Tag Archives: job searching

Career Fair

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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.

The past couple of days have been very interesting. Last night I went to the career fair for architects/planners/project managers/and whatever. I had looked up a few companies beforehand and talked to a lot of them. I was nicely dressed in Rachel’s clothes and felt more professional than I ever have. I think I did pretty well actually. There were especially two companies I was very interested in, both in North County San Diego and they both offered internship which then could turn into a fulltime job. Project Engineer Intern was the title and I was gonna help on construction sites and stuff like that. What I have done before pretty much. I am gonna email them both tomorrow and tell them I will be going down to San Diego again in the end of March. One of the companies specifically told me to come down and visit the office to say hi to people and go out and see some construction sites. I have a good feeling about this! I am very excited about this and hope I will get an internship for the next 9 months.

I talked to more companies and will apply for more internships than just these two, but those are the most interesting to me.

Today I talked to the visa specialist at the International Center and I got a lot of information there too. I learned last night that there is something called Visa Sponsorship (which basically just is when a company wants to hire you and give you an H-1 visa), and I asked this lady about the specifics about all of this. I have this 2-year rule that says that I have to be home in Sweden for the next two years after this visa expires. There is a way to waiver that thing. Which I would have to do before applying for the H-1 visa. And you can only apply for that once a year, April 1st, and that is way too soon for me. If some miracle happened I guess it could happen (I am gonna email an immigrant attorney tomorrow and ask about this). So I guess I have to wait for that until next year, but I can’t start working until October 1st, so that means I would have to go home to Sweden in March and then stay there until October. I wonder if a company would still want me if that would happen. I guess I will have to do a really good internship and hope for the best.

So for now my only option is to do an internship. It doesn’t sound too bad to be honest. It would be nice to spend next summer at home, working at Liseberg, living with mom again (because I guess I would have to give up my apartment pretty soon).

But one thing at a time, first I need to get an internship. Cross your fingers for me! 🙂

 

This morning I actually had an interview with another company, it went okay I would say. It wasn’t with one of the two companies that I really want though. This was the first trip I made to campus.

My second trip to campus today was to talk to the International Center (but no one was there at 3pm) and then discuss my B12 deficiency with a doctor at the Health Center. I explained my situation, that my first doctor in Sweden told me this is something that will never go away and that I will need injections for the rest of my life. The other doctor said I didn’t have a deficiency. So I will do all the test once again to determine what is going on. I will have to do that on Monday morning though, one of them was a test that needed to be done while fasting. Three tests in total, $50, but it will be worth it. If it turns out to be what the first doctor said and I will need injections every month for the rest of my life, the pharmacy will order a 25 pack of those doses just for me. $60 for that is not too bad. I think 5 doses in Sweden was like $10. They are also gonna teach me how to take them myself so I don’t have to go to a clinic every month.

My third visit to campus was at 6:30pm when I joined an intramural indoor volleyball team for their practice. One of my neighbors invited me and it was really fun. Not nearly as fun as beach volleyball, but definitely a good way to spend a Friday evening if nothing better is offered. Not as much ball contact as in beach volleyball, and I didn’t really get exhausted from the workout, but I still enjoyed it and might go next week to. Maybe I should even join a team myself next quarter? Unless they have intramural beach volleyball in the spring quarter which I have heard rumors about.

When I came home I took a shower, baked some cornbread and now I will take that cornbread with me to bed and watch the latest episode of The Flash and then pass out.

Career Fair outfit I had my hair down at the career fair, I felt pretty. It is kinda unbelievable that I am graduating in four months. I will have a Bachelor of Science in four months!! Crazy!Indoor vball German midterm 1My German midterm, these are the only marks I had on the test, and there were two more pages. Go me! (why not post random pictures when I have 13GB on this website to fill?)

Double A’s

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All this late night studying has finally started to pay off. Two days ago I got the result on my Urban Planning midterm and I got a 90%, which equals an A-. I am happy!! And today I got my German midterm back and I got an A! My name was torn off the paper and the professor told me it was because he showed it to another professor. Does that mean that my midterm was a really really good one? Maybe even best in class? Only two or three marks on the whole test and I am very very proud of myself. All the hard work I’ve put into school the last three weeks have really paid off.

And the German class in general was so fun today, I laughed all the time! We are starting to have conversations and actually talking in class now and it was just great. I love that class!!

Another cool thing that happened today was that I got the videos of all the 8 games of beach volleyball we played on Monday evening. Here is a link to them if anyone feels like watching. I played with Chris and against Wes and Cathleen. It was such a fun night.

What else happened today? Pretty much just studying, today before class as well as after. When will this ever end? I miss sleep…

Last night I was at the library until midnight. But after tomorrow the weekend will be here and I can’t wait!! Tomorrow will be a long day though. Doctor’s appointment at 9, then two hours to kill (maybe nap in the library?), presentation practice at 11, class at noon all the way until 6pm. And right after that there is a career fair for architects/urban planners and all the others in that area. I haven’t had time to research the companies yet, I will do that tomorrow on my two hour break I guess. I borrowed some nice clothes from Rachel and I hope I will get at least a few companies attention. If it is even possible with an internship at private companies. We will see. I also reached out to all the cities down in San Diego County and asked for internships. Please cross your fingers that I will get something down there! That would be a dream come true!

Extension of my visa

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I thought it was time to write something again. I have several reasons why it’s been empty here for the past week, the main one is that I’ve been going through a breakup and it’s still pretty rough for me. But I am getting there. The school has also been drowning me in midterms, reports, reading, quizzes. It’s been really bad. But the week is over, I got a little more energy today after finding out a lot about my visa and how I might continue to stay in California.

The day started with me talking to my Urban Planning professor about internships. He told me he would help me reach out to people at the different cities around here. He will also help me with my resume and cover letter. So very nice of him! I am gonna send it to him as soon as it is done and he will give it back with feedback on improvements and then send it out sometime next week or week after. I can’t believe a professor would do that for a student. I am grateful.

My next stop of the day was at the International Center to ask questions about the internship. The professor told me that I can do the internship even without the class, and if I want the credit anyway (I don’t need it, but why not?!), he would help me work it out so I can do individual work on the side. Since the “weekly meeting” for the Planning Internship class is colliding with another class, this was great news. So I don’t have to worry about that class. So if I feel like getting credits I can do it on my own. This school is so flexible! I will get the schedule I wanted for next quarter. I will have no class on Fridays which opens up a whole day for the internship. Yay! But I wanted to make sure that this worked with my visa. And apparently it does with the J-1 (not F-1 though). Double yay! So, I can get an internship, and I can even get paid. The hard part about that was that I would have to get a SSN, but I already have that, easy peasy then! I actually don’t have to do anything in this process except for finding the internship. Another awesome (maybe sad for my mom) thing that I found out today is that I can extend my DS-2019 for up to 9 months to do “academic training” as long as it is within my major. So it is not technically my visa that will be renewed. It is my DS-2019 where it says what I am doing here, and for how long I will do it. But if I leave the country during that time I would have to go to the American Embassy in Stockholm to renew my visa. But I am considering going home in June for two weeks, see my mom again and then go back to start the internship. Or if I start the internship now during school and just take a vacation and continue when I get back. It would be nice to go home for a bit.

But I am super stoked about this opportunity that I just learned about. The International Center also told me that there is a way of waiving the exchange visitor (J-1) 2-year home-country physical presence requirement. I am not completely sure how, but this website explains it. And I am sure the city of SLO (or wherever I end up) knows how to so I don’t have to stay in Sweden for the next two years when I am done here on this visa. And if I am staying, then I have a cheap car I can buy down in San Diego from one of my au pair friends who is leaving in June. Everything is getting better. Almost everything.

When I came home I was so happy that I baked two loafs of banana bread. Rachel could smell it in the hallway and came into my room and told me I was queen for baking. That made me happy too.

A signed contract

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It’s official, I am an attraction operator at Liseberg! I am so excited about this job and I start in less than a week, I can’t wait!! Today was actually my first workday, three hours paid introduction evening. I was there one hour earlier to sign my contract and fill out some forms and get clothes, my card, name tags and locker. I guess I haven’t thought about how the people at Liseberg looks like in many many years because I was surprised when I saw the clothes I got. They were red instead of an ugly shade of purple/green like I remembered. Good!

At 4pm we were 8 girls and we did some group exercises and got lots of information. It was interesting and I ammore excited about the job now. I think I ended up in a very good department at Liseberg. I’ve met a few of my new co-workers, but I am in the pool (is it called that?), so I will be moving around and work where I am needed instead of being in the same area.

At 7pm we were done and I headed in to downtown to vote in the upcoming EU election. I don’t care about politics, but I don’t want one specific party in there so I voted for another.

Back home, had a skagentoast for dinner and then I studied for a couple of hours. I have now rewritten all the teoretic questions so they are understandable. Now I just have to read them through several times a day and start solving the problems and go through old tests. I don’t think I will pass it on Monday, but it will help me when I redo it for the fourth time in August. That time I will be serious about it!!

Liseberg Alexandra

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!

90 year birthday party

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!