Monterey Bay Aquarium

Posted on Monday, 27 April 2015, 0:31 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 two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Last day of the weekend and it was as eventful as all the other days. Today I went to Monterey with Michael, a three hour drive just to enjoy marine life. I had a great time watching the animals. We started with the sea otter feeding. They were given a frozen ice cube with shrimp in it and the four otters put a lot of effort into getting those shrimp out. They banged them on the window and twirled around in the water, adorable. But don’t forget folks, even if they are cute and hold hands while sleeping to not drift apart, they do rape baby seals. They are not small either, they were gigantic and weighed up to 50lbs. This was the first time I saw them walking on land and I was surprised at how they moved, they resemble seals in so many ways, but also looks like big ferrets and also a little bit like a badger. Funny animals.

Then we went to the deep sea section where the humongous octopus were and also the jellyfish. I loved the jellyfish, their bright red color against the very blue background, truly beautiful!

Then we saw the kelp forest and reef animals and lastly a very colorful tank with Nemo and Dory in it. Very cute indeed. I think I need to rewatch Finding Nemo very soon!

And lastly we saw the penguins getting fed.

Afterward we had a late lunch at Bubba Gump and walked through the wharf quickly and then drove back. It wasn’t a bad drive, with good music and company it didn’t feel like almost 3h (or however long it took). Back home I hung out with Aidan for a while and as usual we had deep conversations about life. I really enjoy those.

Now I am so ready to start a new week, but after all these shenanigans this weekend I kinda feel like I need another weekend to chill, haha! I also hate to admit that I feel a cold sneaking up on me… I really hope that is just allergies, it would be so typical to be sick again just as I have gotten back into working out.

Montaña de Oro

Posted on Saturday, 25 April 2015, 22:03 by Alexandra

German friends mean spontaneity and as I Swede I can’t say anything else than that I love it! I didn’t have anything planned today than just chilling, maybe enrolling in that online space class that I wanna take, The Violent Universe. But then David asked me if I wanted to tag along to Montaña de Oro. A little bit later we were in Los Osos at the beautiful state park. Before going down to the beach we stood and watched out over the water and we saw two whales, small ones, so either babies or a smaller type of whale. They were breaching and it was so incredibly cool! I haven’t seen whales since Maui more than a year ago. When the whales were out of our sight we slid down a sand dune and walked along the beach for a while, looked in the tide pools, and enjoyed the nature. It was kinda windy, but not too bad. It was cloudy as well. The good weather will be back on Monday according to Google Now.

We took another way up, a wider sand dune, but it was still very hard to go up, my thighs were burning from trying not to slide down in the loose sand. That was the workout of the day.

We then followed a trail back to the car and continued to drive to Spooner’s Cave which is a beach in the park. We hung out there for a bit, building rock towers and breathing in the fresh saltwater air.

They dropped me off at PCV where I made dinner and have been painting my nails while watching Grimm. Now I am thinking of either going to bed or playing some GW2. I will most likely make myself a cup of tea, eat some fudge and play!

The snake-formed path is where we came down. I have to admit that it was very fun! We walked through an eucalyptus forest on the way back to the car. Spooner’s Cove. David, Thiago (from Brazil), and Alex. The boys climbing up on this rock. I would have followed if I didn’t have newly washed and very very tight jeans, I am 113% sure they would rip if I tried that climb, so I sat on the beach looking for pretty rocks.My second attempt at a rock tower (I did one on the other beach but that wasn’t whole-heartedly).

German midterm and hike

Posted on Saturday, 25 April 2015, 2:20 by Alexandra

So yesterday I had my first midterm of this quarter, the German one, and I have to say that it felt really good. I answered everything and that’s all I can do.

In the evening I went to a presentation given by an immigration attorney from LA who talked about the H-1B visa and permanent residency. It was interesting, and now it feels pretty hopeless to ever be able to move here in the future. Even if I would find a job, there is not even sure that I would get the visa since only 65,000 get it every year and more than 200,000 apply for it. Maybe I should just try to see myself living in Sweden now. Why should it be so hard to move here?

After that meeting I went to Farmer’s Market with David, walked around for a bit and then went for dinner at wunderbar Firestone. The rest of the evening I was just at home, not doing anything special.

Today I was supposed to go surfing in Morro Bay at 8am, but my surf partner lost his car keys so that didn’t happen. Instead, I went back to bed and then skyped with mom. It was her birthday today! Happy birthday once again :).

Then I made an adventure of going grocery shopping. No one was home and I needed food pretty bad, so I picked up my new headphones at the post office (they are amazing! My old ones broke a couple of days ago, but at least 3 years for a pair of in-ear is not bad at all, go Sennheiser), picked up my bike on campus and rode to Haggen (former Albertson’s) on Foothill. As a second breakfast I got a donut from Slodoco and then a bunch of baking ingredients. Since I am all alone (Rachel’s at Stagecoach and Lauren was home in Solvang, but she came back tonight) I knew I would be bored so I decided to bake, or rather make, rocky road fudge.

Right after I came home from the bad bike ride home from the grocery store David texted me and asked if I wanted to hike Serenity Swing and Architecture Graveyard. I never say nay to a beautiful hike, so off we went. First to the swing. As beautiful as always up there. The hills are getting browner and browner. It is sad. Why can’t Sweden send some of its rain here to California? I wonder if I would win the Nobel Prize if I invented something that would transfer the rain from there to here. Maybe that’s what I am destined to do instead of something else that I don’t know yet?

We explored around the different constructions at Architecture Graveyard for a while, took some cool photos, didn’t see any horses (bummer), and then went back where we started making the rocky road fudge. He left at 8 to watch the end of the Cal Poly baseball game but was back at 9:30 and I cooked dinner for the three of us, because he brought Alex with him. Then we just hung out until after midnight. It was a nice and relaxed evening.

Now for some reason, the time is already past 2 in the morning. I am really tired, but still have to make my bed after doing laundry tonight. It will be so nice laying down in newly washed sheets!

Aion account recovered

Posted on Wednesday, 22 April 2015, 23:45 by Alexandra

My account was never gone. Apparently there are two different games for Aion North America and Europe. In Guild Wars 2 there are different servers for the regions, but in Aion two completely different installations. I tried to install the American version. Haha! Problem solved, I downloaded the European version and have now two Aion accounts, yay!

School today as usual. Last day of German before the midterm tomorrow. I am prepared and have done what I can. Maybe I could have done more, but I still feel like I have it under control. It is just a midterm. I went to TRX today as well, like every Monday and Wednesday. It was tough today. We did a tabata similar routine with six stations, both on and off the TRX. First 50 seconds on each station, one minute rest, then 40 seconds with one minute rest, and then 30 seconds and 20. It was tough!I survived, but I will most likely not be able to move my arms tomorrow…

I should go to bed now, read through my German notes, and hope for the best tomorrow afternoon!

Nail polish and school

Posted on Wednesday, 22 April 2015, 0:50 by Alexandra

This morning was so unnecessary. I usually have a two hour lecture in Digital Cities, but this morning we had a lab instead. We were gonna research a city given to us, groups of three. We pretty much did it individually and we are gonna hand it in individually. It felt like such a waste of time going to that class. I could have slept for two more hours…

At 11am I was interviewed by the College of Engineering which is writing an article about international engineering students. Then I spent 40 minutes in the library reading my book. And then my second class of the day, Land Use and Transportation Studies. I almost fell asleep. I need to go to bed earlier!

Last class, as always this quarter, German. The midterm is coming up very fast so I have been studying all night. Except when I procrastinated and painted my nails. This time I put a pattern on there, first time and I have to say that it looks pretty good. A very light purple grey color with a little silver in the corner.

I also finished the lab we started this morning and sent it in. Five days early. That has never happened before!

I’ve done my share of German today, so now I will go to bed and hopefully fall asleep right away. Goodnight!

The light isn’t the best, but you get the idea! And don’t mind the paint outside of the nails, that will be gone tomorrow.

Lost Aion account

Posted on Tuesday, 21 April 2015, 0:39 by Alexandra

Well, this sucks. Today I felt like playing some Aion again for the first time in like 7 months. But I couldn’t log in and it said something about having to migrate the account to an email address or something. I tried logging in to the website instead to do this, but it said that my account wasn’t available anymore. WHAT? I sent them an email asking how this was possible, is all of my progress lost? That would suck real bad.

With lack of motivation to do anything tonight I created a new account (apparently Aion is completely free of charge now) and started over. I hope that my other stuff can be recovered, I miss my little panda I had walking next to me. But it was pretty fun playing from the beginning. But from the Asmodian side this time. Last time I played Elyos “the good guys”. Asmodian are the “bad”. Fun.

But I am gonna have to focus on my midterm first and most. Good luck to me with two fun computer games, haha!

Also, today I got my full schedule for Liseberg this summer. I will be working all the way to closing in October, yay! They also changed it so I don’t start working until July 1^st, before it was June 22^nd. This means I can spend more time in San Diego before going home :).

Another thing that has happened is that Three Days Grace’s new album is out and it is so good! I’ve been listening to them for the past two days. Great band! Even with the new singer!

End of week 3

Posted on Sunday, 19 April 2015, 22:28 by Alexandra

Sorry blog, I will try to be better from now on! Time goes to fast, and before I know it another whole week has passed since I updated.

This weekend was very very chill. Friday and Saturday I spent all day at the pool reading. On Friday I finished the second Artemis Fowl book, started reading the second Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy, and also finished it since it was only 100 pages. And then I finally started Ghosts of Ascalon, the Guild Wars 2 books. I finished half of it already and it is actually really good.

Today was a little bit different. I went to Pismo Beach with Cal Poly beach volleyball club. Unfortunately there weren’t many girls so I didn’t get the opportunity to play more than two games. I can totally play with three guys, but I don’t think they would like that. I need female beach volleyball players in SLO, where are you?? The two games were really fun though and the guy I played with, we played well together, at least the second game. Our peppering was also amazing, I don’t think I’ve ever been going on for so long without dropping the ball. SO much fun! I am a little bummed that I didn’t get to play more than two games, and lessons are cancelled tomorrow. I am gonna pick up beach volleyball seriously when I am back in Sweden!

Last week was normal, lots of homework like normal, nothing special happened.

After the beach today I wrote my own review sheet for my German midterm on Thursday. I feel like I have that under pretty well control.

Now I will play a little Guild Wars 2 before going to bed. A new week awaits!

Crazy birthday weekend

Posted on Monday, 13 April 2015, 21:31 by Alexandra

Wow, I haven’t updated my blog in more than a week. I’m sorry blog. So much happening all the time, and mostly homework. The workload is approximately the same as last quarter, maybe even more.

Last week wasn’t very interesting, I spontaneously went downtown on Thursday, on Friday I hung out with some friends and Saturday was my birthday. I started my 24^th birthday with skyping with mom and opening her gift. I got teary-eyed. It was a beautiful silver ring and silver infinity sign bracelet. And in the card she said that the bracelet was the first thing she made in that silver smithy class she is taking. So sweet of her!!

Then I spent the rest of the day with Lauren. First we went for breakfast at Slodoco and then to Pismo Beach. We were only there for 2 minutes, it was so windy. My dad called me while we got there and wished me a happy birthday. That was nice of him to call all the way to California!

So we went to the pool in PCV instead. Not too bad that either. We were there for like an hour before we needed to go back and prepare for dinner and downtown. Rachel, Lauren, Cody, Aiden, Pelle, Ciara, and I went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. From Lauren and Rachel I got a tiara to wear so everyone downtown would know it was my birthday, I also got a sweet card and nailpolish. Lately I’ve been very focused on painting my nails. I wonder where that came from? From Cody I got a cute seahorse decoration thing and a princess wand to match my tiara, haha. Also a very sweet card. These guys are the best!!

So, our night started at SLO Brew and then we went to Motav. People kept buying me drinks, even random people who just wished me a happy birthday. People here really like birthdays. I didn’t have to pay any cover fees and the music was good at Motav for once. The first song played was The Nights by Avicii. I wasn’t feeling too drunk until after midnight. It went from nothing to everything very fast. I honestly can’t remember anything from after midnight. That never happened before, it is scary, and I will never ever get that drunk again. Yesterday I only left bed to shower. I was still hungover today. It got pretty okay at like 6pm. And now I can eat normally. I feel kinda done with alcohol now, and besides, I am old, haha!

This morning I skipped the beach volleyball lesson and TRX, because I was still hungover. German class was fine, it was a recap of the last two quarters. Then I went back home to study. So much homework… Free pizza in the courtyard and I don’t feel bad anymore. I would have needed that pizza yesterday, haha!

I did one quiz in Digital Cities today, I finished most of my German homework (but I can’t focus, so I will save the last two assignments for tomorrow). I should do more, but my brain is all mushy and I am tired. I have another day tomorrow too!

The Swedish Easter bunny found its way to SLO. Rachel baked my favorite cookies (oatmeal raisin) and left a chunk of dough on my fridge shelf. Isn’t she the sweetest?! Pismo Beach on Saturday was ridiculously windy. Way way away from where I stood there were a ton of kitesurfers. Maybe you can see them if clicking on the picture to zoom in? I got flowers from the people. The jewelry I got from mom ❤Cody, me, Rachel, Lauren, Ciara, Pelle, and Aiden. Thanks guys for an awesome birthday!!

The P

Posted on Sunday, 5 April 2015, 21:09 by Alexandra

Another ”I finally did it” happened today. I finally hiked the P, one of the closest hikes to where I live. On the hillside facing campus (and the rest of the city), there is a big concrete P. I hiked up to it today and then up all the way to the top of the ridge. I sat up there for a long while just looking out over campus, the hills, and the whole City of San Luis Obispo. I can’t get enough of beautiful views!

I didn’t stay until sunset, I got too hungry. It was a pretty short hike and I was up all the way to the top on, I would guess 30 minutes and down in less. A “lagom” hike. But it was very steep and lots of loose rocks.

I had dinner, took a shower and am now doing laundry and thinking if I should be a good student and do Thursday’s reading and quiz. I did Tuesday’s this afternoon. I probably won’t. A movie, some ice cream and then bed sounds like a good Easter Sunday evening.

Someone repainted the P recently to the colors of the rainbow. PCV, the village where I live.Cal Poly SLO has a very big campus! Behind the ridge. SLO side of the ridge. 360 degree panorama.

Home

Posted on Saturday, 4 April 2015, 1:15 by Alexandra

Tonight was a roommate night. We hung out in the living room for a couple of hours before we went downtown where we went to the movie theatre and watched the new DreamWorks movie Home with Jim Parsons as the lead voice. We were the only ones in the whole room and that was kinda nice actually. The movie was super cute and I am glad we watched it. Afterwards we drove to Albertson’s where I bought butter for the banana bread. We have so many frozen bananas so I thought it was time to bake again. This time it turned out the best yet, and one of our neighbors, Cody, said that with chocolate chips in it, it would have been the best banana bread he ever had. It was really good. This time I took ¾ cup normal white sugar and ¼ brown sugar instead of just all white sugar. It turned out pretty well.

This whole day (well, after I woke up at noon) I was at the pool with a bunch of guys from the building. It was a very nice day and I got a lot of reading done. 40 more pages and I am done with the first Artemis Fowl book. For some reason it takes longer to read a page in this book than in any other book I read. I think I have to switch page more times per actual page, if that makes any sense. eReaders.

Last night I spent $275. In a month I will take a scuba certification class at Cal Poly. This school is so cool, they offer so many untraditional classes. I was planning on shaping my own surfboard, but it would have been too much to take home. There are ceramics classes, chocolate classes, salsa dancing. During five days in May I will be at the Rec Center pool and out in the ocean to get my scuba certification. I am so excited!!

Now it is very late, and I am seeing double and this banana bread coma is not helping. Goodnight!

Bemm

Life's a Beach

Category Archives: USA

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Montaña de Oro

German midterm and hike

Aion account recovered

Nail polish and school

Lost Aion account

End of week 3

Crazy birthday weekend

The P

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