’t taste anything else than just flour mixed with water. But she liked the kebabpizza as well.

Poseidon at the top of Avenyn. The city library. She was impressed that I was a part of that construction. Bältespännarparken. 4-Gott. Big and delicious cinnamon bun (kanelbulle).Kebabpizza.

After that we picked up Jesper at his place and drove to Andra Långgatan where we hung out at a bar. Her first time legally in a bar and she didn’t even get carded. She also liked Ginger Joe (ginger beer), Axel was proud, Jesper made gagging noises, haha! I actually had a Ginger Joe too, they are really good.

Yesterday, Wednesday, Kelsey and I drove out to the northern archipelago. We started on Hönö and then spent more time out on Öckerö. The weather was extremely weird with sun switching to dark clouds and rain and rainbows. Annoying. But we had a great day anyway. I guess rain can be seen as exotic?

Ferry to the islands. Weird-looking house on Hönö. I went here all the time when I was a kid, it was probably ten years ago I was there the last time. I always thought it was called Hönö Röd, but I learned that it is really called Lapposand. It was 17C in the water. If it hadn’t been that windy, it wouldn’t have been too bad with a swim. Hjälvik beach on Öckerö. To this place I still go at least a few times a year with mom. It is a nice and calm place. Hjälvik is a calm bay. Lot’s of cliffs outside of Gothenburg. Not many beaches here. But I love the Gothenburg cliffs. In the summer when they are warm! Mmmm! “Take a picture of me when I am conquering Sweden” Hönö harbor.

We had a late lunch at Max Hamburger restaurant. She really liked that too, so much that she bought Max at the airport today for lunch again, haha! Then we picked up Jesper after his work and we three went to Guldhedstornets Café. They have the best view in the city. It is at the top of an old water tower and is also on top of a mountain. It was beautiful. Gothenburg is really green! And of course, because of the weird weather, there was a rainbow. Pretty Gothenburg! The three of us then walked to Chalmers where I gave a tour of campus. Neither of them had been there before and I think I made it pretty interesting. It is a small campus, but it is always gonna be my school! (Except if I go back to Cal Poly, because after two more years over there I will actually have spent three years there and only two at Chalmers)

New buildings at Chalmers.The A-pond outside of the civil engineer department building. The Swedish king has sailed across this pond, and every year there is a bridge competition where students build bridges across this pond, and also there are events here such as a wake-boarding event last spring.

View from Guldhedstornet (The tower of Guldheden).

Her stay in Gothenburg ended with The Minions and a cup French tea back home. It has been a few really nice days and I can’t wait to see her again. We might meet up in Germany this fall and meet another fellow Cal Poly student or if I find time to come to her in England. We will see.

Chip, “Massive cat”.

And this other job, it is only an extra job on the side of Liseberg since it is not open every day of the week anymore. I am a receptionist at Slottskogsvallen, a track and field /gym arena here in Gothenburg. Last week I had three education days where I learned how to do the job and this Monday I went to that class to learn how their cashier system works. It is a very chill job and they will pretty much just call me a day on advance and sometimes the same day and I will work when I am needed. It seems like e nice and relaxing job.

I have also been accepted to University of Gothenburg. The plan is to take an English class for the whole semester. But with two jobs while applying for a master program and scholarships, I think it will be hard to attend school full time. But I will go to all the classes I can and it doesn’t really matter if I pass or not. The only reason I take this class is so I can keep my student apartment since it is impossible to get a real apartment in this city. I am applying for apartments every single day and I don’t get anything. I have been in the queue for more than 4 years, but still, I don’t get a real contract. Stupid stupid!

Now I am gonna go back to bed until I will pick up Jesper after work. For the past month I’ve been reading a series called Silo by Hugh Howey. I must say that it is probably the best books I’ve ever read! The first one, Wool, I just finished a few days ago and I am now already about 60 pages into the second, Shift. It is a dystopian future, the first book takes place inside silos underground, people live in 150 story buildings underground because the world is destroyed and poisonous. It is not until the second book that the truth about how it all started comes up. I can’t stop reading, it is so fricking good! Read it!!

A broken computer

Posted on Thursday, 20 August 2015, 14:03 by Alexandra

I have no idea what happened, the screen just didn’t want to cooperate so I had to send it in to the shop to get it fixed. Unfortunately they couldn’t recreated the faults so they just kept it for three days and now I have it back, all fixed (except lots of virus or something, but I can’t install Windows 10 yet, I have to wait a few days or weeks….).

I haven’t updated since Marseille, so I can first tell you about my last day there. It was beautiful weather, we got up early in the morning to spend three hours by the ocean, catching the last rays of sun. We sat by the cliffs by the entrance to the harbor and the water was so warm and nice. Then we spent three hours at the airport and I slept most of the way home.

And since then I have worked four days, three extremely long days so those four days summed up to a full normal work week. I was exhausted. Right after work on Sunday I went to the preparty to the last Bunny Party of the year. I didn’t drink anything, but had a great time with my colleagues anyway. I didn’t stay too late since I had a German test the day after.

In one of the gondolas at Lisebergshjulet.The sunsets behind Lisebergshjulet can be really really beautiful!

At 1pm on Monday I had the German test. I was prepared to spend at least two hours on it, but I was done after 40 minutes. It was a diagnostic test to see if I was good enough to get accepted to the German course at Gothenburg University. I don’t have any grades from Sweden and they didn’t think I had taken enough in the US. Honestly, the test didn’t go that well. Mostly because my vocabulary isn’t big enough. I was really good at the grammar part, but the words failed me. We will see. If I don’t get accepted there I can always take the English course or just stick with the Solar Systems course I also got accepted to.

Jesper and I sat down by the canal in downtown and had ice cream in the beautiful summer weather. At 4pm we borrowed mom’s car and drove out to Gråbo where we drove to his friend and swam in a lake for a while before going to his mom and had dinner with all of his siblings. It was a nice evening. The lake was 22C and it was so nice. We played games in the evening and it was just nice.

A small Swedish lake in the woods outside of Gothenburg.

On Tuesday Berget had its annual Crawfish party. I had half a bottle of wine before realizing for sure this time that alcohol is not for me anymore. I just can’t drink it. But I had fun anyway. I left pretty early once again because I had a job interview at 9 am the morning after. On the way home I stopped by Nordstan to hang out with Jesper for an hour, he was working night as a security guard there.

Crawfish party with the best people!

So yesterday I didn’t know what to expect. I had been in contact with this lady for a while, and she asked me to stop by. Not saying if it was an interview or not. But once I got there it was oretty much just to meet and talk and book a course in working at a cash register and book two introduction days for next week. So from now on I have two jobs, one as an attraction operator at Liseberg and one as a Receptionist at Gothenburg’s Sports utilities.

After that meeting I went home to Jesper and went back to bed. He just got home from his night shift so we slept until 2pm and then went out to pick up my computer, eat lunch/early dinner and then the whole evening we sat and tried to figure out what we are gonna do. Our plan A is to move to California next fall to go to school. But if that doesn’t work out we will probably try to do something here. We will see. We are gonna look more at it tonight.

Now I am going to work, only 6 hours today, that will be chill in this beautiful summer weather! I hope this will last so Kelsey will see how nice the Swedish summer can be! I am seriously so excited for her to get here on August 31!!!

Packing for Marseille

Posted on Saturday, 8 August 2015, 22:11 by Alexandra

Last day at work today for four days. It is gonna be so awesome with a long weekend. And I am so excited to go to France tomorrow for the first time ever. Marseille is promising us amazing weather and it looks like there are lots of cool stuff to see and do. I can’t wait! It will be nice to spend some time with Axel after working so much lately. My brother and his friend is coming too and I hope that won’t be too awkward since I told my brother that I wanted my apartment back.

I packed tonight and filled half of my carry-on and decided to skip the backpack completely. I am sure that I packed lots of stuff that I won’t even wear. But that’s normal. It will be nice to go away for a bit, and I am happy that I have something amazing to look forward to when I come home again <3.

Here are a couple of panorama’s over Gothenburg from the top of Ramberget the other day.

Bemm

Life's a Beach

Category Archives: Sweden

Promotion, surgery, and lots of other things

Northumbria or Chalmers?

A quarter century!

Desert Safari and kitten

Wedding, new apartment, Cleo and so on

Halloween at Liseberg

Catacombs, Lafayette, Louvre

Kelsey in Gothenburg

A broken computer

Packing for Marseille

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