WSP Management in Budapest day 3

Posted on Monday, November 13th 2017, 23:15 by Alexandra

The first thing I was greeted by when walking through the door at home, was Ramses of course. He always comes running to say hello when the door is opened. The second thing I was greeted by was Cleo sticking his head out the bedroom door hissing at me. I think I might have been gone for too long for Cleo’s liking. Then he got almost aggressive when he smelled me. Weird cat.

It has been another long day. All flight trips with a layover takes so much longer and is so exhausting. On the first flight from Budapest to Munich, I slept all the way through, even through the big turbulens that apparently happened. On the second though, I had a hard time falling asleep, even if I listened to my classical piano music list. Perhaps it was because all the rows in the back were occupied by WSP. I used the last 30 minutes to a little bit of writing. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?

In the morning today we had free time. It was spent shopping. I bought a very nice notebook at a Christmas fair, a refrigerator magnet and a pair of shoes. That was not the plan, but they kind of matched my scarf and I felt like I needed another pair of better quality shoes.

My calves are rock hard and hurt a lot! So many steps, only walking for three days. It will be great with four days of sitting in front of a computer working again, resting my legs a bit. My feet don’t hurt, but my calves.

It has been a great conference and many interesting discussions in the morning at the hotel. Many interesting things to see in Budapest, many fun things happened. But it has been tough. I really need my sleep and when I don’t get it, I quiet. I hope I haven’t seemed too boring because of it. Because I have had a great time and it was fun to get to know my coworkers outside of work.

Pictures are coming, not tonight, but my goal is to get them uploaded tomorrow afternoon/evening. Ägg-i-skägg-i-rää and goodnight!

26

Posted on Wednesday, April 12th 2017, 0:34 by Alexandra

Back in Sweden after a very long week. But it still was over so fast. I am now older than when I left (which I could have said even if it wasn’t my birthday today, but it is a cliché, and sometimes clichés are fun), but I don’t feel too much different.

The day started with a nice surprise at breakfast at the hotel in Rome. The personnel gave me a pastry with a candle in it and wished me a happy birthday! That was so sweet of them. The green juice is green apple juice, really tasty.

We packed, and then drove out to the beach in Ostia, we just picked the closest one, Mamma Mia Beach. It was not as warm today, only around 19C, and a bit windy, so no swimming in the ocean for me. But I felt the water, it was cold (it wouldn’t have been impossible to go in, but I preferred to sit in the warm sand and enjoying the sun rather than shivering in the wind). We were there for about 45 minutes and then we had to leave for the airport which was only 15 minutes away. We had lunch, did a little shopping, boarded the plane and flew home to cold Gothenburg.

It is nice to be home, but I miss the sun and the warmth. You would think that it would be warmer than 6C here now in April…

Mom picked us up at the airport, drove us home and we went shopping. Late dinner in front of the movie Trolls, consisting of entrecote, potato gratin and pepper sauce. No cake for dessert since they didn’t have any at the store, but some Easter candy and a Budapest pastry.

It honestly didn’t really feel like my birthday today, but it really hasn’t the past few ones either. Downsides of getting older, eh?

Back home in Sweden

Posted on Sunday, June 21st 2015, 18:17 by Alexandra

This weekend has been so long and really hard. I have stayed awake for a very long time and the only thing I can think about is going to sleep. But I have told myself that I can’t go to bed before 9pm because that will mess me up. I have been awake for 29 hours (6pm Swedish time) now, with only 90 minutes of half-sleep on the plane. And before that I only slept for 4 hours and the day before, Friday, was a very active day with scuba diving, and I was up for 18 hours. So far it’s been 47 hours with 5 hours of rest. Ugh. Not my favorite way to spend a weekend.

The flights went okay, On the second one, the long one from Chicago to Berlin, I got a window seat at the very back of the plane which was the best. I tried to sleep but couldn’t. So I tried and succeeded after watching two movies; The Hobbit 3 and American Sniper. Both really good. That flight was amazing in another way too. They gave each and every one of us a goodie bag with socks in I, a brush, toothbrush, earplugs, blindfold. Everything to make the trip better. Since I was traveling with flip flops the socks were especially welcome.

The food wasn’t good and I’ve felt it in my stomach all day, nauseous, ugh!

After the 18 hours I finally landed in Gothenburg. Lots of mixed feelings. When I get there I realize my third bag is nog here. So I went to the baggage lady and she helped me locate it. Apparently it got stuck in San Diego which is rather strange. But she said it would land in Gothenburg late tonight and they would taxi it out to me tomorrow sometime. Can’t wait for that bag, I have so many things in there.

I hugged my mom and we went home. It felt so weird to be back in Sweden. It kinda already feels like it was a dream again. I have tried to unpack, but with this sleep-depriveness it’s been really hard. I just managed to finish unpacking my one suitcase and carry-on. The boxes will have to wait until another day when I feel ready for it.

I apologize for the probably not very well-written post today. I am literally sitting here by my desk and can’t keep my eyes open and nod every now and then. I don’t think I have ever been this tired before. It has probably affected my speech today, I have mixed Swedish and English words everywhere and mom has laughed at me.

I feel like a zombie right now, so I think I will actually go to bed now, I can’t do this anymore. 29 hours of no real sleep is not very fun!

Last couple of days in SF

Posted on Wednesday, March 25th 2015, 23:53 by Alexandra

This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

It was harder than I anticipated to update my blog while couchsurfing, even with a good wifi. I will try to remember what we did all the days.

MONDAY

Monday started in a very good way with breakfast in the sun with a view over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a perfect start of the day. Right after that we took an uber to the Cable Car museum and I was surprised at what I learned there. It is not just a museum, but the place which runs the whole cable car system. I don’t know why I thought it was called a “cable car”, but clearly the logic didn’t hit me. So under the city there are cables pulling the cable cars and they are being powered in this cable car museum. Pretty cool!

The rest of the day we went shopping at Union Square. I didn’t buy much, but necessary thing. We went to Nordstrom Rack for the first time ever and I bought two pair of underwear and a bra. I also bought a pair of jeans at Gap. They fit like a glove and I didn’t even need to think about it. They were perfect!

In the evening Julianne and three other girls from SLO came into the city from north and we had dinner together close to where Helena and I was staying. We had crepes and it was so good. I have been so unhealthy in San Francisco and that needs to stop now! My stomach’s been hurting real bad.

We saw the bridge every single day! There was a big group of surfers in the bay, but no waves so they just paddled back and forth. Here are the cables that run the whole SF cable car system. We walked through Chinatown.

TUESDAY

Yesterday morning Helena, Patrick and I went for brunch and then to Sutro Baths. In the late 19^th century it was the world’s biggest private indoor swimming pool but it was too expensive to run, it was closed and while being demolished in 1966 an arsonist burned it to the ground. Now there are only some concrete walls left. It was a cool spot.

Then we drove (luxury not to be limited to ubers, but have a driver) to Castro District and walked around there for a bit. Went through Mission Dolores Park and sat down for a fika. Oh, right, the Castro is the gay district in San Francisco.

Patrick then dropped us off at Jacob’s place and we said goodbye. Helena and I were craving sushi and found a place with good ratings on Yelp called Akiko. We went there and it was the tiniest place ever, but we came before everyone else and managed to get a spot by the “bar”. We ordered so much sushi and it was so delicious! I love sushi.

It was still early when we got out, so we found a bar and sat there until midnight. I had four drinks and I haven’t had that much to drink since beginning of January. I was pretty buzzed, haha! We went to a bar called Sugar Café and I really liked it. The bartenders didn’t check our ID’s and we had tabs and I felt so like a grown up!

On our way home we stopped for pizza slices and then took an uberpool back. I think the driver and the guy with us thought we were crazy Europeans for getting drunk on a Tuesday, haha! They were laughing the whole ride. It was the most fun uber ride I have had so far.

Castro District. Limited edition gay Absolut Vodka. Mission Dolores Park was full of hippies of all kinds. It was a weird place. Pretty view over SF.Helena at Sugar Cafe.

WEDNESDAY

Today we didn’t do much more than getting breakfast and then started the long traveling down to San Diego. First we took an uber to the closest BART station, then took the BART to the airport where we missed the first train going around the terminals and I almost got cut in half by the doors, then flew down to San Diego, and then I had a long uber ride up to SLO.

I was excited to ride the BART for the first time. It is the subway-whatever system they have in SF and we have talked about it a lot in my classes at Cal Poly. It was okay, but very loud…

The flight was 1.5 hour long but very nice. The flight attendants were friendly and the pilot was funny sometimes. I saw SLO when we flew over it, that was cool.

It was hard finding an uber at the airport, but I finally got one, and he drove me to SDSU where I looked at an amazing apartment if I get an internship here in San Diego. It was a big room in an apartment and in the complex was a pool, a gym, a movie theatre and close to trolleys. It was the perfect place. Everything was included in the rent and it was only $840. Too good to be true! Let’s just hope I get the internship now :).

The uber driver waited for me and then drove me all the way up to San Diego. All of this for only $67. Super awesome!!

I got to the house at 8pm, hung out with the kids a little bit, but not too much since they still had homework to do.

I should really go to bed now if I am to get up at 5:30 so I will be down in Mission Beach at 7am for beach volleyball practice! What will one don’t do for love?! (love for beach volleyball)

Hello Jamaica

Posted on Saturday, December 27th 2014, 23:25 by Alexandra

I have arrived in Jamaica, been here for about 6 hours and so much have already happened. First I had to spend 6 hours going here, up to Orlando, FL and then back down again. Very unnecessary, but that’s what happened. The immigration at the airport took forever and then I tried to find a cab. While I was looking for a guy I saw someone with a paper and my name on it. Weird, I didn’t order a driver from the airport. But he had all my flight information and the place where I was staying so I tagged along. Just ten minutes later (after realizing that they drive on the left side here!) I was at the hotel. It is a beautiful place up on the hillside. Our room has an amazing view over the ocean and the sunset. The pool is very cute, and the room… yes, it is very very nice!

I was greeted by Michael when I got here, and straight when I had my things in the room we went to dinner at Margaritaville which was right next to the hotel. We watched the sunset from the upperfloor patio. It was a beautiful sunset. Right below, out in the water there are a lot of big floatie things you can play on, like a big trampoline. There are also free flyboarding over there. Where you stand on something and water spurts out at the bottom and you fly. We will probably try that tomorrow, as well as check out the Doc Cave’s beach right here.

Then back to the room and then out to hit a bar. On our way we ran into a guy, he seemed a little sketchy but at first turned out to be okay. That changed later during the evening though. We sat at a bar close by for like an hour, I had a cubalibre and the guys a couple of beer each. The beers Elvis drank we bought for him. Then on our way back he took us through a dark park (where there were a lot of people) and then he asked us for tips for his kids. We just bought him beer!? But we didn’t wanna do anything stupid so we gave him 1000 Jamaican Dollars (I exchanged 300 USD and got 28,000 Jamaican dollars, the bunt of money is huuge!). Damn hustler.

Everywhere we walked today we smelled weed. We saw people right in the middle of the street smoking. A guy asked us straight up if we wanted some hash too. It is definitely different here than any other place I have ever been. But so far I like it. It was around 84F when I got here, during the night it was really nice and warm, nothing else needed than shorts and a tank top (the jeans I packed where kinda unnecessary).

I look forward to our first day tomorrow when we will hang out at the beach, maybe do some souvenir shopping (there are a ton of shops on the “hip strip” right below us. Then we are renting a car in the evening so we can drive east of here the day after tomorrow.

An eventful short day and after today I realized that I will only stay at the “safe” beach of Doc’s Cave. Unless Michael decides to stay more than four days. I don’t really feel safe here if I were to be alone. But the Doc Beach is a safe beach where security guards are, and it is close, so I can go there.

I am excited to start this third and last adventure tomorrow!

View from our hotel room.

View from the patio. Sunset in Jamaica. Gecko.

Dominican Republic!!

Posted on Friday, December 12th 2014, 21:12 by Alexandra

I am here, I am in paradise! It is warm, there are palm trees everywhere, the beach is amazing, the water has an amazing color, and it just feels like paradise in the air. I have that stickiness all over my body but I love it! It is tropical heat.

It has been hella day tho. It started yesterday morning with the final, then the super excitement for what was coming. Until I (FOR ONCE) checked the flight status online and I saw to my horror that my flight from SLO was canceled due to the big storm. I almost started crying! After trying to find a ride to San Francisco where my next flight was and without success I called United Airlines and they managed to get me on a flight ten minutes earlier than the one I was supposed to. And I flew to LA instead of SF, then to Washington DC and on the same plane I was originally going on. I didn’t lose any time at all here on Dominican Republic and that was a huge relief. I went with Matt to Avila where we had a glass of wine, while watching the extreme waves. That also made me very happy. Too bad that 1.5 hours can go by that fast. But it makes sense, because I really enjoy spending time with him and when you have fun, time flies.

I packed after he dropped me off at home, but I forgot my computer charger which I realized on the flight from LA to DC. And fortunately (even with the 30 minutes delay) I had two hours at the DC airport and could buy a charger. I had to go to another terminal with a shuttle, but I still made it to my flight.

The first flight, from SLO to LA was the worst flight I’ve ever been on. First of all, it was a propeller plane so it made a ton of noise, and second, because of that storm it was very bumpy. I am normally not afraid when I am flying because I do it so often, but I actually was this time. A lot of G-forces were applied to my poor stomach as well, so for me it was like sitting on a scary medium rollercoaster for an hour and I have to say that I felt really sick after that.

The second flight was okay, I “slept” most of the 5 hours. Except me sleeping on a plane isn’t really sleeping because I wake up every time my head falls down, or because of noise or whatever. It was still nice to get some sleep.

The third flight was just weird, I was tired, so I couldn’t read, but I couldn’t sleep either. It was annoying. Luckily it was only 3 hours long.

And then I was here. And of course I forgot the $10 for the tourist visa so I had to go through a lot of work when I tried to exchange money and had to go through backways and stuff. First I had to withdraw Dominican Pesos. $300 = 11 000 Pesos, my wallet is so thick right now! And then I had to take 500 from that and exchange to $10 so I could pay for my tourist visa. I got a new stamp by the way, now I have three.

I took a cab to the hostel, which isn’t a hostel. It is an apartment in a residential area, and the woman living there made a room into a hostel dorm. On the website it said there were several different rooms, both privates and doubles and 6 beds. And it doesn’t look at all like the pictures. I am disappointed. It got even worse when I tried to talk to the receptionist (the woman who lives here and doesn’t speak a word English). Why have a hostel operation when you can’t speak with the guests?

I stayed in my room for a bit while my phone charged. Then I started walking to the beach (50 minutes away instead of 10 like it said on the website). On the way a bus stopped next to me and asked me where I was going. Adventurous as I am, I jumped on and told him Playa el Cortecito. The two guys on the bus were really nice and gave me their number if I ever needed a ride or anything. That’s the second guy since I arrived who were overly nice to me. The first guy was the guy who took my payment for the visa. He desperately wanted to meet up later. That was awkward so I just left.

Anyway, I came to the beach, and it was very pretty. Much more seaweed than what Google shows, but it was still amazing. It was pretty windy and big waves (not California big, but big enough for a red flag), the sand was white and very fine. Pink in some places even. I walked a long while on it in both directions. I felt a little bit out of place when everyone else was holding hands with their significant other, but I still enjoyed it very much. It was very much too bad that the sun didn’t set in the ocean, but behind the island. That means I will have to be up early to catch as much sun as possible the rest of the week I am staying here.

Then there was another guy who hung out or worked (I don’t know to be honest) at a cute restaurant, so I stayed there for dinner. A French-speaking guy from Canada also joined and it was an okay evening until the Haiti-guy started almost screaming at the other guy when they had a conversation about spirituality and whatever it was. I didn’t wanna be rude and just leave, so I sat there and was freezing my butt off (even if it was probably 75F, the wind and my sleep deprivation made me cold). But eventually I couldn’t listen to that conversation so I stood up and then the Canadian did that too. We shared a private taxi home and it was ridiculously overpriced, 2000 pesos is what I paid from the airport to the hostel. Stupid native people who try to scam tourists…

When I came back to the hostel I realized what kind of place this was and started to feel uncomfortable. I don’t wanna go through a lot of trouble just to go to the beach when this week is about just relaxing and calming down after dead week and finals week. So I asked the receptionist with google translate if I could get a refund if I checked out tomorrow. She said yes, but that we would have to deal with it tomorrow morning. Great! Instead, I booked an all-inclusive resort right by the most beautiful part of the beach (not where I was today). It will be $800 more, but it will be so much more worth it. I was expecting to have the normal hostel experience with a lot of international young people. Instead I am alone here with a middle age Dominican who I can’t even talk to. No, this was totally worth it! I can’t wait to go there tomorrow morning.

What else happened today? Probably not much. I am very tired and have a headache. Not enough water. But I haven’t seen any stores where I can buy, and the tap water here is apparently a big no no. I am not even supposed to rinse my toothbrush in that water. At the hotel I will have complementary water bottles in my 47 square meter room (that is slightly bigger than my apartment in Sweden!). I am so excited for tomorrow!!

A small part of Punta Cana. Playa el Cortecito. Playa el Cortecito. Sunset behind the tall palm trees. The blue nail polish did look good in the white sand. Onno, the beach front restaurant where I had dinner.