Category Archives: Sweden

Back home in Sweden

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This weekend has been so long and really hard. I have stayed awake for a very long time and the only thing I can think about is going to sleep. But I have told myself that I can’t go to bed before 9pm because that will mess me up. I have been awake for 29 hours (6pm Swedish time) now, with only 90 minutes of half-sleep on the plane. And before that I only slept for 4 hours and the day before, Friday, was a very active day with scuba diving, and I was up for 18 hours. So far it’s been 47 hours with 5 hours of rest. Ugh. Not my favorite way to spend a weekend.

The flights went okay, On the second one, the long one from Chicago to Berlin, I got a window seat at the very back of the plane which was the best. I tried to sleep but couldn’t. So I tried and succeeded after watching two movies; The Hobbit 3 and American Sniper. Both really good. That flight was amazing in another way too. They gave each and every one of us a goodie bag with socks in I, a brush, toothbrush, earplugs, blindfold. Everything to make the trip better. Since I was traveling with flip flops the socks were especially welcome.

The food wasn’t good and I’ve felt it in my stomach all day, nauseous, ugh!

After the 18 hours I finally landed in Gothenburg. Lots of mixed feelings. When I get there I realize my third bag is nog here. So I went to the baggage lady and she helped me locate it. Apparently it got stuck in San Diego which is rather strange. But she said it would land in Gothenburg late tonight and they would taxi it out to me tomorrow sometime. Can’t wait for that bag, I have so many things in there.

I hugged my mom and we went home. It felt so weird to be back in Sweden. It kinda already feels like it was a dream again. I have tried to unpack, but with this sleep-depriveness it’s been really hard. I just managed to finish unpacking my one suitcase and carry-on. The boxes will have to wait until another day when I feel ready for it.

I apologize for the probably not very well-written post today. I am literally sitting here by my desk and can’t keep my eyes open and nod every now and then. I don’t think I have ever been this tired before. It has probably affected my speech today, I have mixed Swedish and English words everywhere and mom has laughed at me.

I feel like a zombie right now, so I think I will actually go to bed now, I can’t do this anymore. 29 hours of no real sleep is not very fun!

Pizza and candy

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My last day in Sweden is over. It ended the same way it started in February, with Swedish candy and pizza. First of all, what happened today was that I moved to mom’s and Felix moved to my place. We drove back and fourth twice and on the way back to mom’s she and I did a little grocery shopping so I could have something on the ridiculously long flight tomorrow. I changed my mind in the last second at ICA Maxi and decided to get a bag of candy anyway. I also bought a few bars and Vaniljgifflar (Swedish tiny cinnamon rolls but with vanilla flavor) and knäckebröd. I will get food on the plane, but I wanna make sure that I don’t have to be hungry.
That would suck…
Pretty much right after that mom drove me to Andrea’s place where I, Andrea and Emma had a cozy girls night with wine and pizza. We hung out for three hours, having a great time and then it was time for the goodbye. I will miss those two, that’s for sure!

On the bus home I listened to Maroon 5’s latest album “V”. It is so amazing. I hope there will be a possibility to charge the phone on the plane so I can listen to music. It is a bit hard to believe that I will be leaving this country again tomorrow. Last time feels like a dream and getting a second chance at moving to California is so small it shouldn’t be possible. It is too good to be true!

I have had a great time in Sweden these last seven months and it will be hard leaving. I am leaving more behind now than I did last time, but on the other hand I will only be gone for ten months instead of thirteen.

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This is my company for the night. My beautiful and cuddly Chip! ❤

I am really excited and more than ready to start a new adventure!
Goodbye Gothenburg and Sweden!
Hello San Luis Obispo, California and USA!

Packing suitcases

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In 36h I will be leaving this country again. I will go back to California and I am getting really excited. I’m starting to realize that this is really happening. This last week has gone by way too fast though. I have taking it very easy, playing a lot of computer games and also read a lot. And I’ve realized that I want to eat a lot of Swedish things before I leave, but it is too much for the few days left. I will end this stay in Sweden the same way I started it though, with Swedish pizza.

Today I packed my suitcases. Well, my check in bag and my carry-on. I managed to stay under 20kg which is Norwegian’s weight limit, but just with 3kg. That will be tough on the way home… I will leave a lot of things before going back home, but I will probably have to send a package home. My carry-on is so far only 4kg and can be 10. But I haven’t packed my computer yet and all my paper and everything else that is going in there. But I think it will be okay.

The other thing I did today was say goodbye to dad and Karin. We had a nice evening at the bar at the corner of my building. It wasn’t really a hard goodbye, I will see them so soon again. And I am secretly hoping that they will visit me :).

Right now I feel like playing Aion. I started playing that yesterday again after about 18 months. It is a similar game to Guild Wars but at the same time very different. I think Aion is a more complicated game than Guild Wars, but that might be because I’ve played Guild Wars for 7 years and Aion for three months. In Aion you can fly and there are instances which are PvPE, if you aren’t paying attention you will get killed by the other faction. Yesterday I also got my own house which I can decorate and stuff. I really wonder why they put that in an update a year ago. Kinda uneccesary in a MMORPG, but still fun since I like both killing monsters and building houses in The Sims. Aion is a very beautiful game, the graphic is better in GW, but the scenery in Aion is still amazing. The best thing about Aion is that it is free of charge. That’s actually why I started playing it 2 years ago, when they removed the monthly fee.

Instead of playing I will go to bed. I want to read and get a good night’s sleep. I didn’t sleep very many hours last night. And I have a day of cleaning tomorrow. In the afternoon I will move to mom’s and my brother will move in here. I hope he takes care of this amazing apartment.

Parties and packing

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Yesterday was a busy day. First I got up pretty early so I had time to get myself ready to go out to Stora Lövsjön where there was a big birthday party for Karin among others. I knew almost everyone there and I had a nice couple of hours out in the woods. We barbecued and the food was really good. I had bread on a stick for the first time since I was probably eight. And shrimps marinated in a chili sauce and beef and a good pesto salad. I wouldn’t have mind staying for a while longer but I had to go home to prepare the for the party.

Stora Lövsjön

This time I had a goodbye party and I probably should have had that last time too. It was a huge success and everyone had a great time. Since I haven’t been working or doing anything at all this week I have been planning and been excited about the party. I didn’t have that much alcohol to serve so I decided to have a lot of snacks available. Like chips, candy, exotic fruits, the hot spinach and artichoke dip I made a week ago, punch and vodka marinated watermelon. The last three were the most popular. People asked for the recipe for the dip and the 4.5kg watermelon was gone long before the evening was over. The punch was made from Asti Cinzano which is a delicious sparkling wine, and raspberry soda. Frozen raspberries and grapes kept the punsch cold for the short while it was still some left.

We played Cards Against Humanity and talked all night. The last people left at 5am when the trams and buses had started going again. Such a fun evening!

Goodbye partyBlomman took my phone for a while and took some photos. Why hadn’t I thought about that?

Before I went to bed I actually took a lunchbox with korv stroganoff and I think that was why I wasn’t hungover today. I got up at 1 pm and another reason for not being hungover might have been the clean apartment. I cleaned everything up at like 4am. I did it very slowly so most people didn’t even notice. I have realized that cleaning up after a party before going to bed is the best thing to do. You don’t really mind when you’re still drunk. While emptying bottles and cans while hungover is one of the worst things you can do. Even if I wasn’t hungover I felt like eating something unhealthy anyway. So I took a little walk to Max Hamburger and brought it home. I remembered that last year I really missed Max so I thought that if there was a time to eat it, it was the day after a party. And it was really good!!! Goodbye Max!

After that my brother and his girlfriend came over for a while to help me pack a bit and tell me what I could leave. They stayed for a while but not too long. And the rest of the day was more packing for me. The whole kitchen table is full o everything except clothes and toiletries I will bring to California on Friday. And I actually think everything in the apartment that my brother didn’t want is packed in boxes. We will probably drive most of them to mom’s tomorrow. And then we will see when they want to move in. I am starting to think that I want to live with my mom the last few days. I’m really gonna miss her…

The clock just ticked away and it is already 12:30am. I think I should go to bed and read for a while.

Liseberg one last time

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I had nothing on today’s schedule so I decided to go to Liseberg with my uncle and his girlfriend and two of her kids. We spent all the time in “Kaninlandet” which is the area for small kids. Her kids were one and three years old.  They were really cute and the three year-old started liking me directly. He dragged me to all the attractions and held my hand and stuff like that. Kids are so adorable. The one-year old were a bit mommy, but he had no problem exploring a rabbit house when mom and three year-old went on an attraction. I put him on a tiny slide several times as well and he had a great time.

There were a lot of people at Liseberg today though. It was hard getting through with the stroller.

Back home I prepared the vodka-infused watermelon I will serve tomorrow at the party and I’ve also eaten dinner. Korvstroganoff, leftovers from last night. Korvstroganoff is something I really missed last year so I made it for the last time this year last night. It is like beef stroganoff but with a special type of sausage we have here in Sweden called Falukorv. Swedes, don’t take falukorv for granted!!

I actually think I will go to bed now. I am really tired! Tomorrow will be a long day. Up a bit early to get into downtown to buy a birthday gift for Karin and then out to Lövsjön for a few hours of birthday party and relaxing. I can’t be there for too long though. I will need to get back home to take a shower before Andrea gets here at 6pm. And at that point we will prepare for the party and I guess the guests will arrive at 7pm at the earliest and most at 8:30-9pm. I am really excited about the party!!

Lunch with my brother

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Yesterday I got up at 8:30 to put the meat in the oven. Felix and his girlfriend Sara was coming over to take a look at the apartment and eat lunch with me. Pulled cow was as good as pulled pork and they decided to take the apartment. Before they left they had applied for a couple of courses at Gothenburg University which is needed to stay in this apartment, even if it is just for ten months. I am relieved that this worked out, even if my brother wasn’t too excited about taking a German class in addition to all the other courses he will take at another school (which for some reason doesn’t count).

For the rest of the day I installed some computer games and played. I installed World of Goo and Spore. I played Spore until 3am last night which was a bit stupid. It is a fun game, but I can’t remember how to play the tribe stage. I don’t remember anything about it!

And speaking of computer games. The Sims 4 was released today! I am seriously thinking about buying it.

Today I was up early as well to do another interview for Cultural Care. On my way home I decided it was time to go to Liseberg and empty my locker.

At home I had leftovers from yesterday’s lunch and then I’ve played more Spore and also a bit RollerCoaster Tycoon 1. Then I got bored and watched Maleficient. That movie was amazing! So extremely sad and had kinda the same story as Frozen. Not an evil person, but a good person turning evil for a while. If you haven’t seen it, you all definitely should!!

Now I will actually go to bed. I didn’t get much sleep last night and dad is gonna come over pretty early with some boxes and something from grandma and grandpa. I wonder what it is! He was actually here today with some wooden plates to put on the floor in the basement to avoid water damages whenever there’s a leakage which happens now and then.

Another day of fixing

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I am starting to really enjoy being free like this. I have so much energy to do those tiny things I didn’t do before. Like tonight I sat for several hours making small funny signs for everything I will offer my guests on Sunday. That was a fun little arts and crafts project. I have also started to transfer movies and tv-shows from my big external hard drives and putting it temporary on my computer so I have something to watch next year (and don’t have to carry heavy ext. HDD).

I also went grocery shopping with mom. I bought alcohol and snacks for Sunday. And before that I scanned my German book and class notes from last years German I course in San Diego. I will need to go through it all before German II after this Christmas. And I don’t wanna bring extra books to Cali.

Around lunch today I had an interview with a girl for Cultural Care and then I guess not so much more than watching Glee and eating tomato soup with feta cheese.

It was a nice day, and the beautiful weather made it better. It has been pretty cold lately, but today it was warm, like really warm. I hope it will stay like this until I leave.

Tomorrow I will go up early to put the big chunk of beef I bought the other day in the oven and let it cook for five hours until Felix and Sara comes over to take a look at the apartment and share a lunch with me. And after that I don’t have any plans, I think I will read. Just sit down for a few hours and read! The third Throne of Glass book was released today, but I need to finish the prequel before I start reading this new one. I don’t think I could handle reading several books at the same time. Or maybe I could, but if I started reading a couple of books, then that would probably escalate to more and more books at the same time and that would most definitely not work.

Free

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With no work, no studies, no nothing, the energi just keeps flowing. It has been a very productive day and I have done so many things. This morning is so far away so the earliest I remember doing was going to downtown for some errands. First I bought a noteboook for my upcoming year abroad. I need somewhere to collect all my to-do lists, budgets and just things I want to write down linked to Cal Poly. I’ve already made a nice front page and written down a lot of things. For example, I did an approximative budget for the whole year. I already got my first (of three) payments from CSN. I got almost 52000 SEK today! I will also get my last paycheck and the holiday pay on September 15th and that will be quite a lot I guess. And in October-November I will get the scholarship from Chalmers for being a part of this exchange program. I didn’t put that in my calculations so without those incomes I will have around $350 each week after the rent is paid. Food is not part of the calculations, but I think I will have a pretty sweet life this year aswell. I will not shop as much, but travel and save. I have a big trip planned for Christmas.

After buying the notebook I went to Forex to exchange money. I had a lot of cash and got $350 cash. I hate cash, but I don’t know when I can have an American bank account up and running. The line was long, so I took a number and went to vote in the upcoming election. And when I was done it was just a couple of minutes until my turn. Perfect!

Right after that I went to the gynecologist to do more tests. I talked to the doctor before the tests and he told me what would happen if this showed some abnormal results as well and we decided how we would handle it. It took a while and several tests were done and I was told that the results wouldn’t be ready for another six weeks. But I was told that cell changes were visible through the microscope. Fuck! How severe they were couldn’t be told, but apparently there are three stages of cell changes. Stage 1 and 2 isn’t dangerous and they aren’t treated, just checked more frequently to see if it gets better or worse. And if I have those I will just get a new appointment as soon as I get home to Sweden again next year. Stage 3 on the other hand means that it needs to be treated pretty much right away. And if I have that, it will be a bit problematic. I will have two choices, either do it in the US and pay between 5000 and 10000 SEK for the surgery, or I can go home and do it for free. Both options suck. My insurance in the US won’t cover this kind of thing, I’ve already asked them. I should probably call them again.

I feel okay now about it. I will be going to California, but I will forget about it for six weeks and deal with the problem when it comes.

My next errand was emptying my locker at Liseberg. But when I got there Kläderiet was closed because they were in a meeting for the rest of the day. So typical! Now I need to go there tomorrow again. It’s a good thing I don’t have that much to do right now.

After that I went to 4-gott and bought a bag of candy, I felt that I needed it after the rough news earlier today. I did some grocery shopping too. But when I got home the gynecologist appointment was completely forgotten. By instinct I felt that I should log in to my Chalmers account and see if they had posted the result document for the structural engineering exam. And they had! When I saw the document my heart started racing. I didn’t want to wait and make myself more anxious, so I opened it and I passed!!! When I saw the grade 3 (3 is pass, 4 is more than pass, and 5 is the highest grade) my heart almost jumped out of my chest! I did it! I fucking did it!! No spare points, but that still counts. I am so relieved I can’t put words on it. I’ve tried four times over the past two years. This means that if all goes well next year I will have my bachelor degree of science in building and civil engineering in June next year. I am so happy!!

The day went on in that mood. When I am happy I am so productive. I did the budget, wrote a thorough packing list, made two Rainbow Loom bracelets (I removed the three Hawaii bracelets, they were getting worn out and I didn’t want them to get broken, so I thought I would remove them before that happened), I’ve planned some things for the party on Sunday (it will be epic), gone through all my papers I need next year and sorted them into different plastic folders. I’ve packed two bags with Chad’s things that he forgot and I’ve cooked dinner. And oh, what a dinner! I made hot spinach and artichoke dip with crispy bread. The dip was easy to make and it was so good! I bought a small baguett and was planning on making garlic bread and dip in the dip. But I didn’t have any garlic. Not even garlic powder so I had to improvise, but it turned out good. But I did forget about the bread in the oven and it was way harder than I was planning it to be. But it was good too and probably better like this.

Here’s the recipe if anyone wants to try:

Ingredients
1 cup (2,4dl) thawed, chopped frozen spinach
1,5 cups (3,5dl) chopped artichoke hearts
6 ounces (180ml) cream cheese
0.25 cups (0,5dl) sour cream
0.25 cups (0,5dl) mayonnaise
0.3 cups (0,7dl) grated parmesan
half a red bellpepper, sliced
salt and pepper

Directions
Boil spinach and artichoke in 1 cup of water until tender. Drain the water.
Heat cream cheese and grated parmesan in the microwave for 1 minute or until hot and soft.
Mix all the ingredients and serve it hot.

I didn’t follow the exact measurements and it turned out well anyway, so don’t be afraid of the weird measurements.

Spinach and artichoke dip

 

Yesterday  I had my last day at Liseberg. It was a bit sad. I said goodbye to all the attractions on Berget but not the people. We hung out at a bar at night and most of them are coming to my party on Sunday. It was a nice last day and I will be back next season. I look forward to having that to look forward to when I come home from Cali. Last time I didn’t have anything to look forward to when I came home.

Goodbye muffinsWhen you have your last day at work you’re supposed to bake (or buy) something and give to your colleagues. I got up extra early that morning and baked my chocolate muffins. They were as appreciated at Liseberg as they are at SCA :).

I think I need to go to bed now. I actually wanted to go to bed at 10pm, but I felt that I had too much to do. Like going through my purse and taking out everything I won’t need in California. I tried playing some RollerCoaster Tycoon but got bored right away. So many tiny things I want to do. Tomorrow I have an interview for Cultural Care and then I think I will read and prepare more for the party. In the evening I am scanning all my German school books so I don’t have to bring them to California when I am going through it all before my German class after Christmas. That’s German II and it was a year ago I took German I so I will need to rehearse.

Good night!!

10 days at Balderado

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I have now been at Balderado a total of 10 days. Today and yesterday were number nine and ten. I can honestly say that I was a bit dissapointed both yesterday and today when I found out that I was at that area when the supervisors told me last weekend that they were gonna try and put me at Berget my last few days because they understood how lonely and monotonous it is to only have three single-manned attractions. Yesterday they tried putting two people at Spinrock, but because someone went home during the day I had to be alone that last hour anyway. Today I had half an hour with someone at Spinrock but right when I was on my way to my last hour at Spinrock I was told that someone was closing it with me. Yay!! That made my day. Working with my colleagues makes Liseberg way more fun to work at. I know it is supposed to be about the guests, but we employees must have fun too and it is easier to have that when we are working together.

But tomorrow and on Sunday I will be at Berget, I have that confirmed. Yay! I can’t believe my last day is coming up in just a couple of days though. This summer was over way too soon. I feel exhausted and I need the time off, but I’ve had so much fun this summer. I am so lucky to have gotten a job at Liseberg, and at the attraction department. Lucky lucky me!

I think I need to go to bed now, I have 11 hours of work tomorrow to look forward to. But before that, I will watch the season premiere of Doctor Who. I have waited so long for this day to come!!

P.S. Two weeks until departure!! In exactly fourteen days I will have 30 minutes left in the air before landing in LA. D.S.

Structural engineering exam #4

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Today was definitely not a good day. I am still very angry with Chad, but  right now I am also very angry at the exam I did today, my lost necklace, the girl I was interviewing today who stood me up and told me way too late and I am not allowed to donate blood.

The exam felt really good at first, during the theory questions. As usual I didn’t even understand the fourth theory question, but the other three I actually knew about.  There might be 3 or maybe even 4 points there. BUT, then comes the problems. The first one felt good, but I think it wasn’t supposed to be that easy. But I came up with an answer, the same answer twice with two different methods.That’s good, but it probably isn’t more than 3 points (4 is max). The next one would have been easy if it weren’t for the short term load instead of long term like all the problems I’ve solved. I had even written down questions in my books, how to solve this?? But no answer after. Fuck. The third and fourth problem were two jokes. I just put some equations on the paper, tried solving a few and then just handed them in. I am so upset that it felt exactly the same as the last three times I took the test. And this time I studied the whole f-ing summer!! Waste of time (maybe). I won’t jump to conclusions just because of what I felt when I left the room. It might have worked, no one knows.

Right after the exam I was supposed to do an interview with a future au pair. But when I am at our meeting spot she texts me and tells me she can’t go. I totally understand that she had to go to work when they asked her, but she could have told me earlier. And that would have saved me another anger enhancer, because then I would have gone home instead to downtown.

I have been thinking of becoming a blood donor for several years now and today I finally got my thumb out and went there. I knew I wouldn’t be able to donate any today, but I could at least take the tests and start as soon as I come home from the US again. BUT, I am not allowed to give blood until my PAP smear is okay. So I just walked out of there without even taking the tests. I am taking the second PAP smearon Monday by the way. A little bit nervous about it to honest.

And the blood central was probably the reason for my last anger today. I’ve lost my beautiful silver/opal necklace I bought on Hawaii! I probably lost it when I removed my sweater to take a blood pressure test there. I feel really naked now. The good thing is that I can order a new one online from the store where I bought it. I won’t be able to do it before I move to California though. I think I will order it the day before I leave so I will get it as soon as possible. It won’t be the same, but it will still be a beautiful necklace.

I felt like I needed to get all of this out. My blog is usually about happy things, but today I needed this. I have been so extremely tired today now that my exam is finally done. Even if I fail again, I can’t do anything about it until when I come back from Cali. So long, structural engineering!

Since I came home I’ve been doing a bit on the online course I need to do before moving to SLO, I will do the rest tomorrow. It is about being an exchange student. Good-to-know things about pretty much anything.

I have also paid the Week of Welcome fee of $175. I am getting good at making abroad payments with my internet bank. I think I better get used to it.

Not much else today. Tomorrow’s work again but before that I will sleep until I wake up (last time I did that I slept until 1pm a few days ago). Four more days at work. How can a whole summer already be gone??