Tag Archives: Chalmers University of Technology

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!

Course registration

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What a day. I hardly can keep my eyes open but I am waiting for a very important email from Cal Poly with my last Permission Course Number. I called the responsible person for the course and she said she would do it in an hour (this was one hour before the registration opened at 10pm), but I still haven’t gotten it yet. My other three courses are showing the status: enrolled and that feels good. But I’m not gonna be relaxed until I have the last one in that list too. I have heard that transfer students are prioritized when it comes to course registration, so I think it will work out perfectly fine anyway.

My other big Cal Poly Preparation today was that I went to the bank to make the Initial Housing Payment. I got help with the whole thing from a very nice lady. And the waiting line was zero at 11am a Friday morning. According to her everything was filled out correctly, but it still feels unsafe. I mean, I trust the internet bank, but when it’s about a lot of money ($1125 / 7500SEK) and used with a payment method I’ve never used before…. I can’t help but get a bit nervous. But I am sure it is correctly done and that I can put it behind me!

It is so nice to have this and the course registration done. The only thing left now is to get the visa (which I can’t get now anyway, I don’t have the DS-2019 paper yet) and then decide when I want to go to the US. I can move in on September 14th. But two weeks travelling before? Hawaii with a friend from San Diego? Hanging out with my host family? Or just stay in Sweden and work two extra weeks and earn more money? Tough decisions.

The whole morning was spent in school with three hours of class. Super boring! I have to pull myself together pretty soon if I am gonna pass this stupid exam in 2.5 weeks.

In school I also made two phone calls to the two other job had had gotten offers on. Well, one not yet, but she was willing to give me it, I could hear that in her very dissapointing voice when I said I got another job. I felt really bad, they both sounded like fun jobs and I feel like I gave them false hope by going to interviews and tell them how interested I was. Well I was. But I still feel bad for turning them down. This is an experience I’ve never had to deal with before. Turning down jobs…

At four I went to my first after work in, probably ever. There is a German girl here in Gothenburg who are going to San Diego for three months to be an au pair. A few other of her friends were also joining and we talked for two hours about San Diego, au pairs, studies and a lot of other things. And that was very nice. She is going home to Germany soon though but we will try to have at least one more after work at another place. After that I went to my second after work at another place with Chad and Mike. That was also very nice! I don’t feel too bad about paying 40kr per cider either. It could be much worse.

 

No, I can’t stay up any longer. I hope I wake up to good news in my email! And let’s hope I will get a little more than 4 hours of sleep tonight…

Job @ Liseberg!!

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This is insane! Six months after I sent in my application to Liseberg I finally got the good news. I can’t explain how relieved and happy I am. I got a little worried when they didn’t call during the day, but at 5pm I got the call. I was prepared for the worst, but instead he told me I got the job!! I almost laughed when he told me. This is what I’ve always wanted to do, and now it is finally happening! And I start working in less than three weeks already. Right after I get home from London I will sign the contract and get an introduction evening. I will have two days off in the first week of June and that is when we will give the thesis presentation so that worked out perfect as well.

This job means that I will be working at several different attractions, in two areas instead of one that is normal. I will be like an extra who works where I will be needed. I will still have my 40 hours a week though and a schedule for the whole summer. And I also got the good news today that I will work until August 31st instead of 17th. And it is possible to work longer too if I decide to fly straight to San Luis Obispo instead of travel around for two weeks before school. I actually think that is what I will do. I will have plenty of time to travel anyway.

I am so incredibly excited about this job, it will be the best summer job I’ve ever had!

 

In school today we finished the first draft of the thesis report. It felt really good, but we will still have a lot to do. Our supervisor at Chalmers is strict and has opinions about everything. I really hope we will be done with it before the summer. I don’t want this dragging behind.

I took a three hour nap today and that was needed. I will try to get to bed early today. Tomorrow I have to be in school at 8am for at least four hours of structural engineering. I don’t look forward to it, but I need it so bad! I am nervous about the exam coming up in 2,5 weeks… I will study as much as I can next week. Touristing during the day and studying in the evening.

The pie yesterday was thought to be a celebration pie, but it was completely eaten by the time I got the great news. So I felt that I had to make the dinner a little bit special tonight again. I had tomato soup, like I’ve had so many times. But I also baked corn muffins. I found a mix at Ica Maxi a week ago and just couldn’t resist to buy it. It wasn’t as good as the ones I had in the US, but it was still very good. A luxurious breakfast awaits me tomorrow!

 

Tonight I’ve also paid the initial payment for an on campus room. Or I didn’t pay, I have to go to the bank tomorrow and do that. I now regret that I chose to save 200kr, when I could have paid right now, online. Well well, it’s not like I have other things to do tomorrow afternoon.

I have also been doing some research about what has to happen tomorrow evening. The course registration opens and I think I am pretty much as prepared as I can be. So at 10pm I will just login to my Cal Poly account and enroll in courses with my permission course numbers. Except that I am still missing one of them. I’ve emailed a new person today and I hope I will get an answer pretty soon. The environmental development course is the only one I really really need to take! It is mandatory at Chalmers. All the other courses can be whatever as long as it is within my area. I hope this works out, like everything else 🙂

Rhubarb/raspberry pie

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So much going on that I can’t even remember everything I wanted to write about. I should probably make a note in my phone whenever I think of something to put here.

 

“A space has been reserved for you in Cal Poly’s campus apartments for the 2014-2015 Academic Year!” But I have been sending a lot of emails back and forth to Cal Poly about my payments. Apparently CSN doesn’t count as financial aid and that means I pay out of my own pocket and will have to pay the initial payment of $1125. I will do that tomorrow…

I have talked to both Luka and Johanna (who are the other two going to Cal Poly with me) about housing and courses these past few days. Course registration is closing in fast and I still don’t have my Course Permission Number for a course I need to take. I emailed the person just now and I hope she answers tomorrow so all of this will be done and over! There are two more semesters though…

This morning was spent at Chalmers writing the last parts of the thesis. After two hours we decided we were done for the day and we had actually done quite a lot. We work fast! Tomorrow will probably be the same, read it through once more and write the abstract in English, that will be a toughie.

I had my third “interview” with Liseberg. I was nervous but it wasn’t that bad. They told me what it was all about and showed me schedules and everything. They wanted to know who I was so I talked a bit about myself. They thought it sounded very cool with a master/teacher degree. They will call me tomorrow and give me my verdict. Please cross your fingers for me! I really really want this job.

Tonight I baked a pie for the first time in almost a year.  I invited Chad to be a guinea pig and I think it passed, he had seconds. It really was delicious! With vanilla sauce! Yummy! Awesome breakfast tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be the last day we will work on the thesis for a while. We only have the abstract left to write and that will be done in like an hour tomorrow. That means a lot of time for napping! It’s weird that I am this tired. I got my test results from the doctor today and they said everything was perfectly fine. Great! I think. I don’t really buy it though, one of my two doctors are lying, one said I will have a B12 deficiency for the rest of my life, and the other one said everything was fine. A deficiency like that doesn’t just go away like that… I will have to call the new doctor and ask her to get my old journals and compare them, something’s not right!

I need to go to bed now, I’m seeing double again…

Kent

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Ever since their latest album was released last week I haven’t listened to anything else. That whole album is amazing!! I kinda decided that I wanted to go to the concert on June 1st. But it looks like I am on a four-day training for Liseberg then. But I am not complaining.

Since I am not completely sure that I have the job at Liseberg I went to a job interview for home service today. It took more than an hour and it sounded really interesting. I think it could be a fun job for the summer. But Liseberg has always been a dream, so that’s my priority. The only thing home services wanted was a couple of references, so I need to get that first before they will offer me the job. The interviewer told me several times during that I seemed very nice and interesting and would do well there. That’s always fun to hear.

This morning I was in school with my partner writing on the report. I don’t like this part of the thesis. I love to write, but about stuff I like and with a “talking language”. Writing technical is so hard!!

 

The last thing I will write before I go to bed is that I am seriously thinking about a Master’s degree. Chalmers offers a program called Leadership and Learning which would make me a “civilingenjör” in Swedish (in English I think it is just called a Master of Science degree) and a high school teacher at the same time. The more I think about it the more I want to do it! And that also means that I can keep my apartment for two more years, which will give me a total of three years extra  queue time on boplats.se. With more than six years of queueing I will have to get a nice apartment in an area I want to live in! With three, like I have now, it is impossible to get anything. The housing situation in Gothenburg is the worst ever!!

I had a way too big dinner, and my 57kg is a lot more now. But my spaghetti with meatsauce was delicious, so it was worth it. But I have to remember to make smaller lunch boxes. I watched Game of Thrones while I ate and I was surprised there was no nudity at all in this episode. Weird!

Valborg

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It feels like a Sunday today and Monday tomorrow. I really don’t want to go to school but it is my last chance to study structural engineering in school so I have to be there. Even if the lecture starts at 8am and there are no trams going to school. The bridge by the stop is being renovated so no trams or buses go to school until Monday, and no car traffic can go there from now and until December. Crazy!

I am glad tomorrow isn’t a Monday though, but a Friday. This time of the year we have so many different holidays. Like today was ay 1st and I am not sure exactly why we are off. I think it’s because today is the demonstration day. But that is so old school. I am not complaining though, May 1st is a good hangover day because yesterday was Valborg, one of the biggest party days in Sweden.

After two hours in school yesterday I had to do laundry for four hours. I was so tired after that that I took a two hour nap and met up with Chad and two of his friends to watch the Cortége. It was a blue sky but cold, almost two hours of watching 49 carriages was a little bit too much. But it was still nice.

We were in a hurry after that to get to Dzejna’s birthday dinner in Linné. No trams or buses were in service up on the mountain where Chalmers is, because of the parade, so we had to take a huge detour with several changes before we finally came to the restaurant. We were a big party so I actually didn’t have time to talk to the birthday girl, but I had a nice evening anyway.

Cortége 2014

Today I was a chauffeur and driving Chad around to different stores. Because of the demonstrations going on there were more or less no buses or trams in service so it was impossible to get around without a car. I bought a birthday gift to Linnea for the triple birthday party on Saturday. I hope she will like it.

Mom drove me home and on the way we did some grocery shopping. I made a chicken casserole I probably haven’t made in two years. But it still tasted the same as back then. It’s good to know that cooking is like riding a bicycle.

I probably should have been in bed already, but it is too hard when it is light out until like 9pm. And it is getting worse every day. I miss the 8pm sunsets in Cali.

 

Yesterday I got my Course Permission Codes for two of my four classes. I won’t need it for one of the other ones and the fourth is coming any day now hopefully. I will also get that money mom’s friend wanted to lend me tomorrow. That means I will apply for a room on campus in SLO. Yay!

Cortége beer tent

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The spring weather just goes on and on. Blue sky and sun all day, but it was windy today, which wasn’t too much of a problem though since I’ve been inside all day…

At 8 this morning I was in school and finished the Excel file for the thesis. We emailed it to Veidekke and is now waiting for their response. Tomorrow we have a meeting with our supervisor at Chalmers about the content in our report. So from now on it is 100% writing.

While I was in the computer room working I got a phone call from Akademisk Omtanke which is a company in Sweden who provide childcare services from part time nannies to homework help. I applied this weekend and got a phone interview today. It was just for five minutes and I think I did okay. It might not be to my advantage that I will be going to California in four months. But I hope I have the right requirements to become a part time nanny for the summer. I miss kids, and especially my sweet hostkids…

I also got an email from mom telling me that one of her friends offered to lend me some money so I can pay rent (both in Sweden and the US), flight tickets, visa and stuff like that. I can’t express my gratitude, it is so extremely kind of him!!

I had lunch outside by the pond outside of the V-department and it wasn’t too cold with a hoodie on. After lunch I had 45minutes of class and almost fell asleep during it so I actually got home after that and skipped the last part where we solve problems on our own. I took a three hour nap and was up and running lagom for a nice night in the beer tent on campus. During the ten days of building Cortége there is a big beer tent right in the middle of campus. They serve grilled food and drinks. I was disappointed the ciders were out after a while and I could only have one. After that I actually had a beer. It was okay in the beginning, but then it was just too much.

I was there with Chad and Koit, ate a baked potato with feta/sun dried tomato sauce and had a great time!

Tomorrow I can have a sleep in until 11am, I really look forward to it!!

Back in school

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It was almost two years ago I was at a lecture. Time flies! I didn’t recognize much of what the teacher said but I think I will get into it after a while. I remember being this confused the first week of all my classes I’ve had so far.

After two hours I went home to mom so I wouldn’t have had to go all the way to my apartment just to go back a little later to the gym. 30 minutes of spinning and 30 minutes of CXWORX. I met two friends there who were also going to spinning and one of them were also going to the second class. Nice with some company!

When I came home it was time for some laundry. A machine used to be done after like 50 minutes, but now they take more than an hour and that doesn’t give me enough time to finish it all in three hours. I hope we are allowed to use the dryer.

I did some shopping, bought soup and yoghurt for the next few days. Tomorrow at 8am the teeth are being pulled! Now, I am extremely tired for some reason. So I will actually go to bed now.Goodnight!

Birthday party in Sjövik

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My day started with som studying actually. I am almost done with that stupid library online course. I still haven’t read through all of the papers Veidekke sent me about old environmental impact data. Maybe tomorrow.

At 2pm my dad’s girlfriend’s son picked me up and together with his girlfriend we drove out to Sjövik where dad and Karin lives. There we had chili for dinner and then pies for dessert. The chili was amazing! And so was the apple pie with marzipan too. I love birthday parties :). Anyway, the birthday boy was Karin’s middle son who turned 22.

It was a nice Sunday afternoon and now I am really tired. I don’t know why I am still awake… Go to bed, stupid!