Is there a Doctor in the House?

Why yes, yes there is! On Friday Dale successfully defended his PhD. For Electrical Engineering, and for Dale in particular, this involved a preliminary exam, a qualifying exam, 4 and 1/2 years of PhD research, writing various papers, attending and presenting at various conferences, writing his dissertation, and finally defending his PhD in front of all his colleagues and committee members.

Dale during his defense

Dale's Brother Alan, Dale's Mom Linda, Dale, Me, and Dale's Dad Daryl after the defense

It just so happened that Friday was also graduation and after the defense his advisor suggest he walk in graduation so on a whim we went to graduation and Jorge hooded Dale.

Jorge hooding Dale

Dale and I after graduation

We of course did much celebrating after the graduation and after over a decade of being a college student Dale is very excited for the next chapter in his life. It was a long road but Dale did it! So proud of him! 

Love Always,
Matilda

Sambo

We are now playing a waiting game. Everything we can control is in order. We check the websites for news constantly, but there really isn't anything. (Why have a website to give updates when it doesn't do that??) We need the check number to see the status but we were only ever given the case number. We called the embassy and referenced our case number and they gave us our check number . . . or a check number anyway but not ours! Luckily Dale's soon-to-be-boss has been super helpful through this whole process and he called the embassy and got news for us. Dale's visa has been approved! They are processing mine now and we are told it wont be a problem that we aren't legally married but applying for visas together. In the land of socialism (as I have been referring to Sweden lately) they have a word for people who are committed to each other but aren't legally married and this term is "Sambo" which literally means a partner that you live together with under marital conditions without being formally married: “Sam” is an abbreviation of together and “bo” means live. Isn't it nice to have a term for this? Here in the States I can't even tell you how many people give me sideways looks for having a boyfriend for over 8 years now and the flotilla of questions that I inevitably get when they discover this fact. Why don't you just get married? When are you going to get married? What are you waiting for? And on and on it goes. I'm hoping that in Sweden people wont give me the sideways looks and the flotilla of questions. I'll keep you posted on how this turns out! Anyway, Dale's sambo visa was approved and now they are working on mine. The embassy said it would be one week more maximum and then we can FINALLY buy our plane tickets. Plane tickets to D.C. to get the visas and tickets to Stockholm for the big move and maybe even a plane ticket from D.C. to Boston for a quick visit. (I did a quick price out and one ways Denver - DC - Boston - Stockholm is actually the cheapest option, hooray) As a capricorn, not having a definate date for any of this is killing me. But the waiting is almost over . . .or so I think :)

Love Always,

Matilda

 

Movin' and Shakin'

I'll be packin' all weekend and that means I'll be jamming out to some quality music! I created a playlist so you all can move and shake with me :)



It's mostly what Dale has dubbed "Mattie Music" meaning slower beat, good vocals, and quality instrument playing skills. I throughly love each artist and if you've never heard of one of them you should check them out!
Leave a comment and let me know which song you like the best, which video you love the most, or maybe just how much you hate all my music selections (but hopefully you don't).
Love Always,
Matilda

Giving Thanks

For the Thanksgiving Holiday Dale, Emma, Mom, and I drove over to Grand Junction to stay at a beautiful giant house on the top of Colorado Monument. We stayed with my Aunt Wendy, Uncle Wes, Cousin Crystal and her Husband Dan and their Daughter Danica. It was sooo nice to spend some time together, it had been way too long since we'd done that! On Thanksgiving my Grandma, her husband, my Uncle, Aunt, her mom, my cousin, and his girlfriend all came over and we had quite the feast! I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all!

Snyder Family Thanksgiving 2010

My Grandma and my second cousin, beautiful ladies!

After we drove back to Denver (with only a short stop at the Silverthorne outlets to cure our black Friday shopping urge), Dale and I headed over to his parents house and had faux-thanksgiving with his parents, brother, and Aunt and Uncle. It was great to spend sometime with his family too. This week was a much needed break but now it's back to the grindstone until we are out of here. Hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving too!
Love Always,
Matilda

Progress

Things are moving right along for our pending move to Stockholm. Dale's got a job, I'm getting close to having a job, we've applied for our visas, and the paperwork for our housing is being processed. I've begun using Rosetta Stone to learn Swedish. It's completely different from English and one unit down I can already tell learning the language is going to be one of the hardest parts of moving over seas. For example, I don't understand is "Jag förstår inte" see?! No resemblance to English at all. I'm hoping I'll at least know enough Swedish to be able to get around by the time we move. I've heard 90% of Swedes speak English but I'd still like to learn Swedish and I have a life goal to be bi-lingual so this is the perfect chance!

We've also been going through the house donating unneeded items and selling bigger things on craigslist. It's sad to see some of the stuff go, like the tandem Dale and I restored, but mostly it's surprising how much unnecessary stuff we have. While I've been busy with all of this, Dale's been working his tale off trying to complete his research project, revise his thesis, and schedule his defense. So, we're both making good progress and even though we're still over a month away from the move I'm starting to get really excited! And also a bit sad to say goodbye to all my friends and family!

Here's a map of Stockholm I've customized for you all:

View Matilda's Stockholm in a larger map

Love Always,
Matilda

Change is in the air!

I'm starting this blog to document all of my adventures, but I guess you already established that from the title. :) Six months ago I graduated with my MBA from Colorado State University and soon Dale, my boyfriend of 8 years, will be graduating with his PhD. Having both lived in Colorado our whole lives and feeling the freedom that comes with being young, no mortgage, no jobs holding us back, and no kids, we are setting out on an adventure! We are moving to Stockholm, Sweden just after Christmas and we will be taking a vacation once every month to somewhere in Europe. This is going to be quite the adventure! So stay tuned and follow along as I guide you on our journey. I'm now equipped with a fancy new camera (thanks to Dale, Emma and Maaa) which will make documenting my adventures all the easier! Please bear with me as I learn to use it, but that too will be an adventure. I plan to use this blog to share pictures, travel stories, and anything else I experience. Once travel plans solidify more I will begin blogging on a regular basis, or at least attempt to. Until then, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes (and that's saying a lot since I am a quote fanatic):


"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain


Love Always,
Matilda