Sunday Hike

Yesterday, Kjersti and I let thesis preparations be thesis preparations, and decided to spend all day outside. It is simply impossible to sit inside when the sun is shining, there are no clouds in sight, and the temperature is climbing towards the 20 degree mark. So we decided to take up the søndagstur tradition from the fall.

Goal of the day: top of the Fjellheis mountain. The Fjellheis goes there, but costs 85 kr to take to the top, and is free to take back down. Translated into student language: you walk up, and you take the heis down.

The hike up is steep, but not too long. Within an hour the goal was reached, and along the way we got to take some breaks and take pictures of the people who were not quite as sporty as us (look right):

From the top of the mountain, the view is fantastic. And I also got to work on my sunburn that is supposed to be the base color before heading off to Namibia (so actually I could call this thesis preparations after all!), eat some ice cream and a hot dog, and just relax. What a perfect day!

And after a Sunday hike, what could be better than sitting outside at Driv in the sun, drinking a glass of ice cold coke?

Sommer og Sol

Looks like the summer has already come to the Paris of the North! The sky is blue, the sun is shining, the seagulls are singing and the ice cream is waiting. I spent May 1st (Labor Day) sitting outside Driv eating the first softis of the year and working on my sunburn, and it felt great! I think I might have to reconsider winter being my favorit time of year..














OK, now I'm off to sit on the veranda of the Peace House to read a little. My sunburn is not quite there yet.

Schweiz - Suisse - Switzerland - Sveits

Last spring I got a letter from Leoneck Hotel in Zürich, telling me that I had won a free week-end at their hotel after participating in their online puzzle-quiz. I was so excited - since Zürich is one of my favorite cities, and since this is the first time I win anything else than a lottery - and determined to use my free voucher even if the plane tickets would cost more than the actual hotel would have..

So after Easter I headed for my favorite country Switzerland. There I met Giulia, my friend from Italy who went to the same high school as me in the US, and who I hadn't seen for three years. That was great, and we had a lot of fun in Zürich!






I also decided that Switzerland is a country I have to go back to. It is so beautiful, and so facinating. And since they have four official languages, I have decided that it must be the perfect place to go and learn one. After listening to people speak and trying to understand signs and restaurant menues, I realized that learning a new language is necessary. And since they have every sign in at least two languages, La Suisse is the place to be. They even have both French and German subtitles on the movie at the same time! But language is not the only reason I so desperatly want to go there. It is so beautiful with the Alps, warm in summer and lots of great snow and ski slopes in the winter. And the people are so friendly and helpful! Watch out, Switzerland, I'll be back!

Looking Scary

I read somewhere that someone claimed that ”it is better to travel than to arrive”.

What? WHAT?? I seriously couldn’t agree less. And here are just a few of the many reasons why:

1. All the carrying and running around with heavy baggage is reason enough in itself. I have never been good at packing, I’ll be the first to admit that. You never know what you might need, or what you might want to wear, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. Usually I am sorry anyway when I try to lift the backpack, but by that time there is no more time to rearrange or take stuff out. So, by the time I get to deliver my baggage at the check-in after changing trains and walking up and down stairs in the amazingly warm airports, I am warm, my shoulders hurt, and I am tired.

2. Then, after standing in X number of unending lines, there is the actual plane. I don't know who have designed the interior of those things, but they have forgotten one little, important detail..: People have legs, and there should be room for them!! So after finding a somewhat possible position to sit in, I often fall asleep, my neck goes into a funny position, and when the plane lands I can't move either my legs or my neck.

3. Last, but not least, the hassle of security checks. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the necessity of security checks, and I am actually glad that they are there. What I am not so happy about is that all people that work in them seem to think that I am the walking image of a security threat. I always beep when going through, and not just once - but several times.. Which means that I have to be body searched. Not fun. In the south of Europe you get just one chance, and if it beeps, you're right off to the body search. In Oslo, on the other hand, you get several attempts, but that didn't help me the last time. In the end they didn't find out why I beeped, but luckily let me through anyway..

So I have to say that I think arriving is A LOT nicer than travelling. To reach the hotel, put all the baggage down, take a shower and go out discovering a totally new place - nothing beats that!

Meerkats

For the last few days I haven't really wanted to go on fieldwork this summer. I don't get answers to my e-mails with the millions of questions I have about my trip, I have no idea where I am going to stay or when I am going to go, and May is getting uncomfortably close. No, the last few days I haven't really wanted to hear the word "Namibia" mentioned at all.

But today, my package from Amazon came, including a travel guide to Namibia! And what do I see on the cover? Nothing else than my alltime favorite animal - the Meerkats!

I choose to take this as a sign that it'll be a good summer in Namibia after all!

Solution

As I was writing the previous post, the solution to my "problem" kind of jumped into my head. Maybe my brain is finally recovering from Easter vacation..

Weather

I don't think this is quite fair.

I left Tromsø almost two weeks ago, after sitting in my room writing exams and looking out on the fantastic weather with the sun shining from a cloud-free, blue sky for over three weeks. Since noone has invented something that makes exames write themselves yet, I had to stay inside even though I felt like I should be outside.

So when I came home for Easter vacation, I told my parents that I was going to have a nice, well deserved break from everything called school, and not open another book until Tuesday after Easter, but rather spend a lot of time outside getting a tan.

Then the sun magically disappeared.

Although I didn't get to spend a lot of time outside, I kept my word and didn't open a book all week. Not a school book at least. But yesterday I found out I'd probably better get some reading done for the oral exam. And guess what happened?

The sun is again shining, there is no cold wind, and not a cloud in sight! Humf!

(Let me just point out something very important: I am complaining about the school work, not the weather. Even though it is a little annoying not being able to be out there, I wouldn't want the sun to disappear!)

Arctic Dogsledding

Volunteering for the Peace Centre seminar provided unexpected possibilities. I got to go dogsledding for the first time!

About 80 dogs were waiting unpatiently to take us around Kvaløya in the beautiful Tromsø evening. I cannot figure out how they could be so excited and filled with energy at the thought of being allowed to run for an hour in the deep snow pulling a sled with four people in it, when I hardly had the energy to sit still and write an exam. I seriously wish I had some of their energy! But if it requires copying their eating habits - a mix of chicken and fish apparently - I am not quite sure... I'm working hard on coming up with an alternative plan on how to get the same amount of energy..

Anyway, dogsledding was cold but fun, the Paris of the North showed itself from its very best side, and wine, traditional sami food and choclate cake around the fireplace in the Lavvo tasted great!

Coffee Overdose

I'm writing about vicious circles in my exam. And I have just discovered one personally. Couldn't sit and write the exam because I was so tired. Had some coffee to wake up and concentrate. Had a little more coffee. All the caffein kicked in at the same time. I cannot sit still to write exam.

Humf!

Dødball Season

Now the sun is shining, the snow is starting to melt, and spring is here again. Spring is a great time of year - it is the start of the dødball-season! I can't help but think about all the fun times running around the soccerfield in Lillehammer last year, trying not to get hit by that little tennisball and make it to the base in time. The laughs, the discussions, the cheers, the sports-injuries..
Dødball is great fun!

For those of you not familiar with the concept, let me fill you in on this great activity that we rediscovered last year. Dødball is kind of a Norwegian version of baseball, that kids usually play in every school-break at elementary and secondary school. So last year a group of us decided that dødball is also a sport for students, found a soccer-field in Lillehammer, and - voila!

Now I hear that there is a dødball-reunion coming up. I wish I could be there, but I can't. You guys have to make this an annual happening.

I'll make sure to do a strong comeback next year.

I Work Best under Pressure

I work best under pressure.
I work best under pressure.
I work best under pressure.
I work best under pressure.
I work best under pressure.

If I just say it enough times it will come true, right? RIGHT??

I Need:

1. Inspiration.

2. 3000 words for essay. Preferably about collective narratives, peace education and/or history.

3. An invention that would make the day last for 48 instead of 24 hours every day until Friday.

If you have any ideas, please don't hesitate to tell me.

Always Look at the Bright Side of Life...

Tra la la la la la..

Exam is definitely not going as planned. I just can't get my mind to work today, and when I can't think, it is a little bit difficult to get anything useful down on paper. But instead of complaining about my exam writing (or lack thereof) I decided to try the "think positive tecnique" and focus on something better.

For example, this seems to be the "week of free food". Very convenient for a limited student economy. Redd Barna-Boss Bjørn-Richard has just recently experienced Lånekassen's limited generousity himself, and therefore gave Rachel and me all the leftovers from dinners and lunches at the Redd Barna region-meeting we went to this week-end. So now our fridge and freezer is full of salat, bread, pais, chinese chicken+curry and rice! in adition to that, we also got to go to a three course dinner at a fancy restaurant with all the Redd Barna people on Saturday. And because we're volunteering for the Peace Centre Seminar this week, we get three free lunches and another fancy dinner on Thursday. Yeah!

Positive thing nr. 2 - the sun is (almost) shining again. After a couple of weeks of bright sun and blue sky it started snowing yesterday. But now I can see some blue sky again!

Oh, and I have found a new favorite actor. He's finnish, and he's called Jasper Pääkkönen. He plays Matti Nykänän in the new movie, and he's oh so cuuuute..

Last - but not least - I have now in some miraculos way overcome the technical obstacles and fixed my blog so that everyone can write comments on it, not just fellow bloggers.

I expect results!

Flatpakker er Ikke Helt som Alle Andre Pakker

Yes!

Good news: My new bed arrived from IKEA, and I no longer have to sleep on the floor

Bad news: It arrived in the form of a “flatpakke”; in other words IKEA assumes that I will be able to put this thing togehter all by myself, only with the “help” from their so-called directions in form of a 8 page long pamphlet with drawings of smiley people guiding me through the bed-building process step-by-step, picture by picture.

Uhm. Well. With my practical skills and my limited faith in this much-to-be-desired pamphlet, the result turned out to look anything but what page 8 suggested. And sure enough, the bed ended up crocket, with one side like 10 cm longer than the other. And of the 11 screws provided by IKEA, 8 are happily unused and along with 16 of the 24 wood-nails still sitting in the plastic bag they arrived in. Luckily, this is a very low bed, so if my masterpiece falls apart, the fall won’t be too dramatic. Well, take a look for youtself..

However, various interior decorating shows at BBC has taught me that the “finishing touches” makes all the differece in the world.. Hence (my favorite word in these exam times..):

Well, I guess even the finishing touches can’t cure everything..

Favorite Time of Year

I love winter.

Not exactly Tromsø-winter, with slippery roads and more rain than snow. No, not that kind of winter. But winter with lots of snow, a few degrees below zero, and nice, bright sunshine. Exactly like it has been for a couple of weeks.

I don’t know why I like this time of year so much. It might be that coming from a cold place like Os, I can handle the cold a lot better than warm weather. Or it could be that the snow makes everything so nice and bright. Or, I have to admit, it could be because it is the season of ski sports.

Actually, I am a little sad today, because I realized that the ski sport season is coming to an end. Most sports had their last world cup competition this week-end, and they won’t start again till late November. That’s an awful long time to wait!

But I think it might be a mix of all the above mentioned possible reasons that makes me love winter so much. So sitting here sick of stress-reading for thesis and exams, I have come up with a plan! After I am done with my master degree next year, I am taking my long-planned and needed year off, and moving to winter-wonder-land!

You'll find me somewhere in the Alps, enjoying the sun and skiing while trying to learn some French!

Nissetufser og Slemme Slabbedasker

Ah, jeg har akkurat funnet ut at jeg ikke er den eneste som irriterer meg over lettere udugelige oversettelser på norsk TV.. Dagbladet meddelte nettopp at TV3 har hatt en litt uheldig variant på Oprah show før idag - der de har klart å oversette Crystal Meth (som visstnok er metamfetamin) med det heller ukjente narkotiske stoffet Krystallmetadon. Hadde visst skapt et rush av seerprotester..

Jaja, men så leste jeg videre da, på alle kommentarene folk har lagt til saken. Og der var det jo gullkorn på gullkorn, og jeg lo så tårene trillet. Tror min absolutte favoritt må være:

"I've got the car up front. Let's go!" eller på "godt" norsk: "bilen har framhjulstrekk, vi går!"

Men når jeg leser videre er det definitivt ikke lett å bestemme hvem som fortjener bestemannstrofeet. Du kan jo lese selv og bedømme.. http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/03/15/460798.html

Et par nye slagkraftige kraftuttrykk har jeg i hvertfall lagt til i ordforrådet. Din nissetufs! Din slemme slabbedask!

No vart du skræmt no tenkje je...

Priorities part 2

YES! Sunday I got to do all the laundry that needed to be done by hand, and has piled up for months.

Exam times are good for something!

Language Lesson

Lesson in Norwenglish (part 1):

kitchen benches= kjøkkenbenker = kitchen counters.

just in case anyone else is also confused..
I suspect that Norwenglish lessons part 2,3,4,5....173 will follow shortly. At least after a quick look at my exam paper. It is slående to me that språk can be so confusing.

Ha en fin dag!

Priorities

It is amazing how many important things that just have to be done when I have planned to use a whole day at home writing an exam. Stuff about which I usually think “oh, I’ll do it tomorrow”..

My hyper-effective-exam-writing-day Friday also included:
- Doing a huge grocery shopping trip to Spar (ICA would have taken too little time)
- Cleaning kitchen benches and floor, plus doing dishes
- Making one cup of coffee, and three cups of tea
- Going to the city library to check mail, newspapers, pay bills and write a blog
- Fold heaps of laundry very neatly
- Folding all the rest of the clothes in the closet while I was at it
- Watching Beverly Hills 90210 (that is a must!)
- Cleaning the bathroom
- Eating brownies and watching “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”

I decided to take Saturday off.

Wonder what “important” stuff I will have to on Sunday.

Reliable nose?

My watch broke today!
Hope my new way of telling time is reliable..

Terrible Timing

I am sitting here writing an exam about fieldwork in areas of conflict, but there are like a hundred thousand bazillion things I'd rather do right now. So when I saw Marjaana's idea about cloning, I realized that that would have been the answer to my problem. The thing is, that even though there is a hundred thousand bazillion things I'd like to do, as the sports nerd that I am, there is one that clearly tops the list: to watch the Olympics from Torino.. It must be described as painful to sit in my room staring at a computer screen, when the TV is 10 meters away in the living room and I know that if I just turn it on I could watch everything that goes on in Torino! Ahhh... BE STRONG BE STRONG!

So this is what I would love to be able to do: I would clone an extra Hanne that could work her butt off on the exam, while the real me could curl up on the couch with my wool blanket and a hot chocklate and some candy, and just watch sports all day! I seriousely think the Norwegians in the Olympics would have needed me to cheer more actively than this exam has allowed me to. They're not doing very well - gold medal wise. And the thought of Sweden beating us in that statistics..

Ouch!

A Good Trip to ICA

After helping the moving guys get all the furniture from our appartment, I was starving and just had to run down to ICA to get something good for dinner. Since I was tired after all the moving, I decided to go there just as I was; red in the face, my hair up in some creative ponytail-looking thing, and of course wearing my sweats that were all stained after lifting stuff. I told Rachel that she should consider going with me, because I was sure that when I was going to ICA looking like that - “Lasse” would for sure be at work for the first time in what has seemed like forever.. (For those of you who don’t know who “Lasse” is – you should read Rachel’s blog. But just to fill you in breifly: he is the most beautiful cashier in the whole wide word, except for his “twin” in Reykjavik maybe).

And I was right!! As we stepped out of the garage and peaked hopefully into ICA – he was there! Giggling, we quickly went and got what we needed (just painfully healthy stuff and kitchen equipment, of course!), and waited around in the vitamine department just long enough to make sure that a line developed in the other register, so that we could go in Lasse’s line.

Sooooo cute! I do believe that this guy has the coolest hair and the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. And we found out some new info on him: he has a nokia cell phone, drinks coke and has a big tattoo on his right arm. And we found out his name from the reciept...

OK, let’s just stick with Lasse..

A New Way to tell Time

I thought I had fighted off the cold that seems to be going around these days, but apparently I haven't been 100% successful. Some cold-symptoms are remarkably stubborn, although in a (even I have to admit) very strange way..

Last week I noticed that always like half way through the second set of lectures (14-16 p.m.), my nose blocked up. I noticed because suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe, and had to gasp the air in like a whaleross. This happened at pretty much the same time every day, and even continued on Friday when we didn't have lectures, and over the week-end. In the mornings I was fine, in the afternoons I had a cold. Strange. So if anyone is confused about when it turns 3 p.m. now that the dark times are gone and it is nice and bright out all the time - just ask me!

But I'd still prefer using a watch!

The Blog is Alive!!!

Surprise! A new update! I have heard that some people are losing faith in my blogspot, and threathen to stop check it if nothing happens soon. Well, we can't have any of that, can we!? So I decided to take a few moments of the precious time that would otherwise be spent on reading about the US's implementation of turtle and shrimp restrictions (yeah, I know - that was extremely hard to put aside, but everything for the revival of the Blogspot!), and write some highly exciting news here... But do I have any very exciting news to write? Not really..

I am just going to finish the shrimp article (which actually turns pretty funny when you have been at school for 8 hours, drunk X cups of strong coffee, and are a little bit over-tired), and then we are heading home to celebrate Valentine's Day with lasagne and Animal Planet.

Inspired by Marjaana's latest update, I have decided to live life on the edge a little.. let's try this:
I am a terror threat!!! Let's see if that causes any Blog-trackers to get on my case.. Maybe you'll read about me in the next issue of Newsweek!

But for now, back to the shrimp!

Brrr

It happens every year. It can almost be described as a tradition now. Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without the quicksiver crawling below 30 degrees celsius for a few days.. And it does look nice when it is so cold. We now have the stereotype Christmas card outside the windows here. Which makes it very nice to sit in and look out...



And not so nice to be out. Even spending 30 seconds outside to capture this moment without a hat and gloves, can best be described as extremely painful... But it is strange how much I want to be outside when the temperatures are like this and I can't be outside. Then when the weather gets warmer it suddenly isn't so important to get out after all. Just like how much I can't wait to go jogging when I am sick. That urge usually mysteriously dissappears along with the cold, too..

Going out to parties is also quite a project in tempratures like this. Every hope of looking just a tiny bit elegant is effectively crushed when you need two pairs of wool-tights and at least the same amount of woolen socks and sweaters to keep the worst biting cold out. Good thing then, that the temperatures have a couple of days to rise before the big New Years party that's coming up!

Relaxing Christmas for Santa

Christmas time. Relaxing time. I had forgotten how good it was just to sit around and do nothing, and not feel guilty about it! However, too long of doing nothing has made me a little restless, so I need to find something to do soon, something fun like drawing, reading books (that are not school books), sawing clothes, go skiing.. oh, there is tons to do if i think about it!

To say that I have just done nothing, is, however, not quite true. On Christmas Eve I did actually work, since that is the day that Santa does work... My debut as Santa Claus went quite well, if I dare say so myself. The little girl was only two and a half years old, and quite skeptical of this strange-looking creature with a very orange face and long white beard. But after a while, and after seeing what was in my bag – the skepticism turned into facination and a big smile. At the end she almost gave Santa a hug.

Outside looks like a Christmas card, and I can see light and blue sky – and hints of a round and yellow object, which I wagely recall is called a sun. In addition to that, it has snowed and snowed and snowed – and then snowed some more, so it looks beautiful outside now.

Når en Pepperkake-Baker...

It is many years since I last built a pepperkake-hus. But this year I made a really strong comeback, and built my most complicated house ever! Of course I didn't build it all by myself, such complicated projects require good team work. And we really had a good team - with a group of pepperkake-masters from the class and Silje's mom, who is a real expert and has written a book on how to make great pepperkake houses!

And MPCT students as we are, we created the "World Peace Palace" in pepperkaker, with entries from different parts of the world. And this is what the palace looks like:

Before:

And after:

I will include some more pictures of the making of - and the result of our masterpiece for those of you who can't go to see it on display at the Pepperkakehus-utstilling in Tromsø Kulturhus...

The Amigo

Norwegian Vinmonopol prices are not good news for student economy. That means desperate solutions, which I would definitely call the cheapest red wine on the market - The Amigo.

Since the good singing times around the bonfire in Finnkroken, the Amigo has followed us through thick and thin through the whole semester - as a true friend should.

But unfortunately, the Amigo doesn't taste too good. Not even after a couple of glasses can it hide the fact that it is probably more suitable as a handbag than it is for drinking. However, now in these Christmas times I think the Amigo has found its true calling

- it tastes quite good in Gløgg!

New Job

Ho ho ho ho ho

Yesterday my Mom informed me that she had gotten me a job for Christmas. Oh, exciting, I could earn some money during the vacation, I thought. But no.. It wasn't that kind of job. My neighbors granddaughter is coming home for Christmas, and they need someone as Santa Claus.

So I am booked for 5 pm on Christmas Eve! My career as Santa Claus is officially just about to take off. If anybody else need a Santa for the big day, just let me know and I will see if Rudolf and I can squeeze you in the schedule.

Ho ho for now

Speechmaking turns Fun

This day started with me having to do one of my least favorite activities. Holding a speech in front of about 100 people in Tromsø city centre, with a microphone. But the fact that the audience were all from 6 to 12 years old and that I didn't have to write the speech myself helped a lot. It was actually almost fun! And good practice for my new job that I start after Christmas... Probably good to get as much practice at talking in front of huge crowds of people as possible before that...

Also, I am quite excited because I finally had a great idea for my thesis topic! An idea which means that I could include my interest for sports. Wonderful! So today I have sent an e-mail, and I am hoping for a positive response from the organization. Of course I expect them to be quite as excited as me about this wonderful idea, and have checked my e-mail every five minutes after I sent it (which was like 20 min ago...), to see if they replied yet. So far nothing, but I am keeping my hopes up :)

Cross your fingers for me!

Peaceniks in Poland

When I got an SMS from Stian on my way to school a couple of months ago saying "We're going to Gdansk. Ready?", my initial reaction was 1) hm, that's a cafe I've never heard of, and 2) so typical that they decided to go to a cafe now that I finally got to school...

Now I know that Gdansk is not a cafe in Tromsø at all, but rather a city on the Polish "Riviera" to which Norwegian has amazingly cheap flights. So on November 29th, after submitting our written exams; Silje, Stian, Scott, Marjaana, Rachel, and I, escaped from the dark north for a few days to see what this city had to offer.

And I have to say I was positively surprised! Gdansk is not the gray and boring city I expected, but it has a beautiful old street and some amazing small cafes with great, old interior. Also, Poland is (not surprisingly) a lot cheaper than Norway. So we got to eat several courses dinner each day, drink cheap beer and wine, and of course do some shopping. The plan before we went was to spend one day at a spa, but unfortunately there were none of those in Gdansk. However, we found a hotel with massages, and another one with steamroom and sauna, so Thursday was a very relaxing day.

We stayed at a hostel called the Baltic Hostel, in a huge, dark and a little scary building not far from the old part of the city. This hostel promised us no less than a free witch breakfast! However, when we came home late from the city one night, we got a little suspicios that it might not be only the breakfast that was a little "witchy" about this hostel... (see picture for proof). Also, the coffee machine that suddlenly turned on in the middle of the night was a little bit spooky. Otherwise, the Baltic Hostel was alright, at least after they remembered to turn the warm water heater on on the second day of our stay.



I will try to post all the pictures from the trip here as soon as I figure out how (those technical obstacles you know...)

On the way back from Gdansk, Rachel and I stayed at Berit's and her boyfriend's place in Oslo for a couple of days. I have to say that they really have my dream appartment there in Grünerløkka. In Oslo I also got to meet some friends from home and from Lillehammer, and it was so great to see them again!! I feel a little far away up here in Tromsø..

And also I found out that the stores in Oslo are open on Sundays now before Christmas.. Oh, how devestating.. So of course I managed to get rid of some more money there, because the Tromsø climate and also the chilly wind in Gdansk has made me painfully aware that I need a warm winter jacket. And the Polish jacket fashion wasn't really for me... I also found it quite surprising that they expected me to buy my own buttons and saw them on the jacket. well, that's all for now.

Babosjka.

Segat

After reading for my gender-exam, I have discovered what must be the most genious consept ever invented - Segat. For those of you not familiar with the language in peaceful, Malaysian societies, I will fill you in on this one. It might come in handy.

When a person in this society doesn't feel like doing something, they don't have to. They can just say Segat, which basically means "I don't feel like it". This it considered a good enough reason, and nobody will ask further questions.

So now I am going to Poland, ready to forget all about gender power, decision making, peace, war, international law, armed conflict and UN resolutions in a spa i Gdansk.

While carefully considering whether to segat the oral exam of course.

Stuck in Stakkevollan

First off I just have to say that I have found the best drink bar ever! Artur is the King! Try the "Spanish Strawberry" there...

This morning I got to see most of the North side of the island. I didn't plan to, it just happened... I was trying to get to the Uni as early as possible since I still had a lot to write. I just had to go to the post office first. So I planned everything carefully. Go to ICA five to ten, just pick up the package from the post office at 10 sharp, and then run straight to the bus.

But this was apparantly not the day for time saving plans. First I was just running around ICA not quite sure why I was there or what I was looking for. This made me a couple of minutes late for the post office, where half of Tromsø had decided to make an early apperance. I was number 21 in line - and that was not including the business costumers that get to sneak in line. My carefully planned, effective day did not get off to a good start. It could only go one way from here...

..or could it? determined to make up for lost time, I decided to take the first possible bus. 42 goes to the Uni, right..? right...? eh...? I was optimistic until I saw the Uni fly by, and the bus made no attempt to get near it. After a while I understood that it was not going to go by on the way back either. So the busdriver let me off at the end station, and I was stuck in Stakkevollan till bus 20 came and saved me..

Well, quite enough about my day. Time to go get ready to meet Santa at the Finnish party.

Snowmen and rain-dances

I knew it was too good to last. The winter I mean. The rain is back. I heard it as soon as I got out the door this morning. A strange sound. I guess in the few days the rain was gone, I blocked it out of my mind, and it took me a couple of seconds to understand. The rain is back.

Luckily, I suspected this coming, and captured some of the Kodak moments, when the city looked like a Christmas Card, on film (or memory card to be totally precise). And last night, André, Scott, Marjaana, Rachel and I made the first snowman of the season. It turned out great :)






And here are evidences of the Winterwonderland that we had yesterday. Would you believe that on the picture on the right it is not yet 4 o'clock in the afternoon... Yep, the dark times are here!

Well, after a good nights sleep I am ready to attack the exam again. During exam-times I often don't sleep too well, because I always dream about exam-problems.. So this time I thought I'd try the cheese-trick (for those of you who haven't read Marjaana's blog, there is a rumor that eating cheese before going to bed will cause strange dreams..) And I think it actually is something true to that rumor. Because I dreamed about being at this huge, old pub where we danced Indian dances.

Come to think of it, it must have been rain-dances

So close

Back in the library.. Trying to write something on my exam, but somehow it seems more fun to write something on my blog. Not that there is so much to write. Exam times aren’t the most exiting times.

But yesterday it was confirmed – Norway isn't going to the World Championships in football. I am not that surprised. The game wasn’t that good, but it was fun to have a football/beer break from exams (after all, I have been working on the exam for a whole day!). And over-tired as I was, I was practically laughing all through the first half, and struggling to stay awake during the second. You would think the Oscar nominations were up soon, the way some of those players were acting..

In the papers today, it sounds like we were pretty close to the World Cup after all. They say we would have scored, maybe won, if it wasn't for the Chec goalie. Too bad goalies have always been a part of football... But still; so close...

Well, I really have to read some more gender stuff now. Are women more peaceful than men? Will the world be more peaceful if more women enter politics?

Opinions are gratefully accepted.

White exam-times

Ok, I guess it's time for a new update on life here in the dark north. Hm.

I woke up to something great this morning. Or not really. I woke up because of a terrible noise from the construction workers outside. But then I looked out the window, and it was all forgotten... Because there was SNOW on the ground!!

I have to say that the white stuff covering the ground really saved my day. Because this was not exactly the day I have been looking forward to - exam distribution day. Oh. But it is amazing how much brighter everything looks with a little snow on the ground.

The questions weren't as hard as I had feared. Knock on wood. I should be careful saying that, after all I didn't think the last ones looked so hard either, before I got stuck after a couple of days. But I think I have learned my lesson. This will be OK. This will be interesting. This will be fun (OK, maybe shouldn't stretch it too far..)

So I guess the next couple of weeks will be spent with my nose in the book and eyes on the computer keyboard. But still, I think we'll have time to throw in some fun as well. After all, there is the soccer game tomorrow, Harry Potter on Friday, and the Finnish party on Saturday.

Yeah, everything looks a little brighter with some snow on the ground.

Fear and Pain

Today, I have participated in an experiment. Topic to be examined: fear and pain!

But nothing sounds too scary if it requires an hour break from the beloved reading room... And the posibility to win 1 million on a Flax lottery ticket as reward, is also good for a student with a typical student economy.

The experiment was, actually, not as scary as it might sound. It was very relaxing, I alomst fell asleep there for a second. I was taken into a room that contained not much more than four bare walls and a nice, comfortable stressless chair! I sat down, and got some sensor-thingys put around my eyes, a "helmet" on my head that held in place a little tube that would blow puffs of air into my eye, and some lovely big headphones to let me hear some scary sounds. Too bad there wasn't a mirror in there. Or then again - maybe not.. Then the experiment started. Very suddenly. I got a sound in my ear, and a puff of air in my eye. And I jumped almost half a meter up from my chair, before starting giggeling like a teenager. But after that it just got kind of boring. I guess I just got more used to the sound, like a good old fashioned Pavlovian dog.

How they are going to analyze fear and pain out of that is a mystery to me, but luckily for the world I am not a psychology-experiment-analysist.

But it was a good hour break from the reading room. Unfortunately, my student economy is still in bad shape.

Weekend Review

So, yesterday I thought I had figured out how to put pictures on this blog site. Well, apparently not. One picture came out, but the other two desided to give me a hard time.. So I am trying again. A few technical challenges are not going to stop me! Nonono...

Friday was Teresas birthday, so we made her a lush 1-2-3 choclate cake! After eating that and taking funny tests on the internet (for those of you who didn't know, my mental age is apparently 28, and I am 74% blond..), the celebrations continued in the livingroom in the Peace House. And then I finally got to play Twister, which I have only seen in the movies before.. that was fun!

Saturday can be summed up in three words; shopping, chinese and movies. Marjaana and I made frozen eggrolls for dinner on Friday, and decided that even though they were quite good, we should go to a Chinese place to have some real ones for lunch on Saturday. So we found one of the two Chinese restaurants that are in this city, and I realized it is (probably) owned by my landlord or her family! And they had good eggrolls. Better than ICA!

Saturday was also "Den Store Kinodagen" with movie tickets for half price! And since cheap movie tickets (or cheap anything for that matter) is not something you get every day here in Norway, this amazing offer had to be taken advantage of.. So we got in a line a mile long (apparantly not the only ones going crazy with the opportunity to save a few kroner), ready to buy tickets to "Brødrene Grimm". Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones with that idea either, it was sold out. We vere kind of put on the spot, because the line behind us was even longer than the one in front of us had been. So we could do nothing but trust the ticket lady when she meant that Elisabethtown would be The Movie to see... Orlando Bloom might be good looking, but he sure can't act. And when the plot is the typical love story that has been filmed 110568 times before, that was bad. As you can see, Marjaana and I already suspected that right after bying the tickets...


OK, so the pictures didn't get where they were supposed to be. But at least they are there.. I have to be happy with every progress, these technical difficulties have to be tackled step by step. Så det så!

Sun and Blue Sky

For those of you who haven't been to Tromsø, I thought I should show you some pictures. And as you can see, the rain has finally stopped, and the sun is out. Or at least the snow on the mountains is glowing. So even if the sun doesn't come over the mountain top anymore, I know it's trying, and after months and months of rain, that's good enough for me...

Dark times and tractor inventions

Tuesday was definitely a day of new experiences. On my first trip to sparsley populated Inner Troms on my first day of my Redd Barna volunteer career, I became an expert on Angola, realized that children make the funniest remarks and ask the hardest questions, discovered that chicken cooked in peanut butter tastes quite...good actually (!), and got my first experience of what the dark months will actually feel like. Ok, I’ll take it step by step..

I got up at 5.40 (Zzzzzzz) this morning, after hitting the snooze button only once. The mission: to go to Bardu with Rachel (my roommate, classmate and fellow Redd Barna volunteer) and Bjørn-Richard (Redd Barna boss) to teach the children in schools there about how children in Kosovo and Angola live. This was mine and Rachel’s first of hopefully many fun and interesting school visits. The kids were so cute, and asked so many interesting, but also hard questions. Where were tractors invented? Uhm, sorry.. don’t know.. But the kids also made us chicken cooked in peanut butter, apparantly an Angolan speciality, which – believe it or not – was really, really good. Also, I had another new experience: learning by doing is probably the (scariest but) best way to learn. I never tought I would admit... So, all in all, I guess – mission: successful.

On the way home, I realized what I have feared for some time now. The Dark Months are sneaking up on me faster than I care to think of. And it’s DARK! Darker then I could imagine. We were driving, I was tired, and it got darker and darker outside the car. Finally, it was like driving into a big, black bag. Naturally, I thought – it’s getting late. So imagine my shock when I looked at the time: 3.20 PM!!! And it will only get darker from here.. ah.. that’ll be interesting.

Where tractors were invented I could probably find out somewhere. But why one kid thought that clay huts with grass roof might work in Bergen but not in Bardu, I guess I will never quite figure out.

The Paris of the North

So, what happened to me this year? What am I doing here, in this place almost as far north as you could possibly go without ending up on the North Pole? What is going on in this city, so nicely labelled The Paris of the North?

Sick and tired of studying and exam times, I stated that it was time to take a year off. Time to get a job, make some money, and travel to a place where the sun never sets. Oh yeah, dream on. Change of plans. Big time. Started a Master Program in Peace and Conflict Transformation, still living off of Lånekassen, and moved to a place where the rain never seems to stop pouring. But I love it here!

And in a few months time – this will be a place where the sun never sets. Everything good comes to those who wait...