LA was great! We didn't really have any clue on what to do, so we basically just drove around in the Mustang while figuring out what to do, in the worst cases we let the GPS decide for us.
On Monday, after we leased the Mustang and ate a really good burger at the In and Out diner, we took the drive to Hollywood, walked on Hollywood Blvd and looked at the stars in the pavement. But for the most part we just drove the car. :D Sadly, my camera ran out of space kinda early that day, so I didn't get to take that many pictures. Other than that and a dinner, we didn't do much else since we kinda got up a little late that day... *ahem*
On Tuesday we took the ride to Hollywood once again to see the Hollywood sign and the scenic view over Los Angeles from there.
While the rest of the class were at school. In cold, cold Grand Forks. *smirk*
We really wanted to go to the sign itself, but the road was blocked and a sign threatened with imprisonment if we went further. So this was as close as we got:
We went to find a place to eat, but first we got a little bit lost and ended up at this place:
Universal Studios
But sadly, we didn't have time to visit it... We ended up on a small restaurant slightly hidden in a semi-alley, but their bread there was to die for. Afterwards we went back to the hotel, since the guy traveling with us got the rest of the week off to go to Florida and watch the Discovery space shuttle launch. *envy* So he had to book tickets, which ended up costing him 1000 USD total, including the trip back to Grand Forks. I hope it was worth it!
But anywho, after he finished, which took forever, we decided to go to Long Beach to watch the sunset. But it was kinda a long ride, and the voice on the radio said there had been an accident which slowed down the traffic. So we ended up at the Santa Monica pier instead:
We barely reached the sunset. But it was beautiful.
And here's a small picspam of a few other things:
POSE!
The wind was flapping my hair everywhere. But I found the solution.
The only downside we found on the car
Salt bars(saltstenger)! Only 10 times bigger. O.o
Wednesday we finally got home (except for the Florida guy), at approx. 1 AM. So I got about 3 hours of sleep until school, went to school, got 15 maps and charts that I had to learn until today (e.g. one day). FML. But I did good! =) scored 95% with only 2 errors (we only got one of the maps on the test)
Basic is offically over, and I got through the show-off in the simulator easily. Phew! Also, the interview went well... I think... I'll find out when the article comes out, which, by the way, is in a magazine for people who work in Avinor. I'm kinda curious about the pictures he took, though. He had the lense about 30 cm from our faces, while taking the pictures in frog perspective. Oyh.
Anywho! The reason I haven't updated lately is because I've been in Cancun, Mexico <3!
Aaaaaaaaaah......
13 of us decided to go, 2 girls and 11 boys. So I guess it's kinda a boys trip. But after 2 days there, 2 of the guys told me how awesome I apparently am :D Granted, they may have been under the influence of alcohol, but my narcissism tells me they're right. It's no coincidence my nickname is MissFantastic. It doesn't matter if I came up with the name myself.
One of the perks of being this awesome, is that one of the boys let me be his wingman! Never been that before, and I loved it! Yes, I didn't really do that much. When he didn't remember the name of a girl he had been talking to, he just took me over to her.
Cut to scene:
Buddy: Have you met my friend?
Me: Hi, I'm Liv
Girl: Hi, I'm <insert name>
Me:<insert name>? Nice to meet you.
*Buddy standing behind her smiling and giving me thumbs up*
Also, I think maybe one of the girls we met on this trip doesn't like me much. First, we made her believe that I couldn't speak English, except 'yes' and 'no'. Which we had a lot of fun with. Alot. Until she found out. And one evening when we went out on the town, one of my classmates asked me if I could help him not get drunk since the same girl tried to get him drunk. So when I saw her give him a shot of something, I just walked right over there, took the shot, drank it, gave it back and walked on while I heard the word "bitch" behind me. My buddy loved me for it, though. I also switched his drink with a glass of water. But as I woke up the day after, it might not have been the best deal for me, though. I was slightly reduced.
The nightlife is awesome, btw. We pay someone 45 USD and then we get free entrance, VIP seats and an open bar. And all the places we've been to has been a great experience. But that's not all we did. We went to see one of the 7 wonders of the world! I dunno if it's the new wonders or the old, or something else, but it's a wonder. That's for sure. Chichen Itza! (Apparently, people has the tendency to say 'Chicken Pizza') The Mayan ruins!
A game of noughts-and-crosses. The crosses lost.
A fancy stone
Most of us were pretty reduced on the trip. Most likely due to the impromptu Toga party we threw at the hotel the evening before with sheets from our beds.
I also went to the market one of the days and bought myself a little trinket from the trip. Obsidian stone. The guy who sold it to me also showed me which Mayan zodiac I am, Tzec. Apparently I am of Balanced Intellect and Rejects Negativity! After a few minutes of thinking I figured 'balanced intellect must mean "you're not stupid, but you're not that smart either." Sounds about right to me.
One of the coolest things 5 of us did was that we found some kind of a pier, only it was rotten and mostly ruined. So of course we decided to walk on it to get to the shore side!
The stone building on the far side was too intriguing to pass.
Here is also a vid I took from my iPod while walking back from the far-side:
The last day 3 of us managed to hire jetskis for half an hour. At first I thought that 30 minutes wouldn't be enough, but when I was done I could hardly grip anything due to holding on for dear life while having an awesome time! Oh. By the way, my sunglasses are now resting at the bottom of the Caribbean somewhere. While jumping on a wave I managed to knock my jaw and my sunglasses off me. Sadly, I didn't get a bruise from it to show off...
In other news, I learned that my watch is only WATERPROOF-ish...
It still works, though.
And that the control tower at Cancun airport has the best commercial on its wall:
CORONA!!!
Anywho, as you all know, I'm stuck in Los Angeles at the moment, but it's OK. We're managing. We figured it was smarter to rent a car than to use the buses or taxis all day long, so we found ourselves across the road from our hotel at a car rental place.
Cut to scene:
Classmate: Hi, we would like to rent a car.
Clerk: Okay, but the only ones we've got left are a small SUV and a Mustang convertible
Us: ...... Mustang please! :D
So I've just left Cancun for the US again to go back to the harsh reality that is school. We landed in Los Angeles, and found out that our connecting flight to Minneapolis had been cancelled due to a blizzard. And since our flight was the last flight that got cancelled that day (apparently there were at least 9 flights), they could only offer us Wednesday as the earliest flight.
So 3 of us are stuck in LA until then. Luckily, we got a hotel (but we had to pay for it ourselves with a discount). The main goal now is to either wash my only 2 pants I packed, and/or buy new ones. Plus, I only packed t-shirts. And it's kinda chilly. But I'll manage ;)
I must specify; yes, it sucks that we're going to miss at least 2 days of school. But I'm kinda glad that I get to experience the West Coast :P
PS: I'll update the blog about the trip when I've gotten the pictures onto the computer and stuff.. Stay tuned!
nFinished my last basic exam today, and passed all of them! The basic module is officially over, and we are venturing into unknown territory known as The Rating Module. Some say it's gruesome. Some say it's meh. But everyone can agree on one thing, we're halfway through the course in the US.
Funny enough, I wasn't nervous about any of the 4 exams we had this week. Maybe that's when karma decided to kick in and let me be one of the six (un)lucky people who has to show some people from Avinor how good we're doing in the simulator tomorrow, with the most difficult scenario we've had so far. FML.
THAT made me nervous. I'm going to show off (or fail miserable, time will tell) in the tower module. Buuut after a day of thinking, I think it's kinda cool that I got chosen. Somebody obviously thinks that I can't mess it up at least. That's a good thing.
So KARMA decided to kick in again! I got told today that I'm one of two (un)lucky ones who's been hand-picked to talk to some of the Avinor people tomorrow. Buuut after an hour or so I thought it was cool enough to get picked again, and it can't really be that difficult. I mean, it's just a talk, right?
So KARMA decided to give me one last kick in the <insert appropriate word here>. I got an e-mail from one of the instructors where it said that they are going to take pictures of me and the other guy to print! God knows to print in what, but FML. So in panic I went to the hair saloon after my last exam.
So now I'm going to fret about what to wear tomorrow and not stop thinking about it, because the minute I do, I'm certain that KARMA will tell me that they're going to interview us or something..
Current mood:
Song of the day: Muse - Feeling Good (since I'm feeling good about being done with basic)
While driving in my awesome new car, which I can barely see the top of the hood of, I had to fill some gas. So I cruised into a gas station and slowly parked in front of one of the gas pumps, turned off the engine and stepped outside. But I noticed that the gasoline hose wouldn't reach my gas tank (I'm not used to these long cars, mmmkay?).
So I got into the car, fired up the engine, moved the extra feet needed to pump gas, turned off the ignition and got out of the car. Only to find out that the card reader didn't work on this pump.
So I let out a silent cuss word and got into the car again, fired up the engine, moved the car to another pump, turned off the ignition and got out of the car. I looked up and read the word "Diesel".
So I got into the car, saw a guy watching me from inside the shop, contemplated if I should just drive to another gas station and flee from the embarrassment, decided I'd give it one more try, drove the car to another fuel pump, turned off the ignition, got out of the car and finally got to fill the god-damn gas tank.
I didn't fill it to the top, though... The tank leaks from the top. A small price to pay for an otherwise awesome car.
Anywho! Not much to bother you guys with these days, I have my exams coming up next week on Monday and Tuesday. Wish me Luck!
