Hello Sweden!

Since I arrived on thursday I've:

° dinnered at McDonald's, Enkoping, with daddy

° struggled with my jetlag (always have a great strategy to beat it, haven't found one that works yet though))

° dinnered at Ceder's restaurant with mommy and micke

° had Tindra chocolate and rom flavored  glogg (different, but nevertheless very good)

° walked around in DT Vasteras at an hour when most people enjoy a good night's sleep

° forced Uffe to wake up and entertain me at 5.30 am on a Saturday, haha!

It was a very long flight, and the 8.5 hours I spent in Amsterdam didn't contribut to making the whole thing less painful, but I finally made it here and it feels great! Nice to spend some quality time with my family and catch up with friends I haven't seen in a long time. It's cold but no snow so far. I'm hoping for a white christmas, but I have yet to see if that'll happen. My fingers are crossed! However, my planned trip to Vilhelmina will surely satisfy my snow-urge, so excited! Cannot wait to see my sister! She'll get here on the 23rd, but I've phoned with her quite a lot since I got home. 

So far so good! Later!

Air, Amsterdam, and nut!

I am the queen of procrastination, actually did my laundry, STARTED packing, and cleaned my apartment this morning. Did finish most things on my agenda though, will be interesting to unpack and see what necessities I forgot to bring, hehe, well, I'll only be gone for two weeks so I'll be fine.. I'm actually writing from heaven (literally) right now, haha, the plane took off about two hours ago. It was supposed to take off early (only 10 minutes, but still), ended up more than an hour delayed instead due to some sort of technical problems..hmmm... Hopefully they figured it out, since I'm in the air now I mean...

On Monday I spent some quality time with my dear coworker, and friend, Lina. We went on a hair-searching metro-road trip, great success! Then we got cheated on our card-discount at Ralph's, that's right! Cannot trust anyone these days, haha! In some strange way Lina's hair grew about 14 inches that night, my hand got scissor-stabbed, and I probably gained about 10 pretzel-pounds, hehe, it was a great night! Oh, I almost forgot!! We met a humanized myrschloook! Or maybe it was a myrschloookized human... Either way, it was pretty cool!

What else, oh yeah, my finals are over and it feels great! It's been a long semester but I think I've done well, hope so... think so... yeah... guess I'll find out soon enough..

So I arrived to Amsterdam! Just got back from a three hour city-trip, it was perfect as I had 8 hours to kill before my next flight. Amsterdam is beautiful! I loved the architecture and all the little cute stores around town square. I've been awake for 24 hours now, my eyes are burning...

Armen i vinkel horrni, snart ses vi! Puss!

One more thing...

In order to ease up some expectation-based pressure: I will most likely arrive as the palest human being within the Swedish (well, probably Scandinavian... or maybe even European....) boarders. So, the answer is NO, I'm not tanned.... not even a little bit! I have not been sunbathing at all this year (except for like 2 times in june), and I'm not planning on starting now... 

Nice to have that established and out in the open! ;)

Final(ly) Week!

Here I go again, last week of the semester... exhausting as always, but nothing can beat the feeling of turning in that nasty bluebook! Was up pretty much all night last night studying, managed to squeeze in 2.5 hours of sleep before the alarm went off, sweet..... oohhh......

I think I did pretty good though, so hopefully it was all worth it! It's now 12.52 pm and I don't have anything scheduled for the rest of the day. I may go for a walk down to the beach and back, weather is beautiful!  Even though I'm very much against the death penalty, coming from Sweden, I do consider wasting a sunny day a capital crime.  

Speaking of which (Sweden, not the latter;), I'm coming home for 2 weeks over xmas and new year's.. Arriving on the 18th and leaving on january 3rd. Rumor has it that Looptroop will be performing on the 26th, so that's definitely something I'd like to check out! Then I'm off to Vilhelmina on the 28th to visit my sister, but don't you worry guys, I know what you are all thinking; will she be in V-as on New Year's eve? The answer is YES, haha, like anyone would care! Hahaha! 

Well, I'm gonna engage in some form of activity now or I'll fall asleep...

Cheers! 

And so it's done...

I just submitted my UC application.... Have mixed feelings about it, both relieved to have it over with but at the same time I'm scared to death that I screwed up on some essential information... I looked it over probably a hundred times.. but still... Shit, feel like throwing up...

I decided to apply to UCLA and UC Berkeley, this means that I skipped UC Davis, a school I was determined to include, in the last minute.  Well, I can always add it later if I change my mind... Ok, have to try to focus on something else now... for example my sociology research paper, I'm more in the mood for a  beer (or 20), but I don't think that would lead to anything good really, except for a terrible headache tomorrow... which is actually pretty bad so; no.. Sociology it is! 

I might as well post a short update in general while I'm at it:

Since my last post I've:

~Been wining with Anna in Venice

~Attended Meleja's 2nd B-day party

~Discovered Jason Mraz (late, I know)

~Celebrated Thanksgiving in Brentwood with Lina and her "Family"

~Been made fun of, by Lina because of my Jason Mraz fetish 

~Sipped Margaritas at Baja Cantina with Filippa

~Been complaining about life in general

~Bathed a lot (this Californian winter is killing me) 

~Studied, worked, and played with Meleja

I think that pretty much covers it all....

Cheers!

Arets roligaste artikel!!!

Man satte sig på barn

Polisen: Ett mycket märkligt beteende

En medelålders man i Borås söks av polisen efter att han satt sig på två elvaåringa pojkars magar.

– Mannen bad om hjälp med att hitta sina vantar. Efter en stund tryckte han ner dem mot marken och satte sig på deras magar, säger Björ Blixter, presstalesman, polisen Västra Götaland.
Det var strax efter lunch som polisen larmades om att två pojkar utsatts för ofredande av en medelålders man i Borås. Polisen har ingen förklaring till mannens agernade och vet inte heller vad mannen ville få ut av situationen.
– Det är ett mycket märkligt beteende. Men pojkarnas föräldrar har inte velat polisanmäla händelsen, säger Björ Blixter.
Polisen har trots det valt att spara mannens signalement i fall han skulle dyka upp i senare sammanhang.
– Han var lång cirka 190 centimeter och pojkarna blev mycket skrämda av honom. Men eftersom anmälan inte kom in förrän 40 minuter efter händelsen hade han försvunnit när vi kom dit, säger Björ Blixter. 

Johan Arkert

Aftonbladet

Football & Karaoke

Today is Monday, but it's also Veteran's day, meaning national holiday and campus is closed! NICE! I'm actually still in bed, and as of right now, have no plans on relocating any time soon. It is freaking cold outside.. Well, I just checked the temperature and it's 64 degrees F (17.8 in celsius). It just doesn't make sense, I'm never this cold in Sweden even though the weather is way harsher there... My best shot on an explanation would be that the poorly isolated houses here are not built to shut out cold, making the inside equally cold the outside temp. I could probably use a hot bath to defrost myself right now... yeah, that's gonna be my next project, a boiling tub with bubbles! 

Except for the environmental conditions this weekend has been really good! Worked all day thursday and friday, and saturday until 4, after that I was headed off to school for some volunteer work at the 1958 homecoming game. I'm still not completely sure about the purpose of my volunteering, I carried around some balloons and helped out with seat covers, hmmm, great contribution..? Well, it was fun and I got to spend some time with some of my Phi Theta Kappa mates. After the game I joined, my newly found friends, Julio and Jason to the Gas Lite to sing karaoke and dance, it was just awesome (not my singing, but the night in general;)! 

On Sunday I got to sleep in (I had the second shift at work), very nice and well deserved! 

Ok, hot water and bubbles, can't wait! Have a great Veteran's day you all!!

Oh happy day! (November 4)

News flash! We have a new presidential elect, Barack Obama, who will take office on January 20th, 2009. This is all very exciting! I believe Obama can, and will, bring change to America. 

As a matter of fact, just by winning the election change has already taken place. 

Congratulations America!

Halloween

Betty Boop was the targeted look, but whether or not this was executed in a satisfactory manner... I'll let you be the judge. 

The night started at my place with 4 girls, music, margaritas and make up. It was great spending time with the girls, something that happen way less often than I would prefer these days. After two hours of extreme makeovers, we were on our way to, what showed to be, the worst traffic jam in history. We were literally stuck on the freeway for over an hour, and as we finally made it through to exit in West Hollywood (1 block from where the club was located), an accident and it's blue-dressed messengers redirected us back on to the freeway from hell, damn it! So close! I should also mention that the radio/CD player in Filippa's car is broken, meaning no music to the people. We did manage to find a temporary solution though, by cozying up to a ots-loud neighbor. Many curses and 2 hours later we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, Hollywood blvd! Our little road trip came to it's end around 11.30 as we happily entered the door to Ecco, and so the fun began! I had no less than a total blast! Lots of crazy people wearing even crazier costumes, but more important, a great group of friends! Filippa, Michelle, and Anna, thanks for an awesome night!

Oh, I just remembered, I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, I was NOT naked in the car, even though Michelle did manage to catch me from a very dress-less angle. Hahaha! I love it, hilarious! 

Miscellaneous updates..

So what's new in my life? Well, nothing major, but I recently started working on my personal statement, as the UC deadline is in a month. Probably should had started earlier, but my busy schedule hasn't allowed me to (wow, did that make me sound important or what?;) 

What else..? Oh, I've been trying to figure out something fun to wear for Halloween and now have a mental picture of the entire outfit, something that will make my last minute shopping tomorrow a whole lot harder. I usually live by the words; Know what you want and Go for it! But in cases like this, knowing what you want usually leads to great disappointment as you realize that everything you would ever even consider to wear, is already sold out. I just love all the Halloween stores here, they have costumes for everything! It's amazing! You can actually go to a party dressed as a taco! How awesome is that?! That you can be whoever you want in this city, is especially true on Halloween, even if it means an animal, a cartoon figure, or a dish! Haha! I'm Loving It!

From one thing to another, my dearest material companion just recently decided to end our half-decade-long relationship... yeah, I'm talking about my camera. It's totally dead and won't respond to any form of CPR, believe me, I've tried it all! I'm mentioning this in hope that Santa might take this into consideration as he goes through this years "naughty and nice" list;) I've been REALLY good this year! 

RIP Olympus... I know I will, at least for the next eight hours;)

Comeback!

After a week and a half in bed I'm finally back on track! I've been in school all day and it's been great, got a couple of very satisfactory midterm results back, and that surely contributed to the overall school experience of the day:) 

Fall is starting to move in over southern California, the days are still warm and pleasant but the mornings are getting rougher and rougher. I love the weather here (everyone who knows me are well aware of my low cold tolerance level;), but I miss the seasons that we take for granted, and sometimes curse over, in Sweden. Sure, I can live without the unpredictable weather that often makes one walk an entire day in wet shoes, but I miss all the colors.. Fall doesn't just sneak up on you to invisibly escape a month or two later, you can see it, feel it, and even smell it. I actually started thinking about this the other day as I overheard a conversation on the bus. Two girls were arguing over the status of the current season, one girl started by embracing the mild nature of Californian winter, the other one responded by giving a seasonal lecture on how fall stretches all through October. I found this interesting because, to be honest, I've never really given it much thought. I've always relied on nature and the environment to establish seasonal transitions, in Sweden fall is real, here it's more of a manmade concept that exists because it's "suppose" to. Hmm... fascinating as I think about it...

Well, enough of my philosophical nonsense, I have an important date with the best TV-series ever, "raising the bar". Don't know if it's aired in Sweden yet, but when it is, I encourage everyone to watch it! Just a word of warning; It's addictive!

Another day in bed

I can't believe I've never watched movies "on demand" before! I actually didn't even know that Time Warner had such a function, for FREE! Yeah, that's right!  It's not every day you run in to something that doesn't include a hidden fee somewhere (well, I do pay for cable, but still!).  I've been watching movies all day, and for those of you who are as uneducated in this subject as me; I can pause, rewind, and forward the movie whenever I want!! Amazing! I'm thrilled! I even have an entire channel with just horror movies, ha! This morning, when I pitied myself the most, I decided that I deserved to watch something really good and went beyond this luxury to the best invention ever; Pay Per View! I ordered "Sex and the City"- the movie.  I'd heard so many good things about it and my expectations were huge. My review; well, it was good, but I'm not totally sold on it.  In my opinion it was alright, but I expected more. More of what, I don't know, just more of something.

I'm gonna walk across the street to buy some candy now, and when I get back... more movies!

Ciao! 

From head flu to complete body knockout..

I'm in bed, coughing my brains out... Shit, can't remember the last time I was this sick. Times like this, I wish I was in Sweden, at my parents house, occupying the couch covered in tons of blankets, eating, chocolate-tipped, orange ice-cream sticks, and watching, the never ending, days of our lives-reruns:) Instead, I'm studying for my Sociology midterm as well as finishing up a paper for the same class (both due tomorrow).  At least, I managed to drag my ass over to Smart & Final where I bought a 6 pack of vegetable soup, that way I don't have to worry about cooking today.  I spoke to Filippa this morning, she was so sweet and told me she wished she didn't have class all day, or she would had cooked me soup and taken care of me, Awwwwwww! I'm truly blessed to have such good friends who's always there for me, friends are always important but they come to play a different role now that I'm so far away from my family.

Friends and family, here and in Sweden; I love you all! 

Love Is In The Air...♥

I managed to roll out of bed and get ready to attend a wedding today, despite the horrible cold I've been struggling with lately.  Two of Filippa's best friends got married, it was a short ceremony but nevertheless, very beautiful. Afterwards, the whole group drove down to the beach to shoot some pictures and watch the sunset. I know I complain a lot sometimes over the financial difficulties that forces me to spend, close to, every free day (and afternoon for that matter) at work, but watching the sun set over the pacific horizon truly makes it all worth it! Going there today just reminded me of why I love living here! The day ended with a delicious dinner at a persian restaurant in Westwood where I ate WAY too much! But it was sooo good! Apparently, eating was not the only thing I did too much of, judging on my articulative difficulties at the moment I probably talked a tidy bit too much as well;) 

Well, I should probably go to sleep now, or I'll never wake up in time for work tomorrow..

Natti-natt!

A beautiful day

After I finished my history midterm yesterday (an exam I've been really stressed out about), me and Filippa decided to  catch a well deserved movie in Century City. I was really curious about Brad Pitt's personification of a dumb gym instructor and suggested "Burn After Reading". Apparently, I experienced a strike of temporary amnesia just as I walked up to the ticket booth, I got the titles mixed up and bought 2 tickets to see "Body of Lies". This little mistake showed not to be so bad after all, as we were found the movie both entertaining and fascinating. I can strongly recommend it! 

I had class this morning and then I spent the afternoon reading on Border's patio on 3rd Street. How do you better spend a beautiful day than with a freshly brewed cup of black and some good reading? It was so nice it almost made me forget the stubborn cold that is currently combating my immune defence. 

Time to rest my cough drop-toxicated body... Zzzzzzzz....

Emelie in the middle.. Get it?

Got the result from my midterm in Comparative Politics today, ACED IT!  The extreme level of "no-life"-life I've experienced lately finally paid off, feels awesome! 

Because I'm worth it, right mom?;) 

Work, Goodbye, and Public Warning!

The day started with a venti coffee and the big blue 1 to Venice circle, from where I walked the remaining distance to work.  It was a super-slow day, didn't sell much but cleaned plenty (the place was practically shining when I left!).  I know I mentioned my inability to make favorable 50/50 decisions.. well, I experienced something weird today, something that I do come across every once in a while, but again, it's very uncommon.. I think there's a term for it.. luck? Yeah, that's it! Luck! 

Yesterday, as I was fighting through my shift at Starfishiiie, something started to smell funny. At first I thought it was a customer until I located the source, the radio/CD-player. The smell was that of burned rubber... hmmm, can't possibly be a good sign. I turned it off and the smell went away.. Today I decided to give it a shot anyway (the boredom-factor is high without music AND customers) and guess what, it DIDN'T catch fire, and the building was still intact when I left:). Maybe I don't have such bad luck after all;).

Before I forget it, I would like to make an announcement in form of a Warning;

Do not spend your money on Metromint-cherrymint water! I made that exact mistake today, and it was a horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on even my worst enemy... Even though the name itself kind of gives it away (cherry+mint=nasty flavor-collision?) I got curious, went against my gut-feeling, and bought it, tasted it, and strongly disliked it!  I cannot stress it enough; if you care about your health, do not drink this water! I'm surprised it's FDA approved, and that's judged on taste alone!!! Ewwwwwww...!

After work I met up with Daniel, Dawid, and a friend of theirs, Sanne.  

Daniel is a very dear friend of mine from back home, and he's spent 3 months here in LA dancing.  We went on gift-hunt for his better half, and combined it with some interesting live-performances at Venice beach (Mecca of Crazy People). I wish we would had been able to spend more time together though, he's flying back to Sweden tomorrow. 

"Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again" 

Bye bye, I'll miss you!!

Home sweet home..

Just got back home from a study session with my classmates Bryn and Rui.  I'm now an expert on pre-columbian civilizations, or at least a little more knowledgeable than I was 4 hours ago;).  I managed to get on the wrong bus on my way there, due to pure laziness! It's so typically me, it wasn't like I didn't know where I was going, I was simply too lazy to check the bus route to make sure it didn't make a turn off the main road before reaching my stop. Well, It did... of course... always happens, I'm the worst when it comes to 50/50 shots.  Bryn and Rui came to pick me up so I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of finding a better bus, very nice of 'em!  I knew I had to do something to make up for my late and assisted arrival, so I brought food and drinks.. it worked, everyone was happy and my little mishap was soon forgotten:)  

It's now 10:36, if I add 9 hours that gives me 7:36 am in Sweden... too early to call mom? Yeah, probably.. 

Yay!

I had my second midterm this morning and is now excited to have 2 whole days off! I can't even begin to describe how great it feels knowing that I can sleep in tomorrow, without any obligations all day, can't even remember the last time that happened... !  For those of you who doesn't know; I usually work in a boutique in Marina del rey whenever I'm not in school (Starfish, corner of Washington and Pacific- you should stop by if you're in the area- I'll give you a discount;).

Another good thing happened today too, but in order to describe the extent of my relief I need to provide some background information;

I'm taking an American History class this semester, this is not my major, nor is it a requirement for my transfer, but an elective.  This means that I don't have to take this class but I choose to because I find the subject interesting.  Unfortunately the interesting-part doesn't just apply to the subject in matter, but also my professor.  His character just doesn't make sense to me as I find him extremely offensive and sort of disrespectful, but in a strange way that makes me really uncomfortable being in his class.  This is really annoying since I don't "have" to be in that class, I actually tried to drop it but it was too late to get a refund (and with the sky-high out-of-state tuition, ignoring this fact is not an option).  

On monday he told the class that we are having our midterm next week and he announced some really unfair conditions for taking the exam.  Since there are so many time consuming parts that needs to be completed (one 3 pg. essay, 4 id-questions and 30 multiple choice- in 1 hour and 20 minutes) the students that doesn't have another class after can finish up the exam on a different location! Hello? What about those of us who can't stay due to a packed schedule??? 

I asked him about it, and to make a long story short; he gave me a really hard time in class because of it.  

I was sure that he would give me bad grades on my previous essays, that he promised to hand back to us today, due to our little dispute on monday. Surprise, surprise, he gave me A's on both of them! Happy day! 

:-)

Midterms...

Pol Sci2 midterm; check✓ One more to go and then I'm done for this week, nice!  Well, I still have a huge, really nasty history exam to look forward to next week, something that probably will keep me busy day and night until then, oh well, one thing at a time. 

Nothing is the way it's suppose to be this time of the year; school-wise it feels like mid-December, fueling of of coffee and redbull's cramping through the last week of finals.  Weather-wise; OMG, I'm melting, it's so hot!  Being this busy in this weather seriously affects my daily functionality as a human being! I feel so totally out of it!  Speaking of which, about 3 weeks ago I managed to fall as I ran to catch the bus to school.  I fell on my ass, really hard! I know, it sounds funny(and I'm sure it looked that way too), but I can assure you that I wasn't laughing at the time, AT ALL! It hurt like hell, and I could barely walk for days.  

As a good student, and a 09 applicant to UCLA, I thought I should better my chances of getting accepted by completing some community service.  My ass-pain greatly lowered my ability to participate so I was very grateful when my dear friend Mikey offered me some kick-ass painkillers!  I've never taken vicodin before, and I made the huge mistake of taking two at once... NOT to recommend!  I don't think I've ever felt so sick in my entire life, it was awful! Couldn't walk straight (at all!), emptied my stomach next to the promenade before I passed out in a public restroom for about 30 minutes! Crazy!!! 

Ok, Filippa just called, she's picking me up in 5 min to go study! So long!

Books, coffee... and more coffee..

Just taking a break from a study-filled day as I'm sitting at a coffee shop in Westwood, accompanied by my close friend, and amateur-psychologist, Filippa.  

My brain is about to break into a billion pieces due to information overload, but I fight out the battle knowing that after my midterm  tomorrow I can finally breath out... 

at least for a couple of hours until it's time to prepare for my next big exam on wednesday.....;)

Filippa prescribed me a large cup of the best black beverage ever, and the rush is finally starting to kick in! Thank god for coffee!

Back to the books! 

Drommen om Hollywood

Ja, hur ar det egentligen att bo har i anglarnas stad? 

Jo, det ar sant som dom sager; dagarna praglas av langbil-resor som vanligtvis startar med en lyxig latte (garna i farten da man inte vill slosa dyrbar shoppingtid, oh, glomde nastan; light me whippen, man vill ju inte rulta till sig) for att sedan fortsatta till nagon av de glamourosa shopping distrikten dar man latt spenderar bade tid o stalar.  

Da kvallens outfit ar kirrad sitter det fint med en latt lunch (med betoning pa latt, vill ju inte riskera att forstora alkoholsinnet infor kvallen).  Matt o belaten ikladd solbrillor som tacker halva nyllet vandrar jag med latta steg genom palm alle'n som tar mig tillbaka till mitt oversizade fordon.  Nasta destinition... STRANDEN! Jovisst, man maste ju passa pa att underhalla brannan nu nar man har nagra timmar till overs.  

Manga timmar (och harspray flaskor) senare sa ar vi antligen pa vag, snart ska vi forenas med Hollywood eliten o slass om VIP platser i kon till party-huvudstadens trendigaste inneklubbar. Kandis-mingel har blivit en del av vardagen da var o varannan manniska i den har stan ar ett stenkast fran sitt stora genombrott! Shit, tank vilken dromvarld man lever i!

Om drommen ar att spendera alla sina CSN pengar pa tva veckor, skaffa "ovarderliga kontakter" som garna erbjuder sin hjalp (i utbyte mot din "ovarderliga vanskap"), och att bli redlost full o forevigad pa film for att senare bli skrattad at under TMZ's han-sandningar, da ar det nog ratt vag att ga!  

Hollywood ar drommarnas stad i mojligheternas land, ingen tvekan om det.  De individer som utgor stadens befolkning kan delas in i tva mycket distinkta kategorier; de som ar villiga att jobba for att uppna malet sitt, och free-riders' som tror att allt kommer gratis.  

Bra och trovardiga kontakter har aldrig skadat nagons karriar, men det kan bara ta en sa langt, i slutanden ar det upp till talang och en javla massa hart arbete.  

Ingenting kommer gratis, inte ens i Hollywood!