Sylvia's world of wonders

Vive la France!

2009-09-27T15:49:00.007+02:00

After reconsideration and on request for updates from my readers, I decided to blog about my vacation spent in France this summer. I did say, that I would blog about placed I have been to, didn't I...?

We flew to Nice 10th of August, planning to spend two weeks in the exotics of Europe. SAS was running a campaign at that time, thus we got away with pretty cheap tickets. We had both stayed at Nice at other occasions, therefore arriving in the evening, we spent only one night in Nice before heading south-west. The next day we took the TGV train (tickets booked on the internet in beforehand) to Montpellier. The ride from Nice to Montpellier, in distance is about 326 km and in time about two-three hours. The trains are modern, comfortable and definitely recommendable. The railing system likewise, so getting around in France by train is perhaps most convenient for tourists. It's fast, stops at the large cities and doesn't empty your wallet. From Montpellier we took the train to Cannes. And from Cannes we rode directly back to the airport in Nice.

The language spoken is of course French. I've never ever had any relation to French whatsoever, so I naturally had a drawback. Other Norwegians who have been in France always complain about the French being so stubborn, refusing to speak English. However, we didn't feel that way at all. I guess they've developed into a larger tourist friendly country lately, realizing that not everyone speaks the same language as they do. I brought this dictionary, pocket size, which was indeed useful! Though many waitresses speak English it doesn't indicate that that restaurant have English menus. Ordering food which you are completely unaware of what is, is exiting enough and must be tried once in a while, but for two hole weeks... igh... I learned quickly that "moules et frites" was something I wouldn't have to look up frequently. I craved it at least two times a day!

The people are nice enough. Not overwhelmingly friendly yet not hostile. They do their jobs, that's it. Nonetheless, it didn't affect our trip in any way. I think most of them would be more open if they'd been more comfortable speaking English. We often asked if they spoke English, gotten the negative answer, yet been able to have a conversation with them speaking in.. English! Them answering in French, though.

The food is delicious. France is and has always been a place where you could experience exclusivity if you really wanted to. So of course, this yields for the food as well. Most of the restaurants have these menus, where you could get entrée, main course and dessert for a cheaper price than if you ordered them one by one. The price would range from 25 Euro and up. Some of the smaller places had smaller menus where you could chose between entrée + main course or main course + dessert. They were naturally cheaper and a good alternative if you weren't interested in gaining too much weight. Tapped water is clean enough to drink, but tastes awful!

They have this standard breakfast. You would have look long and hard to get anything other than a croissant, a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee (of your choice). If you wanted a larger breakfast you could order the large menu, consisting of the above-mentioned including a French baguette with some jam.

Lunch is even harder getting a hold of. If you have been at the beach all day and want to catch a late lunch, you can just surrender right away! No one serves food between 4 pm and dinnertime. All restaurants are open but serve only drinks.

They usually eat dinner at 9pm and later. And what surprised me was that there were at least as many French dining out as tourists. If the prices were lower it wouldn't have caught my mind. But coming from Norway and all, not being able to have a nice dinner out more than once a month because of the high sum of such an event, it surprised my that people earning considerably less (I assume), can afford to dine at a not considerably less price.

The French use cheese in everything! I love cheese and that time I got a whole Camembert on my plate of salad, I was overwhelmed. The menu said salad, some ham and some dressing and cheese. I never could have imagined a whole Camembert, though! You know Camembert come in these thin wooden wrappings. The chef just tossed the whole thing in the oven and served it plain and still wrapped. Mmmm, warm, melted Camembert must be the d in delicious. However, after consuming almost the whole thing, my desire for cheese dropped a few levels. I have never felt so stuffed after a salad and my craving for cheese has still not regained it's equilibrium. Nevertheless, one month after the experience, I could actually consider ordering the same plate again.

You'd thing the stories about the French and their overuse of French baguette is a myth, or at least exaggerated. But it is actually not! There is a reason why French baguette is named as it is. I think every household in France buys at least two French baguettes daily! And imagine how many the restaurants must be serving for nibbling each day. I even saw people having long, cloth bags made particularly for this bakery. France must also be the leading country in pastries. They have so many different sorts of delicious-looking pastries. Croissants, pain au chocolat and puffed pastry watering your mouth.

The weather was not anything less that we could have wanted. We had the sun rising to a cloudless sky basically every day. The temperature was just what we needed, dreading the fall at home ahead. It was stable and over 30 degrees everyday. However Montpellier was considerably warmer than both Nice and Cannes. I could think of some reasons why that may be, but they are all speculations coming from studying Montpelliers location on the map.

Shopping in France is not really worth it. Lacoste, as French as it is, is at least as expensive there as in Denmark! However, if you're not worried about the dough, Cannes is the shopping paradise. There are Guccis and Pradas on practically every single street corner! Depressing as it was, we had to take a look in some of them. I'm not an expert in that price range, but I believe they cost the same there as any other store in Europe. Most of the stores had guards opening the door for you, yet the feeling of degradation wasn't as bad as walking into the same type of store in Copenhagen.

Montpellier is a really charming city. It's quite large, having the tram connecting the different parts of the city together. The tram is newly established and consists of two lines, costing around 1,5 Euro if I remember correctly. The blue one, running along the most busy places, was passing frequently. 5 min at the most frequent. It does not run through the historical centre and cars are in some streets not allowed to pass. This part of the city was the most charming, having many squares and narrow lanes for pedestrians. At most squares different restaurants were serving food and drinks. We had our worst but also our best food experience at Montpellier. We stayed at a hotel at the perfect location, a minute walk from Place de la Comédie. There were always people at this square, at any time of day or night.

Montpellier is not located by the sea, rather an hour away from the coastline. This naturally means that the beach is not in immediate proximity. There were however bus connections running once or twice an hour. There were two ways of going there. One, is taking the tram to place l'Europe, changing to bus number 28 to Palavas, using the same ticket at the tram. This is cheap and I guess one of the fastest ways of getting there. The other is just unnecessary mentioning, because it's both four times more expensive and takes the same amount of time.

Cannes is an extremely exclusive city! If it wasn't for the film festival, Cannes would be just another unknown city on the map of France. This city is however located on the coastline, meaning the beach is just around the corner. We stayed in a hotel four-five blocks from the beach one way and a block from the train station the other. So everyday we walked across the centre to get tanned. This illustrates how large the city actually is. The beaches are somehow constructed, not natural, but stowed into stalls. They were not at all wide or long, yet when we changed beach one day, by walking across the small pier, it felt like a totally different beach. The beaches were incredibly crowded! Judging by the languages spoken at these beaches, Cannes is more visited by Europeans than Montpellier. There were Danes, Finns, Norwegians and Brits everywhere!

One day we saw this couple with a small kid, struggling to get all their shopping bags along. There were bags from Gucci, Ferregamo, YSL, Prada, and all that jazz for an amount of money I could only dream of! I think that the value of their "catch of the day" would be the same as I would earn for a whole year (whenever I get myself a job). Well, I didn't pity them at all, having to carry all those bags in such a hot weather! I didn't pity them!

And all the expensive cars parked along the beach walk! Frankly, I'm not interested in cars, at all! All I see is: ugly, pretty, black, pink! But walking amongst all those shiny expensively branded cars made me feel inferior. One day, when I become rich, I will be able to buy a car worth half of their.

But Cannes is not all about glamour and style. Their old city is located not far from the shopping streets and can offer restaurants situated in steep hills, serving everything from "moules et frites" and pastas to "foie gras" (exclusive duck liver). What surprised me was the prices of wine. You'd think the wine capitol of the world could offer some better wines to more reasonable prices. Yet on average, the wine was of course cheaper than in Norway, but not as cheap as one would expect. A glass of wine could be from 6 Euro and up.

All in all, France is exciting, exclusive, expensive and exhilarating! :D Recommended if you have some money to spare, want to expose your skin to some sun and have some nice dresses unused at the back of your closet.

about being a cyclist in Copenhagen

2009-08-27T11:30:00.008+02:00

I've bought myself a nice, pink, the most girlish bike you've ever seen. It's got a basket at the front and I've even decorated it with a wreath of pink flowers! I would say I'm quite a sight when I'm rolling down the street wearing my pink helmet, which by the way also is painted pink with flowers.

But even though I look pretty and all, you wouldn't find a more insecure cyclist in the streets of Copenhagen. The thing is, I should be happy about the nice cycling conditions. The streets are widened with cycling paths, one on each side of the road running in each direction. They are even marked with blue at the places where they cross the road meant for cars. Just to tell you where you are supposed to cross, for your safety only.

I've unravelled some rules, which to me seem unwritten and expected of you to know. They are confusing and different people do not always act the same way as I expect them to according to the rules. That is the rules I think are the rules.

You are not supposed to cycle on the sidewalk. That one is reserved for pedestrians. But what if you are on the opposite side of the cycling path running the direction you are headed and you are only following that road for 10-20 meters? You cannot cycle against the stream. So you cycle on the pavement, where the pedestrians are. Well, a few meters up the road, we shall soon see that this is not accepted by some pedestrians. I met this half old lady; I say half old, because she didn't look that old, but was staggering forwards with her wheeled walker in the opposite direction as I. So there I was, minding my own business, approaching slowly, carefully, trying not to be to any inconvenience to the few pedestrians present. And when I was about to pass her she wheeled out in an attempt to run me down snapping at me: " You shouldn't cycle on the sidewalk". But to me, it seems unreasonable to cross the road, cycle those 10-20 meters, cross the road back to the side where you were 1 minute ago and continue your journey. You could of course get off your bike and trill it the distance you are in the "danger zone". But why spend so much more time on something more boring and time consuming when you could perfectly fine spend that time carefully on the sidewalk, if you are not hurting anyone?

The traffic lights are also confusing. There are lights for cars, pedestrians and bicycles. Most times you act according to the cycle lights, but sometimes they are not there, so you look at the car lights. But the most confusing situations is when you are at a T-cross and you are approaching it from the arm. Normally you should be able to cycle right through it. But what if the pedestrians get green light and the only thing warning you about it is the car light dangling high in the sky?

I shun those crossings where you come from one direction and want to 90 degrees to the left. You would have to cross to the other side to get to the right cycling direction. And then you would have to cross the car road to get to the right side of the car crossing. You might even have to wait for green lights at both crossing-overs. When people here do this kind of crossing, they wait for the green lights at somewhere to me seems in the middle of the crossing. They stop in front of the zebra crossing and kind of on the side of the cycling path.

Speaking of green lights. At some traffic lights the right line for cars is obligatory to take a right turn. When there is red light at these kind of crossings and there is already a car standing foremost, the cyclists go on the car's left side and wait there. The sissy I am, I always wait behind the car, unless some other cyclist is brave enough to cut the line.

Cars seem more aware of the cyclists, though. They always wait until you've passed before they take the turn. And they always take a second glance to be sure no cyclist is hiding in the blind zone. Yet, I feel like I'm more alert and focused when cycling here. When comparing my cycling habits and conditions here and in Trondheim, it should have been the opposite. Cycling in Trondheim is random and reckless. You go up and down, switching between the pavement and the road, running across on red lights and cycling across zebra crossing expecting cars to stop as if you were some other pedestrian. Despite all this, I feel like I've done more mistakes and put myself in more danger than I've ever experienced in my adult life up to I moved here.

Edit: You all probably know that Denmark is an incredibly flat country. Because of that the wind doesn't get stopped by anything. This leads to the fact that it's always windy in Denmark. And having the maxima of three gears doesn't make things easier! It feels like I'm cycling quite fast sometimes. But somehow, it keep ending up as the slowest! I must admit that now and then I do pass some people, without saying that they always have some extra weight either in the form of children or in the more personal form...

Boracay Island, The Philippines

2009-04-17T16:07:00.016+02:00

I've decided to write a review of the places I travel to from now on. This is not only to store my memories onto a file, but also for others who are considering to visit the same destination.

I spent ten days (6th-16th of April) on Boracay Island. At this time of year The Philippines is floating into the summer season. We went during the Easter holiday, which they evidently call the Holy week. During the Holy week, Boracay is turned upside down, from a quiet, retired hangout for families and couples to this incredible party island for youngsters fit for fight. Every other day had a big party scheduled and the beach was occupied by huge stages and closed arrangements. They say that staying at Boracay during this particular week is more expensive than the rest of the year. However, the Norwegians didn't frown upon the prices.

The locals are the most polite, humble and friendly people I've ever met as a tourist! I have never been so good taken care of and pampered. You had locals greeting you and helloing you when you passed by, but somehow I didn't get this nasty vibe you get from Southern European men with one single thing in mind. I interpreted their random talking as politeness and because they were sincerely interested in talking to you. Most of the locals knew English very well and we had no problems communicating with them. One phrase they kept using was "Hello, welcome to Boracay!".

I was eager to taste the local food because as we all know, local food is a lot cheaper than Western food. I can eat steak and baguettes whenever I want back home. The food at Boracay is based on meat, meat and once again meat. At night, there were BBQ grills basically everywhere. They emerged as like they were mosquitoes on a warm, moist summer night. Speaking of mosquitoes; There weren't unbelievable many. I attract mosquitoes, and I do that to an incredible extent, yet at Boracay the bites I got I can count with my two hands.

Of the food I tasted I can mention, adobo (chicken/pork steamed or boiled in cubes sprinkled in a delicious sauce), pinakbet (a fried vegetable dish), batchoy (noodle soup), halo halo (a dink with beans, jelly, fruit etc.), silog (which is a dish consisting of meat of your choise, fried egg and rice) and of course the local BBQ sticks. They have this tasty marinade spread on top. It's sweet and a bit spicy. It's all worth tasting, but if you ask Magnus he'd say the adobo was the most amazing thing ever.

The prices there are incredible! You can get a decent dinner for Php 200 (28 kr). But naturally, you can also get a hold of nice dinners for less or a lot more. The more expensive meals were imported steaks. Those were like Php 800 (112 kr) and up. Most restaurants add 12% VAT and 10% service charge. A 500 ml bottle of water was Php 20 (2,8 kr). So cheap! They even had a Starbucks shop at the beach. And the prices there were of course regulated according to the local prices. A tall frappuccino was around Php 160 (22 kr). I bought some pearl earrings at another beach we visited. Three different sizes for Php 40, Php 60 and Php 100. All in all 29 kr for pearl earrings of silver!

The weather was nice. It was hot, slightly over 30 degrees Celsius. Ironically, the weather report said it should feel like 40 degrees. The first couple of days were sunny with no signs of clouds. The last two days were lightly clouded, yet sunny enough to sunbathe. The sun is strong and you need to keep eyes open. One hour without sunscreen and you get a severe burn.

This one night we got invites from nearly naked advertising babes to the Marlboro promotion party. We went to this huge stage fenced in by tall scaffolding. As it turns out, they sold cheap cigarettes and served free drinks for everyone. I thought to myself: Yeah, I'm definitely not in Norway. Two days earlier was the Full moon party. People said that this was THE party night. The fact that we spent days before and after the Holy week, we noticed an evident difference in night life during the party week.

We lived at Reef Resort located on Bulabog beach, which was the kite surfing site of the island. Every day, we walked to the White beach situated on the other side of the island. The island isn't too wide where we lived, so it didn't take us more than 15 min to walk. The White beach was where it all was happening. The parties were held here, many of the best and most expensive restaurants were located literally on that beach and this was where people went to sunbathe. Strangely, the wind striking the island was quite regular. Our beach was exposed to strong winds every day, while the White beach was calm air.

You'd think Boracay was some remote island hardly visited by pale Norwegians. To get to Boracay, we flew from HK to Manila, Manila to Caticlan. From the tiny, old airport which can hardly be accounted for as an airport, we rode with tricycles to the harbor. From there we took a boat over to the island and on the island we were transported by bus to our cozy, 10 room resort. What I'm trying to say is that getting there is not easy and is time consuming. On Cebu pacific air's website they recommended us to spend at least two hours at Manila airport. People say it is the most chaotic airport in the world! We didn't get that experience at all, though. The owner of our resort claimed that Manila had recently built a new terminal, exclusively for Cebu pacific flights, which could explain why we saw Cebu planes, exclusively.

Nevertheless, we kept bumping into Norwegians. At one point we were no less than nine Norwegians out of thirteen random tourists sunbathing at the same hotel, Red Coconut. When saying this, the sixteen other Norwegians were not accounted for. We were extremely surprised by the number of people on vacation, speaking the same language as us. Still, the white skinned marked their presence amongst the small, yet many Filipinos.

To sum up; Boracay was a wonderful place. Nice beaches, pleasant people, lively nightlife and great prices. I definitely recommend you to go there, and personally, this is one of the places I will consider revisiting!

Not quite motivated...

2008-11-19T17:41:00.002+01:00

The book I'm reading, called Estimation of Blood Velocities Using Ultrasound, smells old. And it's orange with purple stripes.

Winter

2008-10-30T10:33:00.002+01:00

Curse the day the road gets too icy to cycle on!

IFA

2008-10-26T16:33:00.000+01:00

Store IFA sogsbær-lakris; Ganske god.

...

2008-10-26T15:42:00.004+01:00

I've had perfect vision now for about a year :)

Happy bday to meme (two days ago).

I love knitting <3

I love fancy printers!

I should swim more...

Can't wait till my visit on Wednesday :D

Fall is pretty, and I bought warm tights on sale.

Weak moment

2008-10-16T12:40:00.002+02:00

Sorry, needed to dump some negative energy

Drowning

2008-10-16T11:45:00.002+02:00

I'm drowning. And instead of pulling me up, someone keeps pushing and holding my head under water. If you can't help me, leave me alone!

Finished reading applications :D

2008-10-05T17:16:00.003+02:00

Today we finally finished the last of over 4300 applications for ISFiT 09. We've been working for three whole days, starting at 8am and wrapping up at 5pm. This last day of application reading started later as we finished almost all yesterday.

It feels like such a relief or maybe it even feels like freedom?

One thing that's crossed my mind several times during these days; have I been fair and unbiased? Or have the grades been affected by my mood, has the time of day played a role and was I nicer the first day than the last? I guess it's all water under the bridge now and that no matter what, the qualified and the people who made it clear that they really deserve to come, have been picked out.

Now, all that remains is days, or even weeks school work... :(

Valencia

2008-09-30T18:13:00.004+02:00

As all of you probably heard by now, I'm falling behind in every aspect of my busy life! School, ISFiT, coaching and CIP. Not that going to Valencia for a week and a half helped ease the workload... The past five hours, I've been trying to catch up with some of the courses and thought, to wrap it all up, I could write a nice little post :)

I had a wonderful time in Valencia and to pay a tribute to the trip, I'm going to sum up my impression of the city.

Valencia is the third biggest city in Spain, correct me if I'm wrong. We lived in the middle of the city, the Old Medieval City. With it's small, cozy, cobbled streets it swallowed me whole. If I'd walked those streets alone, I would have gotten lost and never been able come back to Norway again.

There are a few things that caught my eye and attention while strolling along the streets of Valencia.

1. This is a very safe city. The loudest and most frightening people are the drunken tourists. The police are everywhere at any time of day and do their jobs well!

2. There are many dogs. I bet every other household had a god or two. And the dogs are amazingly obedient! 90% of the dogs we met, didn't wear a collar, however walked side-by-side with it's owner. Once, when we were waiting for the bus, this old crooked man and his small, fluffy dog of the same age, patter by. The man had no goal or intention with his walk. He just walked back and forth, literally. And the dog followed patiently. When he turned, so did the dog. When he turned again, the dog did as well. And once, the dog didn't pay enough attention, the man turned and the dog kept walking. Hahah, it did so until his owner whistled on him; "Hey, I'm over here!".

Correction to the typo (02.10.08) : I bet every other household had a dog or two.

3. Average Joe does not seem to know English. Often we asked if they spoke English, and as often we got the answer no. They however love speaking Spanish to you. As they figure out you don't actually know any Spanish, they start speaking more slowly. A nice try, but still doesn't get us where we want.

4. People in Valencia are more friendly than in Norway. As two tourists looking lost and confused, we often attracted locals who wanted to guide us back on track. That hardly happens in Norway.

5. Parking. People park everywhere! Along a road, which could have looked like any other street with three lanes, two of them were parking areas. They even park in turns. And they park so close to each other, I couldn't figure out how they'd ever get out of it! The bulky cars were a nice reflection of their crazy parking habits.

6. Food prices. Not too cheap, but not too expensive either. Compared to Norway = cheap, compared to HK = expensive! Speaking of food. They eat dinner at 10pm, the earliest! That's about when I start brushing my teeth!

7. Siesta. Spanish people are lazy. They work, have a three hours break, and then go back to work. I wonder what they spend their siesta on? Sleep, eat?

8. Public transport. Cheap an very convenient!

9. Häagen-Dazs and Starbucks. In every big city these two chains have invaded every street corner. In Valencia however, we came upon one of the former and two of the latter. It got us thinking and concluding that they probably make as tasty coffe and ice cream themselves and that americanization can be avioded.

10. Weather. As we arrived it felt like Norwegian summer. By the time we left it had turned cold and it felt more like fall. Still, we got to experience the beach life before I found it too cold. I actually had to buy a tights because I'd only brought one pair of pants. I also had to wear both a sweater and a jacket! But when I arrived back home, I realized that 15 degrees is actually quite warm compared to home.

All in all, definately worth experiencing!

deep sigh

2008-09-09T15:20:00.004+02:00

I've just received, or rather seized, this big, cozy and personal desk for studying at the place where I do my project. But I haven't been able to utilize my powers towards opening the books yet. I don't feel qualified nor motivated to do my last year at the Uni. Things are getting too serious, and I am becoming an adult.

People have been talking about applying for jobs already. I'm like 'w00t'? I don't even know what I can do. How am I supposed to know where to apply?

Work has been piling up in front of me. And my lack of competence is slowing me down like a big t-shirt in the swimming pool. I can't wait till all of this is over!

22

2008-08-26T00:44:00.002+02:00

I just caught myself not remembering how old I am. I really struggled with settling down on 21 or 22. Then finally, by calculating from the year I was born, the right answer appeared to me. That's so sad, I truly pity myself. I'm denying my actual age, and that unintentionally!

Life so far

2008-08-23T00:21:00.007+02:00

My Norwegian life style is so chill. Mainly because school has not fully started. So I'm just loafing around, mostly at home.

The first day of school, 18th of August, I made some calls to classmates to build up some ideas of what to do that day. Well, nobody knew anything and I felt as lost as before I called them. I though that "what is a first day of school without a visit of campus?", so I jumped on my bike and took a ride uphills. At that time I didn't know what a waste it would be. I was so ignorant, so motivated and exited, like a child! But all I did was visit some counselors and ask stupid, unnecessary questions. All of which I could have asked any other day.

I'm totally lost about this whole school thing, but luckily I'm not the only one. I should have gone traveling this week, instead of wasting time planning things that I'm not able to plan yet anyways.

I've just realized how having a television is incredibly time consuming! I bet I've spent 50% of my last few days in front of it. Without even noticing where time went. The other day, we sat there from afternoon till night and actually watched an episode twice, the first time in the afternoon, and then the second as a re-issue a couple of hours later. I feel sorry for myself, actually.

Norwegian prices scare me. We have this "festival", Pstereo, which runs over two days, this weekend. You can get a hold of a festival pass for 950kr at the entrance. 950kr! But if you don't want to spend that much and save money by only attending one day, you may buy a one-day pass for a small amount of money. Only 600kr! Which will be 75,5 euros or 873 HKD. That is crazy, man! Luckily for some (me and my friend), we don't have too many halls or arenas to hold concerts at, so this one was outdoors. And could be seen from the elgseter bride. Guess who went to watch it from the bridge! Oh yeah, me! Though from a distance and not dressed properly for the weather, the sound was suprisingly good.

Can you see Festningen there in the middle quite far up in the picture? And all the way to the left, Tyholtstårnet. And there, in the center of the picture the stage on Marinen.

And my cell is getting old and does not have as good zoom as those pro phones these days.

Ticked and ticked

2008-08-09T14:00:00.003+02:00

I had two tasks I had to complete after returning to Norway. One, was to move back to my apartment. Two, was to revise for and take two exams.

I've finished both and I am free to do anything I want before school starts in a week :D

Hot die me

2008-07-29T11:46:00.007+02:00

As previous posted, Norway's got this incredible high pressure above, geographically speaking. This means tropical weather with temperatures ranging from 25-28 degrees in the shade and radiant sun all day and half the night. During night, the temperature stabilizes around 20 degrees. Or a bit lower, because if it was 20 degrees, the newspapers would have written all about it. It's called tropical nights, and we keep a record of all this stuff. Tropical days, tropical nights, how many in a row, how many in a June, July, August, how many in total, you name it, we've recorded it!

The thing about Norway is that it's not built for this kind of weather. The other day, I went to see The Dark Knight in the theater. And in advance, I was warned about very hot cinema auditoriums and told to bring lots to drink. And yes, hot it was! I bet it was around 30 degrees in there. And with a packed auditorium, the heat easily builds up. The staff even opened the emergency exit doors in an attempt to get a draft. However, mission failed. As the movie ended, 260 clammy, stuffy, sweaty, stinky people rushed out in an eager to breathe in the fresh Norwegian air.

Yet, one can't complain. This is the summer I love and always will love. Even thought I feel like a lump of butter, melting in the sun. This must be enjoyed, while it lasts.

Cold die me

2008-07-21T22:56:00.011+02:00

The weather these days is so cold! I'm wearing tonnes of clothes but I'm still freezing. It's reached the limit where I'm actually considering wearing tights underneath my pants. The last week, we had 12 degrees tops. That's like 20 degrees colder than the temperature I've gotten used to having.

Today, I went to school to revise. I'm so good :) Disregarding that I fell asleep of boredom and sleep for quite a while. But the point is, as I walked home (I had to walk because I discovered that my bicycle had been rusting away) I got this incredible pain in my ears. You know, the pain you get if you forget your cap during wintertime or the pain you get right before you find out you've got an inflammation of the ear. It's that cold!

The weather forecast for the coming week, however, is just too good to be true. The temperature is increasing as the days pass, and the clouds are vaporizing! Thursday will be sun sun sun and 22 degrees. Friday will be sunny with traces of clouds, but those clouds will be all forgotten as the temperature will be around 28 degrees! Wuhuuuu! And to kill my own happiness around this topic, I will remind myself that I need to revise...

Last weekend I went to Molde to visit Eli and to go to the Kent concert! I've been wanting to go to this concert ever since they launched their participation. The concert itself wasn't that breathtaking and I must admit that the CD sounds a lot better than the live concert on Friday. But I'm happy for being able to see them at such a close range. My favourite, now and forever! The best part of the trip though, was hanging out with Eli. I hadn't seen her since August last year! And now I've finally met all the people she keeps talking so much about. I've established faces and personalities to relate to :) And to bring back the topic weather, Molde became sunny as I arrived! The sun was shining and did a great job warming my cold limbs.

Moldejazz is all about commercialization. There are sales everywhere and sales offers called Jazz-offers. Norwegian people love eating, and junk food is an all time favourite. So of course snacks like spring rolls, hot dogs, waffles, pancakes and chicken wings were everywhere! One of my favorites though, was the baked potato stand! Baked potato with garlic butter, sour cream and corn. So yummy! Me and Eli went both days and met this nice, cheerful boy named Joakim. The nicest potato salesman I've ever met and he gradually became our hero. By working there, day and night, he financed the driving license and a car.

I guess it's time to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day with new opportunities and more revising...

Home

2008-07-15T20:12:00.006+02:00

I'm back in Trondheim. Feeling rather lazy and can't seem to find the motivation to start revising. My past two days have been spent in front of the TV or eating. Sometimes, even eating while watching the TV.

However, I moved two car loads of stuff to my apartment earlier today and unpacked most of it, even though the clothes were stored quite messy and unorganized. I never realized how much clothes I actually have! I've filled twice the space I had before I moved, and I've only moved half of it!

I'm freezing my butt off and it's been rainy. But tonight, it's clearing up and I can see the nice blue color I haven't seen for so long!

I can drink tapped water and it tastes so good!

I'm no longer considered as tall.

Leaving

2008-07-12T16:38:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow morning, I'll be on my way back to where I belong.

Mixed feelings you all ask. "Will you miss HK?"

I won't miss the place itself, but I will miss the people living at it. I've said goodbye to far too many friends, of whom I won't see for god knows how long. I still haven't shed a tear, but I guess tomorrow, when some of my friends will see me off at the airport, I will finally realize that this is it.

I'm leaving...

Missing 5, Friends <3

2008-07-07T18:33:00.003+02:00

I've had this great hang-out day today. It makes me so happy having my dearest and closest with me these last few days. But it also makes me sad, thinking about the day I need to leave all of them.

There are some people I will miss with all my heart. Not only because we've become close friends, but also because they have great personalities, have the biggest hearts and are kindest and most caring people I've ever met. I share so many wonderful memories with them, and I will never ever forget them. And I hope they won't forget me either.

I've tried to recruit people to come to ISFiT 2009, The International Student Festival in Trondheim, hosted 20th February to 1st of March. Have a look at the web page: http://www.isfit.org. It's a really nice offer, because all you have to pay for is the plane ticket.

Let me recite: As a participant at ISFiT 2009 there will be no expenses for food and accommodation. During your stay in Trondheim, you will be living with a host who will provide you with a bed and breakfast. Lunch and dinner will be served at the workshops free of charge.

I really hope to see you again. This time in different settings and in my hometown! Think about it and if you are seriously considering of coming, remember to apply before 30th of September!

You guys are the best thing that happened to me here in HK. I don't know what I would have done without you! Please help me keep in thouch, because I suck at it...

I miss you already <3

Missing 4, Shopping

2008-07-07T17:44:00.005+02:00

Things here are so cheap! And there's so much to chose about.

I have this long list of stuff I want to buy. The only thing that's stopping me from getting it, is not money, rather the fact that I can only check in 20 kg. Some of it, I want to buy because, compared to Norway, I can get it for half the price. Others, I want to get because I simply can't get it anywhere back home.

My Norwegian Kroners have been, and still are, worth so much compared to the HKD. I have no idea how much I've spent, actually. I'm a big spender, random buys occur frequently and I don't keep a record of my expenditure. Somehow, I survive. I make some money, spend some, and I even manage to save some.

Buying things makes me happy :) And quite often, I get this compulsive thought. I just need to buy something. Whatever! People say that happiness can't be bought. I don't agree. Even though it's short termed happiness, it still keeps you going. Even though it's a kind of shallow happiness, it shouldn't be accounted as less.

My constant thought; 20 kg...

Desperate mainwives

2008-07-01T17:23:00.004+02:00

I can't stop being amazed by the mainlands' washing sessions at night. They all gather to do their laundry in the bathroom. And that happens every single night! They stand there, in a row, with their small tubs, chatting and scrubbing. They seem so happy, like they belong to a club for housewives. I just throw all my laundry in the washing machine :/ I'm like, why go through all the trouble when machines can do the job for you?

After having used the toilet just now, I couldn't even find a vacant water tap to wash my hands under!

Today was the HKSAR establishment day. That means public holiday! And the possibility of having training during daytime. We met at 3pm, when the boiling hot sun shun at it's strongest. But the gang still managed to complete a great programme and take lots of cheerful pictures! Post-training, three hungry, tired and sleepy girls went for SUSHI! After having eaten twice as much as needed, we went for a walk. You know, to get the circulation started. We walked and chatted while waiting for CY to come join us for dessert! So happy! Hanging out like good old days. I will miss you guys... :( And who I will practice my cantonese with when I don't have my dearest swimmers?

Time is catching up... Six months have turned into one and a half week. And before I know it, I'll be back in my cold and dry home country.

OMFG

2008-06-30T17:12:00.005+02:00

Earlier today, I suddenly got totally isolated from the rest of the world. Put in other words, I couldn't go online on pages that needed certificates. I felt all alone in this world wide web! Lost and confused. Can you imagine not being able to check facebook, go on msn or check your email?

The first thought that struck my mind was that HKU had cut my internet. I made that conclusion based on the fact that my U-card expires today. I felt as if I was thrown out on the street. My warm, cozy home didn't want me there anymore.

As I tried to find something to make my time without contact with the outside world pass, I started to tidy up in my Picasa album. Yes, I know, it's been ages since I uploaded any photos. So I started cleaning up by importing new photos and creating a new folder named 08Juni. And whoop they went. But where?? The people using Picasa knows how that program looks like; You have bars according to years and under them, the different folders created that year. And guess where my newly created folder went! It was placed under Y2K! I checked it again. Yes, I marked it with today's date. Year 2000 for gods sake! My mouse cursor quickly slid to the time bar on lower right corner. OMFG, 30. June 2000!

And guess what my next move was; Open a new tab in firefox and click on my frequently used facebook tab. Sigh, how my heart was filled with happiness, relief and comfort as the log in page appeared.

But what the heck happened? Why had my computer fallen eight years behind? Suddenly, my memory flashed me an image of an update for my computer. The ones you need to turn off your computer to initialize. But the only thing that update did, was to bring me back in time and causing disorder.

Don't you ever do something like that ever again!

Medicine, part 2

2008-06-26T17:46:00.011+02:00

As previously posted, I want to start studying medicine, as crazy as that sounds. I shared my idea/future plan/dream with a couple of my friends and it turns out that the idea is not crazily impossible.

They said that if I already had a degree I don't have to do the whole program. Three to four years the most, at least in UK.

As written earlier, I don't want to retrieve it in Norway. I'm looking something more than just a degree. That's why I've thought of taking it in the US or UK where I can become a doctor and obtain kick ass English.

As a matter of fact, I have two dreams. First, do med. school. Second, learn Chinese. And today, after chatting with a friend, I realized that I've forgotten or neglected HKU. HKU is actually the perfect place for me to study medicine. But the city, culture and people that comes with it, is not something I desire. I don't even know if I like Hong Kong.

As my sister so highly appropriate said, HK is a big shopping mall. Living here and adopting, trying to fit in, has given me wrong viewpoints of what a life should consist of. I'm not a HK local and I don't want to be. I wish to live according to Norwegian values.

I experience HK as unhealthy, busy, dirty and somehow shallow. However, everything here is adjusted to make life of the citizens as comfortable and convenient as possible. Actually, HK is incredibly convenient. You can get whatever you want whenever you want and wherever you want. And let's not forget that getting food, whichever meal, is dead easy. I haven't cooked myself a single meal since I came to HK. But in exchange for convenience you have to sacrifice healthy food, especially vegetables.

When locals ask me if I like it here in HK, I can't help but exclaim "neeeh". "Oh, why is that?", of course in a very surprised manner, because locals love their city. I tell them what I wrote above but try making it up by adding that it's okay for a short period of time. Holding out this lifestyle is totally plausible for a couple of years, of which I've set the upper limit to be five years. They always reply by saying that HK offers more activities. Well, in one way it's true. But even Trondheim with it's population of 165 000 has cinemas, bowling halls, restaurants and parks and places to take a dip, everything from swimming pools to lakes and the sea. Sadly, Norway's not quite ready to implement karaoke bars :P

I want to settle down, have kids and grow old in a country like Norway. But until then, I might have to endure a busy, unhealthy life. For a person like me, that's not a problem. I can put up with nearly anything.

Still, there's no place like home.

A+

2008-06-23T17:02:00.004+02:00

Swimming in 33 degrees is not very comfortable. Considering the outdoor location, you'd think it'd be cooling and refreshing. However, holding your hands above the water was more cooling than keeping them under. You feel like you're in a soup, getting boiled slowly.

I got my grades. And I must brag, I got A+ in Cantonese! Yay, so happy! I worked so hard for that one, though. Last semester I got an A-, which was so incredibly disappointing (because of the minus). So I thought, this semester, I'm going to show her. And so I did, obviously!

Happy

Satisfied

Missing 3, Sushi

2008-06-18T15:56:00.004+02:00

There are a few things I've gotten to like after my stay in HK. One of them is green tea. Another is Sushi. As a matter of fact, I've not only gotten to like them, it's become an addiction.

Like green tea, I didn't like sushi at all, before I came. But now all I think about is sushi! Well, my every other thought is green tea and Sushi.

Sushi is just incredible! I can't believe I didn't enjoy it before. All the time I wasted not liking it.*sigh*

The thing with Sushi is that it's not something you make very often at home. "Hey, I want to invite you to my place for home made Sushi!". Moreover, how often do you think I will go to the one and only Sushi bar in Trondheim for overpriced and not too tasty Norwegian salmon?

Norwegian salmon is cheaper in HK than in Norway... What a ripoff!

Bits and pieces

2008-06-15T10:04:00.002+02:00

The puzzle is becoming complete.

We found the third party for the apartment.

I decided what I wanted to do a project on. The title will be Quantification of neovascularization (in tendinosis treatment and the thyroid gland).

1 month till depature

2008-06-12T19:48:00.002+02:00

13th of July will be the day I leave HK, at least for now.

One more month to go...

Green tea craziness

2008-06-12T19:30:00.002+02:00

Hahaha, you will never guess what I saw today! Make-up remover/cleaning wipes with green tea! It contained some other stuff too, but I didn't pay attention to those. I just got caught up in the part where it said that you can clean your face with green tea. How great is that!

Missing 2, Tuition with Stephanie

2008-06-12T05:40:00.006+02:00

I had the tuition class with Stephanie yesterday. I will indeed miss her when I go back. She is so sweet.

Yesterday, she'd been doing so much homework, and I could easily sense that she was sick of it. She had a hard time concentrating on her English revision, which she was doing because there was an English test coming up the next day. Nevertheless, I've never had so much fun teaching a seven-year old as yesterday! Hahaha, we talked about names of friends, comparing and rattled off about friends with same names. And we rolled the tongue, only rolled because she didn't know how to turn it. However, it didn't stop her from trying! Hahaha, so funny. And she made me sing like those old women when they're playing the piano... Oh, dear... She also commented on my accent. I say aren't more American with that strong r. She showed me how her teacher says it, and from that I can tell, that her teacher obviously has a British accent.

You know what kids, and even me, do when they can't concentrate. They do whatever that's on the table. She kept drinking from her can of soda. "*sigh* I'm so tired". And she was hungry too, so there was a lot of drinking.

I really hope I get the teaching assistant job in "The Physics Tracks" back. I enjoy playing with the young minds of our new generation. Same goes for the coaching job. I think the reason why these jobs appeal to me, is because I can see what effect I get from doing certain things. How to get them curious, interested and longing for more. And how to avoid losing their interest. It's like a psychological experiment of which I love to be challenged in. I'm like Frankenstein.

And that last sentence only shows that it's about time to end this post...

Dear elevator patriot

2008-06-11T15:55:00.006+02:00

There was this note posted in the elevator of Marden Wing. It went up and down as St Johnians needed to travel from one floor to another. As it tagged along the journey of boys and girls, it tried to tell them a story about a drama event. I wouldn't know. I don't read Chinese, nor do I have the interest of engaging into these activities anymore.

However, there is one person, who doesn't know how to read Chinese, who's shown interest by embroidering the note with: "English would have been nice". Sadly, the outreached hand gets badly beaten, as if it belonged to a naughty boy during early 18th century at boarding school. I quote the reply: "Learn Chinese!". I was speechless when I saw these two words combined and terminated by an exclamation mark.

And I totally agree with the the injured boy's whimper: "That's not very welcoming/neighborly".

Why is it that every street sign, danger sign, coffee shop menu and drug instruction also has it's English version? It's because HK, as the capitol city for internalization of East Asia, develops and grows proportionally with the globalization and flourishing economy. Unfortunately, the citizens of the city can't keep up in this pace.

What good do one get from isolating oneself from everything that is unfamiliar? You know, the only people left in the world, after subtracting everyone unable to read Chinese, are the mainland Chinese. Did you ever consider that?

I try, I really do. I learn Chinese, reading, writing and speaking. But I still have a long way to go. What separates me from you? I'm as yellow as you guys, even more than some of you. But I guess, to you, as long as my passport shows non-HK I will be as Caucasian as the rest of them.

Lack of hospitality => hostility. And this footnote was pure harassment. If I was the one responsible for collecting the note or even if I had any relation to the committee responsible for it, I would take it down, throw it on to the ground, kick it, step on it, before I burn it.

So dear patriotic St Johnian; You are a disgrace, not only to SJC but also as a citizen of HK. You should feel ashamed, and I hope I never find out who you are. The rest of you should feel embarrassed. Is this how SJC wants to be represented as? Concealed, hostile, unwelcoming and harassing. Do you think the comment was appropriate or even funny?

I've said it before, and I say it again, don't make empty promises. If you don't feel like taking care of the exchange students, so don't say you will! You are tricking us, playing us and walking around the park when you could have just gone straight across it.

You guys said the ocean was perfectly safe to swim in. You said we could swim together. I jumped into it, took a few strokes and asked you to join me in the nice water. But then you removed the ladder and drove away the only boat visible for miles.

The note is now removed. And this morning, I'm happy to say, someone took the responsibility and wrote: "Sorry, the drama's in Cantonese". Better late than never...

Specialization Project = skills in Matlab

2008-06-10T11:58:00.003+02:00

The day for signing the Agreement form for Specialization Project is approaching. And that way too fast!

I'm sufring, reading, considering and trying to decide. But it's so hard! There are many interesting fields but they all have a, not so interesting, qualification that needs to be met. That is computer programming.

So, I wonder, why the heck didn't we learn Matlab in year 1? Why did we learn CSS? CSS is useless, whereas basic skills in Matlab is required in practically all of the projects I've been looking at! Why did all other study programmes learn Matlab, exept for PhysMat? Leaving me with an annoyed, cross and helpless feeling.

Ultra sound, cancer, nanotechnology, what to chose? I hate making important decisions. I hate having to make one decision that affects the rest of my life in such a serious way. I'm getting stressed out and my energy and happy mood is leaking out.

I have a room in SJC. I don't want to go back to it, because then I'd have to tidy up my things. Everything is stored in boxes because before I left for Camodia and Thailand, I had to move out of room 818 and into the hallway, to later, when I came back, move into room 812.

*sigh*

Gjentaksregelen, the repetition rule

2008-06-08T16:30:00.004+02:00

At NTNU we had this rule which recently got suspended, or maybe more like, modified.

Before, it said that you are only allowed to retake one already taken and passed exam each semester. Put differently, you can take all your ordinary exams and one additional exam of which you have passed before and you want to improve the grade of.

Now, however, this rule has been altered a bit. With a slightly changed rule, you can now retake each subject only once, but you may retake as many as you want each semester!

Not exactly optimal, I'm not even sure if I like the new turn of this rule. At first I despised the new rule. But as minutes went by, I realized, it's not fair if one can retake an exam until the A longed for suddenly appears.

It's like I have a love-hate relationship towards the new repetition rule. I hate it, but I hated the old one even more.

Missing 1, green tea part 2

2008-05-29T17:32:00.003+02:00

And today, I tasted green tea disguised with the color yellow-red-ish (Yes, why did I add the red-ish?). I wonder why it's not green. However, despite it's color, it tastes just like the bottled green tea! It's called Ying Fung Gold Lable Green Tea, for curious ones.

Missing 1, green tea

2008-05-28T08:48:00.005+02:00

One thing I will miss when going back to Norway, is green tea. Not necessarily green tea as in the tea itself, but in all the shapes and with all the different edible things enclosing it.

I was never a big fan of green tea stuff before, it was one of those strange Chinese things my mummy used to consume. I just considered it as wired and avoided eating it.

After a year in HK, I practically chase the taste of green tea. Before exams, I had to have my daily amount of it.

Green tea frappuchino
Green tea latte
Green tea chocolate
Green tea sweets
Green tea cake
Green tea cheese cake
Green tea Haagen dazs
Ordinary green tea on bottles
And so much more, yet to be discovered!

Today, I tasted green tea in a new, interesting and different way. Green tea and red bean sundae at Mc Donald's! Whoa, I thought, HK is really the place for green tea to grow, to get nourished. The taste was not great, but might worth to recapture. But I still think the chocolate sauce tops the HK list. I wonder why HK doesn't have the caramel sauce. That one is even better! All time favorite!

I will definitely miss green tea!

Scraping up

2008-05-27T11:50:00.002+02:00

I'm making a scrap book containing stuff from my year here in HK. I've never made one before so I wonder how the result will become.

April

2008-05-22T05:46:00.002+02:00

My April pics are finally uploaded!

Medicine

2008-05-22T05:09:00.004+02:00

I just had the craziest, stupidest, most impossible idea; I want to do med. school...

I know, impossible! Start studying medicine so late (if I was to start, it would be after I finish my master, of course!). And after 5 years of University, you'd think I was sick of school already! But then, if I was to do it, I want to go to either England or USA or China. The latter I believe is too hard though. But I still want to learn mandarin better.

I really like diagnostics and figuring out how different components of the body work and interact. I guess I'm trying to aim for something like that with my masters, but I still don't know what I can work with. I wish I had a clue.

*sigh*

I've always wanted to be a doctor, but the way towards becoming one is so repelling. Studying medicine sounds awful and tiering to death.

Can someone please give me a sign?

Sylvia is back!

2008-05-19T14:55:00.007+02:00

I haven't had the time to blog in a loooong time now.

Let's summarize:

Revision period started... hm... I don't even remember when! *looking it up in my diary*
28th of April was the first day of a, in my case, 1,5 weeks long revision period. I just happened to get my three exams smashed into three consecutive days. And those days happened to be in the very beginning of the exam period. Awful, and it demanded a lot from me mentally. But in return, I get to finish the 10th of May. That's like two weeks before many others.

My revision period started out rather slowly and peacefully, considering mummy was here on a three-days visit. But as she left, I was to find in the library or some other study room every single day, even the days I had exams. I woke up in time to catch breakfast in hall, and then off to campus and the extremely cold library.

Digression: I've always been thinking, how can people in HK wear so much clothes, especially long pants, in the hot days of summer. Now, after having to live their daily life and I've come to realize that during very hot days, most people spend their day indoors. They tend to hide in places where air con is not an unfamiliar term. And some guy further up in the system of decision making, sat the air con temperature standard at 20 degrees, or something like that. People naturally dress according to the weather, and as the weather is 20 degrees, they have to wear long sleeves and long pants. It's an evil circle and inescapable.

Digression 2: I just realized that I haven't uploaded my April pics yet!

So I spent my days in the library. From dusk to dawn, which means from 9.30 till 22.30. It became a routine and I was quite happy with applying it. I'm so proud of myself because I actually managed to work hard and added tons of oil. I don't think I've ever studied that hard before. I guess, when you have a short period to revise in, it's easier to keep focused and motivated. And I had to revise for all three courses at the same time, which I've never tried before. It turned out to be surprisingly easy! Hahaha, I've finally found the study technique which suits me, after 4 years in Uni. Better late than never!

The day after I finished my last exam, I was off to Thailand! :D I met up with Trond, Synnøve, Kine and Magnus, who had already been traveling around in Thailand before I came. We went to Phi Phi Island and stayed there most of the trip.

Phi Phi was badly hit by the Tsunami, so even though the place shone with tourism, most of the buildings still looked half-finished. And by shining, I mean Caucasians everywhere! And of course merchandise tailor made for tourists on every street corner. Or well, in this case the expression "on ever street corner" doesn't cover it. Every other shop was either a massage saloon or a place you could buy fake Billabong beachwear.

As Caucasian tourists, at least most of our group and, me on the inside, we spent a lot of time on the beach and in the nice and warm sea. I love beach life! We also spent a day on a boat. Doing some snorkeling with pretty fish and chorals, paddling and we went to The Beach. Yes, THE Beach, the one where Leonardo DiCaprio smokes weed. An incredible beach with sand as soft as silk. But sadly, the beach was the most crowded place I went to during my week in Thailand. It's not as deserted as it looks in the movie, at least not nowadays. The nice thing was that most of the Island is a national park, so it's protected from the tourism in one way.

Another day, we went mountain climbing. I never tried that before, so that was a new and exiting experience for me. The first round was just scary as hell. I didn't know any technique and I suddenly got stroke by an instant fear of heights. But that passed as quickly as it came. The muscle pain on the other hand, did not. I still got continuous cramps in my left arm. It was super fun though. I managed to get to the top of the two other tracks (is it called tracks?) with some guiding and introduction to climbing technique. Why didn't anyone tell me to keep my hip close to the wall and how to push with my feet before I leaped ignorant into the challenge?! The first round, the only thing I did or knew how to do, was to cling to the wall by purely using my arms and fingers. I could be easily distinguished from the ones who had tried climbing before, haha.

As we went traveling happily, a lot of people in China were less fortunate than us. I was going to say "praying" for the victims and their relatives, but I seldom, well never, pray. Hm, send my best? The whole country is mourning, as from today and three days hereafter. The flags are at half-mast and 2.28 pm today, a moment of silence was given.

I'm staying at grandma's these days. No one is here now, so I figured that there couldn't be a more suitable time then now, to spend some more quality time with my elder generation. Grandma is always feeding me food, fruit or some kind of snacks. I better go swimming tomorrow, even though the weather is freezing and the water probably even more freezing.

Past exams

2008-05-05T05:34:00.005+02:00

At HKU solutions to past exams are not available for students. At NTNU everything is available and accessible on the world wide web.

How am I supposed to know if I do the calculations the right way if there is nothing to check it against?

HKU does not do the follow-up of students as properly as NTNU does. Why is that? Too many people? Not enough resourses? Or simply not considered as necessary? Are the exmans too similar so that if the solutions are given out, students will be able to get top score too easily?

Here, I feel like memorizing details is more important. Amantadine, Rimantadine, Zanamivir, Oseltamivir, Tamiflu. In Norway a wider aspect and general knowledge in several fields is alfa omega.

I vote for Norway.

Random avoidance to studying

2008-04-30T17:16:00.004+02:00

In Norway, when I was younger, people said that I looked older than I actually was. At that time, that was a compliment indeed. I loved hearing it!

Now, here in HK, people keep saying that I look much younger than I am. So a few years after, another time another place, the complete opposite becomes the compliment. They say I have a baby face. What I found out though, is that baby face means that you have lots of fat in your face. Haha, never mind, I look like year 1!

Fall 08 I will hopefully be year 5. Damn, time is running out! Or time flies or whatever. I can't believe that I've been through this shitty time called revision period eight times already! And I'm still here alive and kicking. Or well, more like alive and wiggling, squirming, twitching.

Mummy was here. And now mummy has left. Happy mummy, three happy days. Happiness <3

P-day

2008-04-25T18:23:00.007+02:00

P-day: a day to present prizes and awards in sports for halls, faculties and individuals, presentation day.

This day is all about the sport's spirit. You have the opportunity to show everyone where you belong and for whom you have made an effort. Hall songs, sports song and cheers filled the evening. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, the colors of the halls, grouped underneath their banners.

SJC, as big and as powerful as it is, naturally brought home several souvenirs as a reminder of all the effort put into and achievements from 2007-2008. Sadly, the overall champion for men was rewarded Ricci hall. The sad part is not that they won. They probably deserved it. But to rub it in, they made their own version of SJC songs and cheers. As if that wasn't enough, as their song ended they raised the Malayian cup towards us, showing us what we lost. SJC got 1st runner up which is indeed not bad. But the way some people behave makes it feel like a loss, rather an achievement. Even more sad, it totally overclouded the fact that overall champion for women was awarded SJC.

Competitions make you a stronger person. You learn where your limits go and you know how to slowly push them to a further point. You also learn when to give it up or take a break. But as I have seen here, they also create barriers and tension. Because of the strong hall spirit, competing against each other makes one another enemies rather than competitors.

I saw this at close range at the interhall aquatics and I've seen it at U-team practices, U-team dinners and gatherings. It's really sad. I've gotten to know people from both sides, Wei Lun and SJC, and I like them all. But they don't like each other so I am forced to make a choice. Who do I want to be friends with, because I can't be close with both. Naturally, I chose the ones I live with...

People here want to win so badly that it clouds their minds. It puts friendships on test and usually competitions go off as the winner.

They strive for the best. And your best is not enough. They aim for champion, legend. And whatever you do, all the effort you put into a game, if the game is not won it's not good enough. A satisfactory performance is hardly seen, at least from these guys point of view.

I went to the hall snack for softball a few weeks ago. They lost to Ho Tung hall, the champ fight. At the hall snack the team tells the rest of the hall about their feelings during practice, the game and whatever you want to share. At this hall snack the entire team had a hard time holding back their tears while telling. Damn, life here is so harsh. Everyone is pushed so hard, to the limit actually. And they keep blaming themselves. "I'm so sorry for letting the team down. I know I could have done better".

I can't help it, but I get touched by their words. In Norway the same words wouldn't mean much. But I guess the surroundings and the spirit give them another meaning. It's hard to explain. I would never imagine myself having these kind of feelings towards sports and competitions.

Jeg prøver å bidra, å støtte. Men min støtte er ikke ønsket. Heller ikke satt pris på. Bare ta RTI, jeg kom som nummer seks. Den føste på min floor. De neste dagene ser jeg mange innlegg på whiteboardet vi har på flooren vår. Mange har også skrevet på ark som de har klistret på tavla. Jeg ser de har skrevet masse om at de er stolte, at vår floor samlet var den beste. Jeg ser navn, hun som kom etter meg altså nummer sju, navnet til hun som kom etter henne igjen, nummer åtte. Men navnet mitt er ikke å se. Jeg lurer på hvorfor?

Som jeg har sagt før, så er jeg ikke sikker på om jeg ikke er invitert eller om de bare forventer at jeg skal melde min interesse. Men et lite hint om at det er det første er at all informasjon som blir skrevet om happenings er skrevet på kinesisk. Og alle vet at jeg ikke kan lese det. Som mitt bursdagsønske skrev jeg på tavla at jeg ønsket engelsk info om ting som de trodde kanskje jeg kunne være interessert i. Hittil har det ikke vært stort å skryte over. Haha, ikke så lenge siden kom det note etter note på engelsk faktisk. Men det var før bursdagen min. Disse ble skrevet på tavla inne på do slik at ikke tilfeldige besøkende kunne lese de. Ok, la meg recite: "Herregud, dette er frastøtende. Vi har børster for sånt. Dette er ikke et offentlig toalett!". "Er det noen som ikke forstår dette? Dette er andre gang det har skjedd nå!". "Vær vennlig å ta med deg undertøyet ditt etter du har dusjet. Vær så snill og dobbeltsjekk at du har tatt med deg alle eiendelene dine når du går".

Jeg vet det ikke er noe personlig mot meg. De har bare en generell oppfatning og holding ovenfor alle som ikke er lokale. Sånn er det bare. Og det er ikke bare her. Jeg skylder ikke på noen. Kulturen er bare slik. Men jeg klarer ikke slutte å bli overrasket og irritere meg over det.

I can only say; experienced, take into thought and processed.

I got a really touching note on my door on my birthday. It was saying that she was so happy for me joining dance, RTI, swimming and inter-room soccer. But that it might be hard for me to integrate, to get close. Her theory was that the locals may be too shy to talk English. But if you got to know me better you might be surprised how much Cantonese I know.

And here I am, blogging a crazily long post. Instead of sleeping, instead of watching the two new episodes of Desperate housewives, Lost and Grey's anatomy I'm here online, sharing. I'm kinda scared of publishing this as well. What if someone gets offended? You'll never know, you know. There are so many things here I will never get. They are only observable, not applicable.

Last teaching day...

2008-04-25T09:19:00.003+02:00

Vemodig is the perfect word to describe the way I feel now. To translate; sad or wistful.

The last teaching day, my last class and my last presentation just came to an end. My year as exchange student at HKU is about to finish. Vemodig...

So damn vemodig...

Three more exams to go, and I will no longer have any commitments to The University of Hong Kong, in a studying kind of way. And this happens within two weeks.

The weather is bad. It's totally affecting my mood.

Fresh milk from the cow can make you taller?

2008-04-24T13:46:00.008+02:00

Actually, I'm not considered as tall. At least not in Norway. I'm average, normal.

However, coming to HK, living here for almost a year, made me realize that environment does play a role when kids grow up. It makes me wonder, what did I eat that HK ppl did not include in their diet? What activities did I do that HK ppl maybe did not have the opportunity to preform? What kind of surroundings did I have while growing up that HK does not offer to it's citizens?

Today, when I walked back from class (actually, I just finished my Mandarin presentation), a girl catches up with me. I was walking slowly, trying to collect my thoughts after a long, hard, tiering day. I knew she was approaching me because I could hear her speaking on the phone. But as we lined up, side by side, I noticed her extreme shortness! She was maybe as tall, or one may say as short as Willy. And he is like what, 146 or something? I was at least one head taller than her, if not more. Although I was wearing high heals, which are actually not that high at all, I must have been like 20 cm taller than her. Besides her hight, there was nothing more noticeable with her. From afar one might think that she is not that short.

This is not the first time I've felt tall here in HK. I'm even taller or equally tall as many of the boys here. I feel so tall, too tall. I'm like a giant, a monster, like Godzilla, thumping through the city, eating skyscrapers for breakfast! Rawr!

In my nutrigenomics course last semester, we were actually discussing this issue. Naturally, milk emerged as a factor that determines someones height. As did exercise. I think exercise is a good candidate, as well. Just look at me and meme. I think I'm two cm taller than her or something. Growing up, we were like twins. Wearing the same clothes, playing with the same kind of toys, watching same tv shows, eating the same dinner and drinking the same kind of chocolate milk that daddy used to make us every morning. But as we grew older we obtained different values and interests, me training and she the computer. She was a fully developed computer geek at very small age. Basically, physical environmental differences separating us (not including genes), is maybe the training. Appetite did probably also contribute in some way.

Ai, too much thinking for an already fuel lacking brain. I'm gonna play some NDS now...
CUT

I'm under attack!

2008-04-22T11:17:00.003+02:00

If you have seen my arms, legs, neck and even my face lately, you know what I'm talking about.

If not, I'll give you a hint:

mosquitoes

I had a dream

2008-04-15T14:16:00.005+02:00

about the day I had to leave HK... I didn't wake up feeling happiness or satisfaction, to put it that way. Rather confusion and maybe even surprise.

It made me realize that it is getting closer and closer by each day.

It fills me with sadness. Thinking back, happy memories and close friendships. I know these will not last forever, the distance separating us is simply impossible to overcome. However, incredible achievements and fun activities have filled my days, to build a stronger more experienced me. Some, I will definitely never do again, some, are guaranteed to be resumed.

But still, they will always be treasured deep inside my heart <3

6th out of 54

2008-04-13T09:29:00.006+02:00

I finished 38km! And I finished as number six out of 54 girls, with the time 5.10'' :D I'm so happy but also extremely sore and tired, sleepy, dead...

I somehow managed to injure my left leg. More precisely my patella or it feels more like my tibia. The lateral side hurts like hell and I can't flex or extend it, without feeling pain. I take comfort in that this is probably just temporary. It has already healed a lot from yesterday. Haha, you should have seen me, I had the exact same walk as daddy XD

Now, at least, I can walk "properly", not limping. I'm just extremely slow. And stairs have never been so challenging. Standing there, on top, or at the bottom, seeing my occupation for the prospective minutes, makes my self esteem and motivation sink to the bottom. So funny, I saw another St. Johnian at campus today, she was struggling as well. I guess spotting St. Johnians among a crowd the next few days is quite easy.

Once in a lifetime. Never again. A memory and experience to enrich my life. Actually, I hate running. I truly hate it. But another personal achievement is canned. If only I knew how to push myself as hard as I did while running as I should during studying. Revision period is approaching, slowly but noticeably. Work hard...

I'm so happy!

2008-04-12T06:00:00.007+02:00

Yesterday was me and Joyce's combined birthday party. We gathered people from the U-team, some exchange students and friends of friends. All in all we counted 20 heads. I had the most wonderful time! I'm so happy that so many cheerful souls came to celebrate us. This is definitely a moment which will be treasured deeply and stored safely in my memory.

We had to take a few buses to get to Shek O. Everyone was so hungry and the uncertainty of duration and destination of the bus rides didn't help motivating owners of rumbling tummies. Finally, we arrived our longed for destination and discover a cozy, almost deserted BBQ shop owned by a friendly married couple. "All you can eat" was the description and everyone rejoiced at the sight of fridges filled with meat and drinks!

HK style BBQ is somewhat different than the ones at Marinen or Ilaparken. What we barbarians from the country up north are used to, is tossing a couple of hot dogs or steaks on a grill and wait for them to finish, maybe turn them once or twice because black on one side and pink on the other is not too tasty. While waiting, one might play some ball or pass some Frisbee or simply enjoy more relaxing activities like drinking some beer.

In contrast, HK BBQ is all about chatting. You may say that chatting is still possible Norwegian style, but the food producing ratio is doubled or tripled when you don't have to hold a BBQ stick in order to get something to eat. Yes, the whole concept is to cook (by holding it) your own food. You have to dress your sicks with meat, squid or fish balls (or marshmallows :D) and then sit by the fire holding the stick and wait for it to get cooked. This naturally leads to increases in a couple of variables like eating time and chatting time.

Anyways, thank you all for coming :D

This night is the night for RTI, round the island. I'm participating. This means that I will be running around the HK island starting 2am ending whenever I get to the finish line. I estimate by 7am. The RTI is arranged by SJC and consist of a 38km long track. It's compulsory for all year 1 and 2 students, but if you have a good reason not take part, you can maybe be a worker instead. Meaning standing at one of the 12 posts passing out chocolate, drinks of bananas to the runners. And as crazy as it sounds, I'm running it. I consider this as a once in a lifetime experience, because I truly believe that it will take a lot to convince me to run again.

I'm exited and I've been sleeping all day preparing for the nightlong running. Haha, the sleeping came quite natural, though. I don't know why... :)

Add oil!

Disorder

2008-04-07T12:22:00.003+02:00

The other day, I walked past a poster. Now, there is two things that make this situation different than the daily poster-passing-by's:

1. As I walked, I was eating a chocolate
2. The poster said: "You are what you eat"

So, I started thinking, what am I then?

Fat, unhealthy or maybe I am sweet?

A temptation, dark as the ones with 80% cocoa, a necessity, make you happy or maybe you are better without me.

This week and previous, I've developed an extreme addiction to chocolate. I can't go a day without having it. I can have it with different shapes, with different additions like caramel of nuts, as long as it is some kind of solid chocolate. I may have different amounts during different days, but added together, you wouldn't have had this much even over two months!

It's terrible!

I've gotten a eating disorder!

And it's so hard to get rid of. Once you've started...

It's not like my facebook addiction. That one I'm fine with. This one on the other hand, makes me fat!

Ai, this has to stop. And it starts tomorrow, because today can't be saved...

Omg...!

2008-04-05T21:08:00.003+02:00

I just found out that my coming, three finals are extremely close: 8th, 9th and 10th of May!

Ai, I will be dieing! Just thinking about it now, imagining how stressed I will be, made me feel like a small part of me just died.

Better start revising now... :'(

The encouraging thing is that I finish so early! :D

Æ så en kjendis!

2008-04-04T11:17:00.006+02:00

This morning I got up at 8:15 am. May I add that today is holiday, so-called Ching Ming festival so technically I had nothing to get up to. Impressed? If not, I will guarantee impressiveness after I tell you that the reason why I got up so early was to go jogging! Yeah, you heard me, jogging. And I even went jogging last night!

Well, why get up early for jogging when you have the whole day? Hahaha, the reason for that, is that we wanted to jog down to Cyberport and catch a movie at 10:20. So the plan was: Jog, movie, re-jog.

And where does the celebrity come in? He was also going to the movies, though entering when we were exiting.

Alex Fong on wiki

Alex Fong on youtube

Well, the interesting thing about him is that he went to HKU and happens to be an ex-swimmer.

Next time I go to Cyberport and see him I will take a photo with him :) Word on the street is that he lives in that area. So you just need to find a nice seat by the cinema and be patient!

I think I lost my concentration somewhere!

2008-04-01T13:35:00.008+02:00

I don't remember when and where I saw it last. If you see it, please report to lost and found or personally bring it to my room, 818. Thank you for your cooperation.

And then I got sick of reading Chinese... Obviously. I'm so behind and I will always be. Why it that? Because there is no motivating aspects of that course. Boring, useless, time wasting, stationary, inconsistent and so many other negatively charged words. It's a pity, because I really want to learn.

I went to our Revered Paul Tong's, the retiring Master of SJC's last speech yesterday. He is a good speaker, got charisma and has a way with words. Two words he said, two words that he wanted us to think about and learn the meaning of. And those two were passion and compassion.

Think about that people! I got at least aroused at his request. And I have already come to a conclusion. And it goes a little something like this: I know what those two words involve but I cannot perform it. I know what it means to be passionate about something, I see it around me everyday, ecspecially here in SJC. But I personally, am not passionate about anything. The reason for me being able to understand the meaning is because I do a lot of thinking, considering and evaluation. I know how to feel compassion, I can totally imagine how you feel when you are down and troubled. But I don't know how to make you feel better. The reason for me not being able to execute it, is simply because of my insensibility. Yes, I lack a big portion of feelings from all departments of emotions. I am reasonable rather than sensible. I hardly get emotionally caught up in any matters any more. I don't know why, it's just the way I've been developing. And it probably derives from my genes, which can be fully understood by examining my previous generation. But you know what? I'm completely fine with it. I would rather be like this, than like one who always has ups and downs like some other roller coaster!

Anyways, I wasn't supposed to write anything about me or my feelings, I decided in advance. Feel to careless to write anything that makes sense, right now.

Digression: I just used something I learned from O-fag, you remember the radio show by the Ylvis brothers summer 06. Ctrl Y to undo the undo :P Haha, I actually learned something from the podcast. Speaking of which, I just started downloading another podcast from their tv-show, Norges herligste. So funny and so charming! I dedicate this post to Bård and Vegard!

And past posts have been way too long, so this one will end right here!

HKU vs NTNU

2008-03-31T05:58:00.014+02:00

Some things stay the same, wherever you are, wherever you study. But some things cannot be equal.

Building names are a funny thing to notice. At NTNU we have The Electro building, The Center-, The Science-, The IT-, The Main building and so on. They are all named after it's purpose, serve the faculties and students belonging to them. So naturally some, never go into The Geology- or The Metallurgy building.

In contrast, HKU names buildings after people; Meng Wah Comlex, K.K. Leung, Knowles, Run Run Shaw, The Main building and so on. These are all famous people, or at least they have done something in their lives to get acknowledged for. The only building with the same name at both Universities is The Main building, no surprise there. All campuses need a Main building. And in both cases this building does not serve any main purposes, it's used by a certain faculty or department. Though both are the oldest, prettiest and best preserved ones. They are always the ones who get to be on front pages and represent the University. So jealous!

And then we quickly move to the paradox; Where are all the famous Norwegian people? Do we actually not accomplish anything worth mentioning? If NTNU were to name buildings after famous people, would it have been like: Gro Harlem, Hjallis, Kong Harald, Kristin & Håkon, Cicignon and Thor Heyerdahl?

I'm totally postponing studying by writing this nonsense. Who cares?

Lectures can't possibly ever be the same. In HKU all lecturers love power point slides. Even in courses like maths and physics the red thread that connects it all are the slides. This means you have to do lost and lots of self studying, which fits some and does not fit others that well. The latter directed to the ones who are constantly blogging.

In NTNU the blackboard is frequently used in showing examples of calculations or just noting important points. So in NTNU you actually have the use of the notebooks you buy! In HKU you can get away with not buying neither notebooks nor notepads probably through your whole degree. All you have to do is either take notes on the power point handouts or make sure you print out the power point handouts yourself and take notes on those. HKU vs NTNU, which is best? It all depends on how motivated and self learning you are.

Canteens are always a hot topic. Unfortunately their food is not. At NTNU the food is not worth your money. It's cheaper than most places, in fact, you couldn't get a cheaper meal anywhere! But the food is not too great.

HKU canteen is cheap! The food here can't be regarded as not worth your money, because it's incredible cheap. But the food is not too great in the means of boring, tasteless and not so inviting at first sight.

Digression: This expression in Norwegian is quite funny. "Ved første øyekast", "by the first eye throw". Hahaha, imagine throwing your eye, hahaaa...!

Digression 2: Preview on blog spot does not at all look like the results on the browser!

Ok, I've realized that wasting time by writing stupid posts about things nobody really cares about, is not so smart. Hence, I've decided to go the library for some studying....

It's driving me crazy

2008-03-29T18:17:00.001+01:00

Ok, I can't seem to get the spacing and text size fixed...! Fix later, too mad and frustrated by it right now.

Summary of previous week

2008-03-29T15:53:00.041+01:00

This week has been quite eventful. I've expanded my personal experiences with activities I've never tried before, simply because they're time consuming to arrange and I'm lazy.

Friday a week ago, I went to celebrate Derek's birthday on a terrace like place in TST. A nice place, so clean, so urban, so Hong Kong. Too bad the weather was still a bit chilly and the prices too high. Otherwise the place could have been worth going to more often. Then we went to LKF, my fourth time or something, since I came to HK. Hahaha, other exchange students laugh at me when I say I hardly ever go there. It's just that I haven't experienced it as so much fun. It's crowded, smelly, stuffy, hot and expensive. But I had a lot of fun on Friday! The degree of fun you have when clubbing, depends entirely on the company. Good company = loads of fun!

Monday, I went paint balling! Part two of Derek's birthday celebration. The first time I've ever tried it. And gosh, I haven't been producing so much adrenaline since... I don't even remember last time my heart pumped so fast and hard. I never thought I would enjoy war games, but I did! Totally re-doable. After that, we went to eat burgers. I don't think I've had a decent burger since I came to HK. I ate one in Mc Donald's twice. But Mc's doesn't really count, because their burgers are not decent at all! Anyways, the burger was so tasty and filled me up. Then we ordered a drink, chocolate chip cream thing. Single or double, they asked. Hm, double will last longer we concluded. And damn, it was the size of a fish bowl! It lasted long, I'll tell you. No doubt about that!

Wednesday I had cozy lunch with some of the swimmers. After lunch I didn't feel like studying so I went hiking with one of the swimmers who also didn't feel like being responsible. We hiked from HKU up to The Peak. It is actually not too far, think we spent 1,5 hours each way. The air felt so fresh, the view was so nice and you get to move your body more than while sitting with a book in front of you. Even though it doesn't make you any smarter, you feel so good afterwards. Now I know the way and can go by myself. Heh, I reckon that wont be too often, but now I at least have the opportunity.

Thursday was the last official U-team practice. So sad. No more training until summer. How can I keep fit? We played in the pool afterwards, like kids. Fribading! Hehe, never thought floating plates could be so much fun. Sitting, stading, flipping, flipping with people clinging on to it. Ai, I wanna swim, I wanna train more. Flora Ho opens it's pool these days so I could go by myself. But 1) it's still too cold to go swimming outdoors. And 2) swimming alone is not very motivating.

Friday was the first day of the Hong Kong Rugby Seven's. It's THE biggest sports event in Hong Kong, of which people from all over the world fly in to watch. HKU students could get in for free on Friday, and Friday only. The ordinary tickets cost slightly over 1000HKD. Seize the day, go to rugby game! It was fun, different but fun. I hardly go to sports events other than the ones I take part in, I don't know why... Norway is too expensive, even on this section, duh! Anyways, the point with The Seven's is that everything is of the number seven. There are seven players, there are two halves, each lasting seven minutes, the points are optimally dividable by seven and probably more that I can't remember right now.

Today I attended a HKUMBA event, HKUMBA = HKU MacGyver beer association. This association is supposed to spread out MacGyverism and unite locals, exchange and mainlands through watching the wonders MacGyver does on DVD's while drinking beer, if you want to. I drank a very tasty Green tea latte! We watched two extraordinary episodes of the series and memories came rushing back to me. Ah, those good old days when me, sis and dad sat in front of the television watching MacGyver, getting himself out of the most amazing mess, in awe. Incredible! And the funny thing is that many people in my generation, especially from Scandinavia, have the exact memories. After the event we went for pizza. The pizza joint we went to does not have any seats so we built a Japanese inspired dining area out of their storage boxed, which were piled up on the pavement. So random, and a operation most likely to be carried out by exchange students. People walking by, looked at us in discomfort. Ok, maybe not discomfort, but they had obviously never seen anything like it!

A long post needs some summing up: loads of fun in sports, party and relaxation, all in one week! Tired, but happy!

And today is Derek's real birthday! Happy birthday!

Catch some Z's

2008-03-26T14:55:00.005+01:00

These days I've been extremely sleepy. I've generally gotten more than enough sleep but my eyes struggle to keep open. Anywhere, at any time. But naturally, harder struggling occur during lectures. Why am I so sleepy? Have I been over loaded with work and activities last few weeks?

This morning, I even skipped my morning class. My one and only lecture for today. This is the first time this semester, though I truly, madly, deeply hate the course. Hopefully, this was the only time I will miss it, intentionally. I seriously couldn't get up when the alarm went off at 7:30. I had been sleeping since midnight so there was no reasonable explanation for my tiredness. But I tried though, by setting the alarm to later, planning to skip breakfast and rather go straight to school. But nooo! Still as weary as before. But at least I put some effort into it, sacrificing a meal and all...

So I got up at 11 am. Crazy... 11 hours of sleep and still half asleep as I turned on my computer (the first thing I do when I wake up. I know, sad).

Current time: 10:20 pm.
Current intention: get ready for bed!

Mocking bird

2008-03-25T15:56:00.007+01:00

I know that the guy who gave the Mockingbird it's name, didn't attend it to be associated with that particular bird. Do you know why?

This morning a bird was sitting it the tree outside my window. If it was not in the tree it was most likely to be found an inch from the biggest crack in my window it could find, trying to squeeze in every single decibel it could make. It was not a Mockingbird aka Mimus polyglottos, but it was for sure mocking me! It was making this horribly piercing sound, was almost at the edge of having the rights to be called bird sound. Awful, annoying and totally unnecessary six in the morning!

It was so mocking me!

I wanna play

2008-03-23T18:21:00.002+01:00

Like the way we played in fall. Had so much fun! I wish more people would come to swimming. I wish there were competitions. I wish we all could be as close as before.

In less than four months I will be leaving HK. Packed with good memories. And I hope the coming months will contribute as much as the past six. Because after that, I will only have pictures of smiling people to look back at.

The spring is here, at least is was until two days ago. This means that I'm ready for some beaching! Ring meg når du skal på stranda!

The way I am

2008-03-23T06:21:00.008+01:00

I wont not go to grandma just because I know there is a dinner planned. Sunday equals to visiting grandparents and just knowing about another dinner is not enough to break that routine. I don't even know if I'm invited or not. When everything is written in Chinese, how do you expect me to know anything? Already knowing about it is impressive enough. How do I know about it in the first place? Well, facebook, my best friend told me about an event, which most of my friends were going to attend. No one has approached me with an invitation, neither in person nor through the hottest means of communication, facebook. So for time being I consider myself as not invited. I don't want to be the pushing, annoying exchange student. What if I'm actually not invited, imagine how embarrassing it will be when I ask someone about when to meet.

Ok, så tingen er at etasjen jeg bor i skal ha en middag. De har invitert gamle medlemmer og greier. Og skrive på norsk er sannelig ikke lett etter så lang tid uten å være nødt til det. Men nå skjønner dere hva denne posten handler om.

If I really wanted to find out where and when the dinner is, I could have looked it up somewhere. But not feeling wanted is not a motivation for trying.

I see myself as a kinda special case, because I can understand Cantonese. So I can pick up info about events. Most of the other exchange in SJC don't know anything. When I tell them about recent activities, they're like: "What? Oh, I didn't know".

I have other local friends. They tell me about things and ask me about things. So called cultural exchange and I can ask them about anything. I'm so grateful for the friendships I've established with my swimmers.

I'm an observer. I'm on the outside watching and doing analysis. I'm not like them and the reason why I'm not, is simply because I don't want to be like them. Someone asked me: "Why are you always so quiet?". I am the quiet type. I'm not the high-frequency-screaming, super feminine, boy chasing, trying-to-be-innocent-looking girl. I'm Norwegian.

Yuk, I just squished a bug with my hand on my pants..!

I don't belong. I just live here. And it's my own fault. By being who I am I will never be the center of attention, the one everyone looks up to or wants to be. But I'm perfectly fine with it.

And this post is totally inconsistent and badly written because I'm listening to music and snacking, taking my concentration to somewhere else than my computer screen.

It's raining

2008-03-22T11:05:00.002+01:00

I feel lazy and imprisoned by the weather

The Joint-hall dance performance 08

2008-03-20T11:05:00.009+01:00

And then the day we've all been practicing so hard for, for almost three months, finally came. Today was The Joint-hall dance performance and loads of people gathered at Haking to see what 13 halls of HKU managed to create this year. Some were quite entertaining, some were average and one totally ruined a very nice song from Timberland.

Last three weeks, I've been walking around with muscle pain in every inch of my legs. I'm not used to moving my legs this way and not to this extent. Stretching and resting was no use, simply over-trained. You know, we had practices from three times a week to everyday the last few weeks. And those practices lasted up to four hours. Can you imagine how tightly I've been sleeping recently? Not that sleeping tightly was of any use, because trainings lasted till late at night. Like Monday, it ended around 1am. Even though a dance performance was coming up, it didn't mean that lectures were postponed. So I still had to get up as usual. This week I had to take naps during the day to overcome yet another day with school and practice.

But I'm happy, though. This was a terrific experience and a good way to get closer to locals and getting new friends. And in the end all the hard work finally paid off in a wonderful show! I'm also a bit sad, because this means there is no more dance practice, no show to prepare for and we all have to go back to normal, daily routines...

Hey, let's make another show! Yeah yeah, come on! No...? Why not? Oh, come on..!

But first, Easter holiday is here! Sadly, here in HK, it only means two days off in addition to the weekend. Can't really be considered as a holiday. I've figured out that Norway is all about holidays. Never mind, I'll have them next year.

Off to swimming then, which I skipped for dancing on Tuesday!

Are you ready to integrate non-locals?

2008-03-19T04:33:00.015+01:00

I went to the hall campaign on Sunday. And yes, I've been postponing this post since. Simply because I haven't had time nor energy to write it.

So this campaign is promoting the issues, activities, improvements from last session and introducing new elements for the session 08-09. Naturally, I only went to the session for non-local students, the international part, where they speak English. I didn't go to the Cantonese conducted ones because, I don't consider my level of Cantonese as high enough to participate in such serious matters.

At the session I attend, there was of course talk about integration of non-local students. An important issue, which seems to be a problem here. Basically, in what ways can integration be improved. I hear all this talk about fundamental, concrete ways to interact and make non-locals feel more welcomed and wanted. All these suggestions which are easily carried out are nice thoughts, definitely. But my question is, are you ready to integrate non-locals? Are you ready for both westerners and mainland Chinese participating in your daily life? Do you want to integrate them?

I hope all of those who made personal goals for how to interact more with non-locals, mean it. It's a nice thought, surely. But stick to it! Don't publish personal objectives which you cannot sustain. It's like I used to say before every semester; this semester I will be a good student. Be ahead in readings, revise frequently, go to the library and so on. But seriously, it's not really something I can go through with. So recent semesters, I've just gone back to basics; do my best. Because I know I can't do any better than my best. I can't aim for A's in courses I know I can never get A in! So basics is the real thing. If you say you want to try to make daily conversations with non-locals on your floor, then please do so.

I just want things to be carried through. If you aren't ready, then nobody blames you. The same is for Norway. Norwegians are definitely not ready for exchange students. And I feel very sorry for being one of the students who didn't talk to them. But I think the situation is slightly different in Norway. Firstly, because Norwegians are very reserved people. They don't like new things. They are open to it, but preferably, they want things to stay the same. Secondly, the Uni life in Norway is not very social. At least not on campus. The social part occur after school hours with the friends you've made in class. There is no hall life like here. And people in Norway have so much spare time compared to local students here. So for exchange students who are not taken into a society, what are they to do with all this spare time?

I appreciate the people who are very active in this area and are truly engaged. It's a small step closer to an international community. But for it to happen I think the attitude of the majority needs to be changed. And it can only be done slowly and carefully, not forceful.

Many say that the main problem for interaction is the language. Most activities, notes and information is conducted in Cantonese, naturally, because it's the first language. But everyone should see this as an opportunity to practice and learn English in a non-academic situation. Makes it more fun and it's a lot easier to practice when it's informal and not in a tutorial. We all go to HKU where the teaching language supposedly is English. You cannot improve your English if you don't want to use it. But I wonder, is the language barrier really the issue? Are you really afraid to use English? Or is it just an excuse? Many of you have excellent English, better than mine in so many ways. I urge you to use it in daily conversations with westerners!

But actually, for me, I'd rather have you speaking to me in Cantonese. I'm learning, and the only way for me to improve it is to use it :D

Haha, actually, I should have written this post earlier. Because then I could've said that the only message ever written in English on our floor white board was about taking things from the service room and that it is not allowed and things there belong to the whole floor. But last days another one came up. A nicer one, about running SJC marathon!

Lastly, some questions for reflection. Feel free to give me answers to them, because it interests me:
Why do locals and mainlands dislike each other?
Why do you think westerners cluster together?
Do you actually think that mainlands' hygiene is a problem, or are you pointing out every single flaw so that you don't have to make friends? The same for English as a language barrier.

Last but not least: Are you ready to integrate non-locals?

Life goes on

2008-03-15T14:35:00.009+01:00

I always thought family is the most valuable thing you have in your life. I thought that in the end, it all comes down your own flesh and blood.

I could never have been more wrong. The last few years, that thought, that belief has been my light, my comfort and my safety net. Now I've lost it by realizing the crucial truth of life. But I don't feel like my world is falling apart. I've still got stars shining brightly and watching over me.

I've never experienced so much time-flying as I've been here, and before I even notice it, I'm turning 22. Though the number is nice in a way, like harmonic, each year added to my total number of years as a mammal make me so depressed. I'm old...

Growing old is equal to becoming wise and facing reality. But growing old is not necessarily measured by the years you have walked on earth, rather the experiences you've had and not least the thinking you do after irregular incidents. For me, the adventure of going to and living in HK has not widened my perspective in the sense of the physical exchange. But the observing, comparing and wondering I have made here, has made my curve of wisdom go exponentially rather than linearly.

I realize, I process and I get over it by dealing with it. How I deal with it depends on the importance of the matter. But I believe I make the right choice. Up till now I don't regret any recent choices made. Life could have been better, but it could have been so much worse. I process and deal with it.

Life goes on.

Ga yau!

2008-03-13T16:22:00.004+01:00

Add oil (keep going, stå på) for my last test and the last day of my week from hell!

Do I need to say more?

2008-03-08T15:35:00.000+01:00

I'm so screwed!

2008-03-07T06:43:00.004+01:00

I just checked my HKU mail and there, a mail, saying I have a mid-term in molecular medicine next week. Well, what's so bad with that, you ask yourself. I'll tell you what screws me over. Earlier this week I realized that I have a mid-term next week in another course as well. And if two mid-terms is not enough, I'VE GOT 4 FREAKING MID-TERMS in ONE FREAKING WEEK!

"Luckily", I already finished one before the reading week. Damn, what if that one was scheduled next week as well...

Fuck! I'm so screwed! Aaaaargh, freking out here! I'm shaking, damn it! Wanna sink, wanna sink low and be buried under the Earth's crust. And if you would be so kind, could you please dig me out Saturday, March 15th.

I guess that is what reading weeks are for. But, shit! I'm just speechless... And out of time. And in no mood for studying knowing what amount needed lays ahead. My future looks black, as black as it looks when I close my eyes and crawl up in fetal position , crying, feeling so super sorry for myself.

Hair hair hair

2008-03-05T15:07:00.008+01:00

I cut my hair! It's super short :O I think i lost half my length, if not more.

All girls know what I'm talking about when I say the reflex of pulling your hair out after putting on a sweater or something that needs so go over your head. Well, I keep doing that but never accomplish any hair pulling. And just now, I was thinking about it while I put a sweater on. And guess what I did out of pure habits! Tried to reach for my non-existing hair!

I don't wanna post a picture showing it. I know I'm beautiful and I know you all love me, but gosh, posting a note about it may be a little too much. You will have to wait for me to update my web album :P

Chinglish

2008-02-25T15:09:00.007+01:00

I just finished my assignment due tomorrow and reward myself by writing a post :D Yay! I totally lost motivation for assignment solving after last assignment! It was extremely long and demanded so much thinking. My brain is not as fresh as before, so thinking physics is something I'm not used to.

Anyways, I had a lecture in molecular medicine this morning. Due to sleepiness I needed to focus on something else than the topic of this lecture. So I started analyzing the lecturers accent. I believe he was from Hong Kong, and if he is not, my whole statement can be thrown into the trash. Actually, this can't be thrown away, because it's such a genius discovery and disclosure!

If you ask Hong Kong's citizens how many tones there are in Cantonese, most of them would answer nine. In my Cantonese class I have gotten these explained and burnt into my cortex. However, my louh si says that only six of these so called tones are tones. The remaining three are not tones, rather sounds or pronunciations. For my readers who do not know Cantonese: maybe you should stop reading, don't waste your time.

The three tones which, after analyzes, are not tones after all can be exemplified with three numerals. The numeral for six: luhk, eight: baat and ten: sahp. These are pronounced with a breathless ending. It's like you don't let the k, t and p out. Many see this kind of pronunciation as tones, but now maybe you see that they are rather a way of pronouncing the words.

So what I have discovered is that this pronunciation is implemented in may Hong Kong people's English! Haha, I just realized that this post would be SO much better if I had recored my findings and put them out for specially interested to listen to. Well, for those who understand what I'm talking about, next time you have a lecturer speaking Chinglish, notice words like: like, important, think, interest, subject, topic, detailed, self-explained, ask, right, genetic, Bishop and acquired. It's easier for someone like me, who is learning it and seeing the dialect from the outside, to actually notice these things. Cantonese speaking have probably not even thought about these endings as something special. I do, and this is how I learn it, by listening and analyzing.

By the way, they also have problems pronouncing the th-sound. Like in think, three and growth. This is pronounced as f.

Over these past few months I've really gotten to like analyzing, listening and discovering things in Cantonese, Mandarin as well as Shanghainese. It's very interesting and I'm understanding much more and now know how to make my learning easier and faster.

Lastly, I want to say that I don't want anyone to feel offended by my posts. I'm don't mean any harm with them, all I want is to share my experiences instead of rejoicing by myself in room 818.

So there I was

2008-02-22T03:32:00.002+01:00

in my bed, trying to fall asleep again. Obviously a very hard task to complete, leading to thinking.

I started my tuition with my, now 7-year old, Stephanie this Wednesday. To begin with, we decided to end the tuitions because our schedules didn't correspond. So they found another girl to teach her English. However, Stephanie didn't like her and told her mum that she missed me. The leading events were calling me in an attempt to find a small gap or creating a small gap in our schedules so that we could continue or pleasant tuitions. These events finally brought me there on Wednesday.

And I noticed that she had actually missed me. This time she seemed more relaxed and comfortable around me and tried to get closer to me. She was doing things like putting her arm around my shoulders and placing her hand on my when we were reading. Maybe this "break-up" brought us even closer together, hahaha!

Anyways, during the same call Mrs. Hui's assistant, who arranges everything, asked me if I was interested in another tuition for Mrs. Hui's friend. She told me that Mrs. Hui wanted to recommend me to this friend. This tuition is however situated very very far away from Pokfulam. But I said, Ok, I could at least give it a shot. And me taking this job depends of course on the pay.

So yesterday I got this call from a withheld number. Usually when this appears on my screen it is meme calling from her room. I answered by making a silly, low-frequencies voice: "hallllååååooooooo". On the other side of the line: "Ehm, yehs. May I speak to Sylvia?". A puzzled Sylvia answers: "Oh, eh, yes. This is she". An equally puzzled woman introduces herself as Mrs. Hui's friend Wendy. Heheee, can you picture how embarrassed I felt? Damn it! Why do people have an application making their calls withheld? I tried to quickly put that voice somewhere it can never escape from and pretended it had never seen daylight, continuing the conversation.

So this job is for a 3-years old baby boy. As mentioned, their home is far far away, more precisely in Tai Koo. They pay has not been discussed yet, but the time for a trial tuition has been set, this Saturday morning. Since this is a small child I don't expect them to give a high hourly wage, but I anticipate so called trouble money for the not so convenient and long transportation time. I still haven't timed the trip to Tai Koo, but I reckon it takes over an hour to get there. I don't even know if they live near the MTR station or if I in addition to a long bus+MTR ride have to walk some distance. I guess I'll just have to wait till Saturday and see. I just hope it's worth the trouble.

SLAM!

2008-02-22T03:13:00.008+01:00

Every Thursday and Friday I start school relatively late.

This morning and the previous I woke up from my sweet dreams by someone walking. Can you believe that?! Someone in my floor walks so loudly that it wakes people up! It's not different people's walks, in plural, but there is one distinctive walk's steps.

Normal walk is like smick smack smick smack. This walk, however, is like slam slam slam slam. You can almost apply the bang in this case, actually. BANG BANG BANG BANG! The fact that everyone here is wearing flip flops doesn't exactly help, in the sense of dampen the walk sounds. This person, in addition to walking loudly, also walks so damn slowly. Put in sounds; Normal walk: smick smack smick smack. This person: SLAM!.... SLAM!.... SLAM!.... SLAM!

If it had been a SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM, maybe I'd get out of it without waking up. But for each SLAM I become more and more awake, till it reaches that point where I wake up.

And do you know how hard it is to fall asleep again at 9am when the rest of the week is set in 7-8am mode?

Perfection

2008-02-21T17:53:00.013+01:00

How come, wherever I turn I keep seeing these seemingly perfect girls?

Usually generalizing is related to bad things, but in this case, please allow me to. These girls are successful in so many ways. Let me sum it up in a list:

1. School. Most of the girls I really respect here are very smart, studying law, business, dentistry, medicine or studying to any other socially high ranked jobs. Not only are they in the program, but they are studying it well! And how did they get into this program? Well, they did good in secondary school and got recommendation letters form their head masters! They write impressive English and probably Chinese, but I wouldn't know.

2. Looks. They are all so skinny. Ok, in skinny I mean like not even this nice little word, fit. Fit is always a positively charged word. You can tell people that they are fit with the true meaning: your body shape is not perfect, but you aren't fat either! So these girls do not have superfluous fat anywhere. They look like Cameron Diaz. No tummy, no bye-bye fat and no double chins! However, some are terribly skinny. Almost on the edge to being sickly thin. You can say that you are happy with the way you look, that you are satisfied. But in the end, if you had the choice, would you keep your tummy rather than having the tummyless body?

3. Socially. It seems like they have all the time in the world. They participate in volunteer work for school, attend trainings in three different sports and do cultural stuff like singing and subcommittees. This naturally affects their amount of sleep, making them stay up late and get up early for class. However, they seem to survive it! Although I keep seeing people falling asleep during lectures... Friends surround them and few are single. Not that being single is a bad thing in Hong Kong. I have observed that relationships here don't mean anything. There's nothing deep into it and in the end two parts always go separate ways.

I'm not saying that looks is everything. Some of these girls are not the pretties in the world, they just generally got the body. My first impression of these girls' personality isn't the greatest, though. Many are really uhm... girly and almost blond. They are kinda like Kinder eggs turned inside out. Blond on the outside but brunette on the inside, seem blond but are actually quite clever. But I guess this is how boys here like their girls. And for all I know, it might me all an act to attract them.

Looks can often get you further than personality though. Looks is something that takes more to change. Personality can easily be covered or given a little touch of whatever you want. If you are a good actress you can be whatever of whoever you want! Ok, let's picture this scene. You're at a coffee shop. All the tables are occupied except for two tables, each having one vacant seat. Ai, you really wanted to enjoy your Caramel latte and blueberry cheesecake while looking at random people passing by envying your "meal". The first table, call it tableA is taken up by this beautiful, almost angel like creature. TableB also comes with a woman, but she is not nice looking. They both have an espresso and wow, the same piece of cake, just to bring something to chat about into the picture. The pretty girl is reading the funny pages in the news paper and the ugly one is looking out the window. Here comes the question: How would you approach?

I'm not trying to be mean or anything. This is just how the world looks with my eyes. This is how I picture reality. And by saying this I don't want anyone trying to be noble and posting a heroic comment to this post!

I totally lost track!

Oh, my point was. Who needs great personality when they can be pretty? Personality is something you make yourself. It's changeable, all up to you! Looks on the other hand, is something you are born with and haunts you the rest of your life! Even pretty ones may not feel too good about their born appearance. Everyone has issues, I realize that. But still, I cannot feel other that a slight jealousness towards people who seemingly are rather perfect.

I could go on and on about this forever, and you could come with arguments which I would have seen. But this is already a freaking long post! And half my points are not pointed out and my view of this topic did probably get out all wrong. Never mind la...

Damn it!

2008-02-20T16:52:00.002+01:00

I lost one of my knitting needles on my way to tuition today! So sad and unhappy :(

You know, I was knitting on the bus. And as we approached the bus stop, I was knitting like crazy, wanting to knit as long as possible and putting my project into my purse as late as possible. I guess I put it away too quickly and didn't notice that I lost one of my knitting needles. I was listening to music so nor could I have heard it hitting the floor. You know how knitting needles made of metal make this loud sound as it impacts hard surfaces. Anyways, by the time I got to the bus stop for my exchange of buses and reached for my project again, I noticed that one was GONE! Rummaging, tossing bundles of yearn around in my purse, realizing that sadly, there was nothing I could do.

Damn it! What am I supposed to do with only three needles?? Knit a super slim scarf? Or a stupid headband? Luckily, I brought my crochet needle so I used that one as a substitute knitting needle. It's slightly thinner and therefore not ideal for my knitting. However, it was a perfect fairy godmother enchanting my bus ride.

How to solve this problem? Buy another 4-pack of needles? Keep knitting with a substitute? Start knitting a scarf?

Brighter, sunnier and warmer days?

2008-02-16T17:27:00.004+01:00

It has actually come to the day where I don't need to turn on my heater to survive. That day was yesterday and the temperature was maintained today as well. Does this mean HK is getting warmer? :D Please please please, say YES!

One week from today mum, dad and Willy are leaving HK, after a three-weeks long stay. I will certainly miss them, no doubt about that. But I will also feel less tired. More lonely, but yet rested and more refreshed.

I really want them to bring my winter clothes back to Norway. Because, let's face it, I will have a HARD time getting all my stuff back. But before that happens I need to make sure that I won't need down, fleeze, fluffy clothes and cashmere. So naturally, Mother nature needs to treat me some sunny days.

20 kg, are you kidding me??

I'm kidding myself...

The hidden agenda of Valentine's day

2008-02-14T16:15:00.023+01:00

Happy Valentine's day to all, even those who are single.

I wonder how daily life was before the concept of Valentine's day came up. Did people forget about their love for their closest? Did they never buy chocolate of flowers to their beloved? Did they never go out for dinner with the love of their lives?

Valentine's day is nice thought, like the part where you pay attention to the ones you love. Well, it has become more like a day for couples. But when I dig deep into my memories I remember that when I was in secondary school me and my best friend used to give each other a small gift as a token of gratitude for you being there for me. Haha, if it hadn't been for those heart hairclips I still use now and then, I would probably have forgotten all about it. But my feeling towards this day still lays deep within. I still feel like this isn't a day for just two people in love. I've always considered 14th of February as a day for appreciation, almost like thanks giving, and more importantly, showing it. Of course, the one closest to your heart is usually the one you devote your life to, the one you would cross seven seas to be with and the one you want to spent the rest of your life with. I'm not saying that Valentine's day shouldn't belong to people holding hands in the dark, kissing in the corner and strolling alongside the quay. But I want to emphasize that you mustn't forget about all the other people who has been there for you.

Valentine's day has become yet another materialistic day for the consuming world we live in. And for what? For one day a year you can show affection to the one you live
with the 364 other days a year. And again, I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, it's just the way it is done. How come human beings are so busy and ignorant, believing that one day of loving is enough to keep the happiness raised for the rest of the year? I'm trying to explain that people should be able to show attention to each other not only 14th of February. There are 365 days where you can do exactly the same. The only difference is that everywhere around you, stores are not covered by the color of blood-red, teddy bears holding hearts saying "I love you", and chocolate placed in heart-shaped boxes. Another big difference is that if you actually buy something nice for someone on any other day than 14/2 you can feel good about it. You didn't buy it because it is expected of you. This is the worst thing about this day, it is expected of you to buy something nice for your partner. It's like a virus which has been integrated into our cultural and normative DNA. If you don't get her anything, she will be disappointed! Just picture her mood by the end of a Valentine's day where no gifts were exchanged. Damn, I see it clearly. Like; quiet, distant, Q:"what's wrong?" A:"no, it's nothing", snapsnapSNAP.

Is the human kind really that STUPID, needing a day called "the day of all hearts" to remind themselves that, hey, maybe I should show the one who makes my day every day that I appreciate his or hers company!

Truely, chocolate as a gift too many days a year will not make your wife qualified for the next miss World, but at least she will shine brightly of happiness.

Long time no post!

2008-02-13T08:49:00.003+01:00

It's been exactly one week since my last update. Concerning recent frequently update, this is quite unusual. First, I want to apologize to all my daily readers, it's nothing personal. I've just been busy. Well, actually, I've been away.

The 7th I flew off to Hainan, giving it a second chance (Eli, Aud, Magnus :P). We went with a travel agency, meaning: bus, sightseeing, bus, sightseeing, bus, hotel. Everything was planned, every minute, which is in fact very tiering. There was always something happening and often I made two things happen at the same time, sleeping while being transported in a bus. I don't know if I slept because traveling with bus obviously make me sleepy (see earlier post) or the fact that we got up 7 am every day.

We visited Sanya, Haikou and Xinlong, all in four days. Though the island is not very large, you can imagine that our bus was time and again employed. I liked the bus driver more and more as time went by. This one time, when we got back from seeing some sights, we met a disco-bus. Well, slightly exaggerated, but the driver played Chinese pop loudly and sitting, jamming with his feet supported by the steering wheel . But I'm afraid the affection didn't go both ways. As we said goodbye he seemed dissatisfied and dull. He didn't even help us carry out the luggage from underneath the bus! I think he is just misunderstood. And I believe he considered his pay as too low. Totally understandable. Hard work, being a driver for a gang like us. And let's not forget the guide who was fairly talkative, put in a nice way. She was talking constantly, and when I say constantly I mean CONSTANTLY. There weren't even breaks in her "speeches", not a pause. In the beginning I tried to pay attention in an attempt to be polite. But I soon realized that she will never ever shut up and turned on my iPod. I am happy I learned this early, otherwise I would've come home with brain mass running down the side of my head. I dunno if this is an expression in English but translated from Norwegian: "talking a hole in someone's head". I was trying to refer to this in a funny way above. Ok, I ruined the funniness by saying that.

I writing so much crap now. Sorry guys! You were probably waiting for a nice little update, and here comes the worst post ever, highly lacking seriousness. It might be because I ate a pack of candy not too long ago, or as meme puts it, sticks of sugar, pure sugar. AND a smash bar, just to maintain my blood sugar level.

I guess the amount of sugar made my brain a little confused. Hehe, almost an hour ago I was ready to leave for family photo taking. Agreed to meet meme 4:45 pm at Starr hall. Had my jacket, scarf on and my bag on my shoulder. The only thing missing from a completely finished, ready-to-go Sylvia, were my shoes. Then, I glimpsed at the clock. Uuuuhm, not passed 4 pm yet, 3:40 pm... Haha, seriously, I thought by myself. So stupid! Anyways, instead of keep writing my application for an internship at PolyU HK i started bloggablogga. And now, almost an hour later, I'm ready to leave! No need to freshen up of fix anything. Haha, good good, perfect!

New Year's Eve

2008-02-06T03:43:00.000+01:00

Morning sucked... Nearly slept through my alarm screaming loudly at me. I was sleeping so tightly. Can you please shut up!? Yesterday night I thought I had the day off today, but then I found out that it was only day off the afternoon. You can't imagine how disappointed I was when finding out!

Anyways, eventually I woke up. Snoozed it twice before I actually got up, though. By the time I realized that I probably snoozed it more than twice, I also realized that I had to hurry to catch breakfast before class. DUH! I can't imagine that I snoozed it several times without noticing. But I checked which time I had set the alarm on, and according to that time I must have killed the nagging sound in my sleep. Twice!

Then something broke my heart... Please, don't do this to me. I'm getting better. Don't bring me back down again. Held it inside, like a nuclear bomb, eating breakfast and walking to school.

Not paying half the attention as usual in the one hour lecture I had today. The lecturer was pretty good, but sadly he talked a lot outside the slides. Too bad I didn't direct my attention towards taking notes.

And finally, I made an appointment with the U dentist. Hopefully, I can get a filling in what I believe is a hole in my grinder. Handed in the assignment I forgot to hand in yesterday before I went to the library to print out today's lecture notes. I hate it when I don't have the ppt for a lecture. It makes me inattentive and my mind becomes totally absent. At least now I have the notes for next lecture.

The library was warm... :) So I decided to play facebook, my beloved. I played until I realized how pathetic I was. Sitting in the library onlineing, almost empty premises, the first hours of my lunar new years holiday.

I walked slowly back to hall. Listening to music and getting more and more relaxed. Now, feeling colder but more calm and peaceful. As soon as I can tear myself away from the computer I will get ready for some quality time with my family.

Tomorrow all of us, being grandpa, grandma, auntie, dad, mum, meme, Willy and I will leave for warmth and hopefully more sunny days on Hainan island. We'll visit three different places in four days. I'm looking forward to vacation and relaxing. Though the last two weeks have brought much happiness and life to a lifeless soul. Playing, eating, training, hanging out and school. Thanks to those who have taken care of me! Give me a chance to take care of you and show you how much you mean to me.

新年快乐！Gung hei faat choih!

Pictures from January

2008-02-02T19:08:00.000+01:00

I love my K800i! I will never trade it for a new phone ever again. I promise, till death do us part.

And since I'm using my K800i again, I have actually some pictures to upload!

Uhm, for your information, I bought a HTC touch and used that one for a few months. I don't remember if I told you this before. And if I didn't, the first part didn't make any sense, did it? Anyways, I didn't like it all that much so I'm back to good old Sony Ericsson.

I start the new year with changing my Norwegian comments into English. Enjoy my wonderful pictures and my even more wonderful English comments!

The perfect Saturday

2008-02-02T16:45:00.000+01:00

Received a letter from Eli today, a new episode of Lost is waiting for me and spent all day shopping and eating good food with Pretty. Except from the cold, can life be any better? :P

A Chinese saying

2008-01-31T16:59:00.000+01:00

There is this Chinese saying, I don't know how it goes word for word, but it's something like: "A small loss will prevent a big disaster from happening".

Why am I saying this?

Because, out of stupidity and frozen bodies, me and Pretty ran to the bus. Not to catch the bus, but just to get warmer and burn some fat. Again, out of pure stupidity we ate ice cream during the coldest time of the year. Thus the need for fat burning and the not so unexpected popsicle fingers which then spread their coldness like a tsunami wave to the rest of the body. Anyways, we ran and it just so happens that I had some money in the pocket of my jacket. Guess what happened to almost 80% of those HKD. I don't know where they are right now. Probably in some random passer-by's pocket. But one thing I know for sure, is that they are not in my possession anymore!

Never mind, it was only 22 HKD. A small loss. I wonder if the number 22 means something... *looking it up in my Cantonese textbook*. The number two is supposedly pronounced exactly the same as the word for easy. 22 means easy easy. I wonder what's so easy. Or maybe this means I will have an easy life hereafter. Or maybe it's like when you face something/someone dangerous: "Whoa! Easy easy". If it was up to me, I'd wish for the last but one than the last one. At least I prevented a disaster from happening!

Sleeep

2008-01-30T10:57:00.001+01:00

I need to sleep earlier, especially those nights before early classes. The most significant problem is not that I can't stay awake during lectures, I mostly do. But the problem occurs when I'm on the move, on my way to grandma or whatever. I keep falling asleep on the bus! Though the nap is unbelievably up waking and refreshing, it's in the same extend embarrassing. I've like, become one of them! You know, the sleepers. Those with forward hanging heads which wave from side to side, resonating with the bus' bumpy journey. Usually, in an attempt to equalize the swinging, (Omg, I've even made it a habit!) I support my head with my hand which supports itself on the widow frame. I don't know if it actually works, because I'm sleeping, you know. But I haven't woken up by my head falling in a rather quick paste yet, if you know what I mean. Like: Buuooom, hhhheeee (deep breath inwards) *look around confusedly*.

Anyways, I've been setting the alarm 15 minutes earlier in order to catch breakfast in dining hall before class. And I'm quite pleased with the experience. I think I will make this one a habit! And even though I hate getting up early, I've considered 15 minutes as worth it for a decant meal.

I went to grandma's today. Thus the interpretation of bus sleepers. The reason for my visit was to get a heater! :D I'm no longer destined to die the horrible death of freezing. My room is very cozy and warm now although the smell of fan heater is rather unflattering and probably not very good for my health. Ok, the temperature is not even comparable with sitting in front of the fireplace. At least now I don't need to warm my left hand fingers on the computer fan. As pathetic as that sounds, it was the only way to keep me alive. My computer saved me from dieing. Maybe I will suffocate from lack of O2 instead. Ok, I'm getting ridiculous, so better see this as the end of this post.

Type to you later!

Wishes DO come true

2008-01-26T14:46:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I made a a wish. A small one, but nevertheless an important wish. I wished for someone to be here with me. I never expected it to actually come true, but today it did!

My savior and angel was no other than my dearest meme <3

What happened today, was that a call woke my lazy ass up. It was meme who had finished her class and was looking for food, haha. So we decided that she'd come to St. John's for lunch and some hanging out. And lunch it was. After lunch we went up to my room for some hanging out. All in all, what we did was; she sat on my bed and wrote her application for mentor ship while I onlined. We listened to music from all our favorite and memorable Disney movies, ate lots and lots of my well stored sweets and drank tea. To you, it might not sound so interesting and something to get worked up about, but it was what I wanted. I am so happy!

Later, we went out for dinner with meme's friends, who some are and was in my class. We went to this small, cozy restaurant in Soho. That was very nice, as well. After dinner my sweet tooth was still not satisfied so we went for dessert at this street restaurant, if it was even notable as restaurant. With street restaurant I mean a restaurant located literary on the street. Like chairs and and tables on the hillside. Definitely not a place the Norwegian Food Safety Authority would pass, but hey, how harmful can dish washing in a couple of buckets be? Satisfactory level = 9 on a scale from 1-10.

I wish you were here...

2008-01-25T17:36:00.000+01:00

I wish you could be here. Just to keep me company. Just to sit here, by my side, while I'm onlineing or listen to music with me or whatever. I want you here with me, wasteing money with me, eating good food and even better desserts. Let me worry about you and take care of you. I care...

I'm a sim with the social bar on the red area.

I miss you. I wish you were here, to pull me up from drowning in loneliness.

I hate this kind of weather!

2008-01-25T08:44:00.000+01:00

In this kind of weather, standing under my umberella-ella-ella does not really help.

I was so damn wet when I got home today. My pants were sticking to my legs and my shoes made squishy sounds when walking. Although the umbrella keeps my head from being soaked, it's not nearly efficient enough in its destined job. But actually, it can't be blamed. The rain was a so called sideways rain, coming from behind.

I wish I had my rain coat and pants. And boots!

Currrrrrrse this weatheeeeeeer!

Sweeney Todd

2008-01-23T09:23:00.000+01:00

Never forget

Never forgive

A movie I must see!

To "all" my fellow NBCs (NorwegianBornChineses), A Shanghainese based study

2008-01-21T13:35:00.000+01:00

In my pursuit for further understanding in both Mandarin and Cantonese, I've come to encounter a few... hm... let's call it puzzles. I've been comparing my new vocabulary with the same word, of which I already know, in Shanghainese.

First, and the strangest I think, are the pronouns. Like wo（我) and then women (我们), ni (你)and nimen (你们), ta (他) and tamen (他们). The same concept exists for Cantonese; ngoh and ngoh deih, neih and neih deih, keuih and keuih deih. Here you can see the connection. U have the singular personal pronoun and then add a word to get it in plurality. For Mandarin that word is men and Canto it is deih.

Then there is Shanghainese (and my wonderful attempt to transfer my oral knowledge into written and Latin letters including the Norwegian æ, ø, å); Nghu and ællæh, nuhng and næh , ih and ihlæh. There is no connection! But you can actually find the æh after all the plural, but it is not an extra word added like in the previous examples.

Second, there are the numerals. Let's just take it to three, because the important one comes in the middle. Mandarin; yi (一), er (二) and san (三). Canto; yat, yih and saam. Shanghainese; yeh (一), liang (二) and see (三). Then, how do you say two cups of coffe? Mandarin; liang (两) bei ka fei. Canto; leung bui ga fee. Shanghainese; liang be ka fi. So my question is, why does the number two change in both Mandarin and Canto, but not in Shanghainese?

And how do you say twelve dollars? Mandarin; Shi er kuai. Canto; sahp yih man. Shanghainese; sah nji kue. How come the two now changes in Shanghainese?

Taxi in HK is called dik si. Written 的士, translated into Mandarin de shi. 的 in Mandarin is related to possession. If you translate the word mine into Mandarin, Cantonese and Shanghainese it will become; wo de (我的), ngoh ge and nguh ge respectively. In Shanghainese, the word for taxi is die zhe. Uhm, even when trying to explain this I get lost in translation (hahaha, for those who've seen that movie). Ok, the point is, arrrrh, what is my point? 的 does not necessary the same in Canto as in Mandarin. And the word for 的 in Canto and Shanghainese must be something else than 的.

Ai, this last example made my head spin. Because my wonder is based on the characters and not the oral differences. Not really my strongest field.

Eye Check-up

2008-01-19T08:10:00.000+01:00

And by the way, I went for my eye check-up on Wednesday. The results were zero on both eyes, so my vision is supposedly flawless now. Of some reason I'm not super exited about it... Of course, I'm happy but I don't feel I have the feeling that someone who doesn't have to worry about her vision anymore has. I think I just take it as granted now. My worrying list has one more box checked!

Hard working student?

2008-01-18T18:59:00.000+01:00

Ok... So yeah. After I came home from school today, I started watching gossip girl. And well, I didn't stop until I reached episode 12. That's right, I watched 11 episodes of gossip girl today! From 3:30 pm til now, 2 am. What a sensible use of time... And if u calculate some on that, you will notice that I didn't do much of anything else! Though I DID transfer my messy Chinese notes on to nice looking paper some time in between.

I feel horrible. No studying, sitting here all day, been stuffing chocolate and other candies into my mouth, freezing to death and not sleepy yet. Keep watching? I still have two more episodes before I'm up to date. But then again; do I really wanna make myself feel like an even bigger loser than I already feel right now?

Damn, I'm so cold that I'm shivering! Maybe I should just tuck myself in to bed. Haha, but freezing is good for me, especially after my day of reveling in various forms of eatable objects. BURN SOME FAT!

OMG! I gotta stop eating things containing sugar. It is not just because I get fat, but I just brushed my teeth and it was unbearably painful! I need to see the dentist. It's already on my to do list.

Ai, one more episode. Ai, or not. 2:30 already. Stop being such a dumb ass and start being reasonable. I really need to catch up with some studying tomorrow, so I'd better sleep tight now. Alright, convinced myself. Wasn't easy, so credits to me!

Not 00:17?

2008-01-17T17:17:00.000+01:00

I just noticed that my alarm clock is in am/pm mode. I thought it was in 24hr mode. I never actually considered in what mode it functions. I just noticed... Hm, strange. I almost believe that I changed it some time when extremely sleepy. Hm, I'm very very confused right now!

Day 1

2008-01-14T08:22:00.000+01:00

Page one of my next chapter as an exchange student in HK. Have never felt so lonely as I feel right now. Didn't get much sleep on the plane. The time is now 3:30 pm but the day is still young. Actually, it hasn't started yet. In 30 min I have two hours of Chinese. After class I have 30 min to get back to hall and dress up for a sherry meeting. I don't know what a sherry meeting involves, but for certain something I manage fine without. After the meeting I guess I will go to my first high table dinner. Also something I manage fine without, but I have to go to sherry so they will wonder where I went if I don't go to high table. Shit, so damn tired and sleepy and most of all unhappy.

Things I can only experience home in Norway

2008-01-08T23:04:00.000+01:00

I was just out walking this evening and listening to my Ipod. The weather was cold, not super cold but my down jacket was indeed needed. Anyways, the point with me telling you that I listened to my music was that I almost forgot how the headphone wires freeze in cold weather. They get all stiff and it seems like they will crack at any minute. Just to warn you, wires are as fragile as wet hair in temperatures below zero degrees. And if you don't know how frozen hair feel like, there is really no way to explain how frozen wires feel like.

As I was walking I tilted my head up towards the sky. I love watching the skies! And it's so pretty when the stars shine. One thing I can never get sick of is watching the sky when it is dark or the ocean. That might be two things... Or, hm, it's only one action. Anyways. I don't enjoy watching other sceneries, like the mountains or fjords, but sky and ocean just capture my mind. I can sit for hours and just enjoy the beautiful view. Though the star filled sky in Norway might be quite painful to watch for hours. Haha, but maybe dieing from watching the stars is worth it? Ai, I haven't seen nothern lights for so many years now! It so pretty and so amazing. One thing I recommend everyone to see before they die; NOTHERN LIGHTS! I'd love to go for a night hike in HK to watch the sky! Anyone wanna take me? :)

I miss snuggling under a blanket. I miss dressing warmly. But I hate freezing. The balance is hard to maintain, because how to snuggle if it is not cold outside the blanket? And why dress warmly when the weather is not cold? I really like the feeling I get when I standing next to a heater. The warm air rising along the wall striking my toes or whatever I put over it.

I wanna see snow! I wanna take a winter picture. As I said to my friends before I left HK, No Christmas without snow. But I was so wrong! I didn't get my white Christmas. And I do remember last years snow amount, it's easy, cus there was none! And actually, one cannot blame global warming, cus u know what? The situation was the same in 1990! And how do I know? Cus my dad had this project, recoding all our VCRs form our childhood to DVDs. We were watching one of them and there it was, 25th of December 1990. Me and my sis were bicycling outside our old house, in our garden. No snow! Although the winter clothes were put on. Haha, a so called "kjeledress", also know as combination suit or storm suit in English. A random pic of a kid in a kjeledress I found on google. But a really good image of a kjeledress. Very silly...

I even postponed the newest episode of Desperate Housewives for this post. Didn't expect that it'd become this long... And if you saw the last episode you can understand my urge to see this one! So exiting. I nearly died when the last one ended!

Shit, I chat too much in English on msn. I keep writing u instead of you and y instead of why...

The beginning of 2008

2008-01-01T17:20:00.000+01:00

Let's begin 2008 with being a sofa pig.

But eyh, I uploaded my pics from December already!

picspicspics

Happy new year!

2007-12-30T17:57:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow is new years eve! Wanna wish everyone a happy new year!

This holiday has been kinda different from the others. First, I've been living home with my family. That's good in a way. I always have people around. But it's also tiering, haha. Cus people can sometimes be slightly troublesome. Too much nagging make my mood go straight to dull and snapping becomes my normal language! But it's ok la. Better than being lonely in Christmas, of course. Just try to be patient, try to be happy happy.

Second, I've been socializing so much! I've met people I haven't been talking to for years. It's been so nice seeing them again, hearing what they've been doing since high school and how they are now. Tomorrow, I'm meeting friends I've known since primary school. I was thinking that, wow, high school was four years ago. Damn, that's long! But primary school, that ended like 10 years ago. I'm so old. :( The other day i hung out with my dear swimmers, my dear baby fishes. Parties with my swimmers are the best!

Ai, don't wanna lose contact with my new friends in HK. Must work hard to keep in touch.

New years resolution:
Speak canto with the people I can speak canto with, like the locals I know. That means that I will try to only speak English with my exchange student friends. My English has improved a lot and I'm actually quite satisfied with the level I'm at right now. Now, I need to improve my Chinese to the same extent, hahaha! If possible. My Christmas wish on the St. Johns Christmas tree was to become a HK local. Then my floor mate Melody said: Don't wish for mission impossible. Haha, so true. But to achieve something big, one gotta aim high! My goal is on the top of Mount Everest, so improvements will surely come. :)

So many changes have come this year. But I'm still the same old Sylvia. I can be all deep and write that I learned a lot about myself and crap like that. But I actually haven't. I know myself very well and going away this semester only confirmed things I already know. I know I'm super lazy. I know I'm sick of school, haha. I know I can be hard working if I really put my mind into it. I know I am independent and not demanding at all. I know I tend to prejudge, be skeptical but I also know that I am fully capable of taking care of myself. Knowing all these things about myself also confirms that I'm getting old.

Next year will be 2008. Spring 2009 is my scheduled graduation. I just realized that I have to choose what my project next fall will be about. But the problem is, I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA! Maybe just pick something and settle with it? After all, I have done it so many times up till now and it worked out fine. Though not super fine, but I'm still alive, am I not?

I hope all of u have a happy new year filled with happiness, wealth and development. That is at least what I wish myself.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T12:11:00.000+01:00

Today is Christmas eve and wanna wish all of you a Merry Christmas! I'm still struggling with my stupid essay. Yesterday, I found out that it is not due today, rather tomorrow. So I have today as well. Yey...

Anyways, enjoy this wonderful day!

This is Norway

2007-12-22T12:01:00.000+01:00

Time shows 12:00 noon. The sun is setting...

Last breath

2007-12-19T14:46:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow is my last exam. After 8.30 pm I am free as the bird! The course is easy so I have been quite free the last week as well, actually. I've been swimming and going out for lunches and dinners. Haha, nothing to worry about. The course is relatively limited in both math and physics and is in addition an introduction course. Noooo prooooblem! I'm majoring in physics and mathematics and my courses barely touch those subjects... Ironic.

I'm looking forward to going home. I miss my family. I miss the Norwegian lifestyle. And I really look forward to having a vacation where I don't have to worry about anything. I need it badly.

My head feels so heavy. I've even twisted a muscle in my neck, probably my sternocleoidmasteiod. I call it my worrying stretch, hahaha!

Damn, just remembered that I'm actually not as free as I first assumed. I still have the stupid essay that needs to be handed in 24th of Dec. My plan is to make it my entertainment on the plane. Yay... It will be such a pleasure! While meme sits beside me playing fun games, watching good movies and having a good night sleep I will be sitting there with a pile of articles from various medical and biochemical journals. Yes, I will only be sitting there. I will be staring at it and not knowing where to start.

Gawd...

Christmas is in one week

2007-12-17T09:07:00.000+01:00

but I still haven't gotten the Christmas feeling. If I were in Norway I'd have it a long time ago. Maybe it's the snow, and if not the snow, the cold. The way we need to dress warmly, in layers, and drink cocoa to keep the warmth. Maybe it's the trees covered with white, powdery snow. If not snow, the icy crystals from the frost the night before. The combination darkness and cold may also be a reason. I almost want to say that I miss the darkness. But NO, I cannot miss the darkness. That's crazy! When I'm home all I complain about is the darkness. I need to discard that thought right away!

There, discarded. Haha, and locked away safely to never be opened again!

Christmas is all about happiness. So maybe it's the people and their happy faces, their happy attitude that makes the Christmas feeling. The way everyone wishes strangers merry Christmas with a big, wide smile. Maybe it's the Sunday open city center and shopping malls and the way they prepare everyone for the big day, 24th of December.

I went shopping with meme yesterday. My Christmas feeling was expanded to some extent because of all the well known, some by heart, Christmas carols. I think what I need right now, here in HK, is carols. But how can I listen to those while trying to read about MRI and it's electronic circuits for driving gradient coils? Perhaps it's not time yet.

The fact that I went swimming in an outdoor pool today does not decrease my need for pursuing the Christmas feeling. It was cold, though. But that is just another reason to swim even faster, burn more fat! And I just went outside wearing a T-shirt without feeling cold at all! Today the calendar shows 17th of December.

Tomorrow, 18th of December, probably nothing has changed. The feeling is still not there, I go swimming and go back in a T-shirt. My snow crystals hanging for my curtains are still only symbolic and I'm sitting here reading about MRI, pursuing Christmas in my mind....

Wow

2007-12-13T15:20:00.000+01:00

Just realized that my hair is soooo looooong now! Must find time to get a haircut before I go back.

One down, so down

2007-12-13T04:47:00.000+01:00

I had a final today, the first of three.

If I nailed it, you ask?

Not really....

When I finished I had a somewhat strange feeling. Kinda empty, not so good actually. I had brought the notes so after I handed in the test I looked at the notes in where I was insecure. Yes, I admit it, I had questions where I hesitated :P And of course, where I had narrowed it down to two alternatives, I had chosen the wrong one! Damn!

My memory is failing on me, when I need it the most. Come on, memory! You can do it!

Another final tomorrow. Better start memorizing again. Empty out all I know about the hamstrings, the spine and the bony fit of the hip. Start remembering phenylalanine's pathway and that fat people can't help it, it's in their genes!

People here are too uptight

2007-12-11T07:31:00.000+01:00

I did laundry today, or am still doing. Just came up from 5th floor where the machine is located. You have to book time slots for washing your clothes. I did so, and because I haven't done laundry in a long time I booked two slots.

That turned out to be a breaking of rules. Cus you are not allowed to book two slots in one day! So when I went down to pick up my first load, someone had written me a note about that in the booking book. That person had crossed out my name and written his of her own name and told me that it is not allowed to book two slots in one day. Haha, but sadly for her (I bet it is a her cus boys don't really care, they would just book the next available one) I had already put on my next load before I saw the note. Hahaha, that's for you being so uptight! Relax man, just book the next. Let me do my laundry. What the hell is wrong with you? The whole day is vacant, damn let me have the one I've already booked, even if it is my second!

Productive? Not really

2007-12-08T16:47:00.000+01:00

I switched from revising kinetic anatomy to nutrigenomics today. That means reading long, dull articles instead of doing quizzes on the net. In other words ten times more boring.

As I saw it, I had the choice between reading by my desk or on my bed. The choice was really hard to make, actually. Choose to play facebook and msn in between or... uhm... FALL ASLEEP. Yeah, I chose the bed and fell asleep from boredom. I almost fell asleep so many times so I allowed myself to just close my eyes for one second. The second turned out to be half an hour...

Tonight I just gave up on revising. I've been to Cat's room. Did her community service, knitting a scarf to some random grandpa. I miss knitting :P So nice just hanging out. Haven't taken the time to do that until today.

I think maybe I'll try reading that article I read earlier today when I go to bed. A nice way to finish a revision day. Haha, a totally unproductive revision day.