Becoming an Amerikansk Svensk

Remind me to NEVER do this again...

2009-08-31T19:30:00.003+02:00

Nolle-P... was fun, but entirely too much work. Stress and work are not things I should volunteer for, but for some stupid reason I do it over and over and over again. I hope someone hits me with an extremely large and hard object if I EVER think about being a phosare again. Bleh!

In other news, today was the first day of the new semester. Lots of distance classes to work on. Hopefully this keeps me busy. I'm also going to be sitting at the desk at the sfcs office a lot and helping out with travven. If I stay home all day I'm going to quickly go mad. I NEED social contact!

And so it starts...

2009-08-12T13:30:00.002+02:00

First meeting today, this should be interesting to see what happens. :)

I'm ALMOST done with this last lab. But I've sadly not even started on my paper that is due Sunday (same day as the lab). I should be able to throw together the paper in 3 or 4 hours of solid work. Probably done in the middle of the night when I have free time.

It feels weird to be starting yet another year of university. I should by all logic be long done with it, and yet I keep coming back. Perhaps it is because I can't find anything better to do with myself. Perhaps this time it'll be worth a job, but we'll see. Three university classes during high school, four years for my bachelors, a year for my masters, a year to get my Swedish up to the right level, and one year of Computer Game Developing done. I've got another 3 years left I think. This is a LOT of schooling. I just hope that I'll be able to use some of my knowledge someday.

Wish me luck with the start of the new school year and here's to hoping that I manage not to get stressed and throw myself into the river before nolle-p is over. ;)

Stress in Summer?

2009-07-30T18:43:00.002+02:00

Summer should be a time of relaxing, taking it easy, not working too hard... and yet... it doesn't feel like it is. Yes, I find time to go out once or twice a week with friends in the evening, but my days seem to be constantly full with schoolwork, housework, and learning to drive. I'd REALLY like to get my drivers license so that I can have my evenings back again! Tomorrow David and I are going to the driving school and we'll see what they say about how long it'll take me to get the thing. Keeping in mind that during Nolle-P (starts the 12th and continues until the 29th of August) I won't have ANY free time when David isn't at work!

I'm working my way through my third and last lab of the summer now. It only has one problem in it, but it is a rather large problem. It doesn't look too difficult as long as I remember which commands I need to use. ;)

I've also started on my 4th paper (of 5) that I need to write for my Introduction to Computer Games class.

I need to find some free time to do some MAJOR sewing on my overall too. It needs lots more marks sewed on and to make the sleeves so that they can be removed. If it is a warm August, I'll melt in long sleeved black overalls! Wonder if I dare make it into a miniskirt or give it 'pirate legs' so that I can have shorts? ;) Perhaps another year for that!

Is Summer Over YET?!?

2009-07-21T22:29:00.002+02:00

Well... I've got just 4 days left to finish up this lab for school and I so don't want to work on it. Oh well... needs to be done anyways. I'd think that without the distractions of having so many friends in town, that I'd focus more... but I'm not.

Tomorrow I'm going to the eye place to get new glasses. I want something that is a bit more modern but not over-powering. We'll see what I pick out. I want something new! Different! we'll see what I find. My old ones are 4 years old now and I'm rather tired of them.

I'm starting to wonder more and more if I even want to work with computers! They used to be fun, but now it feels like they are work! Perhaps it wouldn't feel so much like work if I would stop procrastinating my assignments so much!

This weekend we've got some sort of dinner on Friday night with Davids cousins. Then I get to help one of my friends move.

Summer

2009-07-17T12:49:00.002+02:00

I love summer, with one exception... I see so much less of other human beings. Sitting at home and studying most days doesn't provide for very interesting human interactions. So I'm rather looking forward to school starting up in the fall. Sadly I'll be doing distance classes and won't be meeting many people then either... but at least I can go to school and hang out with people. Right now almost noone is in town at all!

I've got 4 assignments left to do and a tenta for my summer classes, but that's it. I've been working rather hard on learning the driving stuff too. I have another lesson on the 31st and this time they've asked David to come along so that he can better understand what things I need to work on. Personally I think I need to work on not stalling the car. But that's probably just me.

I really need to get some of my programming assignments done soon. They tend to always take longer than I plan.

But tonight! Out to the music festival in town with David. There are a few things I want to see and maybe go by and see a couple of short films too. I've always loved short films. *misses Uppsala*

2009-07-15T12:31:00.002+02:00

Well, summer continues. Been working lots on my summer school, along with trying to get some of the household stuff done. My friends who have summer vacation have been very distracting though. They think it is fun to stay up all night since they don't have to do anything the next day. But if I do that, then my homework isn't quite as easy to get done since I'm so tired!

Been working lots on driving. I'm hoping to get my license before Christmas, but I'll probably fail again. I need to go get working on the theory bits again...

Today I've got an appointment to get new contacts and then I need to do the grocery shopping and do more practice driving. Bleh! How boring! But it is good to keep busy at least. :)

Parents Coming

2009-06-14T21:38:00.003+02:00

My parents will be here Wednesday. It feels like it has been forever since I last saw them. It hasn't really... last summer, but still. This will be their first time to Sweden in the four years I've lived here. Interestingly enough, this will be my first mid summer in Sweden too.

It will be interesting to see what the rest of summer brings. :)

Wonder if I can inflict Surstromming on my parents.... and I wonder what their reaction would be if I didn't prepare them for it. ;)

Summer Rain

2009-06-14T09:05:00.003+02:00

Well... it's raining at the moment. Perhaps this is an incentive for me to actually get studying done? I've only got three days to finish up a paper and a lab for my summer classes.

At least the paper can be written in English. I need to play two 'classic' computer games and then using course literature, explain if they are games or not. Somehow this course has managed to make a rather cool topic boring. And David has already gotten a hate mail from the teacher about not cheating with me since we're both taking the class. Love the faith.

I'm also about halfway through my lab assignment. I'll have to write a lab report about the exercises and turn that in too. My parents will be here on the 17th and leave on the 28th. It'll probably take us a whole day to drive back to skellefteå afterwords. So making due dates on the 28th and 29th will be hard if the things aren't done before they get here. I plan to spend time with my parents since I see them so infrequently!

The past 1.5 months...

2009-06-03T19:43:00.002+02:00

It's been forever since I last updated this thing. Life has been just crazy. Heck, for the last two weeks I've rarely had more than 5 hours of sleep a night. VERY rarely. Heck, I think my average is about 5 hours. :P

I took my last final Monday (before working 14 hours with the silly avslutning sittning that I got thankfully got a very short thank you from Tuss for helping with. Sad that noone else cared that we put in that much work for no benefit.) I've just got one more paper to finish up and send in before Friday. Tomorrow I've got two redovisning things I want to sit through.

Friday I'll hopefully finally get around to cleaning up the note boards at school so that everything from like 5 years ago gets removed. I REALLY need to get the information for updating the school website, but ARGH noone wants to get me that information and I'm going batty. I'm about to go talk to technos and see if they have any information on getting the website updated. Or heck, even a login and a link would be a great start. I also need to get ahold of the old FUSK leader and get a list of all the games we have so that I can add those to the website. I should probably get a facebook group going for the student union too. I guess I've got some projects to do on Friday while I sit at school between lunch and fika.

My parents are coming to visit in just like two weeks. I've got tons of cleaning and organizing to do before then. Right now I'm doing like a million hours worth of laundry. I've been so busy the past two weeks that I've done very little around the house. And it shows. I need to go do some grocery shopping soon, finish up the million loads of laundry, and do some dusting and cleaning. It is hard to get the energy to come home when I know I've got so much stuff waiting for me to do. Oh well. At least I got it started today.

It's been a ton of fun the past two weeks at school. Lots of parties, lots of meeting with the older students that I've only had contact with online, listening to people stress about their final projects, celebrating people graduating, etc. I've had a ton of school work to finish up these last few weeks too.

And *sigh* Monday I start my summer classes. I spent like an hour this evening just trying to figure out how to register for the classes. Why do schools require you to have like super complicated passwords when the only thing you can do with them is send email and register yourself for the classes you signed up for. This isn't exactly a super secret bank password or anything. Ugh. I think they just like to laugh at themselves as they create horribly complicated password rules.

I think I'll try to get some sleep tonight... if I can actually sleep. I've not been able to fall asleep easily since I've been awake so much during the nights. And it isn't like it ever gets dark. Sunshine! Well... not today. It rained. :(

Busy busy busy

2009-04-24T14:20:00.002+02:00

Man. Things have been just crazy here. I'm in charge of information for the student union council. I've got Ikea stuff that I still haven't put together. I need to clean and do laundry. There is always food I should be making. I've got tons of school work to do. I've got three meetings next week that I need to go to.

What do I want to be doing? None of this stuff! I'd rather just take it easy for a week or two. Sadly that isn't an option. Back to doing laundry I guess.

Craziness...

2009-04-16T06:53:00.002+02:00

DNs article about applying to university.

I don't get it. Everyone knows the website will crash on the last day. It's done it in the past. Heck, some of the people I know who were going to apply said 'why do I have to think about it now. The site will just crash and I'll get extra time.' I don't understand the mentality of applying on the last day. I applied on the first day and just double checked my application a few days before the final deadline to make sure nothing had changed. Then there are people who complain that they only get a half day extra and they need more time because of work and what not. Why didn't they apply earlier? A whole month to make their choice, why in the last 3 hours of the application period? They can't really want to get in then. I can't imagine the universities will be that annoyed at missing out at a few procrastinators. The ones who always put off to tomorrow what can just as well be done today.

Another question is the computer system. If it is so expected that it will crash, fix it. Announce that anyone with a personal number that end with these numbers has the last day on this day, and anyone with the other numbers has the last day two days later. Or make an announcement that says 'We expect the site to crash on the last day. Don't wait until the last day to do your application because we will NOT be extending the deadline.' And those who don't make it in before the crash can just as well apply for leftover places that those who thought the process through didn't want. Or they could fix the system so that it could handle the pressure. But that is excessively expensive for something that is only needed for a few hours.

Yes, there are reasons you'd be applying at the last second. But not everyone should be doing that! Think things out in advance! How do they expect things to work out in the real world. What happens if the printer is down at work and they can't deliver an important document to a client on time? Because they waited until the last second to try to print it?

I guess at the end I'm just glad this whole mess doesn't affect me.

Another week

2009-04-05T19:17:00.003+02:00

Well... soon it is the start of yet another week. And I'm TIRED. I feel like I'm constantly behind in school work, and the quarter has barely started. Probably not a great feeling. I've no idea what's going on in my economics type class. I've got some project due not this week, but the next one. Something about interviewing people. Bleh. I've also got what feels like tons of physics stuff going on. I'm not sure I'll EVER feel like I'm caught up there. I suspect that I'll soon need to go spend a weekend at school and just try to get caught up. And I'm actually trying to keep up with my classmates in our game project class. It is amazingly draining doing so much in Swedish all the time. I've not even OPENED the book for my economics like class. Ugh. :( It just isn't fair to be stressed out about school already.

I did take this weekend off from studying though and just relaxed. I spent lots of time hanging out with friends and just generally taking it easy. Sometimes it is needed.

Cleaning!

2009-03-29T18:43:00.002+02:00

I've been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning! We cleaned the bedroom, bathroom, hallway, dining room, and living room top to bottom today. Dusting everything from door frames to baseboards. We moved all the furniture which was possible to move and vacuumed behind and under them. We even dusted the plants!

We also cleaned out our closets and donated a bunch of clothes to Myrorna which doesn't fit anymore and we can't think of any use for. I've got lots of clothes left to sort, but I can't do everything in one weekend.

We took about 5 cubic meters of stuff out of the apartment too. We finally got around to doing the recycling. Saturday morning at 8.30am. Lovely since we got to do it in sunny weather. Same afternoon it started snowing and snowing.

We've got a few things to sell/give away, a small old TV (which works if you hit it occasionally), an old student desk (very stable, ugly as sin), and a small coffee table (a bit scratched, use a table cloth). If anyone wants them. Let me know. I'd be quite happy to get rid of some of this junk that is slowly taking over the whole apartment.

Tomorrow I start new classes! (And continue with physics...). It was nice to get a bunch of stuff done this weekend. I even caught up on sleep!

Kidnapped from Anna's blog

2009-03-26T06:56:00.002+01:00

Du heter? Sarah
Smeknamn? grrl
Låt som du lyssnar på när du är ledsen? No idea
Beroende av? The internet
Vad tror folk om dig? Probably that I'm bitchy and weird.
Stämmer det? Very possible.
Vad säger du för att imponera på någon? I don't usually feel the need to impress people.
Hur imponerar man på dig? Be smart, responsible, and not a jerk.
Brukar du skratta för dig själv? Yes
Vad står det i ditt senast inkomna SMS? We lost.
Var bor du? Skellefteå
Trivs du där? Love it here, but sometimes I miss my family and/or friends in Uppsala.
Äger du några converse? Nope
Sprit, cider, vin eller öl? Generally wine, but I drink most things depending on the occasion.
Brukar du bli för full? No
Är du allergisk mot något? No
Hur svarar du i mobilen? Generally 'hej alskling' since it is normally David who calls me. ;) Otherwise 'hej, det ar sarah'. I've never understood why I have to say who it is. They should KNOW who they called. I want to know who they are!
Antal timmar sömn inatt? 8
Brukar du komma i tid? Yes
När mår du bra? When I feel needed and appreciated. When I don't feel bored.
När blev du fotad senast? A few evenings ago.
Hur känner du dig nu? Tired
Vanligaste färg på dina kläder? No idea. I've got a LOT of colors.
Vad tycker du om fötter? Stinky feet aren't nice.
Vad saknar du? My family
Hade du en bra kväll igår? Quite nice.
Favorit dryck på morgonen? Energy Drink. ;)
Rakar du benen? Yes. More often in summer than in winter though
När brukar du oftast gå och lägga dig? Around 21.30
Är du blyg? Yes
Sysslar du med någon idrott? No. But I should go to the gym more often
Tror du på kärlek vid första ögonkastet? No
Vad skulle du göra om du vore kille för en dag? Go be 'one of the guys' for once and see what makes it so special.
Är du nöjd med ditt liv? Yes
Vad gör du i morgon? Going to makeup store and getting a lesson, then cleaning the rest of the day
Vilken kändis tycker du är en bra förebild? Not sure.
Vad längtar du till? Summer
Har du bra vänner och äkta vänskap? I hope so!
Vad använder du för shampoo? Biolauge(sp?) A bit expensive men WOW great.
Hur gammal är du? 25
Tycker du om någon just nu? Yes!
Gröna eller röda äppeln? Both!
Gillar du golf? No
Vilken tid gick du upp idag? 5.30am
Har du sovit i din egna säng inatt? Yes
Har du strumpor på dig nu? No
Är det okej att gråta? Yes
När grät du senast? I can't remember
Vad skulle du göra om du vann en miljon? Remodel the kitchen, get some new clothes, then save the rest.
Bär du glasögon eller linser? Yes
Tycker du det är viktigt att ha märkeskläder? No
Har du piercing? Yes
Vill du gifta dig? Already have
Vill du ha barn? Yes
Solar du ofta? No. I just end up red
Är du bra på att laga mat? Not as good as I'd like
Är du flygrädd? A little bit.
Är du musikalisk? Sadly no
Vad dricker du helst när du är törstig? Water
Vilken är din favoritglass? Magnum. The white one with strawberry icecream
Tror du på ett liv efter döden? Yes
Tycker du om sushi? Some types
Vad äter du helst när du ser på film? Nothing.
Har du tandläkarskräck? Not really
Är du morgon- eller kvällsmänniska? I love mornings generally
Vilken ögonfärg har du? Gray
Har du någon gång gråtit dej till sömns? No
Biter du på naglarna? No
Just nu? No
Röker du? No
Hur ofta tränar/motionerar du? Not often enough!
Senaste låt du hörde? Zelda tune from a trailer the husband was listening to.

Summer Classes

2009-03-04T08:18:00.001+01:00

This is a repost from my school forums, but I was happy with the post so decided to repost it here. :)

There are a ton of summer classes out there. Last day is the 16th of March to apply. And you can probably get CSN money during the summer if you are taking enough points. So you'll likely have money to continue with whatever you're doing. (we'll see how long my links work... otherwise just go to studera.nu that's where I found all of these in the first place).

I've not taken any of these courses mind you. I'm choosing them at random based on interesting titles. I found a ton of interesting classes when looking for things to do myself this summer. Mostly writing up this list since I'm trying to be 'productive' while studying. The apartment is already clean. Writing in English because I'm lazy.

First there is a course in our very own Skellefteå!
Konstnärlig anatomi och skulptur

Then there are a bunch of online classes, perhaps even in your field of study, so you can stay in town and continue to party all summer long. ;) Learn a new programming language? There are courses in that. Maybe you're a grafiker wanting more programming knowledge, or a spelutvecklare who would like to know more about art than 'oh look! a pretty picture!' ;)

Introduktion till spelanalys och design
3D-modellering och animation i Open Source-miljö
Concept Art
Character construction and Online Worlds
Programmering med Ruby
Introduktion till Spelprogrammering
Programming Using C#, Basic Course
Datornätverk
Spelprogrammering i Windows – introduktion
Flash för grafisk design
Datorspel - en introduktion "Kursen riktar sig till alla som vill förstå vad datorspel är och varför man spelar dem. Den lämpar sig lika väl för den som vill förstå datorspel i ett bredare perspektiv, bekymrade föräldrar och nyfikna lärare, som för inbitna spelare som vill lära sig mer om sin hobby."

Even if the class seems easy, why not? Summers should be easy, and you never know. You might *gasp* learn something.

Or you can branch out and take something new. Why not try Arabiska för nybörjare? Or Japanska: Preparandkurs I? Or get points for your reading this summer. Fantasylitteratur

SFI

2009-03-03T17:49:00.002+01:00

Dn's Article

If you get a chance, read this article. It's really interesting actually. A lot of what is in there is very true from my own experiences with SFI. I lucked out and ended up in a class designed for those with education already. Almost everyone in there could speak 2 languages besides Swedish. (Except for me of course, as I've forgotten what little German I once knew.)

I still remember the first day I came home from SFI and very upset showed David my homework. We were to learn the word 'realistisk' or something like that. And our sentence had to do with how it was more realistic for Fatma to go get a cleaning job than an engineer job, even though she was highly educated. That was day 1.

Arbetsformedling came in to our classes about once a week. They explained how we could be cleaners. Most of us stopped coming or we made up answers to the dumb questions they asked. "What would you look for as an work giver?" We answered with stuff like 'Someone that likes Chocolate' and whatnot. Some actively left the classroom when AF showed up. The time was such a waste. Many already had jobs or training lined up as soon as they were done with SFI. Why waste our Swedish learning time with explaining what nice cleaners we'd make.

I was quite glad to be done after 2 months. I had lucked out and gotten two courses in Swedish previously through Uppsala university when I was an exchange student a few years previously. I just needed that SFI diploma thing. I moved to Sweden in August... I didn't get into SFI until February. They didn't have 'space' for me until then.

The classes were set up in such a way that it was really hard to work around them. Luckily I was studying a university course at the time that only met once a week. But 12-4 4 days a week wasn't productive. Two 8 hours days would have made it much easier for people to work at the same time. Our class was almost entirely female. The guys were working since it was so hard to mix SFI with work only one could afford to study.

We were an interesting mixture. Lots of Europeans, a bunch of Kurds (generally well educated... one was an arabic teacher and spent most of her time explaining Swedish grammar to the others in their own languages). We had a girl from Dubai who had a learning spot at the local hospital when she wasn't at SFI. AF days were just a waste to her. Same with me who was studying and just wanted the diploma so that I could have proof of my Swedish knowledge.

Shortly after I was done with SFI I moved to Skellefteå. Man I had to fight hard to get myself out of Swedish classes here that I considered entirely too easy. Exclusively due to the fact that I was volunteering my extra time with the English classes I believe... and the English teacher was also the higher level Swedish teacher, I was able to test out of Svenska Grund and go straight to Svenska A. They tried to hold us back it seemed. The old guy here didn't want us moving on. I think he was afraid of his job if we took less than 3 semesters to finish Svenska Grund.

There is much that could be better with Swedish language instruction in Sweden. But so many countries offer nothing. I got NO money for studying, but I also did not have to pay for my lessons. For free lessons they were not bad.

File-Sharing

2009-02-17T06:47:00.003+01:00

With all the fire sharing stuff up in the media lately. (Pirate Bay Trial here in Sweden). I'm curious... what is coming now. What is the future for access to music and the like? I don't really think that shutting down pirate bay would change ANYTHING.

When I think of my friends who I would call artists... the ones who live and breath art. They aren't out there to become rich. They want to survive on their music and have the time to continue to make more music. They won't say no to becoming rich, but that isn't their goal.

More and more I think the money artists earn will not be from the songs themselves, but instead based on the popularity of their songs. Getting sponsors, advertising contracts, giving concerts, and selling things that have to do with them and their music. If you want to sell an actual CD. Package it with an art book, a special physical object of some sort that your loyal fans will WANT. If you want to sell music. Price it at a price that keeps your servers going, but not much more. Beyond that have a donate button on your website for people to donate to your music if you want to collect loyalty things. And reward donations with things like free tickets, or a chance at free tickets to hear you play. Or be ready to actually mail out a fancy art book to someone.

I'm starting to feel the end of super stars like Britney Spears... although who would say she's an actual artist? She doesn't write her own music, doesn't play any instruments or anything. She sings what she's told to sing. I've no problems with crushing more careers like hers and instead going for the truly creative small bands. The songwriters themselves might become more important in the future! You never know!

Meanwhile, support the nice guys at Pirate Bay that are really just trying to make artist music free. And support your favorite ARTIST. Brag about them on your blog, go see a concert, and hey, let them know that you like their music. And for god's sake... do we really want more britney spears running around? :P

Math Failure =(

2009-02-04T11:13:00.002+01:00

Well... I failed Math 2. Bleh. I only got 10 points on the final... plus my one point from the quiz... so I had 11 points. 14 is a pass. There were 30 points possible on the final with up to two points from the quiz for a total of 32 points. Only three of my classmates that I've asked so far have passed. Everyone else has failed, so I guess I'm not alone in my fail. But I'll just have to work extra extra hard and try to pass the retest next month (as well as my Math 3 test which is a week later). If I work hard enough I SHOULD be able to pass these last two math tests. Then I'm done with math! Forever! Mwahahahaha. Or until I get distracted and wander off in search of new educational opportunities.

In other news. I'm home sick today. My tummy hurts, I didn't sleep well last night, I've got a bit of a fever, and my throat REALLY REALLY hurts. I might try to drag myself to my 14.15 physics lecture, but we'll see if I'm feeling better. Mostly I'm just sitting in bed trying to get through a few more math problems, increase my understanding of complex numbers a bit more, and see if I can't finish off the entire section on complex numbers today. We've got a quiz coming up next week so it'd be great if I could have one of the two sections we've covered so far mostly understood today. Then I just have to review it before the quiz next Wednesday.

I'm also looking at summer classes since I've not had much luck finding a summer job. There's a C++ distance class that I want to take.

Fixing the schedule. =(

2009-01-29T07:10:00.003+01:00

I can't do this anymore. :P Going to fix my schedule on Friday I think. I'm taking more than 40 points this semester and it really feels like too much for me. Yes. I'm passing my courses (I think) but what good is it if I leave school not being able to program well. Between math and physics programming has been taking a VERY low priority. Programming really needs lots of time to sit there and play with it and see what happens and enjoy. But I've only been doing assignments, getting help from friends to do them as quickly as possible since my other two classes take so much time. And doing things in Swedish takes a LOT of time and energy from me too. I underestimated how much it would take last semester.

The program is... if I don't pass EVERY course this year, I can't start next fall with the rest of my class on the second year. But there isn't a lot negative with that anymore. My friends in the class... it looks like most of them aren't going to be there for a variety of reasons. One is going to swap back to chemistry, another will be leaving since he was just taking math, and some are going to be mostly taking datateknik classes instead of datorspel. And really... do I WANT to start the second year of a programming class without being able to program?!? Seems rather silly.

So anyways, looking to drop the last two programming classes. I'll just redo the first year (with economics classes tossed in to round it out... or else by working half time) with next year's first years. I'll have passed math already and a few other classes... so I can REALLY focus on programming. The one catch in all this is to figure out IF I'm allowed to and how it works with CSN (government money for studying). It isn't a LOT of money each month... but we do need it to get by, especially when David is working a cleaning job.

Oof

2009-01-25T18:13:00.002+01:00

Finally, the spring students intro week is done. It was a ton of effort, and I was barely involved with it! A combination of me being sick, extremely poor planning, lack of understanding, and poor turnout had me ready to quit the phosaret around Friday. But I'm feeling better now.

Well... better about the week... I'm not feeling healthy. My throat hurts and I'm generally feeling very BLAH.

Oh, and I've now got my PUT so I can stay in Sweden as long as I want without having to go back to migrationsverket ever again! Yea!

Politics (yawn, I know)

2009-01-21T08:50:00.002+01:00

Well, yesterday the United States got a new president. This one is different from the last few. It isn't just that he is a colored man, but also everything else. He is the sun of an immigrant. A second generation immigrant, from Africa no less... can be president. He is also young, a family man with young kids himself. I feel in a way that he represents the American dream. Someone born in a family that wasn't rich, made it to the top.

In other news.. nolle-p isn't going so well. :( Only 3 new people showed up yesterday... *sigh* Oh well. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. At least my activity is travven... which means lots of old students show up.

Done with tests!

2009-01-17T07:09:00.001+01:00

Oof, Finals are FINALLY over.

It's been crazy at home. As usual. My goal for this weekend is to actually make real food and not just instant junk. And to clean the apartment. I think there's a kitchen table somewhere that we haven't seen for a week. With David being sick and me studying for tests... the house has been totally ignored. Either today or tomorrow we need to take most of the day and try to clean up the place. I still have laundry in the dryer waiting to be put away! Oh, and I need to work a bit more on my physics homework as well. It's 7am and I'm leaning towards playing video games with the sound off for awhile until David wakes up. ;)

Birthday Post!

2009-01-10T22:01:00.002+01:00

With everything else going on in my life, I totally spaced about writing here about my birthday! Oh well.

Anyways, I got tons of presents! My mom sent me a box with a warm shirt, some pecans, and a 'learn to cook' DS game. David gave me a stuffed animal and a 16 GB SDHD card for my eee pc. He also gave me a nice day by helping me out with chores and the like. I got a sweater, a shirt, and a certificate to the makeup store from David's parents. From my friends I got a DS game, a bottle of wine, a really disgusting shot thingie, and the world's cutest calendar with kitties on it!

I ate entirely too much cake, but I had a ton of fun. It was a very calm birthday, but one of the best I've had in a long time. It was nice to just relax a bit in the middle of studying for finals. I might do a bigger birthday celebration thingie next Friday if I'm feeling up to it. But there's no way it'd be as nice as my relaxing real birthday was. :)

A nice list 'loaned' from Anna's blog.

2009-01-10T09:33:00.002+01:00

1. Gjorde du något i år som du aldrig gjort förut?
Valdigt mycket faktisk. I got married, started a second education, and aquired a pair of overalls!

2. Höll du några av dina nyårslöften?
No. I never do. Don't know why I even make them.

3. Blev någon/några av dina vänner föräldrar i år?
Yes.

4. Dog någon som stod dig nära?
Nej.

5.Vilka länder besökte du?
Just the usual California and Sweden with a few random layovers in other places.

6. Är det något du saknar år 2008 som du vill ha år 2009?
A job.

7. Vilket datum från år 2008 kommer du alltid att minnas?
June 18th... the day we got married.

8. Vad var din största framgång 2008?
2008 is probably going to be filled with marriage memories for me. But besides getting married... I'd say it was starting to study again.

9. Största misstaget?
Still not having my drivers license. But beyond that very few of my mistakes have been so life-consuming that I remember them, although I'm sure I made millions.

10. Har du varit sjuk eller skadat dig?
I think I spent most of last spring with a cold.

11. Bästa köpet?
I'm not actually sure... I love my eeepc, and the xbox has been a lot of fun with guitar hero and what not.

12. Vad spenderade du mest pengar på?
Food and bills. They eat most of our monthly money.

13. Gjorde någonting dig riktigt glad?
The support from friends and family during the wedding process and the wedding itself.

14. Vilka sånger kommer alltid att påminna dig om 2008?
Nolle-p marching song, I kissed a girl, pink's fighting song, along with tons of snapsvisor

15. Var du gladare eller ledsnare i år jämfört med tidigare året?
I'd say happier. I feel that I'm kinda sorta doing something productive with my life. Something that is progress. Even if I'm not totally happy with it, at least it is better than unemployment.

16. Vad önskar du att du gjort mer?
Exercise. Studying.

17. Vad önskar du att du gjort mindre?
Surfing the net. It eats time like nothing else... it isn't something I particularly enjoy... but man if I keep doing it.

18. Hur tillbringar du jul?
With David's family.

19. Blev du kär i år?
Always become a bit more!

20. Favoritprogram på TV?
Top Gear or Myth Busters... not that I /ever/ get to watch much TV. I did watch a lot of Idol though.

21. Bästa boken du läste i år?
Anything that wasn't my math book... but considering how many books I read, I can't think of one that was 'the best'

22. Största musikaliska upptäckten?
Erm... music? That's the stuff you use to drown out people you don't want to listen to... right?

24. Något du önskade dig och fick när du fyllde år?
Since my '2009' birthday was yesterday... I'm having problems remembering what I got for my '2009' birthday. It was really cool though!

25. Något du önskade dig men inte fick?
Inte vad jag kommer ihåg <---- stealing answer.

26. Vad gjorde du på din födelsedag 2008?
Hmmm... I'll write down what I did for 2009 instead. :P Studied, ate lunch that I bought instead of warmed up, baked two cakes. Took a nap. Played an hour of fable II, ate cake with the inlaws, had a pizza dinner, and ate cake and got really awesome presents at a friend's place. One of the best evenings in a long time.

27. Finns det någonting som skulle gjort ditt år ännu bättre?
If I'd had a job and was nicer to other people.

28. Hur skulle du beskriva din stil år 2008?
Whatever the heck is in the closet or that people have bought me. Clothing shopping is boring.

29. Vad fick dig att må bra?
David, video games, and lots and lots of fika.

30. Vilken kändis var du mest sugen på?
I've never really been that interested in celebrities.

31. Vem saknade du?
My family. I see them so infrequently.

32. De bästa nya människorna du träffade?
All the nice people from Nolle-P and school. It's amazing to actually have my own friends here that aren't just people being nice to me because I'm David's girl.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T21:58:00.003+01:00

Happy new year everyone!

Yesterday was so much fun! First we started out with the very wonderful dinner at Anton's. Then we wandered over to the student party at school with my friends.

Everything was a ton of fun! But soon! Back to the grindstone and final studying!

Christmas Fun!

2008-12-25T13:45:00.003+01:00

Wow! I got just a ton of presents! David got lots too! I really don't think I've been this 'nice' this year really!

Anyways...

From David I got: Dance Universe 2 Dance Stage, a new school bag, a pair of long johns, and an organizing board for the wall.

From my parents: some cash, socks, PJs, turkey gravy mix, beef jerkey, two nice hotmats

From david's cousins: Duka gift certificate, a nice candle.

From David's parents: tickets to the rehearsal for Melodifestival here in town, money towards a new bed, two sweaters, a hat, some slippers, a new pair of gloves, a mixer, some candle holders, a cake server, etc

From David's brother: a second hand control to the 360

David got a ton of things too: NHL 09, cash, some things I listed above were to both of us, new slippers, a tool set, candle holders, a new sweater, a scarf, a nice shirt, gift certificates to Dressmans and Bokia, a new frying pan, some dishtowls from Peter, some whiskey, etc

And I'm sure we've both got tons of other things that I've totally spaced on.

Once the after Christmas sales start, David and I have tons of things to do. Some things need to be returned since they're the wrong size, and David's game is going back to the store since it is half price to buy it elsewhere, we've got gift certificates to use, and all sorts of fun things! We're also hoping to buy a new bed soon, but that also means buying new sheets since ours won't fit. It'll be nice to upgrade past the 120cm bed that we've got now. To something that doesn't have pointy springs in it and is a bit wider.

Hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas and thanks again for all the presents!

Bleh Bleh Bleh! (And double BLEH!)

2008-12-21T18:39:00.002+01:00

I'm getting soooo annoyed at my homework attempts. I'm not sure that I'm actually making any progress in my understanding of programming OR math. I'm starting to feel so emo that I'm in the "I'm too stupid for this" phase.

But the only thing to do about it is to keep working. If I work at it long enough, I'm eventually bound to understand something.

I've also noticed a drastic increase in things such as 'house cleanliness', 'face book posts' and 'irc spam' in times when I really don't want to do my homework. I think I'll be heading in to school tomorrow morning and try to get some studying done there where there MIGHT be a few less distractions... I hope.

Still Studying...

2008-12-19T11:43:00.002+01:00

I feel that I'm studying constantly... but without actually making ANY progress forwards. Tons of things in C++ that I don't understand. Math is going better but I'm having major problems with integrals. I've got less than a month until finals and tons of things involving Christmas and New Years that need to be done. Oh, and did I mention that I need to understand C++ well enough to make a game before school starts back up? Bleh.

Today I'm hoping to go Christmas present shopping, clean the house, fry up some chicken for tonight's dinner, and get the Christmas tree set up. A bunch of David's family is coming over for Fika tomorrow. I don't think we have enough places for all of them to sit. I need to go buy some fika treats for them to eat... and I think we need to borrow a bigger coffee pot... Otherwise only 4 people will get coffee every 10 minutes.

And as usual, here's a random link.
Confused 10 year Old
This time the link is from CNN. I guess sometimes that it is really difficult to decide what is actually best for a kid. I'm sure this isn't it, but I'm not sure I know what is the best for her. Just something to think about. I've got to throw something not mind numbingly technical into my posts. I can't neglect the side of me that has studied social studies the past 5 years. :)

Another random BBC link.

2008-12-17T20:56:00.003+01:00

Syrian underclothes

This is just another BBC article. But it made me think, mostly because it goes against what the media generally reports as coming out of the middle east in terms of women's rights and and such.

Anyways. Phosare meeting today went really well. Not much happened, but I got a chance to socialize and to see who else made phosare. There are a LOT of datorspels peoples. We're like half the phosare force. It'll be fun! I can't wait!

Facebook

2008-12-16T19:21:00.002+01:00

For some random reason (probably related to boredom and not wanting to study) I've rediscovered facebook. I've been spending insanely too much time there. I guess it's a way to socialize even when I'm sitting in a lecture or bored at home. Same reason as I hang out on irc probably.

Anyways... I was too lazy to find a nice article to post today, so you get to go without. I'm done with classes for the rest of the year though! I am going to go back tomorrow for a phosare mote, and perhaps one last fika before Christmas break. Thinking to wear my student overalls tomorrow, just because I can!

Are parents responsible?

2008-12-15T09:48:00.002+01:00

S Korea parents fined over rape

This is just a random BBC link, but it brings up an interesting point. Are parents responsible for their child's behavior? At what age does that stop? I've seen very good parents have like 5 angels and one kid that is the devil. And nothing would get that one badly behaved kid to act like the others. But I've also seen examples of very very bad parenting that still resulted in amazingly well adjusted children and adults. It is an interesting thought to kick around in my head though.

Phosare!

2008-12-14T18:33:00.002+01:00

Well! I've made phosare. I'm not totally sure what I've just got myself into, but it should be fun anyways. I really should update my blog more often. I say that everytime I post something here. But this time it has been a REALLY long time since I last posted. School has, as usual, been crazy. I've been meeting up a lot with friends.

Yesterday we had 'bar emptying', which was fun. The evening started with someone too drunk to buy anything, and ended with the police showing up. But actually no real problems. I didn't work in the bar really. I know I'm totally useless there. I did collect a lot of glasses, did a lot of dishes, and spent lots of time standing in the door or refilling the fridge. Fun fun fun!

Now I've only got a few more days left before this thing that we call 'vacation' but just actually is a chance to catch up on school work.

The color Pink

2008-10-19T11:54:00.002+02:00

I've discovered an interesting thing when hanging around large groups of guys... they hate pink. Which just makes me want to embrace it. It's actually rather odd when you think about it. A color is just a color, right? But why would guys hate pink so much?

Here's an interesting link:
http://cerise.theirisnetwork.org/archives/181

The question really comes up... can one enjoy pink? I feel that I can fit into a room full of guys, through my own identity. It doesn't require trying to distance myself from all things girly and pink. I can be good at math and hopefully some day, good at programming... all without trying to avoid pink.

Being a girl doesn't mean that one has to love pink, being a guy doesn't mean that one has to hate pink. But pink, like it or not, has a lot of connections with being female. And damn it, I like being female!

I think I'll try to choose pink over other colors when given a choice in today's world. At least the guys in class won't try to take my stuff. ;) They probably think it'll poison them!

Wedding party this evening!

2008-09-13T16:12:00.002+02:00

Well! This evening is our Swedish wedding party. It's really low key. We're going to have a pot-luck, and maybe play a few games. Mostly it's just an excuse for a party. It'll be quite much fun I hope!

School has been a LOT of work. I feel that I barely even have time to think between everything. It is fun though. It gives me some purpose to wake up in the morning. That's always good.

Oh! And I also got my school overalls yesterday. I need to wash them, remove the sleeves, dye them black, wash them again, reattach the sleeves, take them to get a pattern put onto the back, then sew lots of things onto them. And I think I might sew them into a skirt, but I haven't totally decided yet. Always fun!

Anyways, back to work!

Wow...

2008-09-07T19:06:00.001+02:00

School start has been just crazy. I've had almost no time to think, let alone blog.

Anyways, I've started a new program at school. It's an engineering degree in Computer Game Development. Somewhat surprisingly, I'm the only girl in the program... in the last 5 years.

We're studying Calculus, Python, and I'm doing physics too. It's a tough starting course load.

The two weeks before the start of school we had 'nollening' which is like two weeks of getting to know the other first years. That was crazy because we had preparatory math at the same time.

It's fun to be starting something new, and I've always wanted to learn to program. We'll see how this goes. I'd rather have a job, but since jobs seem to be few and far between right now, I might as well accomplish something while looking.

Pictures!

2008-07-23T09:47:00.002+02:00

I've now got the pictures online from the wedding. Our pictures anyways. Others will go online at later dates.

This weekend we're going on a little road trip. I can't wait!

Besides this? Not much happening. I think I've got permission to start at the university program I want this fall, but I'd still rather have a job. Oh well. I guess we take what we get.

The weather is looking nicer too. Perhaps we can bbq tonight for dinner! Yum yum!

Guitar Hero

2008-07-14T16:30:00.001+02:00

Well, the house is pretty clean now. So there isn't much in the way of wifely duties to do. And I made a nice big stew this weekend so we'll have food for another day or two.

So what do I do with myself?

I play Guitar Hero! It is this video game with a controller shaped like a guitar that David and I got for our wedding. Fun fun!

The Bedroom Dream

2008-07-08T11:12:00.004+02:00

I've got an awful lot of dreams going on at the moment... there's the dream for a new kitchen, getting my drivers license, and then the newest (?) one... the new bedroom. This is prompted by me getting up this morning to go to the bathroom, only to return and find someone had taken up the rest of the bed. Now I know I could have pushed him over and taken back my fair share... but he's been so tired that I just moved myself out to the couch.

I couldn't really fall back asleep so instead I played around with Ikea's website and my little scale models of the apartment. I've decided for 2000kr I could get new bedroom furniture. This doesn't include the all important bed though, which seems to cost a minimum of 4000kr. Although I like the one in the Jysk advertisement for 7000kr that looks a lot like an American bed. I'd happily take a nice bed frame and a mattress though too. Ikea has some nice ones, but expensive if you don't want white. The picture above has the cost written on the wardrobe, but that's because I was too lazy to rename that bit of furniture, I already own that.

Not that I should be dreaming about stuff like this since we don't really have much money right now, and the kitchen has a higher priority. But hey! I can always dream!

The Bags Arrive!

2008-07-06T19:53:00.002+02:00

Our bags have arrived! And nothing inside any of the 4 bags, weighing in at 50 pounds each, broke! yes! The same could not be said for one of the bags itself. The metal frame has been bent to the point that the next smallest bag no longer fits inside. Wonder if that falls under 'normal wear and tear' or not. I'll give SAS a call tomorrow and see if they want to fix the damage or not.

Right now I'm starting on major loads of laundry. Ick!

Wedding went well

2008-07-05T20:53:00.002+02:00

Wow, it's been a month since I last found time to sit down in front of my computer and upgrade properly. I'm jet-lagged beyond belief at the moment, and have none of the 4 checked bags. Oh well. Such is life.

The wedding went wonderfully and I'll try to get pictures online for that sometime next year. Ok, maybe sooner than that.

Right now I'm just way too tired to post much of anything!

2 weeks to go!

2008-06-06T06:30:00.003+02:00

Wow! Has it really been an entire week since I last found time to write? It's just crazy. David is here now and today we went and did a bit of shopping, met with the priest, and did a bit more shopping. We've also finished up the last of the favors and organized some closets. We've organized all the wedding documents. And we've watched about 4-5 hours of home and garden TV while doing everything else.

Tomorrow we're going to the mall to buy shoes for David, some red ties, presents for people, and perhaps some makeup for me.

I wish I had the energy to type up all the odd thoughts going through my head right now. 13 days until we get married. I wonder if I'll feel like an adult then? When does one stop feeling like 'a kid' and begin feeling like an adult instead?

3 weeks left...

2008-05-28T17:36:00.003+02:00

In 3 weeks I'm going to get married! Man it feels like I've still got tons of things to do. I'm waiting on 4 packages of things I've ordered online too.

It's crazy thinking that I'm getting married... it makes me feel so adult all of a sudden. I don't really feel like an adult, but I feel that I should feel like an adult. That almost makes sense I guess.

There are a million details that go into weddings. The big things like invites, the dress, the shoes, the food, and the locations. But there are also a million small things like making sure we have enough coloring books and crayons for the kids, making sure I've got the right jewelry for the wedding, the many many fittings of the dress with small alterations each, and the thank you presents for those who are helping me. That's what the four packages are.

The house also needs to be cleaned and recleaned, laundry washed, and everything looking shiny and nice before guests show up. I think I'm going to spend today trying to make sure that all the doors and light switches in the house are spotless. I'll have to do it at least one more time before the wedding too, but that's the way it works.

I'm sure I'm forgetting to buy thank you presents for someone... I haven't bought anything for my maids yet... and I'm sure my mom needs something better than what I've ordered for her. Eek! I hope I remember who I'm forgetting soon!

In California

2008-05-25T16:14:00.002+02:00

Well, I'm in California. It's been REALLY busy here. This is what I've been up to since I arrived...

Tuesday evening - plane landed, found fast food, went home and slept.
Wednesday - Tried to get a guest count, slept lots, realized I had a 103 fever. Slept more.
Thursday - Shoe shopping attempt 1.
Friday - Mom and Dad gone all day to help the brother move. Had steaks for dinner at 9pm when they got home.
Saturday - Another day of shoe shopping, finally found the right shoes.
Today (Sunday) - I'm supposed to help my dad put together some mailers to send to relatives with directions. Not sure at all why they weren't included in the invites, but oh well.

Meanwhile I've assigned David the task of helping me put together 'Welcome Packets' for the Swedes. That way when they arrive they'll have some guidelines of stuff to do to avoid driving my parents insane, and they'll also have some ideas of fun things to do in the area.

Once David gets here I need to take him tie shopping, meet the priest, meet the DJ, and do the 100 thousand last minute things that I haven't thought about yet. (Seating chart? Vows? Rings?)

I'd like to go curl up and sleep for a week. Oh well.

One month left

2008-05-18T17:28:00.000+02:00

Today is the 18th. I'm getting married in a month! Wow!

VG in Math D!

2008-05-16T22:11:00.002+02:00

Wow! I was totally surprised today when I got an email saying that not only did I pass the math test, but I got a VG (well-passed). Yea! It was the lowest VG one could get, but I did it! There was a third of the book that I didn't understand at all, and about a third of the problems on the test I just left totally blank because I didn't even know where to start. And yet I still managed to pull off a VG. That's quite scary actually. I don't think with this little grasp of a topic in a math class in the states I would have gotten much more than a low pass, if I even passed. A VG is considered to be quite a good grade in Sweden and is the highest grade level at university (there is one more at the highschool level though). Weird! But I'm happy!

Tuesday, US!

Done!

2008-05-14T20:56:00.002+02:00

I'm finally done with almost all of Swedish. Took my last national test today. Wow it feels nice. I'm not sure how I did, but I feel that I passed at least. I'm hoping that I got an MVG, but I know I probably just got a G or VG. I never ever understood what was needed to get an MVG, which makes it really hard to get. Oh well. Tuesday I leave for the states, I've started doing laundry and collecting things to pack already. I can't believe it's so close.

On Sunday David and I will be making phone calls to EVERYONE whose rsvp card my mother hasn't received. Ugh. Not looking forward to it, but needs to be done. Missing about 10 cards from Sweden. According to tradition my mother would make the phone calls since she is hosting the party. I can't believe the number of people who think that just telling David via sms works instead of sending the nice printed invite card to my mother. It is my parents who are throwing the party, not us. Can't imagine why anyone else would ever try to tell someone that they're coming to a party someone else is hosting and hope the message gets through. I checked the Swedish etiquette website, and even in Sweden written invites require written responses. Oh well, can't expect everyone to follow conventions. I just wish the Swedes weren't the worst of the bunch. Doesn't make them look really good. I knew I should have put return postage on all of those things. We just didn't have the money.

My mother is really looking forward to me flying out there, she says she has tons of wedding stuff for me to do. I believe it! I'm slightly fearful of whatever she has planned, but I imagine I'll survive!

Man, it feels good to be done with the Swedish test. Took me about 5 hours of writing, but it's done!

Valborgs and the First of May

2008-05-01T09:29:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was a semi-holiday. Valborgs. In Uppsala it would be celebrated with starting a day with champagne breakfast. Here I did two hours of math homework until David woke up... then we wrote up a shopping list and went shopping. Can you get a bigger difference? This year we celebrated only around dinner time by going out to a friend's place and grilling some meat. It was quite nice and relaxing. David didn't drink and instead drove us around. I drank very little since I was planning on getting up early and working on math homework again. It didn't happen since I didn't get to sleep until around 2am since the entire neighborhood was trying to see how many fireworks they could set off, and how many things they could blow up. They did this from about 10 in the morning until I was finally too tired to notice at 2 in the morning the next day.

Today is the first of day and it is a true holiday. It is marked in red on the calenders, like Sundays. So it is a 'red day' in Swedish. I plan to spend the day doing Swedish and math homework. I also have to clean the apartment, and go shopping so that I'll have the mushrooms to make lunch and dinner. I like to buy those the same day I plan to use them.

Ugh. Just thinking about everything I need to do today makes me want to go back to bed!

Where does time go?

2008-04-24T08:26:00.002+02:00

I've only got 3 weeks until I leave for the states and I've got an amazing amount of things that need to be done in that time.

Wedding:
Man, there is just so much left to do here. I'm not even sure where to start. Before I leave for the states though I need to figure out a bit with music, and start making tons of phone calls for all the response cards that my mom hasn't received. Deadline is the 18th, so we'll make the Swedish calls before I go. David and I have to call each and every person who my mom hasn't received a card from by the 18th. Not looking forward to it.

Swedish:
I've got the National Test on the 7th and the 14th. The written part I can't really do much about except read over the information a few times. The spoken section though... I need to have a speech prepared by the 7th of May. That's a bit scary. I also need to put together a presentation about an author from my homeland and a few other small assignments.

Math:
I've NO idea when the final date for this is... but I suspect it is in Early May. I've still quite a bit left to do. But this weekend with David gone I should be able to get lots done. It's going a bit slower than I expected since I had to backtrack and redo lots of the C level before the D level since I had forgotten so much.

Everything Else:
And on top of all of this there are still the usual things of cleaning the house, washing clothes, planning and making dinners and lunches and breakfasts, going to the gym, entertaining friends that show up, and making colorful posters with glitter at the unemployment office.

The next 3 weeks are going to be stressful, but still hopefully enjoyable!

Snow away!

2008-04-17T19:16:00.002+02:00

The snow is melting! It really honestly is! I'm hoping it'll be gone before I leave for the states on the 20th of May. Right now there are literally rivers running along the pathways as the snow melts from all over and searches for the drains. This week I actually wore my spring shoes AND my sneakers. Not on the same day of course. It's a big change after wearing winter boots since October.

Math

2008-04-16T07:23:00.002+02:00

I am getting so tired of math at times! Although the idea of teaching myself calculus in a relatively short time period is quite scary, I'm still doing quite well. I'm not sure I'll be able to learn all of this so quickly, but I'm hoping! And hoping still that all this work will pay off and I'll get into the computer program I want!

Adult Day

2008-04-13T00:53:00.001+02:00

Today feels like it has been a very adult day!

We got up, made a shopping list, and went out and bought food for the rest of the week. Then we came back, ate dinner, and then drove out to a friend's place. There I got to see the new baby and the rest of her children and have a nice fika. Then we came home, I slept for awhile, then we went out to another friends' place for dinner. We sat around with a family that has an 18 month year old, and some other friends, played a board game, and just had a nice quiet evening. It was all really very much 'adult' fun. It's weird to feel so adult like.

We've got an apartment we own, not renting, own. We're going to buy a different car. We're getting married. This feels so adult-like it can almost be scary!

More wedding stuff

2008-04-11T06:32:00.002+02:00

We got done a ton of the small planning things that have been collecting yesterday. I finally got my hotel recommendation list together for everyone who gets added to the email list. Which is about 3 people right now. So they're all the ones who will be getting updates on driving rules, hotels, vegas bits, etc. I can't force people to send me a quick email.

I've been studying math like crazy this week too. I've also got tons of other homework to get done before I go since I'm actually missing the last few weeks of class too. My to do lists are getting longer instead of shorter.

I've been really bad about getting to the gym. With everything else this week I just feel so drained. Next week though, when I don't have 150 thousand things with applying to university to deal with. Then I'll try and get back to going there 4 days a week. I REALLY do need to get back into shape before the wedding!

Wedding Planning

2008-04-09T07:23:00.003+02:00

Well, the invites have been sent out and now we're just waiting for people to say if they are coming or not. My mom has gotten one of the response cards back already. Yea! We've got so much more planning and stuff to do though. There's still music choices to be made, a dance to be learned, and 100s of other small things to do. We have bought our plane tickets now, which I'm sure will make everyone else happy. I get to be in the US for 1.5 months and David for about a month. It'll be so much fun!

In other news I've FINALLY gotten my grades back from the people who were 'translating' them. It only took them 6 months and the end result? A single sided piece of paper, saying that I've got about 8 classes above and beyond what I need to get into University, and that I still need Swedish. Ok fine, but it DOES mean that it changes my study plans for the fall. Originally I was trying to get into something called a 'teknisk basår' or technical base year. It'd give me all the math and science I need to get into an engineering program. Except now I only need 3 classes, one math and two science. The guidance counselor thinks I can get an exception for the two science classes and take those two next year, BUT I need the math. So I'm now going to spend the next month frantically trying to learn a year's worth of math. It doesn't look as hard as I first expected. The D course (the one I'm missing) seems relatively easy. The hard part is going to be getting through the C course first. I've got that class on paper, but since they break up the classes differently here, lots of it is new. Today I'm going to go try and track down a book for the D class, and a teacher, and a few other things as I try to get everything into order. Fun fun fun? Not completely sure, but it's a shot! Worse comes to worse and I just do the technical base year and start in the spring or fall with my actual studies.

10 weeks!

2008-04-03T05:55:00.002+02:00

We've only got 10 weeks until the wedding and it feels like there are still tons of things left to do. There are the invites, the music, the flowers, the vows, the priest, the decorations, the table placements, etc.

In about 1.5 months I'll be in the states helping my mom with the returning invites and whatnot. We'll have to be making a ton of phone calls I suspect for people who do not return the cards. I'm curious how many will actually be able to make it or not and who will have guests and what not. EEK! This is going to be so much fun!

I've also decided that I need to be MUCH healthier to look my best for the wedding. This means going to the gym 4 days a week, going for walks in the evening, and eating healthier. I've decided to avoid candy, drink only one soda a week, and cut alcohol consumption to only 2 drinks a week. I'm also going to try to eat a lot more fruits and veggies. Poor David, I'll probably drag him along on this a bit. I'm not going to force him to eat healthy and stuff, since that's impossible, but I am going to try to get him to go for a walk a week with me and to not try to get me to break my healthy habits! 10 weeks isn't THAT much time to try and be a bit healthier!

But it's 6.10 in the morning and I should go to the gym. I wonder if it matters if I go at 10 instead today? Man, I'm lazy!

Wedding Plans

2008-03-29T09:39:00.003+01:00

Well, the wedding plans are in full swing now. My mom is asking me for details and we're going to buy our tickets to the states soon.

The quest to find affordable tickets is an annoying one, but I think we're going to end up working with a travel agent since David and I are flying on different dates and such.

This past week we've been cleaning and organizing, the stairs still aren't painted, but we have cleaned out the linen closet and the kitchen cabinets. We have also done a ton of laundry including the rugs.

Tonight we've got dinner at a friend's house. It should be nice and fun! I'm looking forward to it.

Continuing the Job Search

2008-03-11T09:36:00.003+01:00

I've been working really hard lately on trying to find a job. I'm having absolutely no luck, which is a bit depressing.

In other news, I need to figure out what to make for dinner.

Sick

2008-02-26T11:33:00.002+01:00

I've been so sick the past week or so that I've not really done anything. I stayed in bed for 5 days and I haven't left the house in 8. I have learned though that I can't handle the main cough medicine here that you can get with a prescription because the morphine in it makes me vomit. Lovely isn't it? So I'm on prescription number 2, which works less well, but is way nicer to my stomach.

I'm really looking forward to being off of school next week. David will be home too. Speaking of David, he got himself one of those step measuring devices. So now I will have to drag him out on LONG walks so that he doesn't let his team down at school. I'm trying to convince him that he should walk to work each morning, but he doesn't seem to be buying the idea. It's only about 20-30 minutes to walk there and it'd be good for our gas usage and for his health! Although it IS cold outside! In another few weeks though, then it will be light even when he comes home from work at 5.

Myself, I'm hoping that I'll make it out of the house this evening. Tomorrow I've got to be at the unemployment office and I'm hoping to get back to school tomorrow. Thursday hopefully I can get back to the gym. Since I still have to go lie down a lot right now, I figure it's probably best to wait until Thursday for any serious exercise again.

Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T12:09:00.002+01:00

Today I'm going to get flowers! I know this because I told David that he was to buy me flowers. We've got a nice dinner planned for tonight too.

Meanwhile, I'm cleaning the house and going to meet someone for fika today. Always fun. Swedish is taking up a huge amount of time to study actually. Between books to read, words to learn, and papers to write... not to mention lectures to attend, it takes quite a lot of time. The job search is coming along. I applied to another new job yesterday, we'll see if I get it or not. And tomorrow is the unemployment office. Fun fun fun.

Winter Festivities!

2008-02-07T19:35:00.000+01:00

David and I are going to have a winter party Saturday night! I'm so looking forward to it! We're going out to the summer house and if the snow is good, we'll have snowman building contests and all sorts of other bits of fun. I'll even do prizes!

I need to go shopping and buy stuff for this tomorrow. I can't wait!

TIRED!

2008-02-06T16:23:00.000+01:00

It's amazing how tired one can be after just one day. Today was a pretty busy day. Started out with biking out to the far side of town in order to give English lessons. Then did that for an hour, then biked home. On the way home I got myself completely soaked when a big truck drove through a puddle. Even my hat was soaking wet. My winter jacket and pants got dirty too. Then came home, ate a fast lunch, did my homework, then biked to school. Then I got to sit through /3/ hours of Swedish lessons. Then bike home. I shoveled the snow on the front driveway then came inside. I'm doing laundry now since those clothes need washing. I hope they'll dry before tomorrow. They should since they are synthetic. I've also picked up most of the apartment. How do we end up with clothes everywhere. I've got some more cleaning to do, dishes, vacuuming, dinner, and homework. NO idea where I'm going to get the energy. Life is life. *WHINE* I think I'm going to come to hate Wednesdays.

Gym Training!

2008-01-29T19:50:00.001+01:00

Well, I went to the gym today with a friend and worked out for the first time in a long time. I bought the gym card yesterday and this morning at 6.45 I left for the gym. I didn't train very much or very long, but it felt good. Then afterwards I walked home. It took me about an hour to walk home since I stopped to buy breakfast on the way.

I need to decide what days and times I want to work out. My friend is there at 7am most mornings, but I'm not sure I want to get up that early every day! Perhaps just one or two days a week that early and the other days go in an hour later. My gym card was a bit expensive at 1200 kr, but I bought a cheap one. It is good for only 4 months and only between the hours of 7-15 on weekdays and all day on weekends. I don't plan to go to the gym much in the evenings anyways, so it works out well for me. I think I'll go to the gym again on Thursday, then perhaps again on Friday if I'm feeling up to it, but I don't want to do too much too soon. Then it'll hurt and I won't want to go back again!

Housewife... NOPE!

2008-01-24T12:12:00.000+01:00

I'm the WORST blogger ever right now! It's been more than a month since I last update this blog. I guess it's because I've been a combination of VERY busy and VERY bored. Between the internship and going home for Christmas for 2 weeks, I was busy. Then when I got back I started up school again, which is boring.

Today is cleaning day. I don't really like cleaning. I also get to make dinner... I am SO not cut out to be a house wife. :P

More working!

2007-12-02T13:57:00.000+01:00

I've gotten an increase in my work. I'm working until Christmas pretty much now. I'm glad because it's 3 extra weeks and I'm really having a fun time. It is a bit stressful though going from studying halftime to studying part time and working full time! The apartment is a LOT messier than it was before. Oh well.

And not that much longer until Christmas! Weee!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T15:50:00.000+01:00

I had two lovely Thanksgivings. I did a small one here at the apartment on Thanksgiving Day. Peter flew up from Uppsala and helped me lots with the food. It was nice to see him again. Then last night we went to the official American gathering type thing here in town. It was soooo much fun! It felt like a real Thanksgiving with kids underfoot and people of all ages from the 3 week baby to the grandmothers. It wasn't MY family, but it was a big family gathering with people from lots of families and there was lots of English spoken. Next year I'll see if I can invite David's family to that and do more along the lines of one big Thanksgiving, but we'll see.

Also... I should not make 6 kilos of potatoes into mashed potatoes next year. It was a LOT of mashed potatoes...

Working in the schools

2007-11-13T18:41:00.000+01:00

It's been just crazy! I've been having a ton of fun working at the school on this internship, but it is also a ton of work. I get to see the bad sides when the students fight, argue, and generally try to act as close to 3 year olds as they can... as well as the good sides when the students actually surprise their teachers by doing their homework and working quietly. I still can't say if this is exactly what I want to do with myself, but it doesn't seem THAT bad either.

Besides this, everything is going really well. We've bought tickets home to visit my family for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to that. My mom paid half the tickets home as our Christmas presents. I've started thinking now about what to give various people as well as things I want. Top of my list is things like warm winter clothes, the boards that go on the floor between rooms (we're still missing two) and a working vacuum cleaner. Whatever happened to the days when we used to get toys! *laugh*

For Christmas David and I are each responsible for one 40-50 dollar present. We'll wrap it, and put it under the tree. Then we draw numbers to see who gets to go first. The first person takes a present from under the tree, unwraps it, and shows it to everyone. Then the next person can either take the first person's present, or take a chance under the tree. The third person can take either the first or the second person's present, or take a chance. This continues until all the presents are opened. Presents can typically only be stolen 3 times. Hehe.

Beyond that, we'll get stuff for both sets of parents, whoever David says we need to buy presents for, some of our close friends, my brother, David's brother, and probably my grandpa. Oh, and the children of course. They always get presents. It's part of being a kid!

Seems crazy to think of Christmas already! It isn't even Thanksgiving yet!

2007-11-01T08:07:00.000+01:00

Wow. Whatever happened to the times when I posted blog entries every day? I think that requires free time that I don't have!

Anyways, yesterday was a VERY boring Halloween. A bit sad that such a cool holiday isn't celebrated here. Oh well, it isn't their tradition. I did wander around downtown dressed as a devil and was glared at by tons of old ladies. It was so much fun! Friday will be nice though, then we will have our own Halloween party. I've got tons to do before then. Today I'm going to try and get the place decorated.

Yesterday I made cookie dough. Some of it is orange. I'm thinking about trying to make pumpkin cookies. We'll see how they turn out. The dough needs to sit in the fridge for awhile, so I'll be making the cookies today. I also need to bike out to systemet and buy David a few öl for the party.

I've got tons of cleaning and decorating and what not to do before the party. I'm really looking forward to it though!

Oh! ANd I think I've got a Praktik now. It's like an internship. It pays very little, but it does pay! It'll be parttime at a school for 7th-9th graders. In the Swedish system...until they are around 15 years old. It should be quite fun. I've got a meeting with the unemployment office about it on Friday. Hopefully everything goes well! It'll be for 4 weeks and hopefully everything works out! Weee! It's just parttime since I don't want to drop out of Swedish classes though.

That's life. I'll try to be better at updating this thing!

2007-10-11T18:20:00.000+02:00

Well, this week I've been running from school to school. Just today I was at VUX from 8.30-10.00. Then at 10.00 I was back at Anderstorp until 11.15. I biked home, ate lunch, and was back at Anderstorp at 12.00 to be picked up by a teacher. I don't usually leave the center of town since I'm lazy and have a lot of teachers who have contacted me. This school offered to come pick me up. So I went there and helped out with 3 classes. The kids had such nice questions and I was really impressed with how much Swedish they knew! I was even able to teach the teachers a few new English words. It was a nice day.

Tomorrow I've got lots of assignments due for my own Swedish classes and on Monday I've got another Swedish test. I'm going to study lots on Friday and Sunday. Saturday I'm going to IKEA. David is getting a couch from his parents for his birthday. I think it is a great present since then I can use it again too. So once I'm done with my homework and my shower and laundry and everything, then I can look at their website and plan out what things it is that I want to get. And what things it is that we might have money towards.

David is working full time as a substitute teacher for at least the next few weeks. He is so much happier when he comes home. I hope he gets to keep his teaching job for a LONG time! I'm still unemployed, but it feels that I hardly have much time since I'm running between schools. I'm doing almost all the schools for free, but I'm having a wonderful time really. Just be better if I was earning money while having a nice time!

Anyways, on to homework! And I hope this laundry is done soon, I have more that I want to start!

Busy busy busy!

2007-10-03T11:52:00.001+02:00

Yet another post about being busy. I'm hoping it is an excuse for not posting more often.

David and I have /finally/ gotten all of our save the date cards mailed. That took about 3 weeks of work.

Also, I've started working even more in the schools, without pay of course. I've got an English as the mothertongue class with 3 students. They can all speak English, but just need a bit more work on being more comfortable in it and getting up to grade level in reading and writing. I've also had a meeting with the School and Culture office here. So I've started getting lots of requests from other schools who want me to come in for a couple of days and work with their classes. Still no pay, but I'm moving in the right direction.

I'm thinking about going back to school in the fall and studying to be a teacher. English teacher and perhaps economics or math or something. I'm not sure on what grade level, but pretty sure the last years before university, or else the years right before highschool. I don't want to have to teach all topics, especially not Swedish! Next semester I'm hoping to take Swedish B, perhaps a math class, some economics, and maybe social studies A. I'm not sure I need to take social studies A, but if I do, I should get it out of the way. If I work hard and stuff, then I might begin studying in the fall. It'll mean a LONG commute (2 hours each way) but it might get me prepared for something that I like to do. I'm really enjoying working in the schools!

This afternoon I've got a meeting with a teacher at the local gymnasium, and tomorrow I'll go and help out with her class in the afternoon. Assuming she likes me and all!

Meanwhile, the kids in the school out the window seem to be having a game of raking leaves. I think they're making large piles to jump into! Looks like more fun than studying Swedish!

Internship Quest

2007-09-20T08:11:00.000+02:00

Well, the unemployment office found me a nice internship I can apply for. It is minimally paid, but the experience would be wonderful. I'm not sure I know enough information for it, but I can try. It is about the EU and is here in town. Go around to schools and such and inform people about the EU. I don't think I know enough Swedish either, but I hope I do!

Anyways, the Swedish way of internships is a bit odd. You can't have an unpaid internship since that would upset the unions. So someone has to pay you, even if it is like 10 dollars a day or whatever. It also seems that they can't take on an intern if they've recently fired or laid off anyone.

This whole system frustrated me when I first got here. I was willing to work for free for a few months as long as there was a possibility of it leading towards a real job in the future. I figured that someone would be much more likely to take a chance with the 'weird foreign girl' if they didn't have to pay me. Then I could prove myself and work things out. Unfortunately that is not how the labor market works here. I'm not sure I'll ever understand it, but I am trying.

In other news, I'm helping out two days a week at specific times with English classes now. I'm hopefully going to start tutoring in English a bit too. I also step in when requested and help out in English classes with one time meetings rather than weekly meetings. The apartment is ALMOST done. It's been sitting at the same almost done for awhile since we've not done anything with it since last weekend. My driving theory classes are going well too. David and I really need to go out driving every evening or something. Yesterday, instead of going driving, David and I worked on our 'save the date' cards. The design is done now. I just have to print them, glue them, address them, and put stamps on them. Then they will be ready to be mailed. Hopefully that will be on Monday.

Unknown

2007-09-16T18:31:00.000+02:00

I'm not even sure what to call this blog post really! Life has been both exciting and extremely boring lately. I've had Peter over for two days, that was fun. And we've been working lots on the apartment. I'm also going to be helping people or classes with English Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday this coming week. I've got two Swedish tests tomorrow too.

That's life summed up quickly.

I'm having a much nicer time in Skellefteå now. We have an apartment that is livable, we've got a washer and dryer now, and perhaps most importantly... we have friends who come over quite often just to hang out. On top of this I've got stuff to do with my days as well. Studying lots on my own, attending classes, and helping people with their English. Now if only someone wanted to pay me to do this! *laugh*

2007-09-11T11:02:00.000+02:00

It's been awhile since I last wrote a blog entry. It's bit a bit crazy here. The past week we've been unpacking, building furniture, and doing all the other things that happen when you move. David has been working a bit as a teacher too. This entire week he is working, and he worked two half days last week.

I'm doing really well in my Swedish classes. I've dropped the orientation course in Swedish that I didn't really like. Instead I'm just taking Svenska A and Svenska Grund. I'm still studying for samhällskunskap A test. Either next month or more probably, in January.

I'm helping out with an English class at VUX one morning a week. And it looks like I'll be helping out with an English class at the nearby high school one morning a week too. No pay yet, but it gives me something to do at least. And references, and all sorts of other important things that will help me get a job later on.

And either tonight or tomorrow Peter will be coming! He'll be staying for a few days and I'm really going to drag him outside to help me take pictures before it becomes any closer to fall. I need to send my parents some pictures. I can't send them pictures of the inside of the apartment yet since there are still pieces of the walls and floors missing. We spoke to the maintenance workers about getting hot water, and hopefully they'll come look at that soon. And we now have a password to the laundry booking service online. I'm still holding out for getting the washer and dryer tomorrow though. We'll see if it works out.

Swedish A here I come!

2007-09-05T06:51:00.000+02:00

Well, it's been insane the past week. We moved last weekend. I also took a test yesterday that says I can move up a level in Swedish class. But I'm supposed to stay with my old class too and finish up the novel and a few other things. I've no problem with that really. It's more Swedish classes!

David also got to teach his first lecture as a real teacher. He took a day off of cleaning and went in as a substitute. He loved it. I wish we didn't need his income so much. Then he could be a teacher, even if it was just a substitute. He's been offered full time work for just next week too. But he doesn't want to leave his other stable income yet, and he really doesn't want to leave the work place short a cleaner. I need to get at least a part time job. REALLY. Then I can earn some money and he can quit his current job (or work just part time there). And look for teacher work. He'd love that.

Meanwhile. I'm now taking classes or studying the following courses.
Swedish Basic (Svenska grund)
Swedish Extra (in order to pass Basic faster)
Swedish A (first year of highschool Swedish - Svenska A)
Driving Theory (Korkort terori)
Social Studies A (Samhallskunskap A)

I'm thinking about dropping the Extra course. Because then I don't have to get up quite so early on Wednesday mornings.

Also... we're still trying to dig our way out of the giant pile of boxes. We spent most of yesterday trying to find a bag of screws that puts together 4 bookshelves. That will let us empty a whole TON of boxes. They were in a big bag of shoes. Go figure.

COLD

2007-08-30T07:52:00.000+02:00

How the heck is it this cold in August?!? On Tuesday when I biked to school people were wearing gloves, jackets, and scarves. That's just not right. It's still August! I wished I had gloves on then. Wednesday was a bit warmer, but still quite chilly. Today the high is supposed to be 11C and the low is 4C tonight. That's 52F and 40F. And it's still August! We're losing sunlight at a pretty fast rate too. The sun rose at 5.11am and will set at 8.02pm. By Monday the sun will be rising at 5.23am and setting at 7.48pm. That's quite a bit of time to lose in just 5 days. I'm starting to miss California weather already!

In other news, studying at the adult education center is slow and boring. I met with the counselor at CV yesterday and he came up with lots of ideas for things I can do. So I've contacted people at Umeå university about the option of starting something in the spring. Semester hasn't started there yet, but I'm sure that I need to have at least finished elementary school Swedish first. I'm trying to see about getting into a teaching program or something. Then at least I'll be educated to something and get nice long summer breaks. Teaching pays pretty well in Sweden too. Starting monthly pay (before taxes) is about 20,000 kr a month David says. Or about 2,800 USD a month. But taxes take a BIG bite out of that. On the other hand, you don't have to pay several hundred dollars a month towards health insurance.

I'm not completely sure I want to be a teacher yet, it's a LOT more time spent studying. And since this town isn't really a university town, I'd be commuting to Umeå. It's not a short trip. It looks like it takes about 2 hours one way. But the county (kommun) pays half the travel costs, so I'd just buy a month card and use that. It is possible, but it isn't exactly the best option in the world. I do want an education and it isn't something offered at the local campus.

Well, I've got lots to think about. Meanwhile I'm going to try and see what things I can study on my own. If I want to study for a grade in a subject that I'm not enrolled in, I can. Then I take a test and if I pass it is as though I took the course. It costs money to do it this way, it doesn't cost money to take classes. Odd, but true.

Apartment Stuff

2007-08-27T09:45:00.000+02:00

Well, the living room has wallpaper now, so does most of the hallway. Most of the floor and ceiling boards have been cut and now just need to be installed. This leaves putting wallpaper up in the staircase and finishing the last bit of the hallway. We've started moving stuff to the apartment too. I'm almost done washing all the dishes that sat out in the garage collecting dust. Some of them we could write in the dust. ICK! The apartment has enough dust (despite my efforts at cleaning) and I don't want to add more dust to it! Today's plans is for me to bike to the wallpaper store and buy our missing roll. Also I've got school at 12.30-13.50 and I need to eat lunch before hand. So thinking wallpaper store, food store, apartment, eat instant pie or something, then to school. Then back to apartment. Then wait around there cleaning and stuff until David or whoever else shows up. I think the plan is to finish the wallpaper tonight, so the more preparation work I can do before they show up, the sooner we all get to go to bed!

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to go finish up with the dishes in the kitchen so that maybe we can move them out to the apartment tonight or tomorrow.

Oh, and we only broke one glass so far in the move. Not bad really!

New website!

2007-08-23T09:34:00.000+02:00

I've started a new website. You can find it HERE. It's a page where those who are learning Swedish in Sweden can write something about themselves. I've heard so many of my friends and David's friends say bad things about those who study Swedish as a second language that something needs to be done to rid the world of the myths. So anyone who has studied Swedish as a second language in Sweden, or is continuing to do so should send me a little blurb about themselves and perhaps a picture as well. If anyone is REALLY bored they can try to get their classmates to submit things as well. This project will start small, but if I don't get bored or distracted, it might be nice to have something like this! Heck, for all I know it already exists, but I didn't find anything when I searched Google.

school

2007-08-22T06:33:00.000+02:00

Well, I had my first day of school yesterday. It was quite nice. I think I'm going to enjoy my classes. Thankfully they expect a bit more out of us than SFI in Uppsala did. There we didn't do anything. My two classes are Swedish and Swedish 'extra'. I have 8 hours total of lectures a week. So that's about equal to the number of lectures I'd have a week in the US if I was studying 8 of the 12 points that are needed to be studying full time. So 75% is pretty equal.

Also, yesterday I went and spoke to some of the English teachers at the VUX school where I study. (Vuxen means adult in Swedish). I'm going to try to help them out with their classes. That way I have something more to do with myself since I still haven't found a job. In another week or two once the regular schools calm down I might go leave some CVs and notes at the schools near where I live offering to help as well. I don't expect pay for this, but it's something to with myself. And since it's volunteer work, I can always stop if it becomes too difficult or if I do get a job or something. But meanwhile, it's another thing I would be able to write on my CV.

Speaking of CV, I went and made myself an appointment at the CV leading place at the school. They're like counselers. You come to them and say 'I don't know what I want to do with myself' and then they can help. I'm going to discuss what I need to study next semester and stuff if I don't get a job so that I can get a job in the future. That meeting is a week from today.

Today, I've got classes from 8.30 until 11.30. Then I'm going to go find lunch. Then go into town and visit the library and the bookstore. Then back to the apartment and do some serious cleaning. We're hoping to be able to move in this weekend. Everything won't be done, but enough will be done that we won't be throwing large amounts of dust into the air and the main rooms will be wallpapered. We'll still have some painting to do, but that can be done once we move in. Just shift the furniture out.

hehe

2007-08-17T10:31:00.001+02:00

Well, I was checking the unemployment board today and now O'learys is advertising for more personal. I don't think I'll be applying since they already have my information. I guess I just got my application in at the right time. I just wasn't the right person!

But today, today I'll write my GAME application and deliver it either today or tomorrow. And on Monday I'll see about getting myself into the substitute teacher pool for teaching English. Also today, in like another 1.5 hours I'll leave to bike into town and have a nice Fika with the other Americans in town. I got the invite last night.

No job.

2007-08-16T21:18:00.001+02:00

Well, I didn't get the job. They really wanted someone who knew their way around the place and who took more initiative. I thought it was hard to do that on the very first day, but I tried. They wrote my number down for future use and perhaps I can try working again another day. I earned myself 30 kr (all tips) for my day of work. It's something at least!

Tomorrow I'll try applying for GAME. If it isn't raining I'll bike into town and drop off an application there. I've gotta keep trying and I'm sure that I'll find a job sooner or later. Plus school starts on Monday with an orientation meeting at 8.30am. And then Tuesday real school starts. That and working on the apartment should keep me pretty busy.

Mild Job Success!

2007-08-12T09:15:00.000+02:00

Well, I've got some success with job searching. I left a CV at the American sportsbar in town and the called me back the next day. I went in for a short interview. And they gave me a trial day for this coming Thursday evening. If I do well I can work that entire weekend and the job has the chance of becoming a full time job if I want it to be and I'm good at what I do.

But, I need some more Vocab suitable for eating out. What people say when you arrive there, when they give you the menu, if they ask you how you're doing or whatever else! If anyone wants to help, please go for it! I could use all the help I can get. Dialogues, phrases, words! Whatever! I really hope I get this job! But even if I don't, there are more bars in town, and always more places to try to find work. Heck, the video game place in town is advertising and wants woman applicants. I couldn't really study while working there, but it might be fun too.

Sun burned!

2007-08-08T17:17:00.000+02:00

Ow ow. I burned myself quite badly today. I noticed exactly how bad when I took a shower. I had to send david to the store to find me something to put on the burns which have really started hurting. Everyone says that it is much harder to get sunburned in Sweden. They obviously don't have skin that's as white as a ghosts! Everything feels soooo warm right now. I guess I'm paying the price for lazing around by the ocean today. 3 or 4 hours... and just OUCH!

Cleaning... again!

2007-08-07T11:29:00.000+02:00

Well. David's woken up the last two mornings, having a hard time breathing. So yesterday David vacuumed and it seemed to help a bit for awhile, but now he's having problems again. So I've decided to clean the bedroom (and maybe the rest of the house depending on the time left) from top to bottom. I took everything out of the bedroom that I could move, removed all the sheets and bedding, and dusted everything I couldn't move.

I'm washing all the sheets (again) and putting clean ones on. I've also taken all the dirty clothes out of the bedroom. Some of those I'm sure we played with the cat in. So it's another laundry day. But the weather is so wonderful I'm able to hand things outside to dry. I'm going to leave the rugs to David to shake out, but the rest of the room I should hopefully be able to handle. We'll see if I manage to get everything washed and dried that needs to go back in there before we go to bed tonight. If not, then there's always the chance that we'll decide to sleep over at the summer house anyways. David's mom has tomorrow off and it'd be nice to spend the day there with her rather than sitting by myself at the house or going to the apartment to work by myself. I just need to make sure David will be able to breath out there since the kitten lives at the summerhouse.

Also, apartment is going well. A big thanks to David's dad on Sunday night! We got the bedroom wallpapered. All without anyone yelling at anyone. It looks so wonderful! I can't wait until we get the rest of the apartment done and we can move in!

Yesterday David and I ran a million chores since it was one of the first days David has had off in awhile, and it was also, thankfully, a weekday. We went to the library, signed me up for swedish classes, went to the unemployment office, dropped off a job application (mine) at a place in town, dropped off a job application (david's) at the school office, and did like a million other things.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go back to the unemployment office at 13.00 in order to sit through a 1.5 hour meeting on 'how one searches for a job'. Except the unemployment place won't do anything for me, and they can't require me to do anything since I'm not getting any money. They seemed actually, to think it was really very odd that I even showed up there since there was no money attached. They said they can give me information, but 99% of the work in finding a job I'll have to do myself. So if I'm out at the summerhouse tomorrow, I'll just reschedule so that I do my group meeting on a different day. They seem to do 3 of them a day, most days of the week.

Nice Party

2007-08-05T11:28:00.000+02:00

There was a really nice party last night at the farm of one of David's friends. It was pretty relaxing. We played some odd games involving guessing songs in teams, ate really yummy pie, and generally socialized.

Tonight we're supposed to finally get something done on the apartment. Wallpaper the bedroom. We still need to sandpaper the old paper off the walls in the living room. Then we just need to paint. After painting and wallpapering we need to fix the floor and ceiling boards. Then we can move in. I can't wait! I hate doing the physical work involved though. Perhaps around 1 or 2 this afternoon I'll walk out to the apartment or get David's brother to drive me. I didn't get much sleep last night because it was quite noisy when we came home from the party. Then I had the window open this morning and some stupid bird sat outside the window, singing as loud as he possibly could manage. We need to teach the cat to hunt noisy birds in the morning.

And the Job Search Continues!

2007-08-03T16:36:00.000+02:00

Well... yesterday I walked to the apartment from David's parents' house. It took me nearly 2 hours, but I figure it was good exercise. I removed the wallpaper from two walls. I still need to go through and remove any remaining small bits and sand the walls so that they are smooth enough for painting. It is hoped that this weekend we will either get the wallpaper up on the walls or else get something painted. I don't know when we're supposed to have time since David works both Saturday and Sunday and we have a party we're supposed to be at Saturday evening, but I'm sure we'll work something out.

Today I spent the entire day studying Swedish and writing a CV/resume and cover letter for another job attempt. This one is for some restaurant work. It is mostly evenings and weekends and it isn't a permanent job. This would be perfect for me since it would let me study in the days to improve my Swedish and since I'd be working in Swedish I could improve my Swedish that way too. It's just part time, but I think that'd be best for me. I think I could be a good waitress! Take orders, give food, wipe tables. I can do that!

Anyways, I'll be applying on Monday when I run all my errands in town, or perhaps later tonight if I'm feeling insane.

By the way, anyone have any job leads in the Skellefteå area? Or any tips on how to find a job besides waiting for the unemployment office to post them on their website? I would rather not have a cleaning or caring job. I'm not quite that desperate yet.

Long Post

2007-08-01T15:05:00.001+02:00

Well... life has been just insanely crazy recently. Here is a quick recap and a promise to update more often and be a better blogger in the future! (Which should be easier now that I have an internet connection)

I went to the US, had a nice time. Visited my relatives.

David and I are now planning a wedding. We're engaged now. I bought the two rings while in the states. My ring has 3 diamonds and David's ring is a simple gold band. Swedish guys get engagement rings. The jewelery store seemed to think that it was a great idea and that American guys should also get engagement rings. The wedding is probably going to be in early June next year. I need to sit down with David's mom next week and figure out the guest list and get the exact date. Then my mom can start booking facilities and services.

The apartment fixing is going pretty well. David has ripped down most of the wallpaper and put a new floor into the bedroom. Now we just need to put new wallpaper up, paint, and do all the little details around the entire apartment. We might also have to remove wallpaper from one more room. Hopefully by the end of August at the latest we will have moved into our new place. My mom is being super kind and has offered me about 1,000 USD towards getting a washer and dryer. That will be just great! I just need to find something decent.

Peter was here visiting for the first week when I was back from the States. It was really fun. We went out and picked berries, sat around, drank wine, and generally celebrated David and my engagement. It works as a good substitute for the engagement party I won't get here in Sweden. I've pretty much resigned myself to not getting lots of the things here that I would get back home. But that's ok, because here is where I live and I've got a ton of things to do with trying to get the apartment ready.

Drivers' License. Apparently I have until I was registered in Sweden for a year to get my Swedish driver's license. So I've got until November or something. I've gone out trying to learn to drive a stick shift with David's car, but I've been having such problems with it. Then in the states I used my uncle's car to try learning. Man, what a difference. I figured out that most of the problems I had with driving are the fault of David's car. It's near impossible to drive I've decided! It's a good thing I've got 5 driving lessons from the driving school in town. I got them as a graduation present from David's family. At least this way I'll get some chance to practice in a car that is actually possible to drive! I miss my old car already. As soon as I get a decent job and have fixed the apartment, taken care of wedding expenses, and everything else that is really important, I'm going to try to find a nice automatic, easy to drive car for myself.

Oh, and the actual trip back from the states was hell. It ended up taking 3 days to go through 5 airports, and sit on 4 airplanes. I actually had British Airways pay for my hotel in Stockholm since their stupid flight delays cost me the last flight of the day. Then, of course, they lost my bags for awhile. I reported them missing on Thursday evening. On Saturday afternoon we got a phonecall that said they had my bags. When they came by they tried to give me one bag that wasn't mine. Yes, I was sure that it wasn't mine. I wanted a large green bag, NOT a small silver bag. The next evening (Sunday) they had managed to find and deliver my last bag. This time, despite the fact that my luggage ended up all over the entire world, only one item in my bags was broken. That is pretty impressive since I moved about half of my dishes here this trip. I lost one small bowl. I'll replace it at Christmas, so no big deal.

Now, I've still not managed to find myself a job. I've been applying for everything that I might possibly be able to handle, but no luck so far. So I'm going to study lots of Swedish in the next month and enroll myself in Swedish classes when they start up in the fall. Perhaps I'll sign up for math or economics classes or something too. Just something to get me out of the house and trying to improve my Swedish so that I have a better chance of getting a job.

Meanwhile... I'm keeping house. Cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, doing dishes, doing lots and lots of laundry, and then repeating all of this constantly. I swear, every time I wake up the house has been trashed again. I'm not quite sure how this happens. It's like magic! Now if only the magic worked the other way around and the house magically cleaned itself instead of magically becoming messy...

Now I promise I'll TRY at least to update this thing more often. I'll have all sorts of wedding plans, apartment progress, job searching, studying, and of course... cleaning to babble on about.

Oh. And I've decided that Sweden in the summer is a rain forest or something. It's only stopped raining for a couple of hours at a time since I got back.

Raining

2007-07-18T19:49:00.000+02:00

It's actually raining right now! It's wonderful since it gets some of the pollen out of the air and really drops the temperature. It's almost 11am and we still have the windows open!

This next week until I leave to go back to Sweden is going to be packed! I've got a bit more shopping to do, a quilt meeting with mom, a bbq with the family, a trip to Reno, packing, socializing, and whatever else comes up! Fun fun fun! I miss David though. And I can't wait to see how wonderful the apartment looks since he's put a full month of effort and work into it!

And at the family bbq I'm finally going to get to see my brother. It's been almost a year since I last saw him. It's really nice that he's found time in his busy schedule to come and visit while I'm back in the US. Hopefully I'll get a job once I'm back in Sweden and have enough money to fly home again at Christmas, bringing David with me.

Boating

2007-07-04T06:54:00.001+02:00

Well, today I went out boating with my family and my uncle's family. It was a lot of fun!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. I haven't been around to celebrate it with my family in a couple of years, so I'm looking forward to this. We won't be doing much with the fire danger so high, but I will spend the day shopping with my mom. A nice AC building when temperature is in the triple digits is quite nice!

This weekend I'll be doing lots of chores around the house. I'll spend quite a few hours helping my dad split wood. Deadly boring, but I need the money if I'm to get that apartment livable. Wallpaper and painting and the worst of the fixing comes first. Then when I get a nice chunk of money saved up, I'm going to redo the kitchen! I want a dishwasher, less ugly cabinets, and to remove a wall. And of course probably fix some of the wallpaper/paint. I spend quite a lot of time in the kitchen, and I'd rather it not be an ugly cave! The kitchen is almost as isolated as the bathroom is! But again, that is in the far future. My uncle just finished building a new house. The kitchen there is just wonderful! I wonder if I'll ever have a house that nice so that I can justify having a really nice kitchen!

Anyways, with lots of shopping tomorrow, I'm off to bed! I hope everyone back in Sweden is having a nice time with the (hopefully) cooler weather!

Dark and Light

2007-06-30T21:06:00.000+02:00

One of the first things that struck me as strange when I first landed in the US was the darkness. I landed at 8pm and it was dark. Completely dark, not just dusk. That was in LA which is quite far south, but still. After not having seen the darkness in the last month or two, it was a bit strange.

I spent the first hour or two out of the airport mentally jumping everytime I heard people using English too. Luckily, that wore off pretty quickly.

It feels a bit odd to be home really. After having been gone for 10 months... it doesn't really feel like I've been gone. My dad drove me around to see all the new things in town, but it doesn't really feel like I've been gone more than a month or something.

The one thing that helped me understand a bit about how long it has been since I've been back here is visiting my younger cousins. The oldest of the three is going to start highschool in the fall. Thankfully even the youngest still recognizes me! ;) I still haven't seen my brother, but maybe he'll come by sometime. This afternoon we're driving out to my grandfather's place and we're going to visit and spend the night there.

Last 2 weeks

2007-06-29T15:38:00.000+02:00

In the past two weeks an amazing amount of stuff has been happening. We moved to the FAR north of Sweden. We carefully moved everything out of the trailers and into the garage. We started looking for apartments. We looked at one apartment. We bought said apartment. We have been trying to fix the apartment up. And then I flew to the US for a month of visiting with my family. During lots of the time while living at David's parents' place I had no internet. So that will partly explain the lack of updates.

The apartment we just bought is in Skellefteå and is supposed to be a 3 rooms and a kitchen. HA! I think it should say 4 rooms. By the way, if you aren't in Sweden, it's a 2 bedroom apartment, with a balcony, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, garage, storage room, living room, AND 2 bedrooms. Problem is, while cheap, the apartment requires quite a bit of work to make it not look like something the cat dragged in. David is happily(?) working on that while I visit sunny California.

The flight over to California was mostly uneventful. I had 2 delayed flights, but neither really changed much except I was half an hour late landing in Reno. And for the 10 hour flight from London to LA, there was like a school group of 60 like 13-15 year olds AND there was no in flight entertainment. Always fun. I also didn't sleep much for some reason. So I was quite glad to finally reach Reno and find my mom had booked a hotel room instead of starting the 2 hour drive home immediately.

First thing we did once we got back to town was to dump me at the dentist. I hadn't been in like a year! That's the longest I've ever been without getting my teeth cleaned. And, as I thought, one of my fillings was loose, so this morning I'll be going back again so they can remove it and refill it. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to this.

Anyways, might be going to be my grandfather's place this weekend to say HI for a day or two. And then will be back again for the 4th of July.

I'll try to update again later with more interesting topics, such as the weird fact that it gets dark here and other observations of someone who has been gone from home for too long.

Moved!

2007-06-15T13:48:00.000+02:00

Moving was exciting. David's parents were godsent. His mother cleaned and scrubbed like that apartment has never seen before. And his dad helped lots with packing and getting another trailer. David is now officially a teacher. We just need to find him a teacher job.

Events while moving involve the fact that we lost the exhaust system on the ford sierra about halfway through the trip. It dropped and started hitting the ground, so we chopped the rest off with an ax. The same car also kept overheating. We made the trip in one day though. Took about 10ish hours to drive the whole way including rest stops and the like.

We've now moved so YEA! Just really need to find jobs soon so that we can get our own apartment. In like 10 days I will be on my way to California too. That's quite good. Once I get back I need to put myself on the unemployed list. I think things will start to go rather well soon though. David has work for the next 2.5 months and that is some income. And we do have a little bit of savings. And right now we aren't paying rent. It will be interesting to see what life brings us at the end of summer!

But for now! I want to go buy food for dinner!

Moving Wednesday!

2007-06-10T11:49:00.000+02:00

Well, the bathroom is packed and mostly cleaned. A big thanks to David there. We've packed up all the books and taken apart all the bookcases we could. Today we're going to try and pack up most of the kitchen, the closet, the computer room, and some of the clothes from the bedroom.

The bbq with our friends last night was fun. It was a really small group since a bunch of people didn't show up. David's promised that we can go outside and try playing kubb this evening again. But that really depends on how we are doing with packing. It's noon and we haven't done anything yet today. But that's because we stayed up REALLY late last night talking to friends and saying our last goodbyes. We have one more gathering Tuesday night, then we leave Wednesday morning.

Thursday, if I haven't heard from the job I applied to, I'm going to go by their office. I really liked the job description and stuff, so I have to try and follow up on it.

Despite everything, I'm really looking forward to moving. And I'm SO glad to be done with my thesis!

The Stolen Bike and the Emperor

2007-06-02T10:59:00.000+02:00

Well. When David last went to Skellefteå he left my bike in the center of town at the train station. It took us about a week to move it partway home to the University house. Then we have been very busy and did not make it back to the bike for something like 3 weeks. The last 3 weeks have been very busy with finishing up the last bits on our final papers. So yesterday, after I turned my thesis in, we had lunch, then went bike hunting.

My bike was not where we left it. So we went and found the guard/maintenance guy for the University house and he said that a few weeks back the police came and moved all the bikes. So that they wouldn't disturb the Japanese Emperor. Except my bike was locked to the bike rack instead of just to itself. The guard said that in that case the police had cut the lock and my bike was surely gone by now. So if we couldn't find it where they moved the bikes to (another bike rack a bit away) then we should call the police, who would call him, and they would buy me a new bike.

So we went off searching for the bike, not expecting to find it. But we did find it! They had cut the lock, but then they tied the lock into a knot to make it look like it was whole. And it sat there for like 3 weeks not really locked. We were quite surprised. Now I don't have a working bike lock though.

So in summery, my bike was stolen by the Uppsala Police, who broke the bike lock in order to move my bike so that its presence near the University building wouldn't disturb the Japanese Emperor. How is that for a story?

Moving?

2007-05-26T22:08:00.000+02:00

I don't even want to THINK about my thesis! I ended up restarting with a blank draft and rewriting everything on Monday. I finished up a draft yesterday and have been working on spell checking and such while waiting for my adviser to get back to me. Meanwhile, something more interesting!

Moving? I've NO idea how to put together and manage a real move in Sweden! Where does one rent trucks? Boxes? Where do I get moving boxes from? Calling and writing to companies to cancel things like apartment, energy, cable? I don't know how to do any of this really. It's times like this I realize that I don't actually have the ability or skills necessary to survive in Sweden. If it wasn't for David I don't think I could manage anything. Even with his help I'm constantly confused about what should be happening.

The other thing about our move that confuses me is the complete lack of planning. Well... we're moving sometime after we graduate but before he starts work. That's about a week time span. I feel like I should be packing and slowly moving things now! But there's nothing I can really do since we're so far away from where we're moving. Lots of our stuff will be going into storage for the summer too. I'll have to keep that in mind when packing. But then it hits me, I don't have to plan TOO much because there isn't the constant summer heat to worry about. I don't have to pack with the assumption that if anything is left outside an AC'ed house things will melt or become damaged. I don't have to try and figure out what things need to be deep within boxes of other stuff so that they don't melt while traveling. I gave up one set of worries to acquire another set! I don't think I've even found all the things that I should be worrying about yet.

Life is boring

2007-05-11T20:07:00.000+02:00

I wish I actually had something to write about, but I don't. Life is basically an unending round of reading books, writing my thesis, and reading more books to write about.

Spring is here too. It seems like the entire city is covered in flowers right now. It's even snowing little white flowers around our apartment.

David and I have both been looking for jobs. The most recent job I've applied for is a full time English teaching job in Lycksele. It's a village in the middle of nowhere in northern Sweden. Not exactly the most desirable location, but a job is a job. I'll probably not get it because I don't have a teaching degree, but it can't hurt to try! Either David or I need a full time job or we both need part time jobs in order to survive. We figure we need at least 10,000 kr a month after taxes in order to survive. That way David can start paying back his student loans, we can afford to rent an apartment, pay our bills, take care of the car, and buy food and perhaps occasional bits of clothes and the like. Any lower and we'll be looking at significant decreases in our already pretty low standard of living.

Valborgs Craziness!

2007-05-01T17:23:00.000+02:00

The last few days have just been crazy! It seems like we've had constant guests overnighting here. Yesterday I made breakfast for 9 people, lunch for 6 people, and dinner for 5 people. I did breakfast again this morning for 4 people. It's been a really wonderful last few days. Although I did get sunburned yesterday while we were sitting at the park and eating lunch. (We had boiled potatoes, sill, and some grapes. Quite nice really.) My poor red nose. We also had a party in the evening we attended, so I didn't get to bed until quite late.

We've been eating so much quick food, that we're thinking about actually making real food tonight. Perhaps some pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes with a nice mushroom sauce. We'll see if I have the energy though! I'm STILL exhausted!

First draft done!

2007-04-28T08:08:00.000+02:00

Well, the first draft of my thesis is done! I can now take the next few days and just relax, and enjoy Valborgs.

I'm going to put ALL my school stuff away and out of sight later and not even think about school until Wednesday at the earliest!

Maybe I'll get done some of the things I've put on hold due to school work. I bet the oven could use a good cleaning! And I've got laundry to do as well. Maybe it's just time for some spring cleaning. Perhaps I'll try to cook a nice dinner tonight too. Since for once I won't be so stressed! The next day or two should be nice!

In other news. The only excitement that has happened in the past week was that David's brother came to visit for a few days. It gave me an excuse to make up a yummy dinner once too! I did have to go to the airport to return a passport, but that wasn't that big of a deal. And I got to say hi to David's family again. I haven't seen them since Christmas. Oddly enough, this is more often than I see my own family! Speaking of his family, they will be here Sunday night between flights.

The next 5 or so days will be quite nice!

Thesis writing time!

2007-04-17T20:57:00.000+02:00

I've been very productive today. Got lots done. Laundry. Studying. More studying. Lunch. Dinner. Dishes.

Tomorrow David flies up to Skellefteå. On Monday his brother arrives and stays until Wednesday. Means I need to get lots of stuff done before then. Weee?

Meanwhile, back to studying lots. They say red wine is healthy for you. Perhaps I should look into getting a box. Sara brought a box by the other day that was quite good. Someday, when I'm feeling rich, I'll look into it. 215 kr is a LOT for a box of wine... probably not much by Swedish standards, but still.

Oh, and Peter has been VERY sick recently. In and out of the hospital. Apparently he picked up some odd little virus while in Ecuador with his PhD class. He's been dealing with fever and stuff for more than a week now. He's home with his family getting people cooking and doing laundry for him. Probably the best place. Moms are best when you aren't feeling well! But Peter seems to be doing MUCH better these days and his fever is mostly gone, even if he still coughs lots.

That's life pretty much.

Busy!

2007-04-16T15:47:00.000+02:00

It seems all my blog entries are about the same thing... being busy! For the past week I have been working like a mad woman on my thesis. It's hard to believe that I have only 6 weeks to finish it! I did take lots of time this past weekend to sit outside in the sun though. It was so nice!

On Wednesday David leaves for Skellefteå. I'll be on my own then for a few days. I'm actually looking forward to it because then I should be able to get lots of studying done. David doesn't try to be a distraction, but he can't help being more interesting than my books!

I'm about to go mad though. Except for breaks to wash dishes, shower, and eat... I've been sitting here in front of the computer or reading a book for the last 8 hours. And this is the plan for at least the rest of the month! Ideally I should have the rough draft of my paper done before the end of the month. Then I can party freely for Valborgs before beginning to fix all the problems with the first draft!

Meanwhile, I apologize for the lack of blog entries. I'm not doing enough interesting stuff to post more. Unless you want to hear about school work, which is deadly boring I'm sure!

Easter Weekend

2007-04-09T14:12:00.000+02:00

Easter weekend has been quite nice. We have been studying lots, writing lots, and spending lots of time playing video games. I didn't get as much done as I had planned to, but I'm feeling much more relaxed.

Last night I went to Zuza's birthday party. It was small, but quite fun.

I've also bought tickets home to visit my parents this summer. My mom is buying the tickets for me as a graduation present. I'll leave June 27th and return July 25th I think. The tickets were not as expensive as I feared, but not cheap either. I'm really looking forward to going home for awhile. I can buy all sorts of stuff there that I can't buy here!

In the weather news... it's been snowing on and off the last three days. When I woke up this morning everything was white. A few hours later, it was back to being green again. I'm TIRED of winter now! Bring on spring!

Egg Dyeing!

2007-04-04T21:52:00.000+02:00

Today has been an amazingly productive day. Woke up early and made breakfast, then started cleaning and doing laundry. Around noon the laundry was done and the apartment clean. I made lunch while boiling eggs. We boiled 36 eggs before I went into school. I had a short meeting with a teacher then I went to the library and found 9 more books to get me through the weekend. I then came home, took a short nap, then started on dinner. After dinner, we set up the egg dyeing stuff and three of our friends came over to dye easter eggs. It was quite a nice day!

One of the interesting things is trying to figure out the best way to hardboil an egg. We chose three different methods from the internet and then tried all three. The best way I thought was to boil the eggs until my little timer said they were done. Those eggs turned out near perfect. David liked the ones that were still a bit runny inside. Then there were 10 eggs that turned out to be more liquid than solid inside. We coloured them anyways, but we will have to throw them away later. We let Peter dye those since he'll be leaving to go home tomorrow afternoon.

All in all, quite a wonderful day. This weekend the plans are to study and study and study.

Wonderful Weekend

2007-04-02T06:20:00.000+02:00

I had a really nice weekend. Lots of sitting in the sun and studying. It's still a bit cold outside so I had to wear a thick sweatshirt as well as having a blanket wrapped around me, but still! I did get a bit of sun and fresh air.

Today I've got Swedish, tons of research to do for my thesis, and an appointment at the student health center. I'm not actually sure when I have Swedish class for the rest of this week... but next week I'll have no Swedish class because of Easter. I've got university class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. Right now I'm frantically trying to see if I can get together enough information to do what I want. I need to know by the end of today so that I can switch cases to use as my case study before Wednesday if I need to. I've gotten quite a lot don this weekend so I've got at least 6 books to return to the library. I'm hoping that if I spend the day (once I'm done with Swedish class) at the library then I'll get lots of research done. Maybe even know by the end of today if I'm likely to have all the information I need.

Well... It's now 6.30 in the morning and I should see if I can get some work done before class today. Fun fun fun?