Friday on a Monday

Posted on Monday, 2 June 2014, 23:53 by Alexandra

This is a really weird feeling. Today is my Friday, my last day of work before two days off. This will be a very unusual summer. But I am not complaining, not at all. I love my job and it gets better and better every day. I didn’t get a new attraction today and could work on my own the whole day. I was mostly at AtmosFear but also a couple of hours at Höjdskräcken and Lisebergshjulet. A Monday on Lisebergis the nices thing ever (until all the kids get out of school in a week or two). So few people the park was practically dead. The weather was amazing and I so wished I was there in my freetime. It was the perfect Liseberg day! Sunny, with some clouds, lagom warm and no people. Not even Helix had a particuarly long line (I was told, I still haven’t gone on it. I could go on it on a break if I wanted to, but I want to wait).

I decided today that I want to go to Liseberg in my freetime pretty soon. So I got my employee tickets and asked Chad if he wanted to join me on Wednesday after our presentation at Veidekke. I’m not gonna have time to go on Helix by myself before so he will have to deal with me freaking out. I think I should buy motion sickness pills before that. Just in case. It will be so weird going on the attractions that I work on normally, and where my friends will be working. I am really excited about it. It will be my reward for almost being done with the thesis!

When I got home I sat down and watched the latest Game of Thrones episode while eating candy. I really felt like I deserved that after 6 long days of work. I was actually very grossed out at the end of the episode and had to look away. I didn’t remember that happen in the book, not exactly like that anyway. Ew, it was gross! I am sad that it is only two more episodes of the season… It would have been okay if George R.R. Martin would release the sixth book in the series. But that will most likely take many more years…

This morning was spent in school, first working a bit on the thesis presentation we are gonna hold tomorrow, and then we listened to a couple of other thesis presentations. We didn’t have time for more, I needed to go to work. It seriously only takes 20 minutes to walk from Chalmers to the backside of Liseberg.

The presentation isn’t until 2pm tomorrow so we will have the whole morning to prepare. That’s why I don’t do anything tonight. I am not nervous about tomorrow, we know what we have done and it can’t be a disaster unless it comes from someone else. I am confident.

5th day of work

Posted on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 21:47 by Alexandra

My 5th day at Liseberg is over and I am still in love with it. I love working with people so this is really perfect for me. Of course there are annoying people and some scary and angry people too, but I haven’t met them yet. Not the angry ones at least! But annoying, the “Guldpass” kids who think they are soooo coool but really aren’t. I can tell that people appreciate what I am doing for them, and that is such a good feeling! For example when you say something funny when the guests are at the top of AtmosFear and are laughing and giving my high fives or thumbs up when they are down. It’s amazing!

Today there was a young guy, maybe 17, who threw kisses at me when I was in the booth pressing buttons on AtmosFear. He waved all the time too and smiled and just being silly. Yesterday though there was an older guy (about my age) who flirted with me when I was at Höjdskräcken. I didn’t notice it at first, and then my colleague told me about it. As long as it is innocent it’s actually a bit fun to be recognized.

Today there were also a gang of Guldpasskids who were pretty okay. I checked their bracelets and one of them checked my nametag and greeted me by name. I greeted him back and he told me his name was Hugo. When I a few moments later checked his safety things right before I started the ride he asked me to make the ride even scarier. I thought about what I could say in the mic, but I seriously think AtmosFear is the scariest attraction so I said something like this: “My new friend Hugo wanted me to make this ride as scary as possible, but since this already is the scariest attraction in the park, the only thing I can do is to wish you Good Luck!” And right then it dropped. Of course I said this with a very serious voice. He thought that was very funny!

I was supposed to get Helix, the brand new and extremely popular rollercoaster. But one of the attractions in our area was broken and a lot of people were sick from other areas so I was at AtmosFear most of the day. I had my test on Höjdskräcken and passed it galantly! I am in the pool which means I will get as many attractions as possible, so I will get a new one tomorrow, and that will probably be the rollercoaster. So super cool! That will also mean that I am allowed to go on the ride while I am in training on that attraction. I’ve never gone on it. I hope I dare and won’t be crying when I get back to the platform and back to work…

I won’t start working until 1pm tomorrow so I will have time to be in school before that and work on the presentation and watch a couple. We all need to do that to get our thesis approved. My ambition is to be there at 8am, and then go straight to work. It’s gonna be a long day. But then I have my “weekend” when I will have to give two thesis presentations. But that will be easy.

3 attractions

Posted on Friday, 30 May 2014, 22:36 by Alexandra

Three super intense days are over and I seriously have a hard time standing up right now. Everything hurts, but I am happy. I really feel at home at Liseberg, already made a lot of friends and I don’t feel weird goofing around with the guests. I love it!

I have had three full days so far and I’ve learned three attractions. Well, the third I got tonight, one hour before I got off, but still, that’s not too bad! My first attraction on Wednesday was the big ferris wheel, Lisebergshjulet. I am glad I got that one as my first, it is really easy. So easy that a day later I was an approved driver of that attraction. I am not allowed to push the buttons on that one, but only check people’s tickets, get them safely aboard the gondolas, let them out, and hang out with them when they are waiting. Super easy and fun.

On my second day I first had a checkup on the wheel, to make sure that I knew everything and I had time to ask questions. The next two hours I was at Atmosfear, the big free fall up on the mountain on Liseberg. And after all that new information I had the “test” on Lisebershjulet. I managed though and had three hours in total on there all by myself (except for the operator who pushes the buttons in the side room). I did good and had fun there!

Atmosfear is harder! There I need to press buttons, and there are a lot of them. But I’ve learned and did really well on the “test” this afternoon. A test is pretty much just a supervisor asking questions about the attraction. How to open it, how to run it, how to close it and what the normal errors are. It is so much easier to “study” for this instead of an exam at a university. It is easier to learn by doing instead of learn by reading. I had a few hours today by myself after that and it was fun. I felt more secure when no one was watching my every move. And I could say anything in the microphone without feeling stupid. That’s something that gets easier every time you do it. It is extremely fun for example to count down when they are on the top and stop on 7 or something. Or repeat on number several times; 10, 9, 8, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7…. When they come down after that and have stopped screaming they start to laugh and one time they applauded. I need to come up with fun lines to say. The fun thing about Atmosfear is that I can talk to them on all the way up, there are speakers on the gondola. Extremely fun! I also counted backwards in German today.

My third attraction, that I just got an introduction to is Höjdskräcken. It is very similar to Atmosfear, it is a free fall but smaller and is actually pushed down from the top instead of just being dropped. It is only 12 seats on it instead of 36 and I will be completely alone on that one when I get it approved. And you can’t talk to the guest when they are up in the air. I guess there are other ways to entertain myself on that one. Need to figure them out though.

My first two days I worked until 11pm and tonight to 8pm. I don’t have time for much else right now. I would have worked on the thesis when I got home, but I forgot my notes at Liseberg, so I will study on my breaks tomorrow. I have another 8pm day tomorrow and on Sunday I will only work until 6pm. Luxury! In total I will have worked 7 days straight before my first “weekend” on Tuesday and Wednesday. And that’s when I have my thesis presentations. I can’t say how much I want that to be over so I can enjoy work more and get a routine on my life again.

If anyone can come up with fun things to say in the microphone (or just straight to the guests), please tell me. I want to be a fun Liseberger! 🙂

World’s best job

Posted on Thursday, 29 May 2014, 23:51 by Alexandra

Dear 10 readers,

I am alive, though extremely exhausted after my two first days at the best job ever. I have been working until 11pm both days and early mornings thereafter equals no blog at the moment. An update will come eventually (maybe on my first day off; on Tuesday). I should probably focus on work, sleep and thesis at the moment.

Yours sincerely,
//Alexandra Bemm, attraction driver at Liseberg.

A signed contract

Posted on Thursday, 22 May 2014, 0:04 by Alexandra

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!!

Job @ Liseberg!!

Posted on Thursday, 8 May 2014, 21:10 by Alexandra

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 🙂