P.S. don't forget to feed my fishies on the top right!

Thesis and laser tag

Today was the most productive thesis day I've had in a very long time. I went to campus for a thesis meeting at 9 and stayed until 4 working on it. I figured out one of the problems I was having with ArcGIS so I was able to fly through things. It was a lot of pressing buttons and waiting for the program to run. I have made a goal for myself to have my methods section written by next Wednesday. My other goal is to have all of my data analysis done by the time I go home in about 7 weeks. These next 7 weeks I'm going to put a lot of focus into my thesis so I can be satisfied when I go home for the holidays. My plan is to get to campus around 9 and do work until 4. Then I'll head to the rink. The life of a hockey player. I love routines. I have been slacking on the thesis work and sleeping in instead and going into town for fika. Now it's time for a more productive routine. Bring it on 7 weeks, bring it on.

After my very fulfilling thesis day, I met up with some teammates for dinner at a kebab place and laser tag. I love laser tag. I get so into it. I'm all sweaty and sore after from running and ducking. We played older vs. younger and the youngsters won both rounds :( we almost beat them the 2nd round. My first laser tag experience in Sweden was last spring with my old team for our end of the year party. I stupidly wore a white t-shirt. The playing arena uses black lights so I was very visible. This time I came prepared and wore all black. Stealth. It was a great time and a good, active way to spend our day away from the rink.

My parents bought me a french press while they were here. It makes the best coffee ever. I am so happy to wake up in the mornings and turn my water heater on so I can make coffee. The little things in life.


This weekend is an away trip up to Gävle and Leksand for 2 tough games. Looking forward to playing with my new stick and taking revenge on these teams. The bus ride is long (5 hours), but we have a good time. By good time, I mean we all sleep the whole way. We stay in cabins on Saturday night which is good, fun bonding time. My parents brought me my beloved cow costume, so maybe that will make an appearance this weekend at some point.

Skansen

I went to Stockholm (5^th visit) on Saturday with a friend. We went to Skansen and it was awesome! The weather was shit all day being cold and wet, but it was still a great time. Skansen is an open-air museum that has a bunch of stuff. A zoo, an aquarium, a circus, and models of what Sweden used to look like back in the day. There is a full on, fake old town built and there are actors that work in the shops. Bakeries, markets, glassblowing, printing, and more. There were also models of how the farms around Sweden looked. The zoo was the best part. It had all the native wild animals of Sweden. Wolves, wolverines, owls, lynx, reindeer, bears, seals, otters, bores, and moose.

I am trying out a new stick with hockey and I love it. Maybe it will help me score some goals this weekend against Brynäs and Leksand. We suffered a tough loss on Wednesday against AIK. We were up 1-0 going into the third and ended up losing in overtime. We really need to figure out how to produce more offense. Kim (goalie) and the defense are doing a great job keeping us in the games.

I had Swedish class today and we focused on prepositions. Sometimes it makes no sense. i generally means in and på generally means on. But there are so many exceptions. Like if I am “in” a store I would use i for “in” but if I am “in” a restaurant I would use på for “in.” I guess it is just something I will have to memorize.

Practice was really good today. We did a lot of flow drills which I like. A lot of girls are sick right now so it was only 13 skaters today. Hopefully everyone gets well before the weekend because we have 2 tough games.

I have a thesis meeting tomorrow. I didn’t do much since my parents were visiting so it will be an interesting meeting. I am really going to bust some work out for the next 7 weeks until I go home for the holidays. My goal is to have my data analysis done and methods written before December 16^th. Wish me luck.

I am going to play laser tag tomorrow with some teammates. I love laser tag. I get so into it. I sweat so much. The adrenaline, you know? 

Parent come to Sweden, again.

I just had the best week with my parents. They came to visit and we had a great time. Lots of hockey! I had 3 games while they were here. We played Segeltorps twice and AIK. Won all 3! We had a rough start to the season with 4 losses in a row, but we have turned it around and have won the last 4 games. I think we just needed some time to get used to each other and fix our mistakes. We have been dealing with injuries and players being away with their national teams also. It is time for the Olympic qualifications, so a lot of our team is in and out playing for that. Next weekend is an away trip against Brynäs and Leksand. 2 tough games. We lost to them before, so hopefully we will take it to them this time. After next weekend, we have a break from games for 2 weeks.

The best part about my parent’s visit was that we didn’t really do much. Most visits involve trying to see everything and everything and not really having any down time. Since my parents had been here in February, we didn’t need to do the tourist things. We just chilled and had a lot of fika. The one cool thing we did was go out to the Cloetta candy factory. There is a store there selling all the candy the factory makes. So much candy. It was awesome. My parents bought $100 worth of candy to bring back to the States as gifts. I asked my parents to bring so much stuff from the States that they had to check an extra bag! Red solo cups was a must, of course. Halloween decorations, funfetti cake mix, and my favorite toiletries and medicines. I will be going home for Christmas and New Years this year, so I am looking forward to that. I haven’t been home since I moved to Sweden last August. Now Sweden feels normal to me and I think America will feel weird. I’m interested to see how I will view America now that I have been outside of it for a while.

Besides hockey, I am working on my thesis. I haven’t worked since the beginning of September so I need to get back into it. The school hasn’t needed me to substitute and the warehouse hasn’t needed me either. Maybe soon I will get some work. Along with thesis, I am taking my second level of Swedish. Now that I have been here over a year, I can really understand it. Speaking is my weakness. I am just too slow. But it will come with practice and time. The days are getting darker and colder fast. I am taking advantage of the light while it is still here. Once it is really dark and cold I will really focus in on my thesis. For now, I am doing the fika thing, chilling with friends, and spending most of my time at the rink. 

My new haircut

So the day finally came where I was sick of putting my hair up in a bun. I went to the hairdresser on Wednesday and told her to cut my hair off. I was very nervous, but I am so happy that I did it. Thank you to my teammates that were there with me for support! I have no idea how to style my new haircut, but I will figure it out.

We had a tough hockey weekend last weekend. We lost 3-2 both to Brynäs and Leksand. It is frustrating because we are the better team, but we can't get our shit together on the ice. I'm hoping it is just the period where we are working out all of our kinks and will start the winning streak soon. We stayed in cute cabins on Saturday night. The rookies had to do a show for the returners. We decided to imitate each returner and they had to guess who we were imitating. It was funny. Then the twins put on a nice guitar sing-a-long. They are great singers. The next morning we had to clean all the dishes before leaving and my teammate (to remain anonymous, KIKI) put dish washing soap in the dishwasher. Lots of bubbles...We have a game against HV71 on Saturday. They are the weaker team in the league, so hopefully we will come out with a win. We need it! We have a huge squad, but with injuries and national team players away with their national teams, we are only 3 lines this weekend. We have such a good off-ice connection and the atmosphere is very positive and fun. We just need to take the energy onto the ice and play with more passion.

Wednesday is the day of the week we have off from hockey. It has turned into a team dinner night. Last week was pizza, this week was enchiladas. A group of us went over to a teammates and we made homemade enchiladas. So delicious. It is nice to hangout away from the rink. My teammate cut her thumb pretty bad while she was cleaning a knife so I had to take over with the cooking. I don't consider myself a chef, so I'm happy everything turned out good. When it is my turn to have the girls over, I think we are going to make BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. YUM.