Tag Archives: Christmas

Christmas at Liseberg

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It is my workplace, yes, but it is a very pretty workplace and I don’t mind going there every now and then to enjoy it. Today I went there with Sofia, Marcus and Ville and Jesper. We didn’t stay for too long, but we saw everything and went on one ride, the ferris wheel, Lisebergshjulet. And this time we went in the VIP gondola. Three years of working at Liseberg and I still hadn’t been in that gondola. It was fancy. Leather seats, glass floor, tinted windows and a screen (not sure what it is for). It was nice!

We did a little bit of shopping, found one last Christmas gift, bought a couple of board games for us (we still don’t have any and I don’t think we are proper adults until we do, so now we do!), we also bought two big chocolate balls with special flavors. I also bought a very very nice scarf. It was made by South American women from (I think) Alpaca wool. Super soft. And the blue color was amazing! I will feel even more adult in that one compared to my old one. No marzipan pig from Bräutigams today, didn’t really feel like it today. I might change my mind and get one after work one day, I wouldn’t be surprised, hehe.

img_20161219_160918 img_20161219_162152 Fake snow is the only snow we get here in Gothenburg nowadays,img_20161219_162314 Santa’s workshop.img_20161219_163521 img_20161219_163828 img_20161219_163900 img_20161219_164137 pano_20161219_164144img_20161219_164322 img_20161219_164329 img_20161219_164924 img_20161219_165050 img_20161219_165429 img_20161219_165442 img_20161219_165504 img_20161219_165533

Wedding, new apartment, Cleo and so on

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I think it is easier for me to just post pictures from the last month and let them talk for me. I don’t know why I don’t feel the urge to write anymore, it is kind of a bummer, but here is a small update since last I wrote. Many things have happend, for example we moved to a bigger apartment, we went to a wedding, we got a cat, I have worked at Christmas at Liseberg, there was snow one evening, we went to see the final Hunger Games movie, we watched all Star Wars movies to prepare for Episode 7 which we will see in four days, I was at Sofia’s kid’s namegiving ceremony, and I have drowned in school work. That is some of the things that happened. And also, we spontaneously booked a one week long trip to Dubai in January after my finals! We both really need it, me after a hectic semester in grad school and he needs to take some time off from his security guard job.Snapchat-3531780390756977846Snapchat-259527005693573995Spotify_yim_sv-SE_4w99ue This is surprising. How can One DIrection be the band I listened to most this year?? I don’t understand! Fall Out Boy is more suprising now that I think about it…Spotify_yim_sv-SE_eBXdbQ 42 thousand minutes of listening to music this year.20151126_114720 Chip.20151126_114732 Stuff.20151128_132827 Jesper and I before his dad’s wedding.20151128_143541 Jesper’s dad and his new wife Roxanna.20151128_170403Jesper’s super adorable baby brother with a vest and a tie.20151128_172224 Roxanna is half Iranian so there was a traditional Iranian wedding ceremony after the church. 20151130_180959 New shoes that can handle the Swedish winter (=rain and sometimes slippery ice).20151205_172254 On the 8th of December we left this apartment that has been mine since the summer of 2011.20151206_195548 Christmas at Liseberg is pretty with the fake snow and all the lights. But it is cold to work outside in the just-above-freezing weather. I got rid of a lot of work shifts to focus on school which was needed. So far I have two courses done, and I got a 4 out of 5 in both of them. Not too bad. But I have to admit that grad school is much harder than undergrad. I am so stressed and with tough classes this quarter, work, and the move, it has not been an easy month. Now I have only one more report to submit in 4 days. I should be able to finish it tomorrow so I can go up to my cousins on Saturday to celebrate Christmas and work on Sunday and Monday.20151209_001117

The move and this little cute furball. Her name is Cleopatra, but we call her Cleo. She is the sweetest, cuddliest, kitten ever (I think it has been too long since Chip and Stuff were kittens so I don’t remember correctly, but this one is more energetic and cuddly at the same time). She was born on September 7th this year and we drove out to Trollhättan the day we moved in to our new apartment to pick her up. The first few days she was extremely talkative, we are guessing since she was insecure and felt scared, because now she doesn’t talk at all almost. We noticed right away that something wasn’t right with our new little family member so three days after we got her we brought her to the vet for vaccination and to chip-mark her. It turned out that she has scabies in her ears (really bad), and since none of our cats had it before. We noticed that her ears were black, but didn’t think too much about it. So twice a day until her next vaccination on January 8th, we have to clean her ears. I feel like it was really bad of the previous owner to sell us a cat with scabies, but we have loved her from the moment we picked her up and gladly help her get better. She acts normal though, runs around like a normal kitten should, and according to the vet she is perfectly healthy, except for the scabies. It already is a lot better and I hope it will all go away soon so Cleo won’t hate us every morning and evening when we thoroughly clean her ears while firmly holding her, she is not a big fan of that. In the evenings (when we let her if she is not too annoying and playful) she sleeps between us, it is super cozy! Eventually we will probably get her a friend and a big climbing tree (our living room is huge, I will post pictures next time I update my blog so you will see our nice apartment. However, we are gonna replace a lot of furniture eventually).

20151208_231729 20151208_231827 This is what the living room looked like before we put everything to where it should be.20151209_010539 Coziest cat and boyfriend ever!20151209_182044 She loves to climb and my back is all scratched up because of it, haha!20151209_225301 20151210_150016 20151210_145805 20151210_160652 20151210_175104 20151213_174910 20151213_161006 Four days ago I went up to Trollhättan again to go to my second cousin’s baby’s namegiving ceremony. Lots of cookies and cakes were offered and the cute baby finally officially got his name, Ville.20151212_112029 Waking up like this is not too bad!20151213_233110 Cleo playing with our tiny Christmas tree.20151213_233645 20151214_182355 Cat selfie!20151215_185138 The Christmas gift I got from Liseberg, 1.6kg of expensive Chocolate.20151215_170132 She loves to walk around on the keyboard, annoying when I am trying to study.20151216_120751 We have a washing machine and dryer in our apartment which is the best ever! Cleo enjoyed it too, cutie!20151216_215746 Last night we were baking Christmas sweets. Lussekatter, Mozartkulor and Knäck. The knäck didn’t turn out firm enough, but it was still very good!20151216_234950 Lussekatter!!20151217_193412Studying when she is sleeping in the lap is not too bad.

Flamenco Beach

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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.

Wow, this day has been incredible in many ways. Flamenco Beach definitely lived up to its expectations. It’s not google beautiful, since all the pictures there shows a beach cleaned from seaweed, but it was still amazingly beautiful, the sand was fine and white. The water had the amazing turquoise color of the Caribbean sea. Just perfect!

IMG_20141225_125657 IMG_20141225_124932DCIM100GOPROGOPR0417.

This Christmas Day started with a bus trip to Fajardo from San Juan. It took about an hour. We checked in and then went aboard the boat. It was a speed catamaran boat, which made the whole trip not as enjoyable as if it would have been a sailing catamaran. I thought it would be nice to go there earlier anyway, but I soon regretted that thought. The 50 minutes it took to get to our first stop was horrible! Just horrible. I don’t know when this happened, when my stomach can’t handle motion anymore. It was very very bumpy because we went against the big waves. And I got really nauseous. Eventually my throat got tighter and I really had to throw up. The nice guys leading the trip gave me a bucket and a piece of napkin with some alcohol on it to smell. After my gagging (but nothing came up fortunately), I smelled that paper for a while and I was fine again. That was not fun.

Our first stop was by a snorkeling spot. We were told it was the Caribbean’s best spot and I believed it. It was pretty beautiful. But, nothing can ever compare to Egypt’s Red Sea. Lots of different colored “leaves”, brains, fingers, and all the other things. Fish also of course. I did not see too many, but that was probably because there were a lot of people in the water at the same time. Saw a few very pretty ones. No turtles though. Apparently they were on the other side of Culebra island where the current was too strong to swim in. I wasn’t disappointed, I have seen turtles. But it would be really cool to swim with them one time.

IMG_20141225_105100DCIM100GOPROGOPR0333. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0372. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0377. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0378. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0388. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0393. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0392.

Then there was a lunch buffet with a divine chicken salad and coleslaw. Free drinks as well. I didn’t go in the water again to snorkel because it was a bit windy and not too warm. Only 20 minutes later we were on our way to Flamenco Beach which was on another side of the island we snorkeled by. It was breathtaking when we came up to it, saw the beautiful water and white beach. Not too many palm trees, they grew more on DR, here it is something else. I think it is some kind of Acacia.

We had to swim to the beach from the boat, so no towels and nothing. I brought my snorkel and mask and my GoPro. It does not take as good pictures as my phone, but I didn’t wanna bring it. First I went to the two old tanks at the farthest end of the beach with a guy I met on the boat. He was from New York and was here with his cousins. The tanks were left there after Flamenco Beach was a US military testing beach or something. They had been painted though, pretty cool.

DCIM100GOPROGOPR0431. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0433. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0435. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0438.

When we came back to where we landed I just sat down where the water rolled in on the beautiful sand. Sat there for a while, filling up my bikini with sand, and then it was time to go. I was sad to go (and I dreaded the trip back to PR main island). The way back was better than the way there since we were going with the waves. It was almost pleasant.

DCIM100GOPROGOPR0427. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0451. DCIM100GOPROGOPR0450.

The bus trip back to San Juan was not fun. I was dropped off last, and because of heavy traffic it took more than two hours when it should have taken 50 minutes normally. And the AC was too cold and I was tired, not a nice ride.

Back at the hostel I took a shower (not nearly as warm as I would have wanted it – it made me miss DR), and then went with my new roomie Stephanie, to a Thai-Indian place a few blocks away from here. I had two appetizers and it was good, at least one of them.

Now I am extremely tired, I have sorted all my photos better in DropBox and tomorrow morning I will start uploading to Facebook. I have a few hours to kill before my last tour (and activity) here on Puerto Rico, a tour of Old San Juan and the fort. I can’t believe I am off to Jamaica after that. And I also can’t believe that I’ve been away from home for two weeks now and only have 10 more days before going back.

Another thing that I thought was really cool about today was all the iguanas I saw on the way to and from Fajardo. When I was driving myself, I didn’t have time to look closer to the trees on the side of the roads. But today I noticed that they were full of iguanas. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but I saw countless of iguanas in different trees. Really cool! There was also a guy next to the road with a goat on a leash. Totally casual.

 

In all, I can definitely recommend East Island Excursion’s Catamaran Trip to Culebra Island. The guys working there were so friendly and nice and helpful. One of them was from Nashville, Tennessee, but he moved to PR nine years ago. He is the fourth person I meet from TN, and three of the four look the same, tall and blonde. Maybe I should move there?

I need to go to bed now, I can’t keep my eyes open. All this sun, gupping on waves, drinks, has made me exhausted. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas Day! Mine couldn’t have been better (okay, I could have seen turtles and not get seasick, but those are minor problems)! Merry Christmas!

Feliz Navidad – Playa Mar Chiquita

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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.

This Christmas Eve was wonderful, exactly what I had had in mind when I booked this trip. Today was the last day I had the car, and I drove 40 minutes west to a beach called Mar Chiquita. It was like a lagoon, but with waves. For some reason the bottleneck still let waves through, and there were rocks in the water so not completely unsafe to go in the water. I actually only went in one time to snorkel for a bit, hoping to see a turtle or something cool. But just a few fish. The waves doesn’t feel too big when you are out there and look down. There was a guy I was talking to for like half an hour, and actually very nice and he kept an eye on me so I didn’t drown when I was in the water. He also took some photos of me (I know they are all the same, just different beaches, but I don’t care, I want proof that I was there) and asked me if I was a model. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve heard that lately. First time in the US was at the immigrant control when I landed in LA. The guy asked me what I was studying, when I answered civil engineering he just replied that he didn’t know that you could mix modeling and engineering. Anyway, he didn’t stop there, he also said something about my feet. He said they were very small and cute (I’ve lost count on how often I’ve heard that too, but for real, random guys can walk up to me when I am waiting for the bus or something and tell me I have cute feet). Even if he was forward like all the guys here, he did it in the right way and he was genuinely nice and fun to talk to. It was the same with the private driver I had on my first day on Dominican Republic.

I read some, more than halfway done with The Kill Order now. It’s taking longer time now because I do so much more than just hang out on the beach and read. But there’s nothing wrong with that. As soon as I am done with this one my goal for the whole vacation is reached, four books.

Then I also skyped with my family on mom’s side for a little more than ten minutes. It worked surprisingly well on a hidden beach on Puerto Rico. They accused me of having a green screen behind me to fake the blue sky, water, beach, and palm trees. Haha! It was nice seeing them and I kinda missed the whole Christmas thing then. I did have a great Christmas, but I was alone, with no food.

I got a little burned today, even if I put sunscreen on at least a couple of times. But as always I miss spots, and the worst part are my lower legs and lower back. But I have put a lot of aloe on it, so it should be all good tomorrow and I will be ready for my next adventure on this island. I am going on a catamaran trip to Culebra island tomorrow. I guess it will be similar to the one I took on Dominican Republic. But this will be better. This beach I am going to is ranked one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. And the snorkeling is supposed to be really nice there, and the weather is always great there. I am so excited!

What else happened today? Hmm, I returned the car, talked to my new roommate for a bit, took a shower, and then watched the last 8 episodes of the Swedish Christmas Calendar. Not the best on there is, but it was okay.

Now  I will pack for tomorrow, then read and fall asleep. Maybe put on some more aloe before that. Goodnight and Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you had/will have a wonderful Christmas!

Playa Mar Chiquita Playa Mar Chiquita Playa Mar Chiquita Playa Mar Chiquita Playa Mar Chiquita Playa Mar Chiquita Merry Christmas Merry ChristmasPlaya Mar Chiquita

Quarter #1 is over

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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.

I just finished my third final and I feel so free! I love this feeling. The test today went okay, I think it is a pass. I know that I’ve had a lot of difficulties with the Byzantine time period, when Christianity became big in the world and all the churches and basilicas and whatever were built, so I probably messed up on all of those questions. I just can’t see the difference of those churches. But except for that I felt that I had studied a lagom amount of time and recognized everything on the test. The Asian names where difficult tho and I mixed them all up.

The test last night went okay too I guess. I didn’t really try since I already had passed the class, this test would just lower my A to a C worst case scenario. But I answered a lot of questions, skipped a lot. But I think if I get a C on this test, then I will still get an A in the rest of the class.

I am still waiting for my result for the extra credit assignment, but I am not worried about that class anymore. And I don’t have to worry about classes next quarter either. Today I got an email telling me that I got one of the classes I was waitlisted for (Introduction to Urban Planning). Yay! I am not dropping Introduction to Environmental Engineering until I know for sure if I can take Public Transportation (which has Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering as a prerequisite). I guess I could take 16 units (4 classes) next quarter, and take another environmental engineering class in the spring quarter, but I don’t know if it is worth it.

Why am I writing about this? I don’t wanna think of school at all right now, and for the next three weeks. (except for reviewing some German to be prepared for next quarter)

 

After my final last night (which by the way, was the Sustainable Environments) my roommates picked me up and we went to Olive Garden to have one last dinner together. I have to admit that the food I got wasn’t that good. Or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for eating that late. But it was a nice dinner nonetheless.

When we came home we had a little Christmas and opened gifts. I got suitcase tags from Rachel, a Jamba Juice giftcard from Lauren and a photoframe from Kelsey. In there are four different pictures of us, and when I saw it I started crying. I think I realized at that point that Kelsey is actually leaving. She also wrote me a super sweet card. I am gonna miss her so much!!

After that I walked around in the building handing out Christmas cards and they were all very appreciated. We hung out in our apartment for a while and I started studying at 1:30am. Fell asleep at 3 am, got up at 6 to sit through three hours of presentations in Transportation Engineering. It wasn’t too bad, I studied for the final and listened to the most fun ones. Some of the videos made were very funny!

Now I am planning on doing nothing until 2:30pm when Matt is picking me up :).

And at 8:35pm tonight the plane takes off and I will be on my way to Dominican Republic!! I can’t wait!!! I am planning on updating my blog as often as I can. I won’t have too much to do during the evenings, so if I have access to Internet then maybe even every day. So excited I can’t even!

Roommate date Mani-pedi This color will look great in the sand tomorrow :). It’s stupid how much prettier a manicure and pedicure can make you feel.I survived!I survived the two hell weeks! Basketball gameKelsey and I at the basketball game last weekend.