| Farewell Perth, Hello Travelling! |
[05 Nov 2009|11:23pm] |
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And once again, I have neglected updating for far too long. Since I wrote last, I have celebrated my 24th birthday, finished my scuba diving course, spent an absolutely amazing weekend at Nanga Bush Camp, been to Rottnest Island, pretty much finished the semester and taken two of my four final exams. I've got my Social Psychology final tomorrow, and my last exam on Tuesday – and that's it, my semester at UWA is officially over. So bizarre – I still feel like I only just got started. It's been pretty amazing...
The weekend at Nanga has to count as an absolute highlight of the year. Katrine, Julia, Hannah, Lars and I drove down south with a bunch of other students from our sports science class in mid-October. The camp was run by fourth-year students training to be teachers, and the atmosphere was pretty much that of a teen summer camp, except that uni students seem to have far fewer inhibitions and consequently have far more fun. We were split into four teams to reflect the different aspects of Australia (Desert, Bush, Coast, Urban) and decided on team names and slogans, and made banners and shields the first night. My team – the blue-shirted Coastal team – decided we'd be the Sandy Cracks ("We'll bury you!"), while Desert became the Camel Toes ("One hump or two?"), Urban turned into Slumdog Millionaires ("Respect the money!") and Bush team became Bush Rangers ("Got bush?"). The weekend was crammed with team challenges and competitions, including balancing on low ropes, orienteering, volleyball in kayaks, rafting on the river, bush cooking and an eating contest (I was declared a living legend as I polished off a huge bottle of thick chocolate sauce in about one minute – pride!). In the evening there were charades and pictionary and singing around the campfire – and yes, they really do sing Waltzing Matilda and Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree... It was an absolutely fantastic weekend and an experience I will treasure for life.
Then there's Rottnest. Almost two weeks ago, Hannah, Julia, Katrine and I spent the most amazing Sunday having a proper old-fashioned holiday. We caught a morning ferry and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before hiring ancient bikes without gears and setting off to explore the island. We saw the famous quokkas, which really do look like a cross between a giant rat and a kangaroo – and are surprisingly cute. As we biked around, we took in spectacular views and found some stunning beaches. Scorching sun, rolling hills, pure white sand and crystal clear water... what more can you ask for? I wish I had more time here, so I could go back and spend a week. So beautiful.
But – apart from a farewell drinks evening in Subiaco tomorrow night – my time in Perth is pretty much over, strange as that seems to me. Sad as I am to be leaving, I am ridiculously excited about travelling. Katrine and I are starting our epic adventure in just a few days. We fly to Darwin this coming Wednesday and begin our trip with a three-day adventure tour of Kakadu National Park, where we hope to see spectacular nature and avoid being eaten by saltwater crocodiles. Here's hoping we emerge with all our limbs intact.
After Kakadu, we head down to Alice Springs, where we'll meet up with Julia and Hannah – and, believe it or not, Dash (and maybe also Alex) whom we met randomly in Denham during spring break! I predict more Emu Export, "fish wine" and crazy times... Also, Katrine, Julia and I have booked a trip to Uluru / Ayers Rock, which I am so excited about – I've wanted to see the Red Centre since I don't know when!
Katrine and I then head south-east to Melbourne, where we'll be staying with the nephew of one of our professors (Australians really are wonderfully friendly and helpful – even to the point of forcing their relatives to shelter random international students). We only have a few days to explore the city, but we're hoping to see as much as possible. After Melbourne, we head to Sydney, where we'll be staying with my brother's friend Rob, who's even said he'll pick us up from the airport and show us the city (again with the friendliness!) – should be fun!
Pressed for time as always, we only get to spend a few days in Sydney before we head north for Cairns. First up is scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef – I'm so excited to finally use my new skills and explore the corals and marine life. Katrine and I will also be heading up to Cape Tribulation to spend two days in the rainforest, which is something I've wanted to do since I was a little girl, so it's a bit of a dream come true.
After Cairns, we head down the Queensland coast until we get to Airlie Beach. From here, we've booked a sailing trip to explore the tropical Whitsunday Islands. Should be a nice relaxing few days of sailing, sunbathing, swimming and snorkelling! After the Whitsundays we head to Hervey Bay, where we again meet up with Julia. The three of us will spend a few days exploring Fraser Island before getting a greyhound bus to Brisbane, where Hannah will be joining us as we prepare to say goodbye to Australia.
On the 13th of December the four of us will fly to Auckland, New Zealand, and the following day we fly down to Christchurch. From here, we plan to hire a car and go on a road trip again as we had such a good time on spring break. A week later will see us back in Auckland and then, on the 22nd, we fly to Fiji. We're going island hopping on the Yasawa islands for a week, so who knows exactly which beach we'll be on for Christmas – but we've agreed to bring tinsel so we can decorate a palm tree or something, and we'll sing some carols when we're not too busy scuba diving or sunbathing. It'll be a bit strange to celebrate Christmas wearing a bikini, but I'm pretty sure I'll cope.
On the 29th, Julia and Hannah will return to Australia, while Katrine and I head for Los Angeles to begin the final leg of our journey. We will spend New Years in San Fransisco and stop over in New York for a brief visit before flying home on the 3rd of January. If all goes according to plan, we'll be landing in Oslo in the early afternoon of the 4th of January 2010, almost exactly six months after we left. I can't even begin to express how amazing my time in Australia has been so far – and the adventure has really only just started...
I'll try to update here and there while we're travelling, and hopefully I'll get to post some photos as well – but otherwise, I think you can safely assume that no news is good news, and I'm probably just busy having a blast :)
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| Spring Break |
[18 Sep 2009|12:09am] |
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Wow – I've been meaning to update about our amazing road trip, and just realised that I've already been back in Perth for about a week! It's been pretty busy lately!
Spring Break was simply brilliant. Julia, Hannah, Katrine and I rented a small, white Nissan. We decided to name her Nina, and set off for a week of road tripping northward along the west coast. Getting out of the city was a little nerve-wracking, considering our two drivers (Julia and Katrine) are used to driving on the right side of the road and had never tried an automatic before, but we got out of Perth without a hitch. Once on the main road, we simply stayed on it – for hours and hours, all the while keeping a sharp eye out for kangaroos (you really, really don't want to hit them – it's not good for them or the car...).
The first night we stayed at the Foreshore Backpackers in Geraldton, a sleepy little town, or so you'd think. Randomly stumbling into a pub, we were invited (well, practically forced) to join a private party hosted by a dirt-moving company. We were given bright pink wristbands and told this meant we could get free drinks at the bar, so the night was spent getting to know the locals, one of whom proclamed that his bald spot was a solar panel for a sex machine.
The next day we drove a little further, to Kalbarri National Park. This is a beautiful place, and I would strongly recommend going here if you're ever in Western Australia. It's only about 10 hours from Perth by car, and stunning. We found gorgeous red cliffs and gorges, pristine white sandy beaches, and beautiful ocean views. While we were there, we fed pelicans, went on a whale watching safari, saw dolphins, rode horses along the beach, and swam in the Indian Ocean. The only sad thing was that we didn't have time to stay even longer!
After a stay at Kalbarri, we headed north again and drove to Shark Bay. On our way to Denham (a tiny little town where the police station closes at 5pm as apparently nothing ever happens), where we were staying, we stopped at Hamelin pool to see stromatolites – because even on holiday you have to appreciate evolution! These funny-looking organisms are the reason there's oxygen in the air – in case you were wondering. As we drove further north, we noticed the weather improving noticably, and it was incredible to wander around in flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts in September! While at Denham, we met some more crazy Aussies (Dash and Alex), who introduced us to Emu Export beer and made us laugh so much with their crazy jokes and stories (and beer and wine) that we ended up getting told off by the hotel owners for making too much noise – good times...
Next, we went to Monkey Mia, a small resort in Shark Bay. We got to feed local dolphins, worked on our tans, ate lots of ice-cream, hired a pedal-boat (and pedalled in circles for a while), rode camels, and went for an unforgettable night-time Aboriginal Culture Tour in the bush under the most amazing starry sky I have ever seen. Our Aboriginal guide, Capes, told us stories of the Malgana and Nanda people of the area and taught us about respect for country, cooked fish on the campfire, sent round a smoking stick of sandalwood to soothe our spirits, and played his digeridoo. It was an incredibly spiritual experience and (for me, anyway) the highlight of the week.
Unfortunately, we had to head back south after that. We spent a night at an old convent in Northampton, having convinced ourselves that there was a potential serial killer right outside, and distracting ourselves by discussing everything from boys to nursery rhymes and root vegetables (no joke). We all survived the night, though, and the rest of the trip home went smoothly, excepting Katrine's speeding ticket – the poor girl was white as a sheet while talking to the police officer, while the rest of us were giggling in the car, unsympathetic creatures as we are.
All in all, it was the most amazing week you can imagine. We had so much fun, talking, laughing, singing along to our crazy mixed cd's, surviving on nutella and Tim Tam biscuits, seeing so much beautiful nature and so many amazing animals, and generally soaking up the sun, sea and sand – it was the perfect holiday.
If you'd like to see some pictures from the trip, there are quite a few here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097541&id=43807229&l=eca606480c
We're back in Perth now and uni life is hectic as ever – but I for one can feel a definite difference in my energy levels after a much-needed break. I've also started my scuba diving class, and just got home from my first dive in the pool, learning lots of different skills and underwater communication. It was great fun, but surprisingly tiring, and I'm pretty wiped out now. I'm excited to go try it in the river on Sunday! Tomorrow (Friday) is Katrine's birthday, so we're going on a golf pub crawl to celebrate. Depending on whether I survive, you may get details later...
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| August update |
[30 Aug 2009|09:55pm] |
Believe it or not (and I'm not quite sure I do), we're almost halfway through the semester already. I don't know where the time has gone, to be honest. I lost about two weeks to a flu-induced haze, and also the university seems to think we should be spending a fair bit of time reading and such (ridiculous notion), so I don't have much to report. Weirdly enough, what's surprised me most about Australia so far is how similar everything is to home. Everyday life on this side of the planet is not so drastically different to life in Bergen.
Still, there are some things you don't get at home. Last weekend, Hannah, Jamie, Julia and I went to AQWA, a fairly large aquarium where they have sharks, turtles, leafy sea dragons and all kinds of poisonous and dangerous sea creatures as well as hundreds of different kinds of fish. If you're a qualified scuba diver, you can book diving sessions in the aquarium - so I really want to go back once I get my licence and dive with the sharks! I start my diving training this week, which I'm really excited about.
Also, while uni does take up a bit of time (I'm currently trying to finish an essay on public health aspects of diabetes in Aboriginal populations - progress being rather slow...), the girls and I have found the time to explore Perth's night life on a few occasions. While normal shops close ridiculously early and they don't seem to appreciate the need for buses after 11pm here, I'd say that when it comes to clubs and bars, Bergen could stand to learn a few things from Perth. It gets pretty lively, and there's no lack of enthusiasm on the dance floor. Fun times!
This is the last week before Spring Break, and I suspect it's going to be a bit of a flurry, with lectures, tutorials and assignments left, right and center - as well as trying to get everything together before the break. In true Spring Break tradition, Hannah, Julia, Katrine and I are going on a road trip. We plan on renting a car and driving north along the coast, stopping in Kalbarri national park on our way to Shark Bay and Monkey Mia, where we'll hopefully get to swim with dolphins. Can't wait!
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| "No, you can't have my number, 'cause I lost my phone..." |
[22 Jul 2009|07:07pm] |
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Before I left home, I decided that my semester in Australia would be all about New Experiences: basically, as a rule, if it sounds different, let's give it a go. In keeping with this, I've already eaten kangaroo meat, had my first class in ballroom dancing, and signed up for scuba diving lessons. So far, so good. However, there's always the exception to the rule, right? Right.
I encountered my exception at the train station this afternoon, in the form of a very friendly young man by the name of C----, who came right up to me with a big grin and an enthusiastic greeting of "howyagoing?", and immediately wanted to know where I came from, where I was going, and what I liked to do in my free time. I suppose he might be considered good-looking, except for the piercings, and the fact that he seemed to be kinda high. Anyhow, he suggested that, seeing as I was new to Perth, I should let him take me out during the weekend so he could show me all the pubs. At this point, I was quite relieved to note that my train was pulling into the station, and quickly spied out a seat between two extremely ordinary-looking men. C----, however, was undeterred, and asked me if I had a phone number. Cue my decision to make an exception to the "try anything" rule. Rather flustered, I told him I hadn't got a phone yet. He immediately got out a piece of paper and a pen, jotted down his name and number, and drew a nice cartoon heart underneath, while I surreptiously slipped my hand into my jacket pocket to turn off my phone. He handed me his number ("here you go, love!") and insisted that if I was bored or lonely, I should give him a call, and we'd go out and have lots of fun. At this point, half the people on the train seemed to be struggling to suppress smiles, and I was about as red as a sundried tomato. As I got off at the next station, the woman sitting opposite me left the train as well, and as I passed her on the platform, she leaned toward me and said quietly, "you did well!". I think my cheeks were blazing the whole way home.
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| Of koalas, kangaroos... and milking cows |
[19 Jul 2009|02:44pm] |
So, it's Sunday again. In fact, it's the last Sunday of the winter holidays. I keep wanting to say summer holidays, but hey, when on the Southern Hemisphere... Anyway, term starts tomorrow, and I have afternoon lectures in Psychosocial Aspects of Exercise Science and Public Health. I'm quite excited to see what uni's like on this side of the planet, and am looking forward to getting started. I'm liking Perth a lot, but still feel like I'm waiting for someone to press play and get everything going; everything so far has been about sorting out practical stuff and preparing for what's to come.
The last week has been pretty hectic. Orientation week is much the same in different places – I started to count how many times I've been through this sort of thing, but stopped quickly as it got slightly depressing and made me feel old. The endless talks on study habits and the importance of getting involved in the Student Guild were well worth the social aspects of O-week, though. As well as the usual on-campus activities designed to get people talking, the Study Abroad office arranged a trip to Caversham Wildlife Park, which was excellent; I have now fed kangaroos, stroked koalas and even patted a wombat's belly. Katrine, Hannah and I even got in line with all the little kids to try our hand at milking a cow, ignoring the amused grins of our friends – we're determined not to miss out on any opportunities for self-discovery and adventure...
Today is pretty chill – I've just been out for lunch with my flatmate Alanna, a lovely girl who studies photography. She and my other flatmate Kim are doing an open mic night tomorrow, which I'm planning on going to – should be fun. So yeah, apart from the tap water (tastes like a swimming pool) and the distinct lack of late-night public transport, which makes getting home interesting, life in Perth is pretty good :)
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| UWA - the first few days |
[12 Jul 2009|11:26am] |
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So here I am, cuddled up to the radiator in a room in St. George's College, a residential college at the UWA campus in Perth, Australia. It's only Sunday, but it feels like ages since I left Norway already...
The flight down went surprisingly smoothly. No delays, no disappearing luggage, no immigration problems, nada. The flight from Oslo was uneventful. It was only as we were taking off that I realised I wouldn't be back for half a year, and felt a slight hint of nerves. After a six hour stopover in Paris, however, Katrine and I both felt quite ready to begin our adventures! We met a very friendly, talkative Austrian guy at the airport in Paris who was on his way to Singapore, and it turned out that we were seated together, which made for a pretty fun trip. Twelve and a half hours is a long time, though, and I fell asleep roughly over Teheran. Later, we flew over Pakistan and India, then a huge stretch of ocean before we saw Malaysia. It felt quite surreal, looking at the flight map and then out the window, seeing countries I've never been remotely close to before. I started to realise just how far from home I was heading.
As we were preparing to land, a stewardess came up to us and explained that they were missing some of Katrine's passport information and we needed to get it sorted out before our final flight, so at the airport in Singapore we spent a little while at the transfer desk. Not understanding a word of what the ladies working there were saying to each other made me quite thankful that I was heading for Australia – where we arrived safe and sound some six hours later.
At Perth airport we met Julia, a really sweet Austrian exchange student, and the three of us were picked up by a friendly woman who drove us to St. George's College, where we've been staying for the last few days while sorting out accommodation, phones and such. Tomorrow is the first day of Orientation week, and in the evening, Katrine will be moving in to her new place in Cottesloe, near the beach, while I will be heading for Perth city center. I'm moving in with two Australian girls who have a house right in the middle of town – Kim, who studies nanotechnology, and Alanna, who studies photography.
Staying at St. George's for a few nights was definitely the right move, taking away a lot of the stress of the first week in a new place. We've got to know a bunch of international students, and been laughed at by the Australian students because we think it's cold. Some of them walk around in flip-flops and shorts, and seem to think it's hot enough to eat ice-cream – while the Norwegians (and you wouldn't believe how many of us there are here) wear thermals, clinging to cups of steaming hot tea. Actually, the weirdest thing is how big the difference is between sun and shade, or inside and outside. It's freezing in the dining hall at breakfast, but if you go outside to stand in the sun, you soon have to take off your jacket and sweater – only to put them on again and wish for a scarf as soon as the sun goes behind a cloud. Still, there are flowers in full bloom in the garden and palm trees along the river – and it's midwinter...
I'm very excited to get started with everything. Next week will be spent sorting out classes and going on excursions with other international students; term starts the week after. We've been strolling around campus, which is stunning, not at all like the university back home. We keep stopping to take pictures of the buildings and plants (there are palm trees and eucalyptus trees everywhere), although we try to be sneaky about it and not look like tourists – which I'm sure we do. No doubt we'll get jaded and blasé after a while, but right now, everything is bright and shiny :)
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| *giggle* |
[14 Jun 2006|07:20pm] |
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I quote the Bozeman Daily Chronicle...
The Bozeman Police reports for Monday included the following:
€ A man approached officers on East Main Street. He didn't need anything. He just wanted to talk.
€ Officers gave an intoxicated man a ride to his brother's house.
€ A man on North Seventh Avenue was walking around in his pajamas. He could not remember where he was staying. Officers eventually found the man's hotel.
€ A woman fainted at a business on East Main Street.
€ Three juvenile boys stole two 18 packs of Budweiser from a store on East Peach Street.
The Gallatin County sheriff's reports for Monday included the following:
€ A clerk at a store on Gallatin Road got into a fight with a customer. The customer assaulted the clerk.
€ A woman told deputies she was assaulted at a party in Helena.
€ A dog on Damarell Road stepped on the phone and dialed 911.
€ Two juveniles in Three Forks were playing with pellet guns. The gun accidentally fired, hitting one of the boys in the temple. His parents told deputies the boy did not need medical attention.
€ A pizza delivery person was bitten by a dog on Alpine Way.
... only in Montana...
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| Last day of classes |
[28 Apr 2006|08:04am] |
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My God. I have an exam, a quiz, and a few classes today - and that's it. I mean, I have two finals next week, but no more classes. Today is the last day... It's strange.
I'm off to a cabin by Mystic Lake with KA later today - hopefully a bunch of people will join us tomorrow. It'll be a bit of a hike, but the weather's gorgeous, so I'm looking forward to it.
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| Spring Break |
[31 Mar 2006|10:22am] |
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Shamefully late, this update - there's just been such a lot of stuff going on. But in any case - Spring Break was fantastic - just brilliant. In the spirit of making the most out of the USA, we went on the craziest road trip ever. If I hadn't been there, I wouldn't have believed it was possible. I mean, it was just ridiculous - fun, but ridiculous. We drove about a hundred miles in the wrong direction in the middle of the night and consequently ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere, called 911, ended up having to take The Loneliest Road in America (not kidding - that was what it was called), stalked Chelle's future husband, drove to Tahoe to avoid the snow chain patrol, squeezed umpteen people into tiny motel rooms, went to Mexico & went clubbing at the craziest place I've ever been (I tried the mechanical bull - for which I blame the Tequila shots), almost got stuck in a flood in Tijuana, really did get stuck at the Mexican/US border (because all international exchange students are terrorists, obviously - at least they are if other border guards have stamped their forms in the wrong place), and finally went gambling in Las Vegas, where I overdrew my bank account for the first time in my life - whoops - but if you're gonna overdraw it, at least doing it in Vegas is doing it in style...
If you want proof, there are pics:
http://montana.facebook.com/photos.php?id=43807229&l=3adb1
And the blog I share with BK:
http://bozeman2.sprayblogg.no/
Now am off to classes and then to Jackson Hole (Wyoming) for the weekend. Later!
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| Last weekend and next week |
[10 Mar 2006|12:10am] |
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Had the best time in Yellowstone last weekend with a bunch of friends. There are some photos at Two Ducks Across The Pond, but I thought I'd put a few up here, too.
Ville, Outi, me, Knud, Berit, Mats, and two German girls who came with us (can't remember their names. Whoops.)
Gorgeous scenery...
Berit and a buffalo. One of the less silly pictures. Promise.
Coyote - coolness!
Scandinavians skiing... Dodgy stuff.
Me in the Two Bit Saloon, where we ate buffalo burgers and chilled.
... And now I'm packing my bag. We're off to California tomorrow afternoon, right after my history midterm exam - I'm so excited!!! We've stacked the car with lots of water, coke, biscuits and chocolate... San Francisco next!
Have a lovely week, everyone!
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| If at first you don't succeed... |
[03 Mar 2006|12:26am] |
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... try a G&T.
Bowling is cheap on Thursday nights - $1 a game.
Drinks in general are cheap in the US. (Bring on the $2 G&Ts!)
Combined, this makes for a Very Good Thursday Night.
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| Trying to find the funnies |
[01 Mar 2006|11:16pm] |
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I have an assignment due next week - "a scene, from the perspective of some imagined character, that is laugh-out-loud funny. Topic of your choice, situation of your choice, but the aim is to create a character we like and we laugh at/with." Not your average English essay. That's cool, and it means I don't have to do yet another close reading / poetry analysis - but I'm starting to realise that, in fact, I'm just not that funny. I keep racking my brains for funny incidents I could use, but apart from some whacky conversations I found in my LJ archives, I'm pretty much stumped. Gah.
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| Everything Is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer) |
[23 Feb 2006|12:52pm] |
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I love this book. It's just so whacky.
With only a yellowing photo, our hero, Jonathan Safran Foer, sets out to find the woman who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. He's accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and Alex, a Ukranian translator who rather likes his thesaurus...
I adore Alex's deliciously butchered English. I mean - just take a look at this:
"As for me, I was sired in 1977, the same year as the hero of this story. In truth, my life has been very ordinary. As I mentioned before, I do many good things with myself and others, but they are ordinary things. I dig American movies. I dig Negroes, particularly Michael Jackson. I dig to disseminate very much currency at famous nightclubs in Odessa. Lamborghini Countaches are excellent, and so are cappuccinos. Many girls want to be carnal with me in many good arrangements, notwithstanding the Inebriated Kangaroo, the Gorky Tickle, and the Unyielding Zookeeper. If you want to know why so many girls want to be with me, it is because I am a very premium person to be with."
Or this:
"Mother is a humble woman. Very, very humble. She toils at a small cafe one hour distance from our home. She presents food and drink to customers there, and says to me, "I mount the autobus for an hour to work all day doing things I hate. You want to know why? It is for you, Alexi-stop-spleening-me! One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be a family." What she does not clutch is that I already do things for her that I hate. I listen to her when she talks to me. I resist complaining about my pygmy allowance. And did I mention that I do not spleen her nearly so much as I desire to? But I do not do these things because we are a family. I do them because they are common decencies. That is an idiom that the hero taught me. I do them because I am not a big fucking asshole. That is another idiom that the hero taught me."
Wish all my uni books were like this...
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| Tristan and Isolde |
[31 Jan 2006|10:21pm] |
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If you haven't seen the film - don't. It was absolutely crap. I don't even know where to begin... Well, perhaps with the beginning. "It is the Dark Ages..." I find that a lot of written information at the beginning of a movie is a bad sign - it means they don't understand how to tell the story visually. Often I feel they've started the movie in the wrong place: if you can't figure out what's going on without reading a page of "this is what's going on" info at the start, they've started out on the wrong foot. It wasn't even justified by a compact plot - they might have had too much information to convey at the beginning, but the rest of the story just dragged, and dragged, and dragged. The characters were unconvincing; I didn't believe Tristan and Isolde really cared about each other - and I certainly didn't care for either of them; the only character I felt any sympathy for whatsoever was Lord Marke, and his relationship to Tristan as adopted father really wasn't developed - so strike that; he was only bearable because he is, after all, Rufus Sewell, so despite the oh-so-stilted script he made the best of a bad job. But he was the only one to do anything like a decent job with the acting. Well, LoveActually's little Thomas Sangster did a fair job of young Tristan, I suppose, but he didn't have much of a part. Then, too, you had the oh-so-very-nasty black-leather-clad bad guys with very big, poisoned swords and no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Although their Big Plotting Scene was stolen by the ball-scratching dog in the background, which at least provided a laugh. Oh, and the sets... Gods above. The look was rather Monty Python. Obviously nobody has any fun in the Dark Ages; everything is muddy and dirty; clothes are mostly dour brown or black and like to flap around in the wind along with the women's unfailingly romantic, wavy (and suspiciously always-freshly-washed) hair; and whenever people are eating, there are always huge chunks of very mediaeval-looking bread on pewter or wood plates. Oh, and when people have affairs, they inevitably have great sex outdoors where anybody could see them; can't keep their hands off each other at the most inopportune moments, and take turns telling each other they have to be strong and stay apart, and then sobbing and saying they can't breathe when they're not together. It's all oh so very sad and tragic, and frankly, I couldn't care less - although having written all this, I suppose I do care; I didn't think it was possible to so completely butcher what is essentially a deeply tragic story. Well, at least BK and I had fun trashing it completely. Perhaps it was worth $5,25 simply for that.
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| Read the t-shirt, baby |
[21 Jan 2006|08:06pm] |
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"Sunshine" (Keane) |
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I love this t-shirt. FORGET LOVE, i'd rather fall in CHOCOLATE. (I mean, what's not to love?!) It may be BK's, but she can't really wear it at the moment - unless she wants to piss her boyfriend off, that is - so I've adopted it. And besides, I'm way more of a chocaholic than she is.
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| Brokeback Mountain |
[19 Jan 2006|10:00pm] |
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So I finally got to see it. It was sad. Well acted, I thought, and well directed. The landscape was stunning, the music was beautiful... There was some humour, which I wasn't expecting, and some painful moments, which I was expecting but which still got to me. It left me feeling a little empty, and sad for the misery so many people went through for something which really shouldn't have caused anyone any pain. Humans really know how to make it hard for each other - and themselves. On the whole, I think my expectations were perhaps a little too high - but while it didn't make me cry my eyes out, I still think it's an important movie, and an upfront, honest one. You need movies like that once in a while.
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| Of all the stupid, idiotic... |
[17 Jan 2006|03:55pm] |
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Oh, for heaven's sake! As a new student, I apparently have to attend obligatory classes in alcohol education and relationship violence. I'd be fine with them offering voluntary information sessions or whatever - but I am not some fourteen year old high school kid who needs to be told that vodka is bad for your liver and that you should probably tell someone if you're being abused, and I do not appreciate being treated like some mindless idiot who can't make her own decisions. They're wasting my time, and it pisses me off. I mean, listen to this:
"AlcoholEdu will take approximately two and a half hours to complete over the course of the spring semester ... the first section includes 2 surveys, three chapters, and an exam ... You will be contacted thirty days after completing the first section and asked to complete the final chapter and survey. Only after you have completed chapter 4 and the final survey will you have successfully completed the course."
An exam?! Honestly... BK just started laughing. I would've laughed, too, except it seems they're actually serious.
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| Definitely not in Bergen |
[12 Jan 2006|11:47pm] |
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mood |
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 optimistic |
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I just got handed a red piece of paper labelled "Study Buck" by the RAs doing the rounds of the residence hall. Just because I happened to be studying while they were passing by. Apparently there's an auction at the end of the semester, and you can use the study bucks you earn to bid on stuff - or something like that - I'm not sure. I'm torn between grinning with amusement and feeling suddenly extremely nerdy (and not even by nerdy-by-choice).
I'm struck by the difference in attitudes and behaviour between here and home. Everybody's so friendly and cheerful. I find it both pleasantly surprising and slightly unsettling - I'm not quite sure how to react, or what the proper response is. That in itself is an interesting experience - I'm not used to feeling like a stranger - but at the same time, people are so welcoming here that being a stranger isn't as intimidating as it might be. I do miss certain things about home, most notably the food. However, far from gaining weight through excess consumation of fatty, sugary foods (of which there is an abundance), I risk becoming a vegetarian. Fruit and salads are pretty much the only things in the cafeteria I actually want to eat; double cheeseburgers for breakfast just isn't my thing. Still, it's only for a few months, and even the thought of proper wholemeal bread and juice that isn't sweetened with several kilos of sugar isn't enough to make me regret coming.
The workload and grading system is another major difference. Part of my grades for each class (I'm taking five classes in three subject areas - American literature, Native American Studies, and modern French history) actually depends on my attendance; then there are frequent quizzes, and class discussion also counts. Classes started yesterday. I got my books today, and from what I can tell, the work won't be insanely difficult, but the sheer volume of reading is slightly intimidating, especially as every single professor seems adamant that assigned readings be read prior to the class - and they really mean it. I spent somewhere between six and seven hours today on readings that were set yesterday for tomorrow's classes. (I have four hours of lectures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and two hours on Thursdays.) None of it was particularly hard - no, wait, I take that back; the Native American emergence/origin story was incredibly confusing and very strange, completely unlike traditional western literature - but it just took ages to get through it all. I suppose it's a good thing, really; the way things are organised here, you simply have to study regularly throughout the term, rather than piss about for most of the time and then kill yourself cramming during the last week. (Who'm I kidding? I'm never going to study regularly and not cram. The very idea. Huh!)
But enough whining; the classes at least seem interesting, as do the instructors (some of whom seem truly extraordinarily eccentric), and I'm very pleased that my reading list for modern American literature actually includes texts like "Everything Is Illuminated" (by Jonathan Safran Foer) and "For colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf" (a choreopoem by Ntozake Shange). Also, it looks like I'll be able to attend a powwow during the Easter weekend, and hopefully visit two or three of Montana's Indian reservations during my stay, so all in all, I'm really very excited about the whole shebang :-)
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ragnhildholm's journal
peaceful