Tuesday, September 30, 2008

pros and cons

Apparently my immune system is not working like it should these days. I was sick during the weekend a week ago and then got sick yesterday again. What is this? So I had to stay at home from work again. Tomorrow I should be fine and ready for work again.

I am realizing that it is not that easy to switch from student life to working life. Like today, even though I was sick I enjoyed being at home just chilling. Just like the student life could be, well except the being sick part. Of course this does not affect my work since I always want to do my best no matter what. I guess I still need to find that balance between my serious and unserious side.

Sometimes I wish I still had my master to study for and could wait some more until becoming a working girl. But now I already got a master. So what is left? Ph D? Well, that is not really the same is it. Got an offer from my universtiy before I finished, sure it could fit me to do it. But not in Jönköping and not for five years. No way. So I just have to find that balance.

And of course there are some peaks with working. The money. The free evenings and weekends. Just have to figure out some more so that the working life get more pros than the student life.
It might take a while.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

playing the game

Once in a while you do these things that people loves to make fun of. They love to make fun of you and tease. Over and over and over again. I am not a fan of it. But the problem is that I love to make fun of people and their actions so I just have to take it. Since you cannot play the game just when you feel like it. You just have to take it whenever it comes since it is worth it whenever you can tease someone else. :)

visitors

Had a nice weekend. Two German friends where in town visiting so of course there was some partying going on. It was fun to try some new bars and clubs since I have not seen them all. We managed to get in some touristing as well.

I am starting to like Copenhagen more and more. It is warmer here and that is a big plus. But there is still something there that makes it feel not like home. On the other hand I have only been here one and a halft month so it is too soon. There is always ups and downs. Just have to give it more time and I am sure there will be more ups than downs.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

after many visits to the bank

Went to the bank and surprisingly they let me have the VISA/DAN card. Yeay. Finally. It took some time and all they needed was a plain and simple standard paper from my bank in Sweden saying that I am ok. All such bueaucracy. I will get my card in about a week. The only condition is that I cannot overdraw at any moment for the next couple of months otherwise they will close the card. But it is not like that is a habit of mine. I have never done that what I am aware of.

crossing my fingers

Today I am going to the bank.
With my recommendation letter I hope to finally get a VISA/DAN card with my bank. Of course I do not keep my hopes up. Seems like that is the standard thing to do here when it comes to banks. It all seems very inefficient. Still, they said the last time that I will get a card if I have the recommendation letter. So I will make them keep their word. Otherwise I will for sure fight for it.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

crashed computer

This has been kind of a crappy weekend but good at the same time.
I started feeling a cold during the week and on Friday I had to stay home from work since I did not feel well. However, I did go to Tivoli to meet some people. Felt a little bit bad doing that since I did call in sick to work. But I do not regret it since I met some nice people and made friends. So it was all worth it even though I felt bad on Saturday. A mix of hangover and being sick at the same time since we did go to a bar on Friday night.

I chilled the whole Saturday trying to recover, same as I have been doing today. The most crappy thing is that my computer crashed yesterday. Apparently there is nothing that can be done. My friend says that it is the harddrive. It totally sucks. I new I needed a new computer but this is not fun. I also have to pay lot of money to get things restored from my harddrive. It is not much on it that I do not have saved somewhere else already, but there are pictures that I would like to have.

It was kind of bad timing that is all. The computer crashing the weekend I got sick. Times like these you really notice how dependent you are on your computer.

Monday, September 15, 2008

home sweet Sthlm

Had a nice weekend back home in Sthlm. I left early Saturday morning and made it in time for my haircut. I managed to get an appointment for cutting and coloring and it turned out nice. It is so damn expensive to go to a hairdresser here in Denmark. I want to go to a good one but the prices differ quite a lot.

A relaxing Saturday with a nice dinner and of course we also had some real champagne and a really nice red wine from my parents trip to France this summer. On Sunday it was time to start packing and searching through my boxes of stuff that I wanted to bring to Copenhagen. I realized that the things I wanted to bring did not take that much space so I started to add things. In the end it became quite a lot of course but they did not say anything at the airport.

Now I did not bring that much clothes, only some jackets for fall. Otherwise it was some small things to make the apartment feel nicer. Some things that hopefully can make me feel like home. The apartment does not really feel like me since it is not my furniture and things.

And the most important. I brought some booze with me. Especially some Minttu for the next part. Which means that the next party will be rough. But fun.

Friday, September 12, 2008

no regrets

Sitting here looking out the window.
Looking at all the nice boats and ships passing by.
I am quite bored but I actually have some things that I can do. I guess this is the dangerous thing when your boss has left for the day. That together with the fact my weekend has already started in my mind.

Should not work be more exiting than this? It might just be a proof of a non-perfect match. I like my job. It is just that I cannot see myself working with these taks for one or maximum two years.

I do not regret accepting the job. I never regret anything, you should not. It is still fun to try something out and for the future I know that this is not something I want to keep on doing. I just have to keep on trying until I make that perfect match. But until then I need to find some kind of motivation to keep me going. Right now I cannot seem to find it. Still, the weeks passes by so fast it seems so there must be something there that keeps me going.

It might just be the longing for the weekend.
:)

Thursday, September 11, 2008

what's waiting for me?

I just started thinking (when heading to bed which is not good because it means that I will not fall asleep early. Anyways).
I am here now. In Copenhagen. This is it.
I do not have anything to go back to. I have been moving around quite a lot these years after high school. But I always had somewhere to go after. When I moved to the US for one year I had my studies to start after that. I settled down in Jönköping for my studies and had a blast. Left for Singapore and Helsinki for studies abroad. I always had something to come back to. My lovely student apartment. My friends. My home. It would all be there when I came back. All the times I moved away I knew I had something good to come back to.

Now? I do not have anything anywhere in the world that is waiting for me. I have it here. This is the city I will stay in who knows for how long. This is my work. It is all here. Right here. I do not have any of those big things in my near future. Like going for exchange or doing something strange and fun. Now I am just working from 8.30am to 5pm every weekday. Monday to Friday. Week in and week out. It will never end. Man, it sounds like I am not cut out for this. Sometimes I feel like I am not. I just want to take my bag and head out in the world experience new things.

I should not think so far ahead. I should just take one day at a time. That I usually try to do. Then I have no reason to worry.

i want friends

And if that does not work out, I just want my friends.
Unfortunately they are spread all around the globe and are not where I am. Of course it takes time. To settle down. I know that. I am not the one to give up easily. And it is not like I have a lot of energy in the evenings to do all crazy things. But still, it would be nice to at least have something you were able to turn down.

Life is not as easy as when starting studying or going for exchange. Then you are suddenly grouped with all these people that are in the same situation as you. They are all starting something new and you do it together. Now it is just me. New in a group full of people that already have their lives and know what to do. Know what they want. And here I am. Just trying to fit in and settle down. Trying to figure out what I want.

So what do we do to solve this question?
- Start studying? Well, sometimes I wish. But I guess I should try out this thing called job a little while longer.
- Start picking random strangers on the street and ask if they want to have a coffee? Well, naa. I have not reached that point yet. And I am too shy.
- Start salsa/pottery/painting/ballet/whatever-I-can-think-of classes? Not yet.
- Put in an add in the paper? The perfect idea. I should start writing right away.

My more long term approach is to convince all my friends to start applying for jobs in Copenhagen. You know people, it is a lovely town. And why be spread all around the world when we can group in one place. It would make life easier for everybody.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

damn those banks and their rules

Stupid banks in Denmark. They will not let me have this DAN/VISA card. Now I have to survive with the annoying VISA Electron card that barely works anywhere. It is not enough with my Swedish VISA card because there are so many stores here in Denmark in which you cannot use a VISA card. You have to have this special DAN card. Stupid Denmark. And my bank will not let me have this special card, because I have to wait for 3-6 months for it so that they can see that I have money on my account. I do not even want a kredit card, it is enough with a debit card. But noo. I even called another bank and apparently it was the same there. Is that the standard procedure? Apparently. Is it in Sweden? I never had a problem getting a VISA debit card. On the other hand I had my account for quite some time before I got it. But then again I barely had any money on it and I was just a poor student.

Well, well. Tomorrow I am going there giving them my angry face. I am going to argue with them and try to make them give me this card anyway. I will threaten to change bank. My god I hope it works, I really want my card. Me who never have cash, how will I survive without a card? Stupid Denmark.

Now I have to go to bed. For sure. Two nights in a row I have gone to bed at 11.30pm which before was very early. Apparently not good for me anymore. The first day I snoozed for 40 minutes and was really tired at work. The second morning after I stayed up late, I slept through my snoozing alarms (yes, alarms with an s) and had 15 minutes to get ready before I had to leave for work. But efficient that I am I made it in time even to get some breakfast.

So time for bed already!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

childlike behavior

Friday was nice. Went to a pre-party with some of A's classmates. Some nice guys. Then we continued to a club and a party for all old and new CBS students. We had a good time and I got to be a part of the student life again even though I am supposed to be serious and all now.

When heading home it was raining so my shoes got all soaked. Me, the serious working girl now, apparently came up with the brilliant idea to jump into water puddles. I am so grown up these days.

Today has just been very relaxing and a little bit of hangover. So of course I had a nice pizza and have basically been watching Gilmore Girls the whole day. Tomorrow, I promise, I will try to get some things done.

Friday, September 5, 2008

tgif

På torsdag äts det ärtsoppa, på lördag är det fest.
Men fredag är ändå den dag som känns bäst.

It is Friday :)
I am just waiting for lunch at 1 pm. Because after that it is not that much left of the working day. Hopefully I can have my early day today and leave at four. I have been working late almost every day this week so it would be nice to leave a little bit earlier today.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

feeling important

So it has been a quite interesting day. Today I have been on meeting with five out of six CFO's of the company to discuss the first draft of the budget. It is fun to be a part of something this big. In the process of creating the budget for such a big company. Being able to meeting all the bosses. I guess I just have to get used to it, I will be meeting all the CFO's on a regular basis from now on. Might even have to do it by myself in the future.

This evening I also had to stay late as yesterday and I left at 6.10 pm and had been busy the whole day. Just before leaving my boss said to me that I should hold the meeting tomorrow since I will be doing it in the future. I guess it is just to get used to it. But it is not the sixth CFO I will be meeting, but another representative. That is probably for the best.

Now I need to head for bed. Dead tired already at nine.

By the way. People loved my chocolate cake I baked for work today. I made the mistake of telling people it was my birthday. Then they expect cake.

Monday, September 1, 2008

birthday update

I had a nice weekend and it felt like summer since the sun was shining and it was warm outside. Friday evening started with after work with some coworkers at Nyhavn. Good times in the sun. Saturday continued with the good weather and I managed to get some shopping done of course since I got my first salary. My first real salary. Yeay :) In the evening my friend came so now I am going to be 'sambo' for one week. He will stay at my place until the weekend when he gets his place. Had a nice dinner and then we went out to a club to meet up with some of his friends and new classmates. A lot of fun. So I got to celebrate my birthday a little bit already at night. And I even got a birthday gift from A after coming home from the club. He bought me a perfume and a nice box of chocolate. Mmm...

On Sunday we met up with to friends of A and went to the Botanical Garden to check it out. It was nice, but unfortunately you were not allowed to step on the grass so we could not sit down and relax there. Went for another park, Kongens Have, close to work and had a small picnic in the sun. When it started to get chilly when the sun was going down, we decided to go for one of those boat cruises around the town. Was nice to see it all from the water, although it was a little bit windy and cold. After that it was time for dinner so we ended up at a Turkish restaurant and they had some good food. Then it was just to head home and go to bed. Because some people have to work on Mondays...