MY bottom line...

...things

This ad is entertaining me to no end these days, it goes on TV all the time, and I love it so much in fact that I searched for it on Youtube, so I could share it with all of you. Hope this brightens your day as much at is does mine!!!

...and rain

The meterologists claim that the summer is here, it is suposed to be sunny and 15 degr out there today and this is supposed to continue for at least a week, with the temperature increasing. (Don't like the weather report? Well though shit, I am form Iceland, and we discuss the weather) However I don't get to enjoy any of this fabolous weather as I am inside struggling with my thesis. I take these reposts of summer with a grain of salt, you see in FEBRUARY they declared it was spring, only in March we had a week with snowstorms and all white, just last weekend there was snow and hail.........!!!!

I am getting seriously tired and my body seriously screwed up from sitting and writing all day, I do try to go out and walk, work out and do yoga. Can't wait to finish. My May is really packed; 
-Hand in theisis
-Defend thesis
-Turkey
-Get a full time job
-Move in with B
-Plan major party

Hopefully I get to just focus on life and work during the summer, then in September I am hopefully coming home for a short vacation, with B and the in-laws


Anyone want to finish this thesis crap for me

Rome is not coming, it was awesome, very informative, lot of good food and wine, photos are on Facebook, peace out.

....I am a nerd

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Rome is coming.....

....is the word of the week.

Need to:

• Finish poster
• Work more
• Do an AFS thing tomorrow
• Have coffee with Master students on Friday
• Go to a party on Saturday
• Do the dishes
• Do laundry
• Pack for Rome
• Apply for jobs

Feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

Want to:

• Go skiing
• Have a moment without feeling guilty that I should be doing something else

I was finally seeing the light at the end of the Rome tunnel, just to realize that just up a head is yet another tunnel, even longer, called Masters Thesis.

I will be fine, just need to work through this stuff and I think lasagna and Italian wine might be just what the doctor ordered ;)

Thanks of the week goes to B, for taking me for a walk and dinner on Sunday and making me forget about all the things above, at least for a couple of hours.

..they are a changing


One of my closest and best friend has shacked up with a BOY, who is not a roommate!!!! Another friend is also moving in with her boyfriend. One good friend is planning a WEDDING. I am LIVING in Norway and working, More and more people around me seem to be in twos, either I am meeting couples or people are getting together. I have friends who are living almost all over the globe and they seem to keep on spreading. I keep seeing pictures of friends' babies or apartments. I am going to have a MASTERS DEGREE in just a few months.....

WHEN the hell did everybody become so f... grown up.

Anyways in other news, Rome is approaching faster than I would like. I have been soo busy, trying to balance as much time as possible at the lab, with work, AFS  and partying. This has meant over 14 hour days, very little sleep, saturday nights at the lab. Partying has also been really busy, very often 2 parties a weekend. The highlight were last weekend with Torrablot, where Eiki Hauks tore off the roof with Gaggo West, rarely have I sung that loud. Another highlight was a Trønderfest with AK (a Aquamedicin masterstudent from school). Basically this was a redneck party Norwegian style with a LOT of alcohol, stupid songs, cheesy 80' singers. I supplied some brennivin and we finished the bottle, in addition to the homemade spirit mixed in coffee 50/50 and the Trønder tequila which I learned is 60 proof vodka. You dip a lemon in Nescafe on one side sugar on the other, shoot the vodka and suck the lemon. Deadly fun, I somehow made my way home at 5 AM. I have to say that the night before I was at a party with work and came back at 3 AM that night.

The spring plan is filling up quick:
*Mom is coming on tuesday, staying until friday
*I will be working hard until the 5th of March
*2 day conference in ROME then a few days to check out the city, travel tips welcomed
*Easter, my sister is coming for a visit, need plans, but we are going to see James Blunt
*April is kind of empty, as I need to finish my thesis before May 1st
*Once that is delivered I am off to Turkey with B
*After that I have to defend my thesis
*Graduating june 13th
*And then what.....?????

...life

About a year ago my life was SOOO more exciting. I was dating, had just met the man that I would later start dating and fall in love with. I am not saying that I do not enjoy my life, I have a fab boyfriend, cool masterproject,  no crazy neighbour (anymore), great friends and family, lots of planetickets and plans for the future. It is just that I don't feel like writing about these things. Honestly right now the thing I really want to talk about is SCIENCE stuff :) I want to do a hardcore blog about my project what I am doing and how it is going, but I doubt any of you would
1)Understand
2)Be interested
and I don't feel like simplifying things. So instead I will do this , write about the other things in my life, just so you at least know that I am alive, and go look for a hardcore science blog or a discussion forum.


Life has been busy although as previously mentioned boring.

AFS
Been busy with AFS, getting shocked over the fact that 17 year olds don't know how to cook pasta!!! and getting drunk with some cool girls.

FISN
I am now sitting on two boards, AFS Oslo and FISN, the Icelandic student union. We are really trying to kick ass at FISN, we have scheduled several events, a cake party, beer nights, a 1st of december red themed party and we cleaned Guðrúnarstofa better than it has been cleaned in YEARS, you should have seen the dirt in some places. By the way if you have any money you don't know what to do with FISN will happily take donations :)

VISIT
My sister came for a visit and we represented Iceland at this years Fjosfest, and we had fun, talked to some cool first year masters from the US, Norway and Uganda (my sister got VERY good travel tips for Uganda, which she might very well use since she is studying tourism) We also did some shopping including at the GIGANTIC largest mall in Scandinavia Sandvika Storsenter. That was BIG, we were slightly underimpressed  in the beginning, thinking it wasn't so big, but then we turned a corner and realized that it really was BIG. We had fun, met some Icelanders there by total chance and more importantly found Sostrene Grene and stocked up on some party stuff.

TRIP
I am going to Copenhagen in a week for some shopping, girlfriend gabbing at a cafe, and meeting mom. My plan was to go to Sostrene but I don't need that anymore as I found it in Sandvika. But I will do Christmas shopping and return just in time for the Red themed Christmas party.

BOYFRIEND
Is still awesome but I have been freaking out a bit lately since our first anniversary is coming up. I was soo not looking for a boyfriend a year ago but this year has been great. We are doing this on our terms, taking things as they come. Since coming back from my three months away we have been stepping out a lot more, going to bars, movies and the theater. We saw Erasmus Montanus the other week and I enjoyed it even though I did not understand everything. B also had problems understanding but just different parts than me. See I could not understand ALL the Norwegian things and B could not understand all the the Latin (that is where I could understand things cause of my Spanish). He has agreed to go with me to the Red themed party cause of the free booze we have, but I l leave out the part about the theme.....what do you think he will do when I hand him a Santa's hat, you know he only wears black, possibly dark blue....

END
I am coming home for Christmas, get yourselves ready, I land on the 17th in the afternoon and would love to  meet for at least a coffee then. The day after I am working for like 13 hours, then have a 2 nights off and am working Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then comes Christmas and I want to meet for a drink between the holidays. New years I am open for suggestions and the week after as much quality time as possible sine I fly back on the 9th.

...life

Things are slowly falling into place her or at least I am. The neighbour is still there, and still crazy, the labwork is still not producing results and there are still the occasional bugs. I have kept busy lately, B and I went to see David Lynch’s Inland Empire a week ago, we watched Das Leben der Anderen on Monday, Tuesday I had an AFS meeting, yesterday I had to go pick up a returnee from Gardemoen. My project is and isn’t going well, we had some promising results earlier this week but then as we went further things stopped looking so good, but hey that is research for you. And at least this time the bad results were not because I made any mistakes. I have some interesting things coming up the next couple of weeks, I am starting a Yoga class in two weeks, and going to a seminar on how to make good courses. Then it is soon time for the usual, the AFS fall seminar, hope that it won’t be as foggy this year so I can go down to the World’s End. Then we have a preorientation for those going on an exchange in the New Year and soon Christmas is here and I have to decide where I am going to be.

 

Movies

As mentioned I saw Inland Empire last week, it was interesting, in a good way. I enjoyed it even though I did not get everything in it. For my visually cultured friends I think you might find this interesting, as it is mainly visuals with a side of text. The other people at the cinema seemed to be like these really serious movie types. You know like the types that go to see David Lynch but would not be caught dead at a blockbuster. And they probably had very serious intellectual conversations about the movie afterwards.

 

As good as Lynch was, Das Leben der Anderen, was so much better. Ok I realize that everybody saw this one like a year ago, but I missed at the cinema and B just bought it while I was in Iceland so we only got to see it this week. The story is just so beautiful and it is great to be riminded that despite all the bad things in this world there are also good people out there. If you haven’t seen it, do so as soon as possible.

 

It is really fall here, the trees are multicoloured and there are leaves overall, if it were not so cloudy all the time everything would be so pretty.

...depression

The weather her has decided to follow my mood, it has been gray and blah, and then yesterday came the first real fall weather, with a LOT of rain and wind. I remember the weather being so much better last year, I was just looking through my old calendar yesterday and saw that on October 10th I went to the Ice-cream factory and that day the weather was so nice we sat outside eating our ice-cream, I wonder if I can smuggle my way to this years trip, I mean there are only 6 students in the new class we were 9.... There were a couple of other interesting notes in that calendar reminding me that at this time last year I was single and ready to mingle. The calendar also showed that Oslo was more happening a year ago, Snowpatrol concert, October fest, as far as I can tell there is no student October fest this year and there are no interesting concerts coming up :(

Everything is slowly falling into pieces, the neighbor situation is being looked into, I have ALMOST conquered the bugs, AFS is rolling along nicely, I am getting the hang of things at the lab (despite making ALL the mistakes in the book yesterday), I have a computer at school (still have to get access to a real MSN and the stuff I had on the computer including some programs needed for my project), I have my semester sticker so I am a valid student, I get my gym card on Monday, B wants us to plan a vacation together, I am going phone hunting today after school see it is all getting better.

...homecoming

Coming back to Oslo was bittersweet, I got to meet B again (amazing), I got back to my room (amazing), one of my floor mates snapped at me for no reason (bad), there were (are) bugs in my cupboard (BAD), I got sick (bad), my project is off to a slow start (good and bad).

Leaving everyone back home sucks, I hate the guilt I always feel by leaving people, friends, family my sister, and I want to stay but I also know that it if I don't go I will not be happy and then they will not be happy. I hate not making my aunts funeral or her memorial service.

I felt like in Iceland I know what I am doing, everything is familiar and here even though things look familiar they don't feel that way. At school my project is slowly getting off the ground, I am slowly settling inn but I still feel like I need a lot of hand holding and I do not like that I want to do things myself. I went to school on Monday and had like two hours work to do, it ended up taking 4-5 hours since I had to wait for my supervisor to be finished with a meeting so she could show me how to set up the gel electrophoresis. Yesterday I was home sick (just a cold) so I had to get the supervisor to do cultures for me and today I did not get in until it was to late to do what i needed to do, so I did some cultures and went home. I feel so inadequate, but I know that this will pass and that soon I will get back on track and get more confidence, it is just so frustrating right now.

On top of everything and being sick by neighbor flipped yesterday cause I asked her to stop borrowing my food and stuff without asking. It ended up in her screaming and accusing me of attacking her cause I tired to prevent her for slamming the door. I sent a mail to the residence advproblemsisor and she is calling me tonight to discuss the incident and what can be done. I hate this kind of confrontation and I know that it will a be a long and difficult process to resolve this.

And then all that was left were the bugs. When I got back there were bugs in my flour (ok don't start telling me I should have sealed the flour better, I know that now). I hate bugs and they are very stubborn refusing to leave even after two thorough cleanings and poisoning. However I am more stubborn and I will poison them until I am the last one standing. The only good thing about the bugs is that B really, really cares about me. He was great, helped me clean every thing, comforted me as I was hysterical thinking they were crawling all over. I swear that if he had not been there I would have given up and just left......  He has by the way been the perfect boyfriend since I have been back, dealing with the bugs, my fear of bugs, my cold. After the cleanup that first day he took me out for a walk, then to a bar for a couple of beers and finally to a restaurant where we had some pizza, I suspect that he knew that I did not want to eat at home with the bugs :)

For all friends and family, this entry might sound bad but it is just a little adjustment problems, I will be fine in about two days or so. The cold is going a way, I have almost won the bugs, the neighbor situation is in process and I am going to kick ass at school tomorrow.

 Shit happens, you whine about it on your blog and move on :)

...Icelandic style

Due to a series of events I find my self in Iceland this summer, but it hasn't been all bad since the weather has been much better here than in Norway, at least so far.

Going back was strange, I mean I don't live here anymore, I regard Oslo as my home, at least for now, even though I am in my room, sleeping in my bed with some of my things it does not feel like home. I miss Oslo, I miss the vibe there and of course I miss B more than I can describe. The pace here is soooo different, everything happens at the speed of light, here I talk, faster, work faster, walk faster and even think faster. Being back at work was strange but great, especially when I saw my paycheck but I have been working like a mad women, both to make enough money to support me through the fall and to make the time go faster. My new boss is amazing and I have a lot of freedom to work on some pet projects and next week I get to try my self at being the BOSS!!!

It is only 5 weeks until I go home now and I can't wait. I was okay with things before B came to visit, and just focused on my work and the fact that he was coming, after he left I got in a slump and it felt like ages until I would see him again, thankfully about a week after he left I found my focus again and started feeling better. Now I am so happy that next Sunday there will only be one month left.

Like I said B came for a visit and braved meeting ALL of my family (including my grandmothers sister) in about one week. It was soooo amazing having him here, if only for a week. We did the obligatory Golden Circle, with Gullfoss, Geysir, Þingvellir, Nesjavellir and ALL the museums in town. I really liked the museum tour since many of them I had not been to myself before. Saying goodbye was sooo hard, and I really did not want to let go of him at the airport.

Now I am in the middle of a crazy work session, I am working for over a month without a single day off, not even weekends, and in total I am working 95 hours extra on top of my 40 hour work week!!! That is the life of the poor student who has to work all summer to support him self over the winter.

When I get back home to Oslo I can't wait to see B, go shopping in HM, Indiska, do nothing in my room, start working on my project, work with AFS, meet the new students and just start my life again, cause right now a lot of it is on hold. When I get home I will miss my sister and my friends so until then I hope I can spend as much time as possible with them.

So I might not bee seen here much until I am back home ;)