Travel, interviews, and Olivia

It has been a while since I wrote anything and so much has happened since my last posting. I wrapped up the fall semester with finals and presentations for my classes. A few hours after my last final we flew to Sweden to celebrate christmas with my family and hang out with friends. It was great to be home and see everyone again. We had a pretty hectic social schedule during our 10 days there. Our busy schedule combined with jetlag and cramming 5 adults, a 3 year old, and a dog into my mothers small 2 bedroom apartment ment that we didn't get much sleep.

Our trip back to Boston was horrible, due to 70 mile/hr winds in Iceland our plane was delayed 10 hrs, so instead of landing in Boston on Dec 30th at 6pm, we landed Dec 31 at 4am. So much for the newyears eve party we had planned on hosting. Instead of celebrating the new year we tried to get some sleep, do some laundry, and repack our bags for our next trip. On Jan 1st we flew to Florida to visit Marks family. There we actually got to relax for a bit. We played a round of golf (I actually played really well and beat Mark easily) and I was able to take some time to read a really good book I had borrowed from my friend Ebba (Man som hatar kvinnor by Stieg Larsson). On Jan 5th I left Mark and Julia in Florida and flew back to Boston to once more repack my bags for the LFM plant trek.

The plant trek is a 2 week long cross country trip where our class and faculty visits LFM partner company plants. We visited Dell and Cisco/Flextronics in Austin, Amazon.com in Reno, Boeing in Seattle, Honeywell in Chicago, Harley Davidson in Milwaukee, General Motors (including a day at the Car show) and American Axle in Detroit. This trek was definitely one of the best LFM experiences I have had so far, but also one of the most difficult LFM experiences. Best becasue seeing so many different plants is amazing and I learned a ton. Most difficult because I was away from Julia for two weeks. Here are a few pics from some of the plant visits.


LFM Class of 2009 at Boeing 747 plant



Myraida and I at the Harley Davidson Dealership



At the Detroit Car Show

Plant trek was also fun because I could go out with my LFM classmates at night without having to worry about finding a baby sitter. I also enjoyed flying without having to entertain a 3 year old and took the opportunity to either sleep or read on the plane. I finished the second Stieg Larson book that I borrowed from Ebba, this one titled Flickan som lekte med elden. I look forward to reading the next two books in the series, such good books!

After plant trek I had one week to relax before LFM activites begun again. I spent it with Mark and Julia, it was awesome! This past week we have been interviewing with the LFM partner companies for the upcoming internships. One day I had 9 interviews, luckily each interview was just 20 minutes long. After the interviews the students and the companies will submit rank ordered lists of their top choices. Then the internship committee runs an algorithm to match up the students to the internships. We will find out the results in about 2 weeks. I am eager to find out where Mark, Julia, and I will end up spending the 2nd part of this year.

Yesterday about 50 of the candidates for the LFM class of 2010 was here for their interviews. I helped with some of the events that the admissions committee had put together. It was exciting to meet the prospective students for next year and I had the opportunity to chat with some really nice people. Tomorrow I will meet a few more at the LFM superbowl party, and on Monday the second group of 50 prospective students will be here for their interviews.

The best part of this past week was the phonecall I got from my brother telling me about the birth of his and Evas daughter Olivia. She is absolutely adorable! Welcome to the family Olivia, we love you and can't wait to meet you!
PS till Lena: Grattis och massor med kramar pa 60-ars dagen!