Scuba Diving

Posted on Saturday, 9 July 2016, 0:15 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.

My 8^th dive ever was in Anthony Quinn Bay here on Rhodes. 50 Euro for everything, all gear rented and a boat dive. Crazy cheap! It was also so warm in the water that a shortie 2.5mm wetsuit was needed. Crazy! Jesper doesn’t have a certification yet so he had to wait at the beach. That was too bad. Until next trip he definitely has to have gotten it. There was not super much to see like it was in San Diego, but it was nice to do it again since it was almost a year ago I did it last time. Good to maintain the skill. We found lots of snorkeling masks, a sunbed table and a sunken boat along ancient Greek vases and stuff and fish. When we took our safety stop, we fed fishes, there were tons of them just centimeters from our faces.

After the dive we drove to Tsambika where we spent a few hours on the right side of the beach. We had sunbeds there and included in the price were two slushees. That was so needed in the heat. The snorkeling was not as good on the right side as on the left, so we will probably spend all of tomorrow (our last day!!) at the left side tomorrow.

We left at 6pm to go to Lindos so we would have time to get to the Akropolis. We followed the trail of donkeys which you could pay to ride one up. We walked, it wasn’t too bad. The acropolis was really cool. Much was restorated, and I hope they will restore more, I am sure it would look incredible. We walked down to the village, which is the cutest village ever. We found the best restaurant and had a really really good dinner there. It was called Stefany’s and was a family-owned restaurant with tables on 3 different roof levels. I loved that restaurant!

The handmade jewelry in Lindos was so cute!

We walked through the village and then drove back to Tsambika where we went for a late night swim. It was 10:30pm, very dark, and star-clear sky. There was a party going on at one side of the beach, but we were at the other side and enjoyed the warm evening under the stars. It was nice!

Now it is super late because of all our shenanigans today, so I will post pictures tomorrow. Here is one from on top of the akropolis though: Lindos Akropolis on Google Maps

Lindos

Posted on Thursday, 7 July 2016, 23:28 by Alexandra

Today was spent in beautiful Lindos on the middle of the island. I have been to St. Pauls Bay before and honestly remember the snorkeling to be better. Maybe it has been exploited since I was there last time, 13 years ago. It is still an incredibly beautiful bay with the akropolis right above it. The nature here on Rhodes are truly amazing! The beach in that bay is the smallest ever, so we just went for a swim and then drove to the big beach on the other side of the acropolis, the main beach of Lindos. I have never been there before, and sure, it was a nice beach with fine sand, and the water was calm, warm and clear, but it was kinda boring, nothing really to do than cool off in the water every now and then and read on land. I guess it was nice with that for half a day. St. Pauls Bay.

We had dinner at a restaurant right next to the beach. We were disappointed, the food was dry and not very good, there were wasps disturbing us through the whole meal and the food took forever. We were planning to go up to the Akropolis after dinner, but apparently it closed at 7pm, and we weren’t done with dinner until after 8. We will come back tomorrow afternoon and also to look around in the city.

Goats crossing the road.

~~The Wifi sucks today for some reason, so the pictures take forever to upload. They will be uploaded in this post as soon as they are all done (tomorrow I am guessing)~~. Here is one 360 picture over St. Pauls Bay for now: St Pauls Bay on Google Maps

Tassos Beach

Posted on Wednesday, 6 July 2016, 22:14 by Alexandra

Today wasn’t as warm as yesterday, but it was very very windy, even on the east coast. Sometimes it was hard to hold the eReader on the “beach”. We spent the whole day at Tassos Beach on the northern part of Kalithea. It was not exactly a beach, but rock plateaus. It was a cool place, the snorkeling wasn’t as good as Anthony Quinn Bay, and the water was a little bit colder because of the wind. It was not cold on land, it was very warm, the wind was warm, but helped a little bit. We still had to cool off in the water now and then though.

There is not much else to write, I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Here is a link to a 360 picture I took on the beach: Tassos Beach on Google Maps

In the evening we drove to Old Town again, we had dinner at a very cute little restaurant on a small square. We then walked around for a little bit, but my stomach is hurting a lot tonight so we left pretty early. I took some medicine recently and am hoping that spending some time in the Jacuzzi tub will help.

Typical example of when panorama is not working properly. These two Swedish girls were running around the restaurant after the cats and eventually sat down next to our table to watch one of the cats which we named Simba (she looked like a Lion, and names shouldn’t matter depending on gender – just take our male Cleo(patra) for example). This view greeted us when we came back to the hotel. Turkey in the background.

Butterflies, Epta Piges, snorkeling, and Old Town

Posted on Wednesday, 6 July 2016, 0:31 by Alexandra

Wow, what a day! 17,000 steps AND two snorkeling dives on top of that. I am so exhausted and probably am suffering from some minor sunstroke. We weren’t out in the sun that much today, but still Jesper got more red on his shoulders. It’s unbelievable how strong the sun is here. We didn’t leave the hotel until after 11:30 am after enjoying the delicious breakfast. Our first stop of the day was The Valley of Butterflies. We decided to take Prasonisi another day. It was nice to be under the trees, but it was still very hot and humid, every body part was sweaty. It was not as many butterflies as I expected, but some tree trunks and stones were well-covered in them. There were also crabs running around in the water. At the top of the valley was a monastery and we quickly looked at it and went back down and drove on to the next stop of the day, Epta Piges = Seven Springs. On our way there we drove through a super cute village, Psinthos. I didn’t have time to take pictures, so you should google it if you want to know what it looked like.

Here is also a link to the 360 picture I took at Epta Piges: Epta Piges on Google Maps

Epta Piges is a really cool place in the forest where water runs out of the mountain. There is a very long and small tunnel which we walked through. So as of today, both of us are 7 years younger because when you walk through it that happens. So yeah, I am 18 again, just so you know. We hung out for a bit, had lunch at the nice restaurant there and then drove to the beach. We were so eager to get there! It was extremely hot today!!

We drove on to Anthony Quinn Bay which was the cutest little bay. There was pretty much no room for us on the beach since it was so small and full of sunbeds. So we just left our stuff on a rock and went straight into the water to snorkel around for a bit. I don’t know how long we were in, but we saw some pretty cool stuff. One of the first things we saw was a moray. It was tiny, but was flashing his teeth when I came close. That was really really cool! We saw lots of fish too and some sea cucumbers. It was a nice snorkeling time. Right after we were done, we walked up and over the small ridge to the bay on the other side, Ladiko Bay. We snorkeled there for a bit too, didn’t see too many things there, but there were many bearded fire worms a white tufted worm. We also saw some long and brown sausages, but I have no idea what that was.

I have no idea what this is.

The white tufted worm.

Our last stop was Old Town in Rhodes city. We walked around for a little bit and then we had dinner and walked around some more. It was so hot that we barely could eat. Even if we both were starving. We will probably go back to Old Town tomorrow again, it is big and we didn’t see it all today.

Tsambika

Posted on Tuesday, 5 July 2016, 0:58 by Alexandra

Today was as good as yesterday, and even more. We woke up in the same executive suite, so that was not a dream, good! We then realized that the breakfast buffet was the best ever. We had some troubles getting out of bed this morning so we didn’t pick up the car until 11am when we had reserved it from 10am. But not sleeping more than 2 hours for 35 hours had its toll on us.

I drove us down to Tsambika in our small, red Toyota Aygo. I hate driving it so Jesper will probably drive for the rest of the week. Stupid car. The beach did not look like it did 13 years ago. Now it was full of sunbeds and so many watersports thingies (more than last time) and cafés. We walked to the most right of the beach where no people were. It was also close to the wall so we could see something when we snorkeled. The sand was hot, it was so so so hot! It didn’t just burn, it burned like hell! So we put our towels as close as we could to the water and since it was also very warm in the air, maybe 32 Celsius, so we were probably more in the water than on land. It was impossible to stay on land for a longer time. I am not sure that I will finish the book I am currently reading, we are not really lying down that much, haha!

We did use lots and lots of sunscreen, we put on 50+ at least every other hours, but we still managed to get burned non our backs. It might be because we went snorkeling for 1.5h straight. With aloe vera it should be fine soon.

Here is a link to the 360 picture I took at the monastery over the beach: Tsambika Monastery on Google Maps

Sea cucumbers.

Around 6pm we left the beach and drove up to the monastery above the beach. Of course, the road doesn’t go all the way up, there are 300 stairsteps to the top. It was tough, but the view was worth it!

Here is a 360 degree picture from the top. The monastery at the top.

Then we drove to Kolympia where we had dinner at a very nice fish restaurant right next to the water. We did some shopping in that city as well and then drove back to our fancy hotel suite where the Jacuzzi tub was waiting for us. It was really nice to sit there and relax a bit.

It was such a romatic restaurant. A little too bad we didn’t stay longer because the lanterns weren’t visible when it was still light out.

It is really late now and we have an adventurous day ahead of us tomorrow. The hottest day this week is going to be tomorrow, so we were thinking that it would be best to drive down to Prassonissi where it is really windy, and then spend the afternoon at the Butterfly forest and the Seven Springs and later in the evening, the Old City in Rhodes city. I am thinking that since both the Butterfly forest and Seven Springs is in shadows, it seems like a good idea on the hottest day. The Seven Springs also has ice cold water.

Goodnight!

Atrium Platinum Luxury Resort Hotel and Spa

Posted on Sunday, 3 July 2016, 20:40 by Alexandra

Our first day on Rhodes is over and even though we didn’t do anything special, it was a really good day. It has been long and we have only slept for about 2 hours since we woke up yesterday, and that was on the plane, so it doesn’t really count. We landed around 10am and everything went so smooth at the airport and with the transfer that we were at our hotel just an hour later. We are staying at Atrium Platinum, and it was the second hotel to be dropped off from the shuttle bus and I think a majority of the people on the bus were jealous when Jesper and I were the only ones who got off. It is a 5 star hotel just south of Rhodes city in Ixia. It is very windy here on the west coast, and that’s why we decided to rent a car for 6 days so we can drive to the east coast. Today we spent the whole day at the pool, which is pretty glamorous so it was a pretty okay day. Since we arrived so early, our room wasn’t ready. We had booked a Junior Suite with ocean view since that was the only room available. But when we went to the reception at 2pm they said we had been upgraded to the Executive Suite. It is the best room on this floor and is so incredible both Jesper and I had a hard time understanding how this was even possible. It is 80 square meters, it has a curved wall in the living room with windows from floor to ceiling outlooking the ocean. The bathroom is incredible with a big shower and a jacuzzi tub. We were too tired to try the jazuzzi tub today, but tomorrow we will try it.

We went down to the pool again and got the best seats because people were leaving just when we arrived. It has been so warm, but with wind, it’s been awesome! I didn’t burn, Jesper got a little. Tomorrow at 10am we will pick up the car and drive down to Tsambika for some relaxing on a sand beach. Jesper is really excited to go snorkeling for the first time in his life.

We had dinner at the first best restaurant here in Ixia tonight, were both super tired, felt the ocean a little bit, and now we are sitting on the balcony and watching the sunset. It is incredible!

We filled up the box with food yesterday, Ramses thought he was in heaven! Ramses was curious about Jesper’s new outfit he tried on yesterday before we left. I think both of them wanted to come with us. It kinda felt like they knew that we were leaving. Cleo washing Ramses. Sure they figt a lot, but they also do this every now and then. This was the view we first encountered when we walked through the door. That whole wall is a big window and the ocean is right there. Amazing! There is a cow out there too, he makes sounds every now and then. The bathroom taken with panorama so it lookes a bit crooked. So pretty! And this is the bedroom. It is ridiculous! The view from the balcony over both the pool area but also the ocean. The center of Ixia/Ialyssos. Not much. Pebblestone/sand beach right beneath the hotel. Not worth it.Pictures aren’t really fair, it was all pink in reality.

Spontanious 1-year anniversary

Posted on Wednesday, 29 June 2016, 23:26 by Alexandra

I can’t believe it has already been a full whole year with Jesper. It has been the best year ever, full of adventures and love. I am a little bit sad that we couldn’t really celebrate yesterday. He was working 8-17 and I was working 16-23:30 so we didn’t see each other at all yesterday except when going to bed. But, we have decided to celebrate in a big way next week instead. So yesterday we spontaneously booked a last minute trip to Rhodes, Greece. I have been there many times when I was younger and I am so excited to go back there with the love of my life! And we are not just gonna stay at a normal hotel, it is a five star hotel and we are staying in a suite which is as big as our apartment, it has an ocean view and a Jacuzzi hot tub. It is located in Ixia on the west coast which is not preferably, but with a car it will be easy to reach the amazing beaches on the east coast.

There is one problem though, and that is that I left work early today because I feel sick. I have gotten a really nasty cold. I will stay at home tomorrow as well and hope that I will get better, no fun going on a trip with a cold. My colds usually don’t last long, so I am sure it will be fine.

Work is going really well, I feel really comfortable being the head operator at Helix. It is also very nice to sit down and rest my legs and feet for a bit. It is so nice to have something new to do, work is fun again.

Now I am almost delirious, so I will go to bed now and continue to read the latest and last book in the “I am Number Four” series. 15 companion books and 7 full books to an end. I always get a little bit sad when a series is over. I am also almost done with the whole “A Series of Unfortunate Events”. 13 books is a lot, but it is really really good, especially the last ones. I have finished 9 so far.

This is me when driving trains! 😀 Lately, Cleo has been taken every opportunity to jump up on my back, which results in lots and lots of scratch marks on my neck and shoulders and back.Cleo was the cuddliest cat ever today, and he LOVES tummy rubs. He never starts biting when he gets it.

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.

Bemm

Life's a Beach

Scuba Diving

Lindos

Tassos Beach

Butterflies, Epta Piges, snorkeling, and Old Town

Tsambika

Atrium Platinum Luxury Resort Hotel and Spa

Spontanious 1-year anniversary

Promotion, surgery, and lots of other things

Northumbria or Chalmers?

A quarter century!

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