Getting started

The first two weeks of uni are over, and I very much appreciate the fact that it's 6pm. on a Wednesday, and I'm not getting ready for a party. It's been great fun, I made a lot of good friends, and a part of me wishes I could keep it up all through the year. But. I also spent too much money, slept too little, and I'm afraid if my liver could talk, it would yell some pretty offensive stuff at me. So I'm glad I can finally relax, take it all in, and start my studies for real. And so far I'm doing pretty good. Despite the late night partying, I still managed to get to every class (even the ones at 8am) these past weeks, and I did all my obligatory reading. I'm done buying my books (which I got fairly cheap, I bought most of them second hand). I've got my time table more or less down (see bottom of this post), and I'm getting to know my way around school. I've paid my bills, bought my bus pass, got my insurance, and just this afternoon I sat down and made a 5-week-menu. Impressive, huh?

The best thing about being a student in a city more or less run by students, is that the offers on just about anything is amazing. For example, I'm going to dance Lindy Hop tonight. Lindy Hop! And tomorrow's Salsa, next week is Hip Hop/Street. This is all part of the student athletic association, and you pay ridiculously little for a membership and the access to over 50 different activities (from soccer to paintball to golf to karate to dance), as well as their gym where you can go spinning, running or join an aerobics class. 550 NOK (less than $100) a year! Lovely.

The only thing I still have on my list as of now, is going to IKEA to buy a few more things, a night stand and a box to have my books in and stuff, maybe this week. One of my new acquaintances is going and she has access to a car! Hooray! This weekend I'm going back home for a quick visit, going to a goodbye-party for one of my friends who's moving to England. And on my 7 hour bus ride I have more than enough time to read what I need in my new fascinating books, like "An introduction to linguistics and fonetics". It's gonna be hard to lay down The Time Traveler's Wife, the book I'm reading at the time. It's fantastic, I love it. Anyway, I need to get some food in me, my 5-week-menu informs me today is vegetable soup. Yum!


My time table so far:
Monday:
8.15 to 10.00: Pedagogy, lecture
Tuesday:
8.15 to 10.00: English Proficiency, lecture
10.15 to 11.00: Literature: Drama and Poetry, study group
Wednesday:
DAY OFF!
Thursday:
9.15 to 10.00: English Proficiency, study group
4:15pm to 6.00pm: EXFAC, lecture
Friday:
10.15 to 12.00: Literature: Drama and Poetry, lecture
(Every two weeks:) 12.15 to 2.00pm: Pedagogy study group.

Sounds great? I guess I should mention they expect us to be doing school work 40 hours a week.

Learning disabilities

I'm a student. I'm tired. I have been to parties two nights in a row, and I have about 10 more to go. Initiation week, or buddy week (fadderuka) is a very illogical phenomena. 7000 new, confused students are grouped and assigned buddies and basically get drunk 13 nights in a row. And you go to school. Your brain has to deal with a frightening amount of information every day, everything's new, and you'd think you would want to be awake, alert, and concentrated during this important phase of the school year. But no. Party time! This is only my second day of going to bed at 2am and getting up at 8am, and I am exhausted. This insanity will continue the rest of this week, this weekend and all through next week. Don't get me wrong, I love it! It's a great way to meet people, most of them are very nice, it's fun, and you get to know the city.. I just wish I didn't have to be in a class room at 9.15 in the morning. But I'm here for school, I can sleep in a week and a half, this is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. The normal, boring life of a student will come soon enough. Cheers!

Goodbyes and fresh starts

I'm not good with goodbyes. I always cry. Leaving Dallas was hard, knowing I wouldn't see any of them for at least another year, some of them maybe never again. But I had 4 amazing weeks in the states, I'm so glad I went. A big thanks to Mary Grace and her family and friends for making me feel so welcome. The last few days were spent enjoying the sun, drinking margharitas, packing, planning my homecoming and the following move. I left the Delatour house at 6.30am on Wednesday and said goodbye to Mary Grace, Janina and Ann Elise at the airport. 24 hours, 3 flights (Dallas --> New York --> Reykjavik --> Oslo) and hardly any sleep later, I was home. Else picked me up at the airport, and had me home by 4pm Thursday. Thank you! I had a quiet night with my friends planned, some wine, crackers and cheese, but we ended up going to a concert (Postgirobygget), and it was great! I surprised myself by staying awake the whole time. After almost 40 hours on the go, I went to sleep for the last time in my room. Friday I moved.

I am currently sitting in my new, tiny, studio apartment in Trondheim. I've spent the weekend moving in, buying appliances, carrying boxes, despairing over lack of space. Now I'm pretty much all set, I have what I need, now I only have to worry about the small stuff: pillows, table cloths, curtains.. Personally I'm happy with how it all turned out, I'll post a picture when I'm done decorating. I said goodbye to my family today, they spent the weekend here, helping me out. I couldn't have done this alone, I have the best family in the world (love you, miss you!). That makes me even more sad to see them go, but it's time for the little birdie to leave the nest. And I'll go home for a visit in a few weeks.. Now I'm just starting to get excited about starting school. The start-of-year ceremony is on Tuesday, so I have tomorrow to get to know the city a bit, apply for a part time job, and buy some of the stuff I need. And to get a good workout, it's been ages.

Of the 156 000 people living in Trondheim, 30 000 of them are students. And I can hear them, see them, smell them, coming back from wherever they spent their lazy days of summer, getting ready for a new year of learning. I like to think I'm one of them.

American fast food chains...

McDonalds, Burger King, Whataburger, Denny's, Wendy's, Arby's, Checker's, Hardee's, Jack in the Box, White Castle, Long John Silver's, Dairy Queen, Sonic, Big Boy, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Chick-Fil-A, Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, Taco Cabana, Taco Time, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Subway, and more...

Food, lots of food, fast.

That's America

Drive thru fast food, drive thru coffee, drive thru pharmacies, drive thru liquour stores, drive thru banks.. You can basically live through your car in the states. Amazingly efficient, or ridiculously lazy..? Or both..? I'm just asking.

I got to experience some real American traditional activities this weekend. Because I missed out on the rodeo in Colorado, we went to Fort Worth this Friday to see some good old American bull riding. It started at 8pm, but we went a bit earlier to get dinner at Cattlemen's steakhouse (amazing by the way), and to walk around the Stockyards (part of Ft. Worth, a bit outside the city, and if you ever want to see Texas like you've imagined it, go there). The rodeo started off with an 11 year old girl singing the National Anthem, a pretty blonde riding on a beautiful horse holding the Star Spangled Banner, and as expected they followed it up with two hours of bullriding, calf roping and barrel racing. It was good fun, and gave me the feeling of really being in Texas. The original plan was to go to Billy Bob's after, for a drink in the world's biggest Honky Tonk bar, but, it was raining, and our schedule didn't allow it. Later I heard it's actually a pretty shitty bar, so I guess it wasn't the end of the world. We ended up going out in Dallas instead, meeting for the first time Mary Grace's brother David, and his friend David.

The day after, the Davids offered to take me and Janina to a baseball game. We didn't want to miss a chance to see what's known as America's pastime, so we headed off to the Texas Rangers ball park in Arlington. Also the home of the Dallas Cowboys, but unfortunately football's not in season. Anyway, Janina and I had never seen a baseball game before, and the Davids did their very best to explain the rules, which is not an easy thing to do. About an hour into the game we got it, and I can honestly say I understand the game now. Yay! Our cheering them on did not help though, they were losing badly to the Seattle Mariners. We left at the end of the 8th inning, and went out to meet the others for drinks at Cosmo's.

As if to honour our last week in Dallas, the sun made it's return, and we're now back to 98 degrees (37 celsius), and clear blue skies. This calls for some quality time by the pool side. On Sunday we went to Ann Elise's pool, and Monday we went to Jeff's parents's house. They are the sweetest people you'll ever meet, and while we enjoyed a good couple of hours in their pool, Jeff's dad made us hamburgers and hot dogs.. Life is pretty good in Dallas right now, and I can't believe I'm going home the day after tomorrow.