Tag Archives: Cal Poly preparations

It takes a lot of preparation to be an exchange students in the United States of America.

Double vs single room?

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A few days ago I got a question from CalPoly housing if I would be interested in saving $1500 (or maybe it was more?) by changing my single room to a double room. It said I might be interested and today I got a reply that I need to answer before July 20th if I want to accept the change. Pros and cons with everything.

Pros:

  • I will save a lot of money
  • I will really try out the whole American student lifestyle
  • I might get a friend for life

Cons:

  • No privacy
  • What if the girl is a bitch?
  • Bunkbeds

Opinions anyone? It’s a lot of money, but I also like privacy, but at the same time it would be fun to try see what it’s like to have a roomie…

 

Still tons of people at Liseberg and it is exhausting. Even if I slept for almost 10 hours last night and woke up by myself at 9:30am, well rested and everything, I’ve been so tired today! Mostly Swedish people, but almost all of them wore the Gothia Cup bracelet. I think I saw 10 people in total with Guldpass. Gothenburg people are smart and staying away from Liseberg this week.

I’ve gotten the second introduction to Helix, the one which covers evacuations. It wasn’t that complicated. And after that I had my very first hour covering my own position at Helix. That was nervous, but I did well. And now it feels like I’ve been there for a while. It doesn’t take much time to get used to a new attraction. I can already feel it in my body though. So many complain about the ergonomics of checking those restraints. I am trying my best to do it correctly, but it is hard to avoid getting muscle soreness from doing something I’m not used to. The underside of my arms are so sore!! I hope this will go away soon.

I closed Uppswinget today and normally there aren’t many people at all at the end so they can go on the ride several times in a row. But today, there was a big line up until the very end! So I had to tell people that we were just about to start the last ride and they had to go away. That’s a first!

Time to go to bed and sleep in my own bed now. Goodnight folks!

Tropical weather in Gothenburg

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The weather today has been weird to say the least. It has been extremely hot and the humidity must have been at least 110%. It has been sunny but it has also been pouring and lots of thunder. And its’s been back and forth between these conditions all day. Around 28C and right outside my window at its hottest it was unbelievable 40C! That’s right in the sun, but still. It’s been sticky inside but nothing I could do about it, opening the windows would only make it worse. I remember my first summer in this apartment three years ago. It was barely possible to be in here because it was like a sauna. I haven’t felt that at all this summer even if once in a while gets pretty warm outside. Maybe they improved the ventilation?

I’ve been inside most of the day, studying. I didn’t do more than yesterday, but not less either, so I am satisfied with my accomplishment. It was actually hard to quit when I needed dinner. That’s good! For once I am following my study schedule and I actually think that I will check every box on that paper (one box = one problem/one old exam/one theory question, a total of 63 boxes) before I will take the exam for the fourth time. Go me!

I did a lot of theory questions today and realized that I have never been in class when they talked about them. Both my first year and this year I didn’t have them among my notes. I never miss a class, but those two I have missed were the same both years. Not particularly good.

I didn’t do much more than that today, I put all my recyclables in the recycle room in the backyard, I did the dishes, watched a couple of Revolution episodes, shopped for groceries, and cooked dinner. Mashed sweet potatoes and meatballs, yummy! I have a very hard time right now figuring out what to eat. I get stuck in patterns and eat pretty much the same thing for a month before I go on to the next. Lack of money is mostly behind that, but I tried to think before I went to the grocery store today. What do I want to eat? I remembered that I loved semolina porridge when I was a kid and decided that that might be a good breakfast (the last couple of weeks I’ve only had scrambled eggs) right now. And to put fruit and berries in it will make it a little more healthy. I look forward to tomorrow’s breakfast! Let’s hope my tastebuds haven’t changed…

Today I also got an email from CSN telling me that I will get money next year!! The bad thing is that I will get it in three lump sums (swe=”klumpsummor”) instead of every month. It probably won’t be a problem, but I am gonna have to think through exacylt how much money I will have after rent and food. But it will feel pretty awesome to have 50 000 kr in my account! The only thing missing now is that I have to decide what I am gonna do the first two nights before I get my room and how to get from LA to SLO. No biggie!

Thesis: DONE!

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It is time to update the blog again. I just haven’t been in a writing mood at all lately, strange! But here comes an update of what’s been going on in my extremely interesting life

First and biggest; my thesis got approved today!! I am done with it!! I so wish I could say that I now have a bachelor of science degree in building and civil engineering, but that post will have to wait another year. Tomorrow before work I will go to school to get the papers signed, return literature and ask our examinator to put the result in LADOK right away (our result system that CSN relies on) so CSN will give me a happy message telling me that I will get money next year. I am thinking about changing my application and take an extra loan. My rent is gonna be bigger over there and I have some trips I really want to do. I am saving as much as I can already because I don’t want to miss out on the Caribbean, Cancun or Coachella.

What else is there more than work? Nothing really. Work has been taking up a lot of my time lately. The big handball cup, Partille Cup, has started and that means a fuckton of youths at Liseberg. They are from all over, but especially Norway and Denmark and what is really bothering me is that they (the Danes) expect me to understand what they are saying! I can’t understand Danish at all so I mostly just smile and nod.

There are actually a lot of things that grinds my gears right now except for all the foreigners (who by the way behave better than Swedish people!). There is something at Liseberg called “ledsagarband” which is a ride bracelet for people going on rides with disabled people. I totally support that system. But what I don’t support is when young and stupid (okey, they are apparently smart who figured this out) kids go to Guest Service and tell them that they get anxious when standing in line or whatever lies they can come up with so one of them doesn’t have to pay for a normal ride bracelet. This also means that they can skip lines and go through the exit of each attraction. We who work there aren’t supposed to question these bracelets. But when a gang of ten 12 year old boys who look perfectly fine want to skip the line and take the exit in, I just get pissed off! Or when you have three normally functioning kids (14 year olds maybe) who comes back ten times in 30 min, something is not right. Guest Service shouldn’t be handing those bracelets out like free candy…

Another thing, that I’ve already written about, is when people kick me on the chin on the attraction. How hard is it to stop swinging your legs when I am checking your safety restraints? It’s a good thing I don’t get bruises easily. And it is also very annoying when people refuses to let go of the restraints when I am about to check them. It’s kinda hard doing that while someone is holding it down…

And then there is the problem I face hundreds of times every day. People who don’t want to go on a ride if they can’t sit next to each other. I understand what they are saying and it makes the ride a tiny bit more fun to sit next to a friend. But when half a handball team wants to sit next to each other or people with Guldpass (who has free entrance and rides for a whole year) does it, it’s too much. I am considerate if it is a young kid with a parent, but 17 year old guys who HAVE to sit next to each other and are holding up the line because of it is just so stupid! It is also very rude of people to assume that they can skip a ride and wait for the next whenever they want. It’s not their privilege to do that. They could ask nicely instead. I can’t just let half the spots on Höjdskräcken go empty every ride!

And on AtmosFear people are obviously extremely afraid of sitting next to a person they don’t know. So instead they leave an empty seat so a lot of people late in the line has to split up. So selfish of them! We often use the microphone to ask them to not do that, but they very rarely listen…

I really needed to get that out. I love my job and most of the time I just laugh and sigh quietly at people. And most of them are actually very sweet and appreciative. They understand that this actually is my job and when they are happy, it makes it so much more fun for me, and I can give it back to other people. I wish everyone understood that.

Today the weather was very weird. First it was nice, then it poured down but the guests were as happy as always anyway. It wasn’t that fun though working in it. Completely soaked even with the huge black raincoat and three sizes too big boots.

 

Friday tomorrow and my last day of work before my four-day weekend! On Saturday it is supposed to be very nice weather, up to 27C, so I am planning on working on my tan. I am getting very pale… I am also invited to a celebratory dinner at mom’s because of my approved thesis and then I guess I will study Structural Engineering and read a lot.

(By the way, I have a very hard time realizing it is already July!!)

Rainbow over Liseberg Weird weather over LisebergA lot of thunder this past week (more than I’ve been through in the past couple of years in total). The dark clouds with sun shining through is very beautiful. And very typical Swedish summer!

Friday 13th

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* On my first two days at work, more than two weeks, I had a pair of shoes on that I probably shouldn’t have worn. Because now a third of my big toe nail is completely blue/black. It’s gone so bad now that I couldn’t stand it and painted all of the nails dark blue. I guess I will have painted toenails for a while now. Mom says it can take up to a year to get it all away. Crap.

* I’ve learned that if you work at Liseberg you can get free candy, and chocolate in particular. You just give the guest with a star prize a look that says it looks really good or just say it. Most of the time, depending on what type of person it is, that person offers you a piece or two or three. Last week I got some Plopp on Uppswinget and Toblerone on Lisebershjulet. Today at AtmosFear I got another Plopp but without “asking”. I am not complaining.

* Another thing I’ve learned after more than two weeks at Liseberg is that people on the attractions AtmosFear, Höjdskräcken and Spin Rock like to dangle their legs which results in me being kicked when I check their safety belts. It is starting to get a little annoying.

* I now have 7 attractions at Liseberg; Lisebergshjulet, AtmosFear, Höjdskräcken, Kristallsalongen, Spin Rock, Uppswinget and Ponnykarusellen. Technically I am still in training on Ponnykarusellen (which I really don’t understand why because it is just two buttons to press and there are no reocurring errors) and Uppswinget. I was supposed to have the test today at Uppswinget, but I guess I was needed somewhere else.

* Yesterday I got my first paycheck. I was disappointed, 304kr. Apparently Liseberg doesn’t count from the first of the month to the last, but the 25th of the month before to the 25th of the current month. And we get the money on the 15th. This month it totally sucked because I neeed money. I have pretty much nothing. 1500kr until July 15h! It will be a challenge.

* And speaking of money, today I found out that I will get 519kr back from Radiotjänst. I don’t know when though. Today in the court it was decided that computers/tablets/smart phones aren’t recievers for a TV signal which Radiotjänst interpreted that they were a year and a half ago. So they have charged people without a TV but with a computer. That is not fair. I am one of those people. But I am glad I’ve only paid the fee for three months instead of a year. 519kr instead of 2000 something. I paid my last bill for the upcoming three months yesterday and called them today to cancel my TV license agreement because I don’t have a TV, only a computer. And because the bill covered a time that has not yet began they told me I will get those 519kr back. Awesome!!

* Yesterday I played beach volleyball again. Outside, in the extreme wind. I wasn’t too excited because I had just found out that I failed the structural engineering class again. For the third time. And I didn’t wanna spend money on something I wouldn’t enjoy. But it wasn’t as hard as I thought. It worked out and I got some sun for once! I played with Ina, Joanne and Zandra.

* I had lunch with Chad today, we won’t have much time to hang out this week since I get off work at 10 or 11pm every night. I checked my mailbox before going there and had two letters. One was my passport with new visa inside and the other was the results of my PAP smear I did a month ago. I had completely forgotten about it and wasn’t very happy when I read what it had to say. It said I have minor cell changes and there was no sign of cancer at this point. But I was too upset to read that properly. So I’ve spent this whole day being extremely sad and haven’t been able to get the idea of cervical cancer out of my mind. Now, after a lot of reading I’ve figured out that it isn’t as bad as I thought. And I wish those fuckers who wrote that letter could write a letter so everyone understands. I had no idea what cell changes meant more than it can be a prestage to cancer. After reading online I now know that about 5 out of 100 PAP smears give these results and that about 1 out of 4 have to get it treated. And that is done with minor surgery that removes a small piece of the thing that is affected and that is it. The worst that could happen is that the person who gets it removed will give birth too early, but at least that person will get pregnant. I so wish they could have added an extra paper in that letter with that information. It would have saved me a whole day of worrying!!
What it also said was that I need to come back for more and thorough tests in like four months. But my problem is that I won’t be in Sweden then. So I need to call them on Monday and tell them about my situation and ask them what I should do, come in earlier, do all this in the USA or wait a year. If they want me to get it looked at as soon as possible and I have to remove it, it will be tight with time since I am leaving the country in 90 days. The reason they want to wait four months is to wait and see what happens to the cells, if the heal automatically, if they stay the same or get worse.
I am seriously pissed that they made me this upset today!!

* Last thing I want to write about today is that I’ve found a new TV show that I after one episode think seems great; The 100. It’s a futuristic setting where Earth has been completely wiped out after a nuclear attack of some sort. A few people survived up on space stations and now, 97 years after, they are sending down 100 prisoners to make sure the Earth is inhabitable again after all the radiation. I like it so far. I want to watch another episode, but it is getting late and I have a 10 hour day ahead of me.

LisebergshjuletIt was an amazing sunset today. I am in love with beautiful sunsets and today I couldn’t stop watching it while I helped people in and out of the gondolas on Lisebergshjulet. Full moon over Liseberg southIt was also a full moon tonight, and it was a huuge moon! Way prettier in real life.

US Embassy in Stockholm

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My Saturday was spent in Stockholm after four hours of sleep. I tried sleeping on the 6am train this morning but just couldn’t. I read a lot instead. The train was almost 30 minutes late which meant I got to the centralstation in Stockholm at 9:10. My interview began at 9:30 and I had no idea from where the bus went. I asked around and finally found the right bus stop. It came almost directly and I actually were at the Embassy 9:35. It’s not extremely important to be on time because a lot of people have the same time and then there’s a line inside. What was frustrating though was that I was the last one to leave the Embassy even if other people had showed up after me. Not fair! I think it might be because I already had a visa for last year or something. I was done by 11am and took the bus back to the train station. My train back home didn’t leave until 4pm so I decided to have lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. I googled the location and walked there to kill time. I could have taken a bus, but I had five hours all alone in the capital. What to do? So I had lunch by myself in the summer sun. I didn’t take a burger, they were expensive, so I ordered a chicken/goatcheese/dried cranberries sandwhich on the lunch menu. It was really good! The staff there spoke English too me, it was weird, but HRC is an international restaurant chain so people from all over work there. My waitress was from Australia and the guy who sold me the pint glass was from California, but he spoke Swedish. It was cool.

After lunch I went to a park nearby and sat down for like two or three hours and read. After a couple of hours I was so tired I could barely sit straight up, I almost fell asleep right there and then. But fortunately an old and grumpy lady woke me up by screaming at me to take down my feet from the bench. It was a wooden bench and it was extremely uncomfortable with short shorts so I moved around a lot and decided that it was comfortable to have my feet up somehow on the bench. She yelled at me really loud but I just pretended I didn’t understand Swedish and she walked away continuing being pissed off. What is it with old ladies?? It’s a wooden bench out in the open, it will get dirty even if I don’t have my clean shoe on it. And it will get off when it rains. It’s another thing on buses to put your feet up on the cushioned seat in front of you, but a bench made out of wood in a park under a bunch of trees that drop tons of seeds? Stupid lady! But, she woke me up so I could stay awake for like thirty more minutes before my butt got a little bit too much wood flavor. So I slowly walked back to the train station where I waited for 40 minutes until the train came and took me home.

On the way back I tried to sleep and did that most of the three hour ride. There was a guy two rows behind me though that just couldn’t keep his mouth. He had some mental disability, but when you only had four hours of sleep and need to sleep it doesn’t matter if he is really happy and only says nice and happy things. It was irritating. I read some though, and I finished Throne of Glass and started on the 6th and last Mortal Instruments book City of Heavenly Fire. Throne of Glass was really good. It is about a young and world famous assassin whogets caught and ends up in a slave camp for a year. One day the Crown Prince comes along and wants here to participate in a competition to become the kings Champion. Really exciting and I really wanted to start the second book right away, but I have so many books that I really want to read so it’s hard to decide…

I got home, started doing laundry right away and I am almost done with it. I watched the latest Game of Throne episode during and the whole episode was just on the Wall! I thought I knew what was gonna happen at the end, but I guess that will be the next episode which also happens to be the season finale!
I also edited the thesis report and sent in it again. The second final version. I hope this gets approved! If it doesn’t very soon I won’t be able to get any CSN next year because of lack of study results. I got a letter from CSN yesterday that told me that I needed to fix my grades from this semester if I want a study grant next year. I can’t help that my thesis has been dragged out for this long! Cross your fingers for us that it will get approved this time!!
As soon as the laundry is done I will go to bed, read a couple of pages and sleep until I wake up tomorrow!

Oh, right, might be worth to mention that my visa got approved and I will get it back along with my passport within a week. Yay! 🙂

Liseberg at nightThis is a photo I took of the backside of Liseberg one evening when I walked home. Hard Rock Cafe StockholmMy 12th Hard Rock Cafe visit. Next will be Gothenburg!

Sand in my eye

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I’ve been home in Sweden for a few days more than I have left. Why does time go by so ridiculously fast? It’s not that I don’t look forward to going, I do, but I really enjoy being back home. Tomorrow I will start working at the world’s most fun job, and when you’re having fun time goes even faster, which means that I will be at the airport saying goodbye way too soon. I should probably buy my flight ticket soon. I don’t want the prices to go higher. Maybe before the week is over.

The only thing I don’t have for the visa interview is a printed photo and the confirmation page of my appointment at the Embassy. I am picking up the photo tomorrow morning which means I have to book the interview. I think I will just go over the day the 11th of June. It will be hell sitting on a 5am train, but I could sleep, or read, which is not too bad. A book I’ve been waiting for for a year was released today, and with this reading pace I have now I will probably read that on the train in two weeks. Or maybe it will be done, I don’t know. The book btw is the sixth and last book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Heavenly Fire.

This morning I was in school working on the thesis. Both I and my partner are getting tired of this. Our supervisor at Chalmers has gone underground and we haven’t heard anything from him in weeks! We get different information about the formalities of the report from different people in charge and that is really a pain in the ass annoying this close to the finish line! Today we decided who is gonna talk about what on the presentations. And we are gonna work with what we want to say individually. I hope I won’t be too tired after work to be able to do a good job.

*ONE HOUR LATER*

Never mind what I wrote above. The interview appointment is schedule for June 11th at 9:30am. Train tickets bought for 700SEK and I will have a few hours on my own in Stockholm that day, but then a lunch at Hard Rock Cafe might be a good idea?

I just also bought my flight ticket! This is so real now! On September 12th I will be leaving Gothenburg and fly to Los Angeles. I am gonna take another flight from there to San Luis Obispo, but I’m not gonna book that right now, if it turns out that I can get a ride from there from my peer contact or someone else. Or maybe I will decide to rent a car and drive up along Pacific Coast Highway 1 again. I mean, it’s just a 13h flight, I’ll probably feel okay.

Tomorrow morning I will go to Chalmers, print my last paper for the interview, then head to the photo store I was in today and pick up my printed visa photo. …. I was just gonna write that I will then be totally ready. But the truth is that there is always something else to do. I willhave to go to the interview, wait for my passport to come back, book my hostel for the first couple of nights in SLO, book the last flight from LA to SLO. And packing of course! Moving my stuff out of the apartment. Saying goodbye…

I feel like I have everything under control anyway and that is a good feeling. I can stay focused on my thesis now! I’ll probably have some time for it tomorrow before work. Oh yes, I have my first day at Liseberg tomorrow! Excited or what!!

 

At 6pm I was at Beach Center with Dzejna and two other. One of them, Anna, I knew since before. But the third, Erika, never showed up because of stomach cramps 30 min before we would play, so she sent her “sambo”(=the person you are in a relationship with and living with, but not married) instead. We didn’t mind, he was a nice dude and the games were very even. I won mostof my games though and I played really well. Except my serve which didn’t work at all today. But my sets and spikes were as good as ever. What happened during our gameplay that wasn’t so good though was that I accidently threw a lot of sand in my wide open eye! I sat down, closed my eyes and was afraid of opening them. The others ran and grabbed my water bottle and poured it in my hands so I could rinse my eyes. I must have gotten most of it out, because it didn’t hurt. Phew! I remember what happened in 4th of 5th grade when I got a grain of sand in my eye and it swelled so bad that I had to go to the ER… I don’t want that to happen again. It’s been a few hours now and it still doesn’t feel particularly weird, so it’s probably fine :).

I played some Guild Wars 2 after school today for the first time in probably 3 weeks. I missed it! I wanted to play some more after beach volleyball, but it got really late now all of a sudden….

 

Ugh, this got longer than I expected. I should probably get to bed and read through my information papers I got from the attraction department last week. It’s a lot of pages I should read before I start working… But at the same time I also want to read Throne of Glass… Soon I will be able to read whatever I want, and do whatever I want in my freetime! The benefits of working compared to studying 🙂

Test tomorrow

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I could let you think that the lack of posts the past couple of days has been because I’ve been studying, but it wouldn’t feel right to do that. Yesterday I was actually out drinking a little bit. Probably wasn’t the best of ideas two nights before a huge test. But I seriously haven’t been feeling the urge to study. I’ve gone through all the old tests (not solving the problems, but remembering where to find all the equations in the books and in wich order they all come). I’ve read through all the theory questions and written new summaries of all the different types of problems, and I feel like that is what I can do with this motivation (or lack of).

I am disappointed in myself, this was supposed to be my triumph. 75% of school, so I would have had more time to focus on this stupid course, but no. I’ve done everything but. When I was in London i secretly gave up. I have been trying since, but not wholeheartedly. And I will not be disappointed when I don’t pass this one.

I will go there tomorrow, do my best, and hope for problems that I know how to solve. I am really good at some of them (I actually solved one of them yesterday without the answer key), but the problems are random, and so far I’ve been in extreme unluck. So maybe this third time will be right!

Even if I don’t pass I will be so relieved to be done with this stress. I am gonna try to do a little almost every day of the summer, get deeper understanding of the subject, and try again in the end of August.

 

I didn’t study much today, but instead I got some visa preparations done. I paid another stupid fee, the one called SEVIS (or  I-901). I have no idea what it is for, but $180 is now gone from my bank account… I have been looking into when i should go to the US Embassy. It would be awesome to go on 1st class by train with my brother when he is working on July 22nd. But Chad isn’t in Sweden 22-23, and I don’t want to spend almost two days in Stockholm by myself. So I asked him when he could join me. So maybe 11-12 of June. Or my third option, going with the 5am train on the 11th, go to the Embassy at 9:30am and go back home in the afternoon. It will be a tough day, but I think that is the easiest option if I don’t have any company.

I am missing five things to bring to the embassy (I hope I haven’t forgotten anything); Proof of Fiancial Aid (which I will get from Chalmers tomorrow), SEVIS reciept (which I will print tomorrow), Confirmation of appointment at the Embassy (I can’t get this until I’ve made the appointment), Extract of the population register (I will have to call Swedish Tax Agency tomorrow and ask them to send on to me, and a printed photo. I am waiting for someone with Photoshop to fix the background. It’s not that much left until I have a new USA Visa page in my Passport 🙂
I really need to go to bed now and read through some of my notes again. I am surprisingly calm about tomorrow. I remember getting all hyped up about exams two years ago…

Stress

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I wish I could fastfoward my life three weeks, maybe four just to be sure all of this is over. I have so much going on and it’s not doing me any good. This stupid test on Monday for one. It’s Friday tomorrow and I just started… It doesn’t feel too bad though when I did half a test today. A lot comes back when I reread the old exams and theory questions. But I am still not expecting a grade.

The thesis is not going so well. Our examinator and supervisor at Chalmers are very negative towards our report and seriously can’t say anything good about it, except that it was a bit better since the first draft. It sucks! I hate this project. We got confirmed that we can have our presentation at Chalmers on June 3rd though at 2pm. That’s something. Now we just have to book a room and talk to Veidekke and ask them if we can give the presentation in the morning the same day.

My visa application is confusing. I have a very nice picture that would look good in my passport but today I got paranoid, what if it isn’t and I go to the embassy with it and get neglected? I took this photo myself, but I seriously don’t want to pay a fortune to go to a photographer. I am concerned about the small shadows in the background and they might go away in photoshop. So will try that and then go to a photo store and ask them if it is an okay photo for a US visa. It hopefully is, I am looking straight forward, I have a neutral and not an exxagerated expression, white background. But slanting shoulders and small shadows in the background. I don’t think the shoulders should be a problem, what if I looked like that? Maybe I have to walk crookedly at the embassy. And then there’s the problem of when I should go to Stockholm. I need to book the appointment very soon in case the spots run out. I want to talk to my brother and see if he works on SJ a day when I am off work. I am not sure he knows in advance when he works. But I will ask him. Otherwise paying a shitload of money on a regular train or taking a car and stay the night with my uncle and cousins. Or convince my dad to come with me again. Unfortunately I can’t get it with a weekend this time since I am working. Complicated! I also have to make 100% sure what I need to bring to the embassy. It can get nasty otherwise…

My new visa picture(?) to the left, and old one to the right (taken by a photographer).
AlexandraBemmVisa 2013
I think this should be okay with a lighter background and no shadows.

My last stress thing is that I start working on Wednesday and I will work every day until our presentation. That will be fun. Long nights or early mornings at Chalmers!

The awesome summer weather is making sitting inside all day miserable. This morning at 7am it was 20C outside, that is ridiculous!! And by the afternoon it was way warmer. I really hope it will be a nice summer.

I have tried to study today, but procrastinating is at its best during exam times. I have calculated an estimated sum of what I will earn this summer and it’s not too bad. The total for three months will be about 60 000 SEK, which is what I earned during the whole 2013. But the taxes are much higher here. But I won’t have any trouble with rent or living expenses at least. Great!

 

I need to go to bed now, read a little fiction, and get up early to continue with this nightmare of studying I am living right now…

J-1 Visa

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I remember the visa process being a bit difficult last year, but this time it is even worse! Last year I could pay the visa fee to the American Embassy in Stockholm easily through my internet bank. But this year I had to get a login to ustraveldocs.com where I had to answer some questions and then pay the fee, get a reciept number which was extremely important not to lose. I was able to pay with my card online though instead of going to the bank like my fellow travelers.

All this was possible after 30 minuts of trying to call the Embassy.  I went through ten minutes of automatic answers on the phone and then I could talk to a person, but they hung up, three times! Then I finally got through and got all my questions answered. It turns out that I need to go to the American Embassy in Stockholm for an interview. If I would have had the same program, then I wouldn’t have needed it, but it is different. They guy also told me I might not have to pay the SEVIS fee (which I think was automatically paid last year through Cultural Care, beacuse I don’t remember paying that myself, it was $35). But when I read my old SEVIS reciept it says it is only valid for that program. So that means I have to pay that anyway, and this year it is not the puny $35, but $200!! What?? I already paid $160 for the visa…. The money is dissappearing very quickly now… It’s good that I start working next week and will get my first (small, but still) paycheck in a month. This month I will get my housing grant and like half of my study grant. I think I will survive.

Last night I stayed up until 2am applying for the visa. The first step is to fill out an online form called DS-160. It went pretty fast, since I knew what to answer on most of the questions. But I had to answer a lot more because of my stay there last year. I had to give them my California driver license number and that gave me an idea. What if I can bring my old license and just get it renewed in September? I hope I can. And I hope it doesn’t complicate things just because I never got the real card. I have the number and that should be enough or them to see that I passed everthing. I will cross my fingers!

I think I have everything regarding the visa under control. I am still waiting for an email with the deicision if I have to pay the SEVIS fee or not. If I misread the last reciept I got, I don’t want to pay $200 in vain.

And going to Stockholm for a couple of days could be nice. That gives me a reason to visit my cousins up there again. Unfortunately it has to be on weekdays because of my working schedule. I have one weekend with Monday and Tuesday off too in July. That could work. We’ll see.

The next step when all this is done is to buy a one-way flight ticket to California. It’s only a little more than three months away. Where does the time go??

Hello London!

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Another interesting day has passed. And a very long one. Up with the roaster to go to a structural engineering class and then three hours of work with the thesis. My mom was so kind and helped me with the technical language and it helped a lot. I am not sure it is enough for our picky examinator, but that’s a problem coming up on Friday.

Back home I had lunch, I packed the rest of my things and then played some Guild Wars 2. I found a place there today where you could read old history scrolls and the story behind this game is actually very interesting. So I moved up the Guild Wars book triology on my to-read list and will start with them after I finish Fifty Shades Darker. Which by the way is a boring book. The “porn” is the same in every scene. The scenario is different, but the same words are used, and it gets very boring in the long run. It is also extremely unrealistic. But I can’t stop reading in the middle of it, so I feel that I have to finish it…

At four my mom and brother picked me up and then we went to the airport. We checked in and everything and then each of us had a pulled pork wrap. Really good! The Victoria’s Secret store at Landvetter airport sucks by the way. No clothes, just things. Boring. Since I’ve lost weight I almost feel that I have to buy more underwear now… I and Gudrun are thinking about taking a shopping tour one day. I also want to buy a new pair of jeans.

At 6pm the flight took off and two hours later we were here. I had to drag my suitcase and carry-on for a while until we found the apartment and that is not a mistake that I will be doing when we are going home. The only reason I took a carry-on was because that was the only place I could fit all my structural engineering books. The exam is in two weeks, so I really have to start study now. Tourist during the day, student in the evening.

There is free wifi in the apartment which is awesome. The best part about it was that as soon as I logged in I got an email from Cal Poly giving me my last Permission Course Number. I enrolled as soon as I started up my computer and now I am enrolled in all my courses for the fall semester! Such a relief!

Right when we got to the apartment we went out again to find a place to eat. A pub close to us, The Barley Mow, was pretty nice. Everyone in our company laughed at me for ordering a Kobbarberg Cider (a Swedish cider).

We did a little grocery shopping and now we are back in the apartment and ready to go to bed. I’m not sure what we are gonna do tomorrow, but I am sure it will be fun!