Sun, sun, and sun

Posted on Wednesday, 17 December 2014, 21:37 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.

The storm has finally passed and today was the perfect day. The sun was up when my alarm went off at 7:30 which meant no snoozing. I had breakfast and went straight for the beach. It was already a nice temperature because of the ocean breeze. Without it, it would be unbearable being directly in the sun. I used a lot of sunscreen but still managed to get a tiny burn on my chest, left underarm and upper back. But it is not bad at all, will probably be gone tomorrow after some aloe aftersun lotion.

So, today I was just lying on a sunbed, reading, drinking a couple of drinks and just enjoying life. I can also cross something of my bucket list, today I had a coconut drink on the beach. It was really good!

Last night I finished reading on page 170 (of 390), and now I only have 20 pages left. I am gonna finish The Scorch Trials in two days, I wonder if that will be a record for me, a book in two days?

After the sun set behind the palm trees I decided to go for a walk along the beach to check out what was beyond the huge Barcelo hotel complex. I walked for 40 minutes until I reached the end of the peninsula we can see from this beach (it is tiny and very far away). I saw a white big bird, a heron maybe? Not sure. I found a nice spot to sit down and decided to stay and watch the sunset. I sat down on the beach and started reading. After 20 minutes a man comes up to me on his motorcycle and starts talking to me in Spanish. I told him I didn’t understand “no hablo espanol”, but he kept going in Spanish anyway. It’s funny how these people think tourists understand when they just repeat whatever they are saying twelve times. Eventually I understood when he said cinco and pointed at his clock. I pointed at me and then at the resort with a questioning face. He said si, and I understood that I couldn’t be there after 5 pm. I missed the sunset with 20 or 30 minutes. That sucked. I hope I get to see some really nice Caribic sunsets on the other islands.

When I came back I took a shower and then I got so tired I got stuck in front of the TV watching Ice Age 2 and the beginning of Horton Hears a Who. I couldn’t stand my growling stomach anymore so I went to grab a quick dinner.

Now I am back and was hoping to watch The Maze Runner that my mom uploaded to Dropbox, but I forgot that I also have to download it to my computer from Dropbox which takes forever and ever! I guess I will either have to watch The Lorax on TV or finish my book. Or maybe I should just go to bed, I am going on a tour to a beautiful island tomorrow and the bus is picking me up at 7am.

Oh, right, I got my third final grade today! Architecture history B+, yes! Sustainable Environments A- and Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering Lab A-. Now I am just waiting for Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering.

This pretty much sums up my whole day! Coco Loco drink in a coconut, white rum, coconut water, coconut cream. Surprisingly good! The “peninsula” beyond the Barceló hotel complex. The sand wasn’t as nice, the water was all brown, the sand was not as fine and there were a lot of rocks and corals. It looks pretty from afar, but close up, not so much.The white bird.

Dominican Republic!!

Posted on Friday, 12 December 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.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Posted on Friday, 28 November 2014, 23:19 by Alexandra

I am home again after a fun few days in Glendora. I have to say that the five hours on the train home went by very quickly. I had a big comfortable seat, a lot of space in front of me so I could have my legs straight out, the seat was adjustable, and the view of the ocean was stunning. I read the whole time and actually finished half a book. But as soon as the water was close I just couldn’t read. I just sat there, watching the glittery water, the surfers, and the dolphins. It made me realize that I wanna end up in California one day. This is where I am at my happiest, where I love myself the most, where I am the best version of me. I have no idea how it will happen, it will probably take time, but one day I wanna make California my real home. The ocean is a great therapist.

Mondos Beach where we surfed the other week.The view was like this a big part of the way and it was incredible! Sometimes the train was so close to the shore that you just saw water down below.

So, yesterday was Thanksgiving, my favorite American holiday. I love food! We went to one of Lori’s friends and spent a few hours there. It wasn’t the close family and then us, but different groups of people so we all fit in which was great. The food was amazing! And one of their cats loved me and he was beautiful and I just wanted to take him home with me. But I don’t think anyone would believe that I am depressed or anything else and need a cat for medical reasons…

After we were done eating my stomach hurt a lot so we just sat in the backyard talking for a while in the amazing warmth of Los Angeles winter. It was 90F yesterday, crazy, haha.

Today we had to leave the house early so I could make it to the Union Station and go home. 5.5 hours later I was back in SLO, and it was really warm here too. I waited in the sun for the bus for 45 minutes and read. Revenge of Seven is really good, but it is the second to last book in the Lorien Legacies series which is sad. It is a very good story. I came home, unpacked, and started Black Friday (online) shop. Today was the day to buy stuff from everywhere so now I have all my Christmas gifts figured out and I also spoiled myself with some clothes from Hollister and Abercrombie. I need more tops because I use the same all the time. And it was 50%, even 70% on some things, so I don’t feel bad. I kinda feel that I wanna buy a new suitcase as well. I am starting to have second thoughts when it comes to my challenge of packing 23 days in a carry-on bag and a backpack. I won’t need much clothes, so it might work. But Kohl’s as this crazy-ass sale on Samsonite luggage this time of year and I know for sure that I will need another suitcase when I leave, so I might as well buy it now, when it is $160 instead of $320. And if I buy it online it will be an extra 20% off. It might be worth it! I will think about it and consult with my mom first, she is smart and always gives me good advice.

I was planning on going to bed early, but that is always easier said than done. I will now though, and then continue to read. I so look forward to Winter Break when I will be able to read as much as I possibly can. Can’t wait! 13 days left. How did that happen? Where did the days go?? Am I really going to paradise for more than three weeks, in less than two? UNREAL!

On my way home to my village. I live very far away from campus (1mile), but it is still on campus. This view is ahead of me every day when I am walking to my classes. Bishop’s Peak. I am gonna hike that one day!Poly Canyon Village (PCV); home sweet home!

Six Flags

Posted on Monday, 17 November 2014, 20:18 by Alexandra

My computer is up and running again,and it cost me $45 and I probably could have done it myself to be honest. The problem was a Windows update which fucked some computers up so they wouldn’t start again. Unfortunately mine was one of them. So I rode my bike downtown today after having lunch with Kelsey, Rob and Aiden, and left it there. Right after I got home they called me and told me it was ready. So the only thing they did was to remove the internal hard drive and remove some of the stuff from my C drive so I had enough space to do a computer reset without losing my files. But my programs were lost which is a bit annoying. But at least it’s working again. I could have done this myself, but I didn’t have time. I really had to start on my Sustainable Environments paper today. Tomorrow’s Pint Night and then Wednesday is here. I don’t really feel like doing it now, but I guess I have to. I still feel sick and I just wanna go to bed. I heard from the Health Center today and it seems like I don’t have strep at all. I have a high level of white blood cells, which indicates a bacterial infection, but the penicillin I got isn’t working. My throat is still sore. I wonder what type of monster bacteria this is. I am getting tired of it.

So anyway, this weekend is over. Yesterday I spent six hours in a car and eight hours at SIx Flags. It was fun and I went on four rides in total. It is more than I usually can so I am satisfied. We started with Superman which was just a car being shot out backwards and up a big tower, and then straight down again. I was totally expecting us to go forward so I was kinda surprised when we were shot backwards.

The next one we went on was Tatsu which was really cool. It was a hanging rollercoaster and when we had sat down in the seats they were folded up. So we were facing the ground while riding it. Super scary and the first time I’ve ever been on a rollercoaster like that. The worst part was when there was a back loop.

After that it was time for lunch and we ate at Panda Express. That was good. We wanted to go on X2 after that, but it was closed because it was so windy. A lot of rides were actually closed and the rides with two trains only operated one yesterday. I wonder why. We went to Goliath instead and that was a cool one. The first drop was so high! But with so many G-forces right after lunch I started feeling a bit sick and could only do one more after that. And that was Scream. We were upside down 7 times, but it was a really good rollercoaster. A bit shaky and I hit my ears and earrings a few times and that hurt. After that one I was done for the day. I was the backpack watcher for the rest of the evening. It got a bit cold and the lines got longer, but it was okay. Nothing more I could have done.

This is the sick back loop. The Green Lantern. I really wanted to go on this one, but I was feeling way too sick and it was so fast in its turns so it probably wouldn’t have turned out well..

The three other, Toby, Julia, and Cody went on four more rides and then the park closed at 6pm. We drove home and I slept for a while. It was nice.

The day before that I didn’t do anything except playing a few hours of Guild Wars 2 and then went to Avila Beach to watch the sunset with Toby, Lauren and Cody. It was a very beautiful sunset, but we chose the wrong beach because the sun set behind a mountain instead of in the ocean. It was still nice. We had dinner at In n Out in Arroyo Grande and then went home again.

The day before that, Friday, I actually had a date. It was a semi-formal event with Sigma Pi, the frat George is in. I went as his date to it and it was actually a very fun evening. Nothing what I expected, but I had a great time.

I should probably stop writing now and start researching current environmental events and start writing on the paper, which is what I was supposed to do today.

Surf weekend in Ventura

Posted on Monday, 10 November 2014, 0:24 by Alexandra

This whole weekend has been amazing. Lots and lots of things happened. And Poly Escapes gave me what it promised, a weekend away from Cal Poly, a weekend with no worries about school. But the weekend started way before that. Friday was full of fun things, like my errand trip with Kelsey. We returned a pair of Kelsey’s shoes, bought “costumes” for the frat party (Kelsey bought a Jane-like dress and I bought face paint), I got a gel manicure, we went to the post office so I could send a little something to one of my hostkids who turn 11 in five days and a thing for my brother, we picked up our Poly Escapes rentals, and went to the Health Center to leave my proof of vaccination (which isn’t even necessary since I won’t be here more than one academic year, but I still did it since they asked). It was a long run, many stops, but not more than four hours in total. We also did some snacks shopping for the trip. I always bring too much to trips, but better safe than sorry.

This is what my nails look like after two days of surfing. Good job “@Nails”.

Back home I made two mudpies (=kladdkaka), one normal chocolate but also a white chocolate one. Apparently it was the Swedish national mudpie day. So I made two and they were delicious and very popular.

My plan after that was to study some, but that didn’t work out. I had to take a quick shower and then get ready for the party. I went to Phi Psi’s pledge party (the pledges organized the whole party) with a jungle theme. It was a great party, the decorations were awesome. The costumes not as much. I think I went most all-in with my tiger face paint. Other people just wore clothes with animal fur designs. The guys were Tarzan or just any other jungle dude. I got a lot of compliments but the hot house smudged it out later… I had a great evening but a little bit too much to drink. We were planning on taking it easy since we were going on the surf trip early the day after. And we stayed way late, but it was so much fun! I like that frat.

I was just invited to another frat party tomorrow night, the one Luka, the Swedish guy from Chalmers, joined. It would be fun, but I think I have too much studying to do… We’ll see.

I slept for I think two or three hours before going on the trip yesterday morning. Not the best thing I could have done, but it was worth it. We left Cal Poly at 9 am, got to Mondo’s Beach north of Ventura at 11am and started surfing right away. I felt a bit nauseous, but I still managed to catch one or two waves. It was hard, the waves just died under all of us. I didn’t manage to stand up, only half stand one time. But it was still very fun. We had lunch break and I ate my whole footlong Subway sandwhich. Then we went out again. So much fun. But the small hangover mixed with waves and salt water wasn’t the best and I did feel a bit crappy, but it was still very enjoyable. I got some nice pictures with my GoPro as well. We played a game where we put all of our surfboards together so they formed like a boardwalk. Then one at a time ran across them all and jumped in at the end. It was hard! Then it was time to go to the camp site which was up in Carpinteria, like 20 minutes away. It was a nice camp site very close to the water. We made a fire, the leaders made amazing dinner for all of us, chicken wok with pineapple and rice. Very very fancy and good camp food! We even got desert, homemade brownie and homemade ice cream. So delicious! Before we ate though, we took a walk on the beach in the sunset. It was so beautiful. The beach was really wet so the sunset was reflected in both the water and the sand and made the sunset enormous. So very very pretty! But this was at 5:30pm so it was both dark and chilly for many hours before bedtime.

Most of our group. We were 4 leaders and 8 trip-takers. Johanna. Success with my GoPro. This will be so much fun in the Caribbean. Julianne and me at Carpinteria Beach. I love this picture of Kelsey! The sunset was truly amazing! The kitchen we had at the pitch-dark camp site.

After the desert, we played games and sang campfire songs with a guitar. So nice. But I was so tired so I couldn’t stop thinking about going to bed, which we did at 10pm, not too late which was good.

The games we played were so much fun. One of them was called Interview. One person left the group, the others decided on a person and an action that the person who left were supposed to be. When the person who left came back we all asked questions, the guy answered the questions without knowing the answers and was gonna try and figure out who he/she was. Tigger flossing his teeth made some very funny questions. Does it hurt? Do you bleed when you do it? Do you do it in the morning, or evening? Does things stuck? What do you do best? Haha, so much fun. Another game we played was a game of questions. One person asked another one a random question and the other person answered with the first thing that came to mind. And then that answer would be the answer to all the questions asked after. Everyone could ask anything. And I mean anything. The person had to answer with that same answer but without laughing. When the person laughed that person asked a random question to someone else and it started over. Like if someone had the word Tortilla. What do you put in your burrito? Tortilla. What turns you on? Tortillas. With what do you brush your teeth? Tortillas. And so on. Hilarious!! Another very funny game we played was rapid questions. We sat in a circle and one person started by asking the next person a random question, it could be exactly anything. Then the next person is supposed to ask another question to the next person, without answering, laughing, hesitating or repeating a question. If you do, you’re out and the game goes on until there is only one left. Also very funny and a lot of laughs!

I decided to sleep in a tent tonight. Four people in each tent and I slept like a baby through the whole night. Some people, like Kelsey, slept under the stars. It would have been cool, but I wanted a good night’s sleep. I woke up a few times from the very noisy train, but fell asleep fast again. We got up at 7am, got served breakfast; scrambled eggs, bananas, sausage patties, Canadian bacon and tea. Yummy!

Back to the beach where we started our day with a yoga session on the beach. Very needed! Then 1.5 hour in the water before going to lunch in Ventura. We went to a tacos places in East Ventura and the shrimp/crab/avocado burrito I had was the best burrito I’ve ever had. Oh my gosh!! Ventura by the way is so pretty. I was in love with North Country San Diego before seeing Ventura. But now I totally feel like I want to move to Ventura in the future. Then the two hour trip started back home. I fell asleep for a little while but it was hard staying asleep. I will go to bed as soon as I am done with this super long post and get around 8 hours of sleep before a full day of studying tomorrow. I think I am gonna have to survive on caffeine pills this week if I am gonna have time to do everything on my to do list for the midterms on Thursday.

I got home, had some mudpie, talked to my roommates, looked at the GoPro pictures and uploaded the best to Facebook and now I just found myself a travel companion for Jamaica. Yay! It is a guy I got to know in Los Angeles last year, who now lives in San Francisco. That will be fun.

Now I just have to convince my mom to come to Puerto Rico and someone else to Dominican Republic, or maybe mom there too. The flight between DR and PR is very cheap and so is the accommodation costs (which will be my Christmas gift to her, and maybe some of the flight cost too). I am crossing my fingers. But I know that I will have a great time anyway.

I don’t look forward to this week, it will be horrible. But this upcoming weekend will probably be as good as the last one after the midterms. No worries, just fun activities like Six Flags and skydiving! Yay!

Friday 13th

Posted on Saturday, 14 June 2014, 1:27 by Alexandra

* On my first two days at work, more than two weeks, I had a pair of shoes on that I probably shouldn’t have worn. Because now a third of my big toe nail is completely blue/black. It’s gone so bad now that I couldn’t stand it and painted all of the nails dark blue. I guess I will have painted toenails for a while now. Mom says it can take up to a year to get it all away. Crap.

* I’ve learned that if you work at Liseberg you can get free candy, and chocolate in particular. You just give the guest with a star prize a look that says it looks really good or just say it. Most of the time, depending on what type of person it is, that person offers you a piece or two or three. Last week I got some Plopp on Uppswinget and Toblerone on Lisebershjulet. Today at AtmosFear I got another Plopp but without “asking”. I am not complaining.

* Another thing I’ve learned after more than two weeks at Liseberg is that people on the attractions AtmosFear, Höjdskräcken and Spin Rock like to dangle their legs which results in me being kicked when I check their safety belts. It is starting to get a little annoying.

* I now have 7 attractions at Liseberg; Lisebergshjulet, AtmosFear, Höjdskräcken, Kristallsalongen, Spin Rock, Uppswinget and Ponnykarusellen. Technically I am still in training on Ponnykarusellen (which I really don’t understand why because it is just two buttons to press and there are no reocurring errors) and Uppswinget. I was supposed to have the test today at Uppswinget, but I guess I was needed somewhere else.

* Yesterday I got my first paycheck. I was disappointed, 304kr. Apparently Liseberg doesn’t count from the first of the month to the last, but the 25th of the month before to the 25th of the current month. And we get the money on the 15th. This month it totally sucked because I neeed money. I have pretty much nothing. 1500kr until July 15h! It will be a challenge.

* And speaking of money, today I found out that I will get 519kr back from Radiotjänst. I don’t know when though. Today in the court it was decided that computers/tablets/smart phones aren’t recievers for a TV signal which Radiotjänst interpreted that they were a year and a half ago. So they have charged people without a TV but with a computer. That is not fair. I am one of those people. But I am glad I’ve only paid the fee for three months instead of a year. 519kr instead of 2000 something. I paid my last bill for the upcoming three months yesterday and called them today to cancel my TV license agreement because I don’t have a TV, only a computer. And because the bill covered a time that has not yet began they told me I will get those 519kr back. Awesome!!

* Yesterday I played beach volleyball again. Outside, in the extreme wind. I wasn’t too excited because I had just found out that I failed the structural engineering class again. For the third time. And I didn’t wanna spend money on something I wouldn’t enjoy. But it wasn’t as hard as I thought. It worked out and I got some sun for once! I played with Ina, Joanne and Zandra.

* I had lunch with Chad today, we won’t have much time to hang out this week since I get off work at 10 or 11pm every night. I checked my mailbox before going there and had two letters. One was my passport with new visa inside and the other was the results of my PAP smear I did a month ago. I had completely forgotten about it and wasn’t very happy when I read what it had to say. It said I have minor cell changes and there was no sign of cancer at this point. But I was too upset to read that properly. So I’ve spent this whole day being extremely sad and haven’t been able to get the idea of cervical cancer out of my mind. Now, after a lot of reading I’ve figured out that it isn’t as bad as I thought. And I wish those fuckers who wrote that letter could write a letter so everyone understands. I had no idea what cell changes meant more than it can be a prestage to cancer. After reading online I now know that about 5 out of 100 PAP smears give these results and that about 1 out of 4 have to get it treated. And that is done with minor surgery that removes a small piece of the thing that is affected and that is it. The worst that could happen is that the person who gets it removed will give birth too early, but at least that person will get pregnant. I so wish they could have added an extra paper in that letter with that information. It would have saved me a whole day of worrying!!
What it also said was that I need to come back for more and thorough tests in like four months. But my problem is that I won’t be in Sweden then. So I need to call them on Monday and tell them about my situation and ask them what I should do, come in earlier, do all this in the USA or wait a year. If they want me to get it looked at as soon as possible and I have to remove it, it will be tight with time since I am leaving the country in 90 days. The reason they want to wait four months is to wait and see what happens to the cells, if the heal automatically, if they stay the same or get worse.
I am seriously pissed that they made me this upset today!!

* Last thing I want to write about today is that I’ve found a new TV show that I after one episode think seems great; The 100. It’s a futuristic setting where Earth has been completely wiped out after a nuclear attack of some sort. A few people survived up on space stations and now, 97 years after, they are sending down 100 prisoners to make sure the Earth is inhabitable again after all the radiation. I like it so far. I want to watch another episode, but it is getting late and I have a 10 hour day ahead of me.

It was an amazing sunset today. I am in love with beautiful sunsets and today I couldn’t stop watching it while I helped people in and out of the gondolas on Lisebergshjulet. It was also a full moon tonight, and it was a huuge moon! Way prettier in real life.

34 hours of travelling

Posted on Tuesday, 4 February 2014, 20:15 by Alexandra

I’m in Sweden and have been for a while now. I’ve already had time to do a little grocery shopping, a Swedish lunch with mom, a nice talk with my brother and a lot of hugging my cats. I’m starting to feel a bit crappy, I have been awake for about 48 hours with a few one-hour naps on the planes.

The trip went surprisingly fast and I can’t really complain about it. Some parts of it were pleasant and I had lots of luck. But not to confuse my readers I will write about everything in chronological order, starting what happened right after my latest blog post (in the bar at the hotel on Big Island).

I didn’t want to go to bed even if I had a long couple of days coming. So I shut down my computer and sat down on the stone wall by the rocks and the ocean. The bar had a big light out on the splashing waves. It looked really cool when it was lit up. So I sat there for a long while trying to take good pictures. I also saw fireflies! I was so excited and when one of the bartenders came up to me to talk to me I asked about it. It was just regular flies in the light of the lamp. I’ve never seen fireflies. But it was still beautiful.

I got an offer to go look at manta rays (he knew a very good spot to see them apparently) when he got off his shift 30 minutes later. I was very tempted, but I had to be boring and go to bed. It would have been cool though!

My alarm went off at 7am on Sunday morning and my trip home started at 11am. My first flight was to Honolulu and on the way there I saw whales from the plane when we were closing in on Oahu. It was cool to see from above, I could just see the splash of water, but still.

The world’s smallest airport…

My second flight was to San Diego and it was nicer than the one I had to Hawaii three weeks ago. I saw the sunset from above and it was really beautiful. It was also very beautiful seeing the starry sky. We have either too many clouds or lights here in Gothenburg to be able to see the stars…

Sunrise above the Pacific Ocean.San Diego! I love this airport, you’re going down right next to the skyscrapers.

At the airport 9pm Lovisa picked me up and drove me home. Very nice of her! She even gave me food for the road, Rolo and Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars. The kids came running down the stairs when I came inside. I got big hugs from everyone and since it was so late, 10pm, I had to start saying goodbye to the kids so they could go to sleep. They both were so sweet and it didn’t feel like a goodbye, just a normal goodnight. No tears shed and the girl told me that they are going to Sweden again this year in June. Maybe that’s why we didn’t cry, because we are gonna see each other so soon. And that’s not enough, I will go to San Diego in Aug/Sep to visit them also! More on that later!

I talked to my hostparents downstairs for a while about my trip, the year and how glad I was to have spent it with them. At 11pm I started to pack. It was hard, but after some reorganizing they were both close to 50lbs. I think they actually showed 50lbs on the scale but I took a risk and went to the airport like that. I spent the remaining 3 hours with Chad. I couldn’t sleep even if I tried. At 3am we left for the airport. I put on a lot of clothes, leggings, sweatpants, a tank top, t-shirt, hoodie and a big jacket. I forgot my white Converse at my hostfamily’s house so I had to travel in my workout shoes which aren’t very comfortable. But my other ones were on vacuum bags so I didn’t have much choice.

My first big worry turned into my first luck. My suitcases were 49.8 and 49.6 lbs. Haha! It took me like 15 minutes to say goodbye to Chad and I have to be honest and say that it wasn’t so hard. Like with my hostfamily I just couldn’t understand that it was happening for real. My sadness came later…

My second big worry was my carry-on and personal item. They say that the personal item should be like a laptop or purse. I had a big tote bag full of papers, computer and my purse. I was afraid that they weren’t gonna allow that, but they did! I went through security without any trouble. But then I realized that the people at the gate decides that. Crap, I had to go through that nervousness two more times?

Both my personal item and carry-on were really heavy and I was dreading to carry it around airports. But there was that thing called luck again! The flight to Chicago was so full that all of ours carry-ons wouldn’t fit. So we could check them free of charge to the final destination. Perfect!! So I only had my super heavy tote. My right arm is sore from carrying it, but it’s still better than two heavy bags.

To be honest I don’t remember anything from the San Diego-Chicago flight more than that Chicago was really beautiful with the snow, the ice covered Lake Michigan and the blue sky.

Beautiful Chicago. I missed the skyline by the lake unfortunately.

After the 2 hour layover I had the best flight ever. I had a window seat again, in the back of the plane with no one sitting next to me. So I had three seats all to myself with a screen in the chair in front of me, with a lot of new movies. I had time to see three, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Thor: The Dark World, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. I tried to sleep some, but didn’t work very well…

The last flight was the worst. I was a little less than two hours away from home, the airplane was small and uncomfortable (but the sunrise outside above the clouds was amazing). And I was sad after realizing that I was on my way home. But when we arrived I felt a little better, it was cloudy, but light, a little snow and I got my bags right away. My mom wasn’t expecting me to come out just ten minutes after we landed so she didn’t see me when I walked up to her. It felt really good seeing her again and we hugged for a long time. Dad was stuck in traffic but came like ten minutes later. We talked for an hour and then me and mom went home.

Sunrise above Gothenburg.Gothenburg under the clouds.

On the way we stopped at Ica Maxi, I needed to buy a toothbrush and a deo. And then I bought a bag of bulk candy. Hehe!

Back home I had two gifts on my bed. A Bräutigams marzipan pig and a pair of turtle earrings. My mom definitely knows me! I had a Swedish shrimp salad sandwich and mom went to work. I talked some with my brother, apparently he wants to go to Chalmers University and asked me about the different programs. We talked about my trip, his trips and my job interview on Monday.

I tried taking a nap but couldn’t fall asleep even if I’m so tired I feel drunk. I can’t believe I’m still functioning. I’ve been away for two days with like 3 hours of sleep. Maybe I’m just excited about being at home again. I’ve been away for a long while and even if I always write how much I didn’t want to go home, of course a big part of me wanted to do it. And it feels better now that I’m here.

For dinner we had Swedish pizza and it was as delicious as I remembered. Yummy!

Okay, so here comes some big news! Six hours after I landed I got an email from my university telling me that I, with two other girls, will be sent to CalPoly this fall to study! CalPoly wanted to send three students to us, so we could send three too. I can’t believe that I found out, six hours after I landed, that I’m gonna go back to California in just six months! I don’t think my mom liked those news. She was so happy to see me, and then finds out that I’m leaving again. I mean, she was aware that it maybe would happen. But this was so sudden. I am excited and I am gonna go! It will be some work with it though. Get a new visa, get a place to stay, get money from CSN and so on. But it will fun and I will have a long winter break so I can celebrate Christmas at home. And it’s not even gonna be a whole year, just Sep-Jun.

Okay, I think I need to go to bed now. I’m getting drunker every minute… It’s a new experience being this tired. I’ve stayed up for one day before, but two. It’s not very nice… I wonder how long I could stay awake if I tried?

Royal Kona Resort Pool

Posted on Saturday, 1 February 2014, 21:53 by Alexandra

Our last day on Hawaii is over. I can’t believe how fast 18 days can go by! I can’t believe how fast 13 months can go by! Tomorrow my long journey back to Sweden will begin and I just can’t believe it.

Our last day was spent by the pool. I finished the book Throne of Fire and started a new book. Not the third and last in that series but Fifty Shades of Grey. I only read like 70 pages and he is right now showing her his playroom. It’s a sick but entertaining book so far.

And those five sentences summons up my whole day. I did get burned today, even with SPF 30 but I guess 8 hours in the sun isn’t too good, but this was probably the last time in like six months I saw the sun so I don’t care. It was a very nice day though, I had ice cream, an overlook of the ocean and my eReader in my other hand. Perfect!

So I guess this will be my last post for like 3 days. I seriously have a ridiculously long trip ahead of me… 7 hours to San Diego, 9 hours in San Diego, and almost 18 hours to Sweden. 34 hours, awesome!

My mom has prepared my bed in the living room, my cats are warming it up for me. I will be taken care of the rest of the month. It’s not gonna be too bad. The worst part about going home will be the cold! The sun was burning today, at least 30C. And in Sweden there is snow. I feel sorry for myself.

Now I’ve taken my last shower in the US, I’ve eaten my last chocolate covered macadamia nuts (Hawaiian specialty) and I’ve packed everything. I will try to go to bed earlier than last night, but the earlier I go to bed, the sooner the morning and my departure will come…

Just because I’ve been writing about the amazing sunsets here on Big Island the last one was ugly. Too many clouds covering the horizon…

Kahaluu Beach Park (29jan)

Posted on Friday, 31 January 2014, 22:57 by Alexandra

This morning was so boring! No rain, but it was cloudy. Our plan for the day was to take a look at the pool area here on the hotel and then take the bus to a beach south of here. The bus only goes once every two hours and we just missed the one at 10:40am, so we spent that extra time by the pool. The sun was slowly coming out from behind the clouds and it actually was a nice day after that. There is a lagoon on the hotel properties too. But the pool isn’t anything special, it is very small. But it is right next to the ocean.

We took the bus, $2 each ride (it was better on both Oahu and Maui where the tickets lasted 4 hours after purchase and where you could by day passes). For 20 minutes until we reached Kahaluu. I thought the stop before sounded nice, Magic Sands/White Sands until the shuttle driver yesterday told us that that beach is called Magic Sands because the sand completely disappears from the beach sometimes because of the waves. So we took the beach park instead. It was tiny, but it was a beach at least. There are hardly any beaches here! The sand was a mix between white and black sand, so it was pretty cool. But what made my day was in the water. First of all, the snorkeling there was better than at Hanauma Bay on Oahu. The coral was much nicer and it was more colorful fishes. I didn’t see any turtles, even if there were a lot of signs on the beach telling us to not touch the turtles. When I got out of the water I asked one of the volunteers at the beach about turtles, and he said it was very common to see them there and pointed out towards a tide pool where people were pointing and taking pictures. I walked out there with my camera and there were four (4!!) turtles in the extremely shallow water eating things of the rocks. They weren’t very big, maybe like 4dm. But it was turtles! I spent a lot of time out there taking pictures of them, Caroline got tired pretty fast, haha!

The rest of the day we just lay at the beach working on our tans. About 1 hour before the bus came it started raining so the last 30 minutes, when it was pouring down and impossible to stay at the beach, we were under a roof just waiting for time to fly by.

On the bus back we saw the sunset out in the water and on the other side, towards the mountain were two big rainbows! So beautiful. The sunset was amazing, as it was yesterday. It’s like the colors here are different than on the other islands. It gets way more orange and pink or whatever that color is called. After the sun was set, when we were walking towards a restaurant the sky was all pink and the water all purple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen water with that color, it was incredible.

We actually had dinner out tonight again, but that was the last time for sure. I totally forgot that I wanted to eat an Hawaiian pizza on Hawaii. So we found a restaurant eventually that served pineapple pizza and that pizza was the best pizza I’ve had this year! It was Kaluau Pork on it with a hot/sweet sauce. Soo good. When we got back to the hotel we tried getting access to the internet but it didn’t work. This hotel sucks! We spent a lot more money here than on the hostels, and the hostels had internet. Stupid hotel!! It’s not that I’m addicted to internet, but with it I can see my Swedish account balance. And there isn’t any Starbucks around here either… Stupid!

I’m thinking about maybe buying internet for 24 hours on Saturday so I can post everything before going back to Sweden. It’s $10 per 24 hours.

Tomorrow morning we are gonna call Enterprise to rent a car for Friday and after that walk north for a while to a nice white sand beach. I’m also gonna check if there are any other nice beaches more south of here. The bus goes pretty far south. Let’s hope the sun is out tomorrow!

2014-01-29, 20:36

The lagoon we have at the hotel. The pool area. Part of the outdoor lobby. Kahaluu Beach Park. Honu, Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle HAPPY! These were just babies and just a third the size of the ones we saw on Waikiki Beach, Oahu. The sunsets on Big Island really are much prettier than on the other islands.

Aloha, Big Island (28jan)

Posted on Friday, 31 January 2014, 22:24 by Alexandra

Okay, so here we are, on the Island of Hawaii. The Big Island. The rain followed us from Maui and the flight here was the bumpiest I’ve ever been through. It was good that it was only a 30 minute flight, but it was scary.

The airport was the smallest I’ve ever seen and it was outside. And in the rain that wasn’t very nice. We got a shuttle pretty much right away and 20 minutes later we were checking in at Royal Kona Resort. It’s a nice hotel, no beach, but it’s right by the water and we have a nice view over Kona and the water. I can imagine it being very pretty when it’s not cloudy.

For an hour we were just in the room and at 4pm we went out to eat an early dinner at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. I had a shrimp pasta dish with lemon garlic sauce. Really good, but expensive, so from now on we will eat cheap things in the room, like noodles. Or Subway that’s a few blocks away from the hotel.

After our dinner we walked around in Kona looking in souvenir shops. I bought my third bracelet and the magnet from Big Island. We glimpsed the sunset and it was so beautiful. Everything turned orange. When we were eating some of the clouds over the ocean cleared and it looked like tomorrow is gonna be a nice day! We are gonna take a look at the resort and then head to the closest beach. Which unfortunately is a bit from here, but we can easily walk there in like 15 minutes.

We bought some snacks on the way home, like the typical chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Now, nothing much is happening. So I guess I will go to bed or something. I didn’t get much sleep last night…

2014-01-28, 20:36

Goodbye Maui… Aloha, Big Island… Rainy view from our balcony. Our hotel, Royal Kona Resort.

The sunsets here on Big Island is better than on Maui and Oahu though.

Bemm

Life's a Beach

Tag Archives: sunset

Sun, sun, and sun

Dominican Republic!!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Six Flags

Surf weekend in Ventura

Friday 13th

34 hours of travelling

Royal Kona Resort Pool

Kahaluu Beach Park (29jan)

Aloha, Big Island (28jan)

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