2nd day of WoW

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.

Another fun and very eventful day is over. I am more tired than ever and will make this quick. The day started with a information meeting with the College of Engineering and then the Civil Engineer department. It wasn’t that interesting, they went through all the CE clubs and we were introduced to all the faculty members.

Lunch with the department after that and I and Johanna talked to the professor we are gonna have in our first course on Tuesday morning, Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering. He seemed cool.

Back home to leave the bike and then to the meeting point for our WoW group. Next on the agenda was kayaking. That was my first time and I went with a guy in my group named Charlie who is from Columbus, Ohio (where I have relatives). We didn’t fall in which was good because the blue sky was gone out over Morro Bay. It was very very dizzy and actually a bit cold. It was fun kayaking though and we saw a lot of sea lions (of course) but also a lot of sea otters. I’ve never seen otters in the wildlife, so it was so cool to see them now. There were a group of like 10 of them lying on their backs grooming and rolling around in the water. So amazing to see! They were big though, probably a meter in length.

Our next thing was a barbecue for all the transfer students. We got hamburger. Back home to change clothes for the next activity WoW-A-Rama. I walked with a guy named Ryan and we talked a lot about everything. We decided that we wanted to ditch WoW tomorrow during the day and hang out at the beach instead. I think I need to take a while off and just relax.

The WoW-A-Rama was fun! 5000 Wowies on the football field (or whatever type of field it was) and we had a leader on a podium telling us to do weird stuff. It was three hours of doing stupid things. We were close to people we have never met before but it was fine because everyone did it. First of all we had to be in straight lines and we had to remember exactly where because after doing a couple of games we were gonna form that exact line again. It was chaos when everyone were trying to find their spot after being away from it for a while. We got paired up with tons of different people, one time on of us was a Mustang and the other person should go on that first person’s back and shoot with the hands up in the air. My Mustang was called Alex as well. He was cute, but he had a girlfriend since he danced when the leader asked if we did (he also asked a lot of other questions). If you agreed you should dance, so you would get to know the people around you. The last thing we did was to find everyone on the field who were born in the same month as you. So we all ran around with fingers in the air representing the number of our month. When everyone was gathered we were divided into two circles, one inside the other. We were facing eachother and walking in different directions. WHen the music stopped we were gonna take stupid selfies of ourselves with that person. I left my phone in the car so I couldn’t take any selfies, but I was on several of them. This was all just to get to know faces and have something to talk about later. So much fun!

I left after that to bond with my roomies, which I really did. Well, how much you can bond with someone in the middle of the night for a couple of hours. We talked a lot and it was nice but I got really tired and we didn’t say goodnight until 1am. And I have to get up at 7am tomorrow to do a hike right behind our house called the Architecture Graveyard. That will be fun. And then I will sleep on the beach for a while. I so look forward to that!Morro Rock That big rock is called the Morro Rock and the three towers in the right of the picture are the towers of a power plant in Morro Bay. I didn’t take my phone with me in the kayak so there are no pictures of the sea otters. But I promise, I did really see them and I was as close as 2m away from them.Golden StateOkay, so this is Highway 1 and on one side there is the typical Californian nature, the golden hills. On the other side there was a lot of green. So weird how one road can divide the landscape like this. It was completely different on the both sides. PCV, Poly Canyon VIllageThis is a parking lot close to campus and in the background, the grey buildings is Poly Canyon Village, also called PCV. I will take a better picture at the cute little village hopefully soon.

Parties and packing

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.

90 year birthday party

Yesterday I went to Hjo with mom and Chad for a tripple birthday party. The usual people were there, my uncle, my three cousins Linnea (and her boyfriend), Lovisa and Malin, my grandma, grandpa and his wife. It was a very nice day with lots of awesome food and several different desserts, perfect!

We had BBQ with different types of meat, BBQ sauces, potato au gratin and salads. I had so much food but didn’t feel very bad about and now, the day after when the scale only showed 57.5kg (that’s a total weightloss of 7kg since I started trying to lose weight), I am gonna start to not feel bad about good food I’m eating once in a while.

As dessert we had a cake that Malin baked with the number 90 printed in M&Ms on it. The total age of me, Linnea and mom was 90.

And as second dessert we made s’mores. I actually only had one. We watched a little “Gladiatorerna” and then I drove us home to Gothenburg again.

 

Today I woke up at 1pm, had lunch and played Guild Wars 2 for the rest of the day. There are so many things to do, but my first goal is to explore the whole world and then try some PvP. I have a little more than 50% explored after 150 hours of gameplay. Taking a break to focus on school was just a joke…

I also got a very fun phone call today. It seems like I get all these job calls on Sundays. Anyways, this was from Liseberg!! They need someone at the attraction department at the end of this month. Since I’ve already been through two  interviews so they just want me to come in on Wednesday and give me all the details about the job and confirm the dates I can work. I interpret that as I will get the job if I want it. And that is so awesome!! It turns out that everything works out in the end, even if it takes a lot of time sometimes 🙂

I am not completely sure what it means, but I guess everything about the attractions, like taking tickets, checking kids’ lengths, check the safety belts and such. I am so excited!

But I will still go to the interview at home service tomorrow. I haven’t signed a contract yet so I still need backup plans.

I found out today that I don’t have to pay the initial payment of $1125 to Cal Poly Housing. So awesome!! I think this application online in my Cal Poly account means that I will get the room, but I am not sure. In the email I got a few weeks ago it said that Cal Poly was glad to offer me a room on campus. It sounds like I have it 🙂

In the evening Chad came over and we cooked a gourmet dinner of meatballs and mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes with gravy and lingonberries. It is a very simple meal but oh, it was soo good! We shared a bottle of wine and talked the whole evening. A perfect Sunday evening! ❤

Slottskogen

Summer came to Gothenburg early this year. This weekend has been the best and I spent both days in Slottskogen.

Yesterday the Formula team from last year were hanging out and barbecueing and I was invited to come along. I felt a bit alone, all mechanical engineers and me, a civil engineer. But I had a great time anyway. The sun was up, it was warm, I got tan, had the year’s first BBQ and watched the crazy people running Tough Viking. I read about it after and it was sick! Electrical shocks, swimming through mud and ice cold water, monkey bars and other crazy stuff. It would have been cool to do it. It definitely would have been an accomplishment, maybe in two years so I have time to exercise before.

We stayed there until the sun disappeared behind the trees. All those 6 hours of sun was enough after almost three months of pretty much no sun (compared to Cali). I was so tired so I just spent the rest of the night inside.

Me and Chad decided, before we said goodbye, to play frisbee golf today, but when I couldn’t reach him at all for three hours this morning I decided to go to his place and see if he was alive. He was and was definitely surprised when I showed up unannounced, but he was glad I did. Otherwise he would have missed out on the awesome weather today!!

We played 18 holes of frisbee gold, third time ever for me and I didn’t do too bad, even if I lost by way too many points to count. After that we rewarded ourselves with soft serve ice cream and took a walk in Slottskogen watching the animals there. Mooses, peacocks, sheep, ducks, goats and wild squirrels.

The day ended at mom’s where she made us dinner, flying jacob. It’s a chili chicken stew with bacon, cashews and bananas. One of my all time favorites! My brother was kind and drove us home and I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 ever since. That game is ridiculously big and I have a feeling I will never be done. I’ve played for probably 250h total and I’ve only explored 50% of the world… And I haven’t even tried the PvP part of the game yet.

I think I have to take a tiny break from playing now though. I have two weeks until my thesis deadline and I have two more weeks of structural engineering classes (four until the exam) and I have to start with applying for courses at Cal Poly. Tomorrow the list of all the available classes will come up, so I need to find mine, the names of the professors and syllabi for the prerequisites classes I’ve taken in Sweden. This has to be done in two weeks as well.

In addition to all the studying and Cal Poly preparations I have a lot of other events going on. Like Cortégen (a parade built by Chalmers Students each year (I did it in 2011 and it was so much fun), birthday dinner for Dzejna, birthday party for me/mom/my cousin, job interview, dentist appointment and a funeral. I also have a book I really want to start to read, but I am one of those who can’t start reading something without finishing what I am currently reading and I am not too excited about Fifty Shades Darker. It’s not bad, but not my type of book (not fantasy).

Anyway, about that job interview! Yesterday I got an email from another Home Service office (but in another part of town which is closer and easier to get to than the one I got an interview for a couple of weeks ago), asking me if I still was interested. Today we decided to do the interview on May 5th. It sucks a bit that the interview isn’t for another week since the first place called today and offered me the job. I had to tell her that I couldn’t give them an answer yet and she was very understanding when I said it was the same job but another district. I hope I get the later one, the woman who talked about it sounded so passionate about it and told me the team was super nice and it wasn’t just old people, but every age between 13 and 98. But I would be totally fine with the first district too and I am so relieved I finally got a job! The problem is though that I probably won’t get my first paycheck until the end of July, and that would mean two months without income… But that’s a problem a month away!

Now I need to focus on my course applications and thesis!

 

Weight lossOh, right, another awesome piece of news! Since it’s been really warm out, I’ve had to leave the jeans at home and put on shorts. A year ago these shorts were kinda tight and now I have to wear a belt so I don’t drop them. They are almost too big to wear actually. 😀

Easter BBQ

The Swedish spring goes on! Today was as nice as yesterday, a few more clouds, and a breeze, but it was perfect. I’ve been sitting out in the sun in Sjövik all afternoon in shorts and a tank top. Super awesome!

My dad and Karin had a BBQ party today, so I borrowed mom’s car and drove out to them at 2pm. I got a comfortable chair and sat there until it was time to eat. As appetizer there were Swedish easter food, like pickled herring, salmon, Jansons frestelse, gubbröra. Really good!

And the main course was grilled pork and lamb. Really good that too! Chocolate cake for dessert.

It was a very nice afternoon!

 

Before I drove there I tried a trick mom told me she read about somewhere. All my frying pans and pots are black underneath. With sugar cubes that easily went away. Amazing.

Sugar cubes

I also found extremely cheap flight tickets to the US. I was told on Saturday that Norwegian Airlines has started with direct flights from Stockholm to Los Angeles. September 1st, 2500kr!! That is ridiculous! I was afraid that I was gonna have to pay 10 000 for a roundtrip. Now it seems like half that price. Awesome! I’m not gonna book anything though until I am certain of what I will do. Maybe I won’t even fly in to LA, but somewhere else for a short vacation before school starts?

 

Now, I will watch the latest Game of Thrones episode, eat some easter candy and drink påskmust!

Goodbye dinner @ Famous Dave’s

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.

More goodbyes, but they weren’t so hard today since almost all of them are from Sweden. One is planning on moving there and one is from Germany. It will be worse in three weeks when I have to say goodbye to my hostfamily and Chad.

My day was very mellow. I spent the whole day in bed reading and sleeping. Don’t know why I’m so tired all the time. Maybe it’s more exhausting than I thought mentally preparing for departure and saying goodbye to people… I’m almost done with The Red Pyramid now, 50 more pages. I’ll probably finish that tomorrow.

In the afternoon I had a request which got granted. I wanted to go to the beach and watch the sunset one last time here in California. Chad has a final coming up this week so it was very nice of him to take me to Ponto Beach one last time. The sunset was beautiful tonight. All red and it wasn’t cold. No dolphins but that’s okay.

After that I picked up Johanna and we drove to Famous Dave’s BBQ. I went there my first weekend here and I went there my last weekend here. I love that restaurant. We were seven people, me, Chad, Lovisa, Johanna, Kristel, Cati and Fanny who is a friend of Lovisa visiting from San Francisco this weekend. We shared the All American BBQ Feast and it was so delicious. And it was perfect splitting it between seven people.  I’m lagom matt and it was only $12 per person.

Now I also have all my rides to/from the airport figured out. On Wednesday my hostdad will be so kind and drive me to the airport. Lovisa will pick me up when I land after Hawaii and Chad will drive me to my flight to Sweden. It’s a relief having those minor problems solved. In the next three weeks I have 8 flights. That is crazy! San Diego-Oahu-Maui-Big Island-Oahu-San Diego-Chicago-Frankfurt-Gothenburg.

I got home pretty early and now I have some stuff to do, like add comments to all the pictures in the calendar I got the family and pick out ebooks to the girl. Then I will probably read for a while before passing out…

I can’t believe I only have two more days here in San Diego….

Last CA sunset Last CA sunsetFamous Dave's