I can’t believe it, it’s been one year since I left Sweden.

12 months.

365 days have I spent in this amazing place called San Diego (technically no, since I was in New York my first 4 days, but who cares). And as little as I can believe that I’m leaving it in 8 days, as little can I believe I’ve been away from my first home for a year already. This has definitely become my second home and at the moment I can’t recall how it was like living in Sweden. At the same time I remember everything, but I just can’t imagine living in those memories anymore. I’m so used to this life now. Going to the beach and palm trees are part of my everyday life and I am really gonna miss that! I think this is where I belong, where I don’t have to freeze most of the months of the year. I’ve been truly happy here. I can’t remember when I honestly could say that in Sweden last time… BUT, this is the magical part about this adventure. I’ve grown so much, I’m not just one year older, I’m still the same person but with better views on life and that is gonna help me so much when I come back in just four weeks. I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what exactly everyone thinks about me. I don’t have to be friends with everyone. It totally makes sense now (weird that it never did before, isn’t it?) that I should only choose to be surrounded by people that make me happy. I’ve learned the ability to forgive and forget. Well, not forget completely, but to let things that doesn’t matter go. I wasn’t able to do that before. I am proud of myself and I really like the new me.

Even if I’m sad about leaving everything and everyone here, I am happy.

It has been a very eventful day here in the house. I woke up tired and grumpy as usual, but when I checked the night’s emails I got happy in the second I read what the top one’s subject was. Invitation to interview. Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg thought my summer job application was one of the better ones and asked me to come to a group interview. It was a long preparation email and it didn’t even occur to me when I was gonna do this until I was done reading and the date and time was right there. February 4^th 13:15. That’s 6.5 hours after I arrive at Landvetter Airport in Gothenburg. Shit. Apparently it wasn’t enough with the airplane torture, they want me to go for a job interview right after! I tried calling them today to change the date to at least Thursday. But they didn’t answer, it was 7pm in Sweden so they probably weren’t there. I will try later tonight and if that doesn’t work I will call again tomorrow morning at 6am (3pm in Sweden). After that I will send an email and if that doesn’t work I will tell them that my mom will call them and change the interview for me. I think they will understand that I want to be at my best at an interview for a job I really want. I am really excited about this!

Before lunch me and the kids watched the last Harry Potter movie. The boy is still sick, but even if he had 103F (40C) he was surprisingly unsick. Kids are weird. But we had a very nice day together again. For lunch they wanted Swedish pancakes with ice cream. Since I’m leaving soon I’m actually spoiling them a bit and letting them have stuff that I was strict about during the rest of the year. Even if I knew they loved me before it feels good with the happy faces they give when I surprise them by saying yes.

We also played board games, such as Forbidden Island again, and we actually lost! Then we also played the Star Wars Lego game I gave the boy when I arrived.

For dinner I made homemade pizza from scratch. Half pepperoni and half pineapple. It was good but because of my stupid tooth infection I couldn’t eat more than a small slice. Speaking of that infection. I called the dentist and told them the infection was back and without any further questions they just gave me a new prescription for antibiotics and painkillers.

I also called the DMV today. Two hours waiting, but fortunately they have the recall function. They told me to call another number and ask about my driver license I still haven’t got after almost 9 months. The guy said it was pending because of my immigrant papers. Seriously, they couldn’t tell me like five months ago that they needed me to fax them? And seriously #2, why couldn’t I just send an email with those papers scanned to .pdf’s? My hostdad was so kind and helped me with the fax they have in the house so I sent them and in two days I will call back for Joe and ask if everything is alright. I hope I will get my driver license when I’m on Hawaii so I at least can bring it home to Sweden. Otherwise my hostparents have to send it later. I seriously hate DMV! They are f-ing retards…

What else happened today? Probably not much if I can’t remember it…

😦 8 days left 🙂

The boy is sick, like almost everyone else in this country right now. I don’t know if it’s just a cold we have here, but my hostdad thought it might be the H1N1 virus that’s viral again. I don’t think it is the flu, but I don’t think it’s a normal cold either. I’ve been ill for, I don’t know how long, but I’m tired of it…

It was a very lazy day, me and the girl played a lot of board games and read. There isn’t much else to do when you can’t leave the house. For lunch I made stewed macaroni and meatballs. And for an early dinner we had Caesar Salad upon the girl’s request. It was good! But food is so hard to chew with the tooth ache. I’m gonna call the dentist tomorrow. The best would be to go there and ask him if it is a new infection, but I don’t think I have time to do that, so I’ll probably just ask for a new antibiotic prescription.

Now I will watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 because the kids’ wanted to see Part 2 tomorrow. After that I will meet Lovisa in Del Mar for our probably last “late night coffee”. It still feels so unreal! I know the end is near, but I just can’t understand it…

I didn’t have to go to the meeting today, it’s only 12 that’s included in the program, but I wanted to say goodbye. It wasn’t as hard as I imagine, but I really liked my LCC, she was nice and caring. We were at her apartment today and we just talked for a couple of hours.

My cold got worse yesterday when I thought it was getting better so the rest of the afternoon was spent on Chad’s couch reading and watching the 49ers game. It’s playoff so it’s either win or be gone. They won in the last few seconds of the game. I still don’t understand the rules but it’s entertaining sometimes to watch.

At 5pm we drove to his parents’ house to have smoked rib for dinner. It was delicious but I couldn’t eat more than two ribs because my tooth ache is back. And I fear that it is another infection… I hope I have time to go to the dentist to get more antibiotics this week if that’s the case. The boy is really sick so I can’t leave the house… I guess I just could have called the office, if I didn’t throw the card with the number away just two days ago…

After the dinner I watched Rabbids Invasion, a very silly show, but funny, while Chad did some studying.

I probably should go to bed so I can get up tomorrow at 8.

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 two years in California. This full post can be found here.

This day was very nice. My cold is almost gone, my nose has been a little stuffed, but otherwise I’m feeling fine. Which was awesome because that meant that I could play beach volleyball today. I felt bad for Chad, he had gotten my cold but played with me anyway. We played very well today and it always makes me extra happy. There was something else that made me super happy about going to the beach today, and that was all the dolphins. It wasn’t just one school of dolphins but several at the same time and at least 5 dolphins in each. There were dolphins everywhere you looked! And I couldn’t have been happier :). How often can one play beach volleyball with real dolphins in the background?! It was kinda distracting to be honest.

After that I had an early dinner with Lovisa and Johanna at Stacked. I had my usual with a few differences, a salad with dried cranberries, caramelized pecans, chicken, red bellpeppers, cranberry/walnut dressing and feta cheese. Thank you and goodbye Stacked!

Now I’m heading over to Chad’s again, we are gonna watch Turbo (well, try; we both are very exhausted after the tough morning at the beach). I can count the rest of our days together on one hand…

Between the two guys are a few dolphins :).

I can’t believe I’m still sick. Usually I don’t even get sick and when I do it’s over right after it started. I really hate it. But I had a very nice day with the kids at home. The girl made muffins for breakfast and for lunch we had Swedish pancakes, well they had. I had leftovers from New Year’s Eve. Still as good.

We played one of the game’s the girl got for Christmas, Forbidden Island which was a very fun game actually. You have to, as a team, retrieve all the four treasures before the island sinks by drawing cards and moving around.

The rest of the afternoon we watched Harry Potter 5 and 6. I’m still not feeling too well to do anything. It is getting better though, but slowly.

Now I really want to see the last two Harry Potter movies, but apparently I left those on my external hard drive in Sweden so I can’t watch them quite just yet…

Still sick and it sucks! I had to take care of the girl this morning and we didn’t do anything except watch Disney Channel and read some. I gave her cheese sandwiches for lunch and I had chicken noodle soup, it was needed today.

I spent the rest of the day in my bed, trying to read my new book, The Red Pyramid, the first book in the Kane Chronicles. It’s from the same author of Percy Jackson but instead of Greek mythology in the present this is about ancient Egypt. I didn’t read more than 40 pages because I fell asleep with the eReader in my hand.
And the reason I started that book today was because I finished Allegiant last night. It was such a sad ending! A good one, but it could have been so happy if that didn’t happen. I really look forward to the movie on March 21^st next year.

For dinner we had green pea soup, and after a shower I almost feel okay. I had some fever today, and my nose has been stuffed, but not as bad as the last two days though. So I guess that’s progress. But I am coughing a lot today which is not in the right direction. It’s a good thing I have 13 days to recover.

I just got invited to my last LCC meeting this Sunday and in the description my LCC wrote that we are gonna meet at her place to say goodbye to me. So sweet! And unreal! I’m leaving in less than two weeks. I’m getting really excited about it though, I’m going to Hawaii!! Who wouldn’t be happy about that?? I’m starting to realize that it is in fact true and it is gonna happen very soon. I’ve talked to my travel partner Caroline, tonight and we both wanna do and see as much as possible since this is the first and probably last time we will go there. It will be 18 days of a lot of different beaches and beautiful hikes. I seriously can’t wait!

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 two years in California. This full post can be found here.

I can’t really say that it feels like January 1st 2014. I can’t really say that yesterday felt like December 2013 either. Time is a very funny phenomenon here in SoCal, it doesn’t quite function the same way it does back home. Strange.

Right now I have the worst cold ever (but I guess people here would call it the flu, they don’t seem to know the difference between the two) and that resulted in a very calm and mellow New Year’s Eve. The whole day was spent in bed reading Allegiant. I finished probably 600 pages out of 1100. Not too bad! (Sometimes I get weird versions of books when I download them…)

After that my hostdad’s sister with family came over. It was fun to meet the cousins to the kids. Chad also came over and we had a very nice and big dinner with rib roastbeef (or something, it was good anyway), potato au gratin, chanterelle sauce, sweet potatoes and some vegetables. It was so good, especially the chanterelle sauce (sv: kantarellsås). Me and Chad were headed out to another party so we left when we were done eating. But before we left I gave my hostparents the 2014 wall calendar I made with pictures of the kids. They really liked it :).

I put on my super gorgeous Abercrombie dress and Chad drove us to his brother’s friends’ party. We were only there for like three hours. He was driving and I was sick so we got tired at 1am and went home. The two first hours were spent playing a drinking game called Cards Against Humanity which was just too hilarious! One person draws a question card and the rest put one of their five cards down that fits in the blank of the question card. The last one to put a card in the pile drinks. The person who drew the question/statement chooses the best and worst answer. The best gets to hand out a drink to anyone and the worst has to drink. “In 1,000 years, when paper money is but a distant memory, ______ will be our currency.” My answer, and the best, and which made everyone almost roll on the floor laughing their butts off: “Getting so angry that you pop a boner.” You can download the game and print it yourself if you want to. I’m definitely gonna do that.

This day, the first day of the year was pretty mellow. I felt awful, and not because of the one glass of champagne from the night before, but my cold got worse and it felt like my head was gonna blow up because my nose was so stuffed! I spent the whole morning in bed and didn’t get up until like 1pm when we drove to the beach to play some beach volleyball. I didn’t play of course, I was sitting in a beach chair reading and watching the ocean for dolphins and whales. There were no dolphins today but I did see a lot of whales, that’s the reason why I didn’t finish the last 200 pages in the book, I was staring at them too much. At least four whales pretty close to the shore, it was awesome.

The sky was completely blue, the sun was warming but the wind made it a little bit chilly but I managed almost until sunset.

We had Chinese for dinner and watched The Lone Ranger before I went home. Now I really need to get in bed. I think I have a fever and my nose is so stuffed. My throat has started hurting now as well. So I really hope it isn’t tonsillitis! It’s nice that I’m only gonna work 4 hours tomorrow.

I’m not super excited about this year but I will try to make the best out of it anyway! (Definitely the new and improved me speaking!)

This day, last year, was full of expectations. I had an amazing adventure ahead of me and I was too excited to think about New Year’s resolutions. I think this might actually have been the first year I didn’t have any and it turned out awesome. My conclusion, resolutions are overrrated.

This day, this year is not as happy. I have two more weeks in San Diego and an amazing vacation on Hawaii waiting, but after that I have no idea what to expect. I know I will do my thesis, but except for that?
I might go to San Luis Obispo, CA next August, but if I get a job at Liseberg I think I might wanna stick with that until October and maybe even the winter season too. And it would be complicated with all my furniture in the apartment I would have to leave. But on the other hand I would have a fantastic experience as an exchange student. We’ll see, I have to wait until January to see if I get accepted first and then I have to deal with the decision.

Anyway, this year has been the best year ever! I’ve met a lot of fun and interesting people from all around the world, I’ve been able to play my favorite sport right at the beach instead of inside, I’ve seen exotic animals, traveled a lot and eaten a lot of good food. But nothing of that would have been possible if it weren’t for my amazing hostfamily. I’ve spent almost a whole year with a family in southern California and that is kinda crazy when I think about it. I left my safety bubble to move in with a family I never met before. But that’s what life is about, you have to take chances, otherwise you’ll never win. And boy, this was a win! I’ve had the best hostfamily ever, the cutest hostkids who I’ve loved like a sister this whole year. I couldn’t have wished for sweeter extra siblings!

I don’t think I can summarize the year better than that, it’s been too eventful (just read all of my 300 posts from this year here on this blog!).
I’m happy and I will always remember how awesome life can be in San Diego, CA.

I’m feeling crappier today than yesterday. I got an anesthetic spray that made my throat better, but it tasted like shit and my nose is still runny and I’m feeling feverish. So I don’t have too high expectations of the rest of this New Years Eve. I know the kids’ cousins are coming later and we’re having a big dinner, but after that I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have an amazing new Abercrombie dress that I want to wear, but where I will wear it I just have to wait and find out. I’m waiting for Chad to tell me where we’re going, if I can go anywhere with this nasty cold.

In Sweden the new year is coming in less than two hours! Happy New Year!!

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 two years in California. This full post can be found here.

My throat is still sore and it burns every time I drink something and it is super annoying. I hope it has gone away by tomorrow, I don’t wanna be sick on New Year’s Eve!

Even if I wasn’t feeling 100% I had a really nice afternoon/evening with Lovisa, Johanna and Cati. We cooked Swedish tacos and ate outside in Cati’s backyard in the sunset. It was delicious and the sun was warming and it was just so beautiful. Afterward we had dessert. Lovisa had baked brownies with Dumle and Marabou in it. Really good!

We said goodbye at 7pm when Johanna had to go to work and I spent a few hours at Chad’s after that. I want to spend as much time there as possible. Time is really running out… I know that it’s just two weeks until I leave, but I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m leaving, it just doesn’t feel real!! I feel so at home here, like SD is where I belong, not cold Sweden. In a week I’m gonna start packing, maybe it will feel real then… But seriously, 16 more days in San Diego?? 😦

Johanna, Lovisa and Cati.Sunset over the hills.

In my confusion/sadness/longing I googled Hawaii and got a little happier. I mean, in 16 days I’m going to Hawaii!!

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 two years in California. This full post can be found here.

I’ve been to that restaurant ridiculously many times. Today I had my 17^th cheesecake! But I don’t care, I don’t have much time left here in this country with all this food so I might as well treat myself a little bit extra. I also had my favorite main course, not anything from the skinnylicious menu, Farfalle with chicken and roasted garlic. The best pasta dish I’ve ever had! And today I think there were small pieces of bacon in it too. Yummy! I and Johanna shared a plate. The Cheesecake I had was the Mango Key Lime Cheesecake and it was very simple and fruity and perfect for this evening.

The reason for this get-together was Cati’s birthday on Monday. We have postponed it for several reasons lately, but today we finally did it. It was Cati, me, Lovisa, Johanna and Kristel. I had a very nice evening with them!

My day before that was nothing special really. I woke up with a very sore throat. But then I realized it was my sinuses and they still hurt. I really hope it’s not gonna get worse with New Years coming up and all… I want to wear my new dress! Anyway, I spent the day in bed reading/sleeping. I finished Insurgent and it was a very exciting ending so I was glad that I could start on the next one right away. It was a little bit complicated though, but I think I understand most of it at least. Haha!

#17 Mango Key Lime Cheesecake, topped with mango mousse on a vanilla coconut macaroon crust.