Busy Weekend

This weekend has been a little crazy. My girlfriend didn’t have school this Friday so we could be together the whole day, which was nice! Since the weather was great we took the train to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. We got disappointed when we got there though.

I have never seen such a long queue in my whole life. We stood in the ticket line for about half an hour and bought something called flex tickets. We then found out that the approximated waiting time was three hours.

We checked the broacher to see if there were any other tickets and found out that there were reserve tickets. So I talked to the security guy in the ticket line and he let us back in so that I could get a refund. We didn’t bother to buy the tickets but we will buy them for the next weekend since the weather was predicted to be bad yesterday and today, which it also was.

After that we relaxed in Battery Park just enjoying the sun. We bought some ice cream too from an ice cream truck. They really taste good! We didn’t want to go home after that so we took the train uptown to Union Square. I really like that area and on weekends they have a market there. It’s pretty cool because they sell everything from homemade jam to paintings.

Yesterday we went to the Indian restaurant again. I don’t think we will go there in a long time now though. Both my girlfriend and I ate too much and we could barely walk afterwards. It’s somewhat painful to eat as much as we did and even though we enjoyed the food while we ate it, the feeling afterwards is just horrible.

Instead of eating Indian food today we had some Texas barbeque. We’ve been there before and it’s like a fast food restaurant. I don’t remember the name of it but the food is awesome. You can pick one main course with two sides. There is everything from fried potatoes to fried banana. I tried the banana today actually but I didn’t really like it.

It almost tasted like pumpkin and it was a pretty weird taste together with the meat. Their barbeque is delicious though and you can get a double portion of meat for only 99 cents.

I was actually in the mood for studying when I woke up today. I did my accounting, English, and marketing this morning and I really got a lot done. I have a double quiz tomorrow in English. Every week we have to read at least one short story and this time we have a quiz on two short stories that we have to read.

They always have a theme and this time it’s about race and skin color. I think it will be interesting to discuss this in class even. One of the stories is about black people and their heritage and the other story is about a prejudiced mother and her open minded son. The first story is called “Everyday Use” by Alice walker and the second story is called “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor. I prefer the second story myself.

I’m going to watch family guy now and try to get some early sleep. Have to get up 6.30 tomorrow.

Developing pictures

I turned in my schedule this Tuesday. Everything was accepted, which makes me feel more comfortable. It will be great to have classes only three days a week especially since it’s during the summer. I have a lot of homework to do nowadays. It’s not that distressing though, and I learn a great deal of new things every day.

My managerial accounting is quite challenging. I prefer managerial accounting preferred to financial accounting though. Managerial accounting deals a lot with managerial decisions and analysis, which is what I am interested in.

It’s very interesting to learn about how the top management reaches certain decisions. As I have mentioned earlier, I also like my teacher. I have not had much homework in my marketing class yet. However, my professor handed out a bunch of handout the last class and assigned us some homework. I have to do some studying this weekend, but I really want to spend time with my girlfriend too.

We will probably go to the Indian restaurant again this weekend. We will also take the Statue of Liberty ferry so that we will get a closer look on it. I’m not sure if it’s possible to go inside the statue but I hope it is because I have never seen the inside of it.

I have taken a lot of pictures with my semi professional camera since I bought it. Two days ago, I developed pictures from it for the first time. It’s very easy actually and it was also the first time I developed pictures at all in the United States.

Most pharmacies have machines where you can get your prints immediately so that you don’t have to wait for a couple of hours. I went to CVS to do this and the result was surprising. The picture quality is astonishing and some of the pictures I have taken truly are amazing.

I’m seriously thinking about contacting some companies that are producing postcards. I think they would be interested in buying some of my pictures. I would love to start getting more serious with my photo interest, and if can sell some pictures that would really open up some doors for me.

I prepared myself for a midterm in Math yesterday. I wasn’t that nervous since I only had to get a passing grade. This math class doesn’t affect my GPA. It’s a three hour class so I was hoping I could just do the test and then go home. However, when I got there my professor presented the midterm and gave us the information that it was a take home.

Now I have to do the whole thing at home or after school hours, which is somewhat displeasing. Most people probably like take homes better because that doesn’t put any pressure on people, and I can understand that.

Statue of Liberty

This weekend my girlfriend and I went to the Statue of Liberty. At least, we were supposed to. The weather was perfect, above 75 degrees. When we got there we found out that we had to wait for approximately two hours after buying the tickets. The ticket line itself was really long and it would probably take one hour at least only to get the tickets.

We weren’t in the mood for that so we took the Staten Island ferry instead. That was my girlfriend’s first ride there and she liked it. I also took a bunch of great shots of the Statue of Liberty from there. When we got to Staten Island we took a short walk and sat down along the waterfront.

It was really warm and comfortable but the island itself is pretty boring. What’s nice about it is that it’s almost like New Jersey. It’s very quiet and it’s nice to get away from the city sometimes.

On Saturday we went to Queens’s mall to enjoy some shopping. The purpose of the trip was actually to go to Little India. It’s also in Queens and is located in a neighborhood called Jackson Heights. We went to an Indian restaurant and had buffet.

The food was really good. Their spicy chicken was delicious and we will definitely go there again. It reminded me of when I travelled to India a couple of years ago. If you haven’t tried Indian food you should definitely do it.

My girlfriend put some kind of vegetables on her plate and when she took a bite of it she almost vomited. At first I thought she was exaggerating but I tried it, and then I knew exactly what she meant. I can’t describe the taste but it was seriously disgusting. We actually doubted that it was meant to be eaten.

We couldn’t eat it which was pretty awkward since it’s a buffet. I covered it with a napkin and after the waitress picked it up we went to try out some more food. The dessert was also really good and sweet. I think we will go there again this weekend.

I have created my schedule for next quarter now. It turned out pretty good. If everything goes as planned, I will be free from school on weekends, Mondays, and Fridays. That gives me four days of every week. I think that will be great actually.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have classes between 9 AM and 2 AM and on Wednesdays I only have one, two hour class from 8 AM till 10 AM. Next quarter will be really interesting since I have a lot of Business and Marketing classes.

I won’t have any English or Math classes and I feel really good about that. Even though I enjoy improving my English, it’s still a little boring. I read by myself on my spare time too. I have learned a lot from my English classes though. The rules in English are very different from the Swedish language.

There are also some small differences when it comes to punctuation and similar. I have a pretty calm day tomorrow. I will turn in my schedule after class and that’s about it.

Another weekend coming up!

It’s weekend for me again. It feels as if the weeks really move fast these days. I have had a lot of homework this week. I did the English paper and I also had a bunch of accounting assignments to do. I also had to type up a summary about a video that was shown in my marketing class.

My marketing teacher gave my class some assignments, but he didn’t collect or talk about it in the next class. I don’t really like that because then it feels as if I did the homework unnecessarily. The teacher is great though and the classes are really fun.

I think he’s one of my best teachers so far actually. He makes the lecture very interesting to listen to and it’s easy to relax in his class. My accounting teacher is also very good. I must say that Berkeley College offers very good teachers.

I’m planning on taking my girlfriend to the Statue of Liberty this weekend. She’s never been there and I think that the weather is great for that now. I think it was about 74 degrees today and it has been a beautiful day. The sky is still cloudless and there is almost no wind at all.

New York is amazing when the sky is clear. The sky makes the buildings look really sharp and modern and it’s a pleasure to take photographs in such circumstances.

Berkeley College really surprised me yesterday. The registration for the next quarter begins next week. It feels really early and I had to book an appointment at the student advisors office. I’m going to plan my next schedule on Monday. The classes for the next quarter have not yet been posted online but I’m positive that they will be posted in the coming days.

I have not yet looked into what classes I’ll have to take next quarter. I’ll tell you more about that next week.

We had a workshop in my English class yesterday. We were assembled in groups of three and we read each other’s paper. We also correct mistakes together and try to help each other making a better paper. I don’t really like that technique to be honest. I prefer that the teacher collects all papers and that he corrects the mistakes.

Some people like it though and I agree that it’s a good thing to let other people than yourself to read the paper. I just don’t feel comfortable having other students read the paper and give me feedback about it. I also think that it might open up for disputes between students and create a tense environment. The majority of students simply don’t like when other students criticize their paper.

The pope is still in Washington. He will arrive to New York sometimes this week. My friend told me today to start using the application Skype. It’s supposed to be really cheap and offer good reception. It’s free to call if the other person also uses Skype, but I think I will use it to call my parents home phone too. I won’t need to buy phone cards all the time if I start using it.

My mom and her husband also want me to start using it. I think I will install it this weekend. I recommend people to do the same actually. People who need to call abroad will save a lot of money on it, so it’s great for international students!

Manhattan bridge

This weekend was really nice. This Saturday my girlfriend and I went Union Square. The weather was amazing and I think it was about 74 degrees. There were a lot of people there. Everyone was relaxing and enjoyed the weather.

Some people read, others gathered together to play some music. The surroundings were really nice and I could really feel the summer being close. We also went to some stores to buy cloths. My girlfriend bought a dress and she looks really pretty in it.

After that we went to a theater to see 21. It was a good movie actually. My girlfriend and I really want to go to Las Vegas now.

On Sunday we went out to cross Manhattan Bridge. It was really nice. I’ve been looking forward to that for a long time now and the weather was perfect. The view is amazing and I took several good shots there.

We also wanted to go to a place that sells sushi equipment. I looked it up on Google and found a place in Soho. My girlfriend and I went crossed the bridge and walked from there to Soho. It was a really nice walk.

We got to see Chinatown too and I’ve never taken any pictures there so that was really enjoyable. The picture I have on this blog is from that trip.

The school has really gotten started now. I have the same amount of homework this quarter as I had last quarter. I think that the accounting is better this quarter though. I have the same teacher and he is really good. I prefer managerial accounting because I don’t really like numbers. Managerial accounting includes some calculations too though, but it’s more fun.

I have to turn in a paper in English for tomorrow. I just did it and I had to go through my old papers from my first quarter to refresh my memories. I just needed to see the structure. I feel good about the paper and I think I will get a good grade on it.

The pope arrived to New York today. I saw it live on television. It’s pretty amazing that he’s here actually. He will go to Yankee Stadium and there was a possibility to buy tickets for it. I was thinking about going there but I changed my mind. I don’t think it’s worth the money to be honest.

Right now I have to go down and get my pizza. I ordered online again from Dominos. Buy two, get one for free. Nothing beats that!

Homemade sushi

Me and my girlfriend had a great day today. I didn’t have any school today and I didn’t bother to go in there either to do homework. I stayed at home and read an English story that I will have a quiz on this Monday. It’s a pretty scary story and I enjoyed reading it. It’s called The Lottery and the author is Shirley Jackson. It’s a short and easy story to read so I recommend you all to read it.

My girlfriend came home early today. After spending some time together at home we went out to buy groceries. When living in New York it’s really convenient to visit a supermarket at least ones a month. We do that about twice a week.

We bought some sushi food and chicken. After that we went to Chinatown to get some Chinese food. We also bought nori for the sushi and a potato masher. When we got home my girlfriend started making the sushi and I cooked the mashed potato.

I wanted to cook that for my girlfriend because it’s a Swedish recipe and it tastes great. The final result was great but my girlfriend thought it was a little too salty. The sushi was actually really good but the nori was a little too small.

Tomorrow we might go to a theater to see the movie 21. It’s supposed to be good and my girlfriend really wants to see it. We started watching Cloverfield today but we didn’t like it. First of all, I don’t like seeing the city of New York being demolished and second of all the camera work is just too shaky.

Tonight we will probably just cook something easy and eat ice cream. I bought two buckets of ice cream at CVS and I love that brand. It’s called Edy’s and if you can find it buy it, I really recommend it.

I will probably do my homework at home this weekend. I usually do it in school but I will try doing it at home this time. I think it will be alright.

I’m in the mood of going out and take some pictures this weekend. It’s been a while since I did that. Maybe I’ll take my girlfriend to cross the Brooklyn Bridge or Manhattan Bridge. Brooklyn Bridge is an amazing bridge and I love walking there. Manhattan Bridge offers better views though.

Expenses in New York

I was thinking about writing a little about the expenses you will face when moving to New York. I was pretty well prepared myself when it came to expenses but I still faced expenses I didn’t expect. I’m not only talking about accidentally leaving my IPod in the washer.

The first thing you should consider before moving to New York is to make a budget. Write down what you expect to earn or receive in student loans each period. Of course you also have to write down the amount you have in your bank account.

After this, it’s important that you estimate how much the tuition will cost each semester or quarter. You should also write down or even better, put it in Excel, how much your rent will be. Overall you should put down your fixed costs in your budget.

Now that you know your income and your expenses, you will see how much you are left with each month. I calculated for four years and I now know exactly how much I can spend each day. I also put down my expenses in Excel every day so that I can go back each month to evaluate how much of those expenses I have to make up for.

I’m not only writing down the numbers but also what I buy or spend my money on. This makes it possible for me to go back and see what expenses that was unnecessary.

I think it’s important that you have the possibility to spend a minimum of $5 every day. Some days you will spend less but the overall average will probably be higher for most people. If you buy groceries yourself and don’t eat out a lot you will save a lot of money.

I don’t think you will be able to eat at home all the time though. Some days you will have to stay in school a little longer and you will get hungry. Chicken over rice, falafel, and other meals you will find in Manhattan usually costs about $5. For breakfast you can buy a cheese bagel for $1.

You will also have to spend money on cloths, subway cards, bar visits, umbrellas, and other small things. When you know your budget it’s pretty easy to plan in what to buy. You will get an idea of how much you can spend and what things you should avoid buying.

The first quarter I was relatively careful. I didn’t really know if there would be an unexpected expense showing up or not. By then I didn’t put down my expenses and earnings in my computer either. It definitely got easier when I started putting down that information.

In general it’s important to create a budget and to be aware of that there will be unexpected expenses that will surprise you. Be careful not to go out shopping to much the first semester. It takes a while to get a feel of how much you will be able to spend.

Also, try to take the opportunity of using store discount cards, buying prepaid phone cards for domestic calls, and look up in what stores you will save the most money.

My sister is in town!

I’ve been pretty busy the last few days. My sister came to visit me and we’ve been seeing each other intensely since Saturday. She left this evening and it feels a little bad to see her leaving. She’ll come back again in a few months though and she’s planning on moving here.

When she arrived, I took her to Hard Rock Café. Always when I and my sister meet abroad, we go to either Planet Hollywood or Hard Rock Café. This restaurant is located on Times Square and it’s almost always packed with people.

We had to wait for about one hour, but we hung out in the bar and talked a lot which made the time move on fast. We really like that restaurant and the food is great. The music is also very good and I like that it’s a pretty laid back place. If you’ve spent several hours on a plane it’s really comfortable going there to relax.

As a starter we had a huge plate of nachos. That really makes you full but we successfully squeezed in a hamburger each after that. As many other places, I really recommend to go there. Be prepared to having to wait in line for approximately an hour though. It’s less crowded on weekday so if you have the opportunity to go there in the middle of the week, I recommend you to do so.

On Sunday, I invited my sister to see my new apartment. She agreed that this apartment is a lot better than the old one. I also had her try out white hot chocolate at Dunkin Donuts. She really liked it but it was a little too sweet for her.

After that, we went to Coney Island to visit the amusement park and to walk along the beach. My sister wanted to ride the rollercoaster but I didn’t have the stomach for that that time. My girlfriend doesn’t really like that either. She says her heart is sensitive. Good excuse I guess.

The walk along the beach was really nice. The weather is still a little cold but it was beautiful. The next day, we went to have dinner at Blue Ribbon in Soho. Me and my girlfriend dressed up to meet my sister outside the restaurant. The approximated time to get a table was about one hour so we went to a bar to have a beer first.

I don’t really remember the name of the bar but it’s just a block away from Blue Ribbon. This was my girlfriends first bar experience actually and she was really excited about it. We had a really nice time. We went back to the restaurant an hour later to have some sushi.

The table was almost ready when we got there but we had to wait for about ten minutes. I really like that restaurant and the sushi is great. Me and my girlfriend shared a combo order including salmon rolls, California rolls, and crab rolls. We fell in love with the crab rolls and I’ll definitely take my girlfriend there again.

I had a long day in school today. I wasn’t done until three and after class I went to say goodbye to my sister. We had lunch at Europa Café. It’s a cozy Starbucks like café. It’s really close to my school and you see a lot of student hanging out there. I love the environment.

I will write more about this week tomorrow!

Martin Luther King Jr Celebration

Today is Friday! It feels great with weekend even though I just came back from the break. Yesterday was pretty busy for me. I had to return my accounting book and I found out that the bookstore doesn’t allow returns. This made me a little frustrated. I would understand if they wouldn’t allow returns for used books.

My book wasn’t even opened. However, I successfully convinced them eventually and got my money back. I also bought a used book from a friend. As I’ve mentioned before, people will save a lot of money buying used books.

I sold my psychology book today. Now I only have one more book to sell and that feels good. The last book I have is about communication, but it’s a small book and I won’t get that much money for it. It’s not a big prioritization for me because of that. I still have my ads up on some notice boards though.

I just ordered a pizza online. I have never done that before and it feels pretty weird. I love the idea though. Now I can sit back being totally lazy just waiting for the pizza. It seems to work great. You can track the process of your pizza so that you’ll know exactly where it is. My pizza is being baked as I type.

My girlfriend has started to become crazy about sushi. Today she took me to Chinatown in Manhattan to buy some. I know sushi is Japanese but they’re supposed to have some great and cheap sushi in Chinatown and indeed they had.

You can buy about ten pieces for approximately $4. It was really good and I think I will go there again someday. I mean, it’s not Blue Ribbon but for $4 it’s really good.

I was thinking about telling you some about the expenses in New York. How much you have to spend on an average a day. I think I will do this in my next blog.

I started reading a new book today, which I borrowed a few months ago. I was on my way to the library to return it when I started reading it. When I got to the library I returned one book but I kept that one and renewed it.

The book is called “Don’t Know Much About History.” It’s about American history and really tells a lot about it in a fun way. I don’t know much about American history actually so I find it very interesting to read about the revolutionary war, the civil war, and Martin Luther King etc.

Today, Americans and hopefully other people too, celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. It’s 40 years ago he was assassinated on the balcony of Lorraine Hotel. There has been a lot of news coverage on that, and I think that most people here give him some extra thoughts today.

KFC

Yesterday I had classes in managerial accounting. I think the teacher is alright but he is strange in one way. He refers to himself in a third person perspective. It’s a funny thing and I don’t really know if he does that on purpose to amuse his students or if it’s a bad habit.

I miss my old accounting teacher. He is definitely one of my best teachers throughout my time as a student. I found out this week that he teaches the same time but in another classroom. Today after school I went to the office of student advisement to see an advisor. I decided to switch to my old accounting teachers class.

I’m really happy about my decision and the fact that it’s very easy to do this at Berkeley College. All you need to do is to look up the class number and then go to an advisor. I actually think you can do it online on the Berkeley College intranet.

Since this class has the same time schedule it won’t affect my other classes, and I only missed the first class. I talked to my teacher and he said I didn’t miss very much. I think it will be easy for me to catch up. I will read the first chapter tonight just in case.

Today is my longest day in school. Classes don’t end until 3.15. I have a math class for three hours in the end. I only have this class ones a week though. The math is very easy so far and I’m thinking about doing the challenge exam. If I pass it, I won’t need to show up in class.

If you want to do the challenge exam you have to pay a fee. I don’t remember how much it is, but it’s not much. If I pass that test that would mean I would finish school 12.30 instead of 3.15, which would be really nice.

I tried to sell one of my XBOX 360 games today. A guy answered my ad and we decided to meet today. I went to our meeting place and met him just to find out he wouldn’t buy it. He told me he thought the game was for Playstation 3. That made me a little angry since I mentioned very clearly in the ad that the game was for XBOX 360.

I bought a book today in our bookstore at school. It was about $80. The books can be quite expensive in college and it’s great if you can find used ones. The used ones were out this time though so I had to buy a new one. However, when I got home my girlfriend told me she had the book. I’m going to return the book I bought tomorrow.

I will also sell one book tomorrow to a Swedish classmate. That will give me $50. I really recommend that people sell the books when they are done with them. They will save a lot of money by doing so. I will buy another used one tomorrow.

I ordered two books online. I recommend that if you want to buy books, you look them up online first. This will also help you save some money.

I bought a bucket of chicken at KFC yesterday. I shared it with my girlfriend and it was delicious, at least for one hour. One hour later I had to run to the bathroom and see all the food being wasted. I hope you know what I mean. I think it was too greasy for my stomach. I won’t buy that again even though it’s really cool to eat out of a bucket.