Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Norway

3rd day in New York, and I am just beginning to grasp how long it would take me to really get to know this city. I guess I just have to settle for the typical touristy things, which is OK for a first-time visit.

Dinner yesterday was awesome, and after all the walking, two glasses of Riesling had me giggling halfway through our pasta/pizza meal. We went to bed early, to get up at 7.30 this morning for the 3 hour boat tour of New York. Which was the best spent 35 dollars ever, by the way. It was a fantastic way to see the diversity of the city, and the guide was hilarious, but not in an obnoxious way. The weather was great, and with a cold Budweiser in one hand and my camera in the other I was in heaven.

Afterward we made our second attempt to relocate ourselves through the means of public transportation, (we took the subway yesterday, which was crowded, and a big disappointment compared to the oh, so fantastic metrosystem in Barcelona), this time by bus. Mary Grace had to explain the more than slightly annoyed busdriver that she obviously wasn't from here, and failed to insert the metrocard correctly. Twice. We finally arrived at the Museum of Natural History, which would have been a much better experience if: a) it was less crowded, b) the batteries on my camera weren't flat, c) our feet weren't so sore. But definitely worth a visit. Today I learned for the umpteenth time that high heels are not to be worn sightseeing. Unless you're on a Sex and the City tour bus, which we will be tomorrow.

Tonight we're having dinner at Serendipity, which is famous for it's frozen hot chocolate. Yum.

There were 312 photos on my cameras from my first 2,5 days in New York, so you'll have to do with a random selection (there are more on facebook). Enjoy! :)

Big, bigger, New York

I landed at JFK 6.30pm yesterday. Which meant it was already 12.30am to me. It took me 2 hours to get to the hotel, including a pretty scary bus ride, a good wait, and another bus ride. My first impression was the smell, it smells of french fries and exhaust. But in a good way. The second, was the size of things. It's enormous! The buildings, the crowd, the lines.. I checked in to the Millennium Broadway around 9, and met Mary Grace shortly after. So weird, haven't seen her in 6 months, and it feels so natural to hang out again. She's awesome. Feeling too hyped up to go to bed, we went looking for a late night snack, and just took a walk around Times Square. I ended up going to bed somewhere around 11.30, which would be 5.30am in Norway, but that got me synchronized to local time, and that's good, the jetlag's not going to be a problem.

Got up at 8 this morning, to go to Ellis Island and see the Statue of Liberty. On the way we saw Ground Zero. Not that you could see much, but that was emotional. We eventually found our way to Battery Park where they sell the tickets for the ferry. The lines seemed endless, but shortened surprisingly fast. When we got to the booth, it turns out there was a 1 hour wait for the ferry, and no possibility of entering the statue; the crown tour tickets were sold out until September(!). So we decided we'd skip that, and rather go on a 3 hour cruise around the whole of Manhattan tomorrow. After that we headed off for lunch, walked along Hudson river, overestimated our walkability and ended up taking a cab. Then we went to Central Park, and took a 20 minute carriage ride through the park. Not the best way to experience the park, but definitely a welcome relaxation for tired feet. While uptown we stopped by Dylan's Candy Bar, a gigantic candy store that gives Charlie's chocolate factory a fair competition.

Right now we're back at the hotel, getting ready for dinner at Ventro Trattoria, a recommended Italian place in the Meatpacking district. Pictures are coming up later, possibly tomorrow. New York is fantastic, no place like it. And the weather is great, though we're expecting some rain tomorrow evening. Too bad we're in New York, and there's no place to go shop, or any museums or shows to go to. Haha, I love it!

Tomorrow!

On Sunday, I quit my job. At 7am I was done. No more flipping burgers and serving hot dogs, no more cleaning toilets and floors. It's an absolutely amazing feeling. On Monday, my dad, my sister and I packed a lot of my stuff and went to Trondheim. We carried it all up to the 3rd floor and into my tiny appartment. Then, we went to IKEA. I looove IKEA. Now, all I'm missing is a sofa, a TV, and I wouldn't mind some extra space, but other than that, my new home is starting to become just that; a tiny home.

I go to America tomorrow. HAHAHA, TOMORROW!! I can't believe it. I'm packing, and as usual I'm packing way too much, but I'm almost ready for 4 incredible weeks. In New York I'm staying here: Millennium Broadway Hotel New York

Anticipation and God

In 17 days I'll be in New York. In the mean time I'm trying to do whatever I can to get the days to go by faster. Like going to the AC/DC concert (which was abslutely awesome, hats off to 60-year-olds who can rock like that), or spending a day with my sister in Oslo, or going to my friend's cabin for a couple of days, playing basketball, or going out. Anything to forget about the countdown that is constantly in the back of my head. I even, in a moment of insanity, started reading the bible. I am without a doubt in my mind an atheist. But I think I should at least know what it is I'm not believing in, so last week I started skimming through the old testament. I quickly discovered my prejudices were all justified; it is absolutely ridiculous. I've given up for now, if I'm going to be reading fairytales I'll be reading some more interesting ones. I actually shouldn't be reading at all, I should be packing. Since I finished the Twilight saga, there's been a hole in my schedule, so I should have plenty of time. But my room is barely visible through all the cardboard boxes and the mess that is produced by my failing to organize, so I'm just gonna have to pray it will all be magically sorted out. If I slice a sheep open and burn it, maybe God will help me out.

Wow, 15 minutes less until I head off to the US.

Today's thought provoker:
Genesis 3:3 "but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

What's going on?

And I say, Heeeey ey ey ey Heeeeey ey ey. I said hey. What's going on.

For some reason I haven't written since I came home from Iceland. Maybe not enough interesting stuff have been going on, while I've been busy planning the stuff I'll be doing. It's all approaching rapidly. I cross the Atlantic ocean in less than a month. Before that time I have to have mye entire life packed into cardboard boxes. Ugh.

Between then and now I have a few things going on to keep me busy: This Monday I will see living rock'n'roll legends, I was finally able to get myself a ticket for the big AC/DC concert in Oslo. I'm hyped about it, it's supposed to be a great show. So Tuesday I'm afraid I'll be busy trying to recover my voice. And then it's back to work for a week, my second last week of work before I'm done. Ahhh.. Done.. Sounds so good.

And then I have a week of packing, suitcases and cardboard boxes, everything I've ever owned. Arrangements have to be made for moving all of this the 260 miles to my new home. I'm spending a day with my sister in Oslo, a few days with my best friend at her cabin, and after my last week of work I'm gonna try to get a few things settled in my appartment. And then I'm off. Wow, sounds like even less time said like that, but I'm not panicking yet. I don't have time.

Oh, I almost forgot, something interesting has happened over the last few weeks, that's part of what has kept me busy too, my sister's confirmation was on Sunday! It was the nicest ceremony, with lots of food and cakes and gifts and speaches. Absolutely lovely. And we have enough leftovers to make it through the rest of the year. My mom did a great job, despite all the fretting and near hysteria. It turned out great.

And another thing that's been keeping me from the computer the last weeks; the Twilight saga. Freakin' Twilight. It is absolutely addictive. Not necessarily a masterpiece in literature, but most certainly a pageturner, and I can't seem to put the books down for any length of time. I guess there's a reason close to 50 million copies of the books have been sold. Anyway, I'm a good way into the 4th and last book, and boy, oh boy will it be good when I'm done, so I can focus properly on anything else than Edward Cullen, Bella Swan and Jacob Black..

SO, that was a little update. I'll be sure to post some pictures from the concert next week.


Today's thought provoker: A quick google search of the following words, "Twilight Saga" gives 18 600 000 results, while a search on the classic "Dracula" produces 13 300 000 results.

Iceland

Wednesday I landed on a very windy Keflavik airport (Did you know they pronounce it Keplavik?). Hulda picked me up in her adorable white, little VW Polo, and we drove the 45 minutes to her place in Seltjarnarnes (20 min. from Reykjavik city). And what a place. Her house was big, spacious, original, and homey, and her family were some of the nicest people I've met, going out of their way to make me feel welcome. We went on the typical touristic round, the "golden circle", on Thursday. We saw þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss and Kerið. Lucky that these places are pretty high up, and that Thursday was the most windy day this year, haha. But it was all breathtakingly beautiful. Waterfalls and mountains, horses and sheep, old volcanoes and lava rocks. Beautiful. We ended the day going out for a few drinks with one of her friends, and had a blast.

þingvellir

Gullfoss
Geysir


On Friday we went to the local pool. This is very interesting. Icelandic people go swimming in outdoor pools, all year around. The water is heated, from about 35 to 40°c, and sun, rain or snow, you can relax and hang out in the shallow pools outside. So relaxing, and I have no idea why we haven't thought about that here in Norway. The rest of the day we went shopping in the two big malls close to the city. I got to spend some thousand Icelandic kroner, before we finished the evening with a restaurant dinner and relaxing with a couple of movies. We saw 7 pounds with Will Smith. I liked it.

Saturday was the big Reykjavik city sightseeing and shopping day. We started with the big flea market down by the harbour. It was gigantic, and I was extatic to find a pair of barely used adorable shoes, and got a real bargain. The flea market is open every weekend, and I strongly recommend stopping by, you can find just about anything for a good price, some really old stuff, and some not so old stuff. In the city we walked the main street, where it seemed every other store was second hand and vintage. I found a beaauuutiful dress in one of them. In Naked Ape boutique you can find cool Icelandic design. They also have a bunch of souvenir shops, with trolls and vikings, just like ours. But I bought a cool T-shirt that says: Ég tala ekki íslensku. (I don't speak Icelandic). After 5 days I'm even more convinced that Icelandic is the coolest language ever. Too bad foreigners don't have a shot in hell of ever speaking it perfectly. That night we saw the eurovision finals (Yeah!!!! WOooohOOHooo!! and all of that..), and then we went to a house party before hitting the town. Eurovision is a reaaaally big deal in iceland, so if you take saturday night + 2. place in Eurovision + the first warm, sunny weekend of the year, it adds up to an incredibly crowded Reykjavik city. The bars don't close before 5-6am, and at 5am the street was full of people singing and yelling in the morning sunlight.

Afters a few hours of sleep, we drove the half hour to the Blue Lagoon. In fine weather that's a really good place to be hungover. So relaxing. So beautiful. But expensive though, you don't go there everyday. But we chose a good day, the weather was amazing, and we even got a tan. After that we had a good dinner, Huldas mom is a great cook. And then, just like that, my long weekend in Iceland were coming to an end, and I had to start packing. And here I am, on my couch back in Norway, missing it all. So a big thanks to Hulda and her family, I had a great time! :)

Me and Hulda at the Blue Lagoon


PS: More photos on facebook for those who're interested.

First impressions

Ok. I've been in Iceland about one hour, and so far this is what I've gathered:
Iceland has a lot of old lava.
Iceland is windy.
Icelandic is the coolest language in the world.
Hulda is great, her family is great, and their house is beautiful.

Packing

Am I the only person convinced that suitcases actually defy every known law of physics, and are in fact able to shrink as soon as you put stuff into them?

I'm not homeless! Woopdidoo!

I spent 5 days in Trondheim. They were mostly filled with warm days, blue skies, happy people, bbq-ing in the park, shopping, ice cream, one good and two bad movies, walking, talking, laughing. The good stuff you often do when you go to a great city visiting someone you haven't seen in a while. Who cares if the last two days were cloudy/rainy, and included an 8 hour bus ride home. Not only did I enjoy myself immensely, find two new dresses for the summer and read a good book. In these 5 days I also decided where I'll be spending the most part of the next 5 years. I've known it would have to be Trondheim for quite some time, but this weekend made me even more certain in my choice. I love this city. I love how it's big, but still kind of small. I love how they've kept a lot of the old buildings, and I love the gorgeous cathedral and the univeristy. I love how almost half of everyone living here are students, and I love how I'm gonna be one of them. On Sunday I signed the contract on my very first appartment (not counting the one in Barcelona. That was vacation.). The 1st of July I move in to my not-so-big, but pretty cheap and oh-how-incredibly-well-located appartment, and I'm happy.

Oh, hello springtime! Long time no see, come on in! Sit down, take a load off, stay a while, would you like a cup of tea?

Spring. Primavera. Frühling. Printemps. Vår.
/sprɪŋ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation noun: the season of the year following winter and characterized by the budding of trees, growth of plants, the onset of warmer weather, etc.
One of the few words that sound just as beautiful in every language.

The entire northern hemisphere is waking up, and so am I. I was out running this morning, after work. Usually after work I have problems staying awake while driving home, but today I had so much energy, I ran for a whole hour, and even after that I felt I had more to give. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and I was smiling. It is absolutely remarkable what a bit of sunlight and a few extra degrees in the air can do to you.

I have some rituals when the seasons change: The first day of the year fit for a barbeque, I clean out my warderobe, putting all of my winter clothes and jackets and shoes waaaay in the back, and all the shorts, t-shirts, skirts and dresses are put in the front. I make a new playlist on iTunes and my iPod with light, relaxing, music that puts me in the right "waiting for summer" mood. I make a list of what books I'm going to read over the summer, and then go online and order the ones I don't have. This summer I'm only gonna read light, entertaining stuff, in fear of having to read only heavy, classic English literature the next 5 years.

You see, I've just sent my applications for university. A masters study in English, with teaching and a second language (Spanish). If I get in, and I'm being positive, thinking I will, I'll be moving a 5 hour trainride away come autumn. A trainride I'll be doing this coming week to visit my friend who already lives there. The city's beautiful at spring time, people are smiling, the guys are wearing T-shirts, and the beer tastes better.

And in a few weeks time, as the spring unfolds in full bloom, I head off to Iceland. I have been promised to see geysirs. Geysirs! And the blue lagoon! I'm absolutely extatic about going, and I'm going to stay with the fabulous Hulda and her family. So nice of them to let me stay. I miss Hulda. We're gonna cry about missing Barcelona together, and make plans for next summer.

Pictures and detailed information on Linn's upcoming travels will be blogged about. Have no doubt about it.

I've previously blogged about my affection for quotes and how they often portray my feelings much better than I can do with my own words (http://linnterpretation.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-i-quote_19.html), and wouldn't you know! Some genious has poetically described spring
as well:

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush"
- Doug Larson