My Story Continues

I was a little nervous when I got my acceptance letter from Berkeley College. I was actually in the bathroom while opening it and I remember thinking to myself that if I get accepted it will really change my life.

I opened the letter and saw the congratulation title and I felt good but still a little nervous. I literally had no idea of what college would be like in the United States. I did not know anyone there either so I knew I would have to totally start over.

I had not told anyone at work about my application actually because I did not want to do a lot of talking and then be rejected. I called my employer the same day I got the letter actually and worked out a deal with him.

You have to leave a lot of people behind you when going abroad. I had to give up a few good friendships but I guess it is necessary to do things like that in life sometimes. It does not mean you will never see them again but it definitely means a big change.

I also had to start finding an apartment, preparing the visa and the loan after getting the letter, a lot of work with other words.

I felt surprisingly calm about going to the United States. I think I prepared myself during my whole life since I always wanted to go here and that really helped me to remain calm.

I was pretty calm on the day of my flight too. I remember worrying a little about the apartment since I had not actually seen it with my own eyes before. I had contact with the landlord though via phone.

There was a lot to take in the first day I came to New York. I had been here before for vacation, three years earlier but it was nothing like this of course.

I took a cab to my place in Brooklyn and met my landlord and everything. It all turned out great and I felt relieved after dropping of my bags.

I had to go to Berkeley College before classes actually started. All students have to take two tests in math and English to decide whether students need extra classes in those subjects. There was also an orientation day in which students get familiarized with the school and faculty members.

I tried to find friends as soon as possible, which I did. It is not hard to find friends in New York. I was worrying a little about my English but it has never been a problem. I do believe Swedish students have great English even though many feel insecure about it.

This is basically how I did it. It only took two weeks or so for me to feel like home. Like I said, I think my mental preparations for this trip started a very long time ago. 

My Story

Some people have been asking me about applying to Berkeley College lately so I will write a little about that today.

I noticed that I have not really explained to you who I am and what motivated me to go to the United States. There is a lot to cover about it and that would take more than one blog to explain.

I grew up in southern Sweden in a small city with a population of approximately 30,000 people, cows and horses. I actually always wanted to go to the United States ever since I was a kid.

I am not sure what really triggered the passion to America in me but I believe I have always lived in an American way. I went to study journalism and broadcasting in high school for three years. In Sweden people can actually chose a major in high school.

I started working after three long years of studying. At first, I was only working part time with various jobs such as McDonald’s, assistant at a computer store, and at a small book factory that specialized in putting books together.

I really just wanted a job with a good salary that would allow me to save some money. I found a job at an auto glass factory in my hometown a few months after college. At first I was only supposed to work there for four months because most companies in Sweden do not want to hire you longer than that, meaning they will extend your contract if they need you and if you are doing a good job. 

I worked for four months and was than let go because the demand for side windows was low. I went to Switzerland to work there for a month and was after that called in again by my old job.

I stayed approximately three years that time and figured I had enough money to go to New York after that.

I needed to translate my Swedish grades and have two letters of recommendation from a mentor, teacher, or close friend. I did not have to do the SAT or the TOEFL since my grades were good enough.

I found it very hard to find all the information about how to apply to a college in the United States. Therefore, I contacted a Swedish organization called GoStudy that helped me for free to apply to Berkeley College.

I applied about six months before I attended school the first day. There is a lot of paperwork to do with visa and student loans so I recommend you to give yourself enough time for it.

It is also hard to find an apartment. I found it via craigslist.org, which is a bit risky. There is a lot of fraud and scamming going on there but I was lucky and found a decent place where I could stay.

I will tell you more about my first days in New York in my next blog. Contact me if you have any questions. 

Assignments

I am at my fiancée’s school right now. I had to go get her some lunch because she was starving so I am doing my homework there right now.

I only have two more assignments left to do for my international business class. I have done about seven or eight the last two days. I am looking forward to see my professor’s reaction to when I turn in all the assignments.

It will feel really good to have done everything so that I will not have to do any more homework for that class again. It is a lot to read to be able to answer the questions but I really find it interesting so it is not that hard.

The stock market is really crashing again. I thought the worst part was over but it looks like it is heading for new volatile times. It will be interesting to see how the government will pay off its huge debt.

Many people fear future inflation and tax increases and I believe their fear is justified. There is simply no other way to pay off this huge debt.

I just had rice pudding. I really love it but I have not found it in any other places than my fiancée’s school. I think I should be able to buy it at a supermarket though so I will be scouting for it on my next trip to Pathmark.

I have a test coming up next week. I have not had the review yet though because there are still some things the professor needs to cover. I think I will have the review on Thursday though.

The test will cover political, environmental, and sociocultural forces in the international environment. It will probably cover more but I am not sure of the details yet. It is definitely an interesting subject though.

I have to get up at 6.15 tomorrow, which pretty much is killing me. It is very painful to get up that early but it is only twice a week so it is fairly manageable. Next quarter will definitely be better though because I start at 10.45 and 08.55 respectively.

I am doing a lot of studying this quarter and I think school is getting tougher and tougher for each year. Classes are becoming more advanced and complicated and students will definitely have to do more reading than they had to during their first quarters.

I took today's picture at Times Square. I really like Planet Hollywood. Their food is absolutely fantastic and I go there quite often as you might have noticed.

Seafood Buffet

I have not done much homework this weekend because I do not have any deadlines for next week. My fiancée and I went out to eat buffet this weekend and it was better than expected.

My fiancée and I have talked about going to a restaurant with a seafood buffet for a long time. We found a popular place close to Korea Town in Manhattan called Ichi Umi. I thought it would be a normal seafood buffet place but it was more than that.

The buffet is huge and stretches more than twenty meters. It offers everything from sushi to crab cake and they never run out of food, but refill it as soon as something is lacking. I almost tried something from everything but there is simple too much food to try for one visit.

They also have a wonderful buffet with deserts. I went there twice actually covering a full plate every time. They have cheesecake, white chocolate, fruit, and many other cakes. I will definitely go back there but I will make sure I am really hungry before going there.

Today is the 81^st Annual Academy Awards. I have never seen it live before actually because it is always really late when watching it from Sweden. I did not see that many movies last year actually and I am not sure what movies and what actors have been nominated this year.

I will still watch it though because I like the glamour and entertainment in Hollywood.

I thought I would do all the homework for my international business class today. We have about two assignments every week and I thought I could do all of it so that I would not have to do anything more for the rest of the quarter.

I did not have enough time to do everything today though. I have four more chapters to do but I think I will be able to do it next week or next weekend.

I will have to start on my term paper for finance soon. I was planning on doing some of it this weekend but I got lazy and did not do anything of it. I still have three weeks to do it though so I will not have to stress it out.

I have my cat another shower today. She was pretty calm while I did it actually and did not scratch my eyeballs out or anything. I used a cat shampoo too so she should be really clean now. She has been licking herself for about an hour now but she is okay other than that.

Today’s picture is from Ichi Umi. You cannot really see the end of the buffet, which really tells how big it is. 

I Have 30 Minutes!

I am waiting for pizza that I ordered online from Domino’s. It is time to celebrate the weekend and there is no better way of doing that.

I picked up my large print today. I am very satisfied with the result. It turned out better than I thought it would actually. I believed it would be a little too dark but the brightness is perfect. I wished it would be a little bigger though and I think my camera should be able to handle it.

I talked to my professor in finance today. I was actually going to the office to talk to one of my old accounting professors but he was not there at the time. I needed some information about filing for tax return.

My finance teacher helped me out with that and also told me to bring in the papers on Monday so that he can see exactly what I need to do. I really appreciate that kind of help. He also told me that I got an A on the test even though it said A-/B+ and that felt good to hear.

I heard that some students can be refunded for some of the tax they paid on the tuition. I am currently looking that up because that would be of great interest to me. There are actually a lot of deductibles these days because of the stimulus packages and the economy.

I saw another student getting a ticket in the subway today, which made me feel a little better about getting a ticket before. I was waiting for my fiancée and saw a girl opening the security gate to let her friend in.

There was a cop standing right next to me who started to walk towards them right afterwards. I had to go after that but it is crazy how many people the police catches everyday in the subway.

I found out what professors I will have for next quarter. I know two of the professors already, and I really like them. One is from my old college algebra class and will teach in my statistics class.

This will definitely help me understanding the material. I believe he is the best professor in math that I have ever had actually.

The other professor I will have is the one I am having now in international business. He is the funny professor that I usually mention in the blog. He will teach in my international economics class, which I am very happy about. It will definitely make the days shorter.

I took today’s picture on 6^th avenue and somewhere close to 57^th street. I have never noticed this building before actually, but I believe it is a club of some kind. The building really sticks out and I must say someone did an amazing exterior job. 

The Finance Test

I got back my finance test today and I am somewhat dissatisfied with it. I got A-/B+, which is not too bad but it is the way it was graded that made me feel disappointed.

We had to prepare an income statement and a balance sheet, which I did. For the next question you had to calculate six ratios based on the numbers you got from the income statement and balance sheet.

This meant that if you got the statements wrong or did a simple mistake in adding or subtracting the numbers, you would mess up the ratios too. I did just that. My mistake was a simple miscalculation on the balance sheet. I subtracted a number and wrote the wrong number on the next line.

I got three ratios wrong because of this even though I used the right format and calculations for the ratios. That is, I knew how to calculate the ratios and what to divide but I did not get it right since I used the numbers from the balance sheet that I had miscalculated.

I asked the professor if he could grant me credits for the ratios because I divided the right numbers. For example, I divided current assets with the current liabilities for the current ratio and did all the other ones right too.

He did not give me any credits for it though because his idea of it was that the numbers were wrong and therefore I was wrong. I can understand a small part of that but I definitely do not believe it is good way of testing students.

I believe that I proved to him that I know how the ratios are working because I calculated them right. It does not really matter what numbers I put in there as long as they are the ones from the right category.

I am still on my way to an A in finance though but I will probably have to work a little harder for the final. I will also have to start to work on the term paper because I want to do excellent work on that.

I went to have a beer with my friend after class today. We went to his place, which offers a magnificent view of downtown Manhattan. It was very interesting because we could see a snowstorm approaching from there and how it got closer and closer to us.

His apartment is on the 54^th floor so it was interesting to see the weather change like that while watching from such a viewpoint. I only have one more day in school this week and will be nice with another weekend.

I took today’s picture at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. I just wanted a picture on the traffic and all the lights that you see in the city. I took this one with my IPhone so the quality is not top class. 

A New Week

This weekend was very relaxing and I think I really needed it. I was very tired when I woke up this morning and I could barely keep my eyes open in my international business class.

I am not the kind of guy that falls asleep during lecture though. The professor is always entertaining and fun to listen too so that helps a lot. I am very happy that I am not having a math class at that time.

I got back my police and society test today and was able to take a look at which questions I got wrong. I was the first student to receive the test and was told that I got the highest score in class. That made me very happy.

I will hopefully get back my test in finance tomorrow. I am quite nervous about getting it back because I have no idea of what grade I will get. The teacher has not posted anything on blackboard yet.

I like when teachers post the grades online. It really helps emotionally by not making people too nervous the day they expect to get the tests back.

I went to a photo store this weekend to have a photo developed in large print format. It will be 20 by 16 inches big and the final price ended up at $35. I definitely thought it would be cheaper but I still think it is an okay price.

I am going to pick up the print tomorrow so I am very curious about the final result. I really hope the quality lives up to the price though. This print will really decide whether I will go back to this place again or not.

I have had some homework to do today. I had some finance and yesterday I had to do an assignment for my international business class. We are talking about internal rate of return and investments right now. It is very interesting but quite hard to learn.

You really have to repeat this stuff and read it over and over again to understand it. It will be interesting to hear what the professor has to say about it. We missed Monday’s class because of President’s Day but I do not think we will have a problem keeping up with the schedule.

I took today’s picture in Times Square. I went there to check out some puzzles at Toys R Us. My fiancée and I actually bought another puzzle in the same series as before. This time it is portraying Las Vegas.

The spring is really getting closer now. You can hear the birds singing in the morning and it is definitely getting warmer. I believe we have an average of around 40 degrees these days, which is not too bad for being in New York. 

A Missing Piece

It is finally weekend after one of the busiest weeks since I came to New York. I will finally have some time to celebrate Valentines Day and relax without having to think about homework.

I wrote my last blog right before I had my police and society test. I did not know if I would regret doing that instead of studying for the test but I felt, at that time that I had studied as much as I could.

It was one very intense week and I came to a point where I simply could not concentrate anymore. There is a limit to how much a person can study so I always take breaks when I start to feel that I am not focusing anymore.

The test in police and society was not that difficult for me. I felt that I knew a lot about the subject actually. I had bought a venti latte at Starbucks to keep me running and it probably helped me a little to keep me focused on the test.

My professor posted the grades yesterday and I got 96% on it. I am obviously very happy about that and it will make this weekend even more enjoyable. Hard work really pays off in the end.

I went to my fiancées school after my test. They had an event over there celebrating Valentines Day. I sneaked in with a visitor’s card and was able to get my hands on some free food including hamburgers, cheese sticks, and ice cream.

There were also two guys playing old-fashioned music. They dressed up in traditional old New York cloths and the music they played was great. I really enjoyed that, especially since I was very hungry.

I just finished a puzzle that I started to put together a few weeks ago. It has 750 pieces but unfortunately, it only counts to 749 right now. The last piece is missing, which is really distressing. I did not know it was missing until I was done with the whole puzzle because it was literally the last piece I would place.

I am not sure if I can blame the factory for the missing piece because it could be my cat that ate it too. I hope I will find the piece later so that I can frame the puzzle.

I am still waiting for grade in finance to be posted. I am quite curious about what I will get. I have no clue about how the teacher corrects his tests. I have no idea what I will get on it but want an A of course.

I am going to Manhattan today. I want to check out some photo stores because I want to print a photo in large print. I photoshoped it a few days ago basically just making it black and white and regulating the colors. I think it will look great on the wall.

Today’s picture is showing my puzzle with its missing piece. It is unfortunately pretty obvious so I cannot ignore it.