Category Archives: culture shock..

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Finse, 01

back from Finse. still tired, my muscles are aching, sad to be back in Bergen a little, because I miss the snow. I’m not a concrete girl (haha) and I met some wonderfully lovely people there. Here it’s grey, I’m back in my Fantoft box, I’m broke and the trains I wanted to take to Oslo are mostly full and I can’t pay 1100nok for a train ride to one of the ugliest cities in Norway, so that means I won’t be seeing the boys for Easter, which is ugly, because I was really looking forward to going to the Wintermare show and hugging everyone.

I want to hibernate until the sun comes..

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spatial practices, collages and squats

this is going to be a long one.
I am currently sitting in the library, it’s quiet and it’s empty and it feels like a stormy day because the world started whispering.. This week started off with another Brandon LaBelle workshop (well, the continuation of the last one) where we have to do a work based on people. I was thinking of basing mine on the guy who works at Apollon, and to develop that further into a work about language/people speaking different languages/having to adapt, etc.. until I passed by Jonsvollsgaten and saw the anarchist flag. It’s a flag that’s sitting on top of the roof of a house that’s among other houses that are so close together, once you are walking around in the block it’s impossible to figure out which roof is which and where the flag is. Earlier last semester, rudi and I tried to find out where the flag was, with no success. So after school on tuesday I went to knock on some neighbour’s house asking about the flag. A girl was really nice and told me to go to number 6, I rang the doorbell and a very nice guy opened the door, S.
Turns out he put the flag on his roof to protest against the Jonsvollskvartalet houses being torn down, he was also squatting there and he told me the history of the Jonsvollskvartalet squat. we sat around drinking coffee among mandolins and he was so helpful, got me a lot of material, magazines, newspaper articles..
We met in town yesterday (he copied me the dvd of the small documentation they did about the squat.. with Erlend playing the guitar randomly at some concert, of course..) and had a lot of fun so this is turning out like it will be a great great project… and obviously now I have a friend for life and a lot of connections into the anarchist Bergen scene, haha.
Parallel to the spatial practice, I’m in a collage course with Dag. it’s now the second week, so I am doing some class-hopping, as well as working on my very secret sculpture… and in two days I am off to Finse, to beautifully freeze my ass off in a beautiful setting in the middle of nowhere… obviously making art. ICE SCULPTURE for realz. Kind of looking forward to it, at the same time this means I will be spending a lot of money that should probably be spent on rent instead.. or on my Oslo train ticket (going there for Easter… AGAIN)

and now I’m off to go see what Ricardo has made for dinner (projects involving MUSIC and FOOD are the best ones.. ever).
I’m curious.

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home for christmas

I’m sorry, but Norway has changed me.

I can’t stand smoky bars and enclosed spaces, I walk home when it’s -5°C outside, I’m so sick of people constantly drinking, I need people less and need myself more.

No more entries until 2008, which will be spent home with my mom, my cat and a book (or maybe a silly movie on tv. even better, to combine literary passion with moving images addiction, would be Dante told by Benigni, but I don’t think it’s on on New Year’s Eve..)

and I swear I will be in bed by 1am.

Godt nytt år!

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it’s the wrong kind of place, it’s the wrong time

last night was amazing.. the day before was too. the woods, the glitter-prone hills, the late night talks and midnight walks. everything these past few days has been magnified, everything feels larger than life, every sparkle sinks deeper into my memory, every conversation, every silly moment has become more beautiful.
all this sadness becomes more and more heartbreaking.

THANK YOU..

I just got to Vienna. with stars above my head and the city lights reflected under my eyes, I already miss the norwegian lakes, the air that makes your lungs sting, and the mountains of tangerines we ate this week…

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fiskekake og sjokoladekake!!!

first hours in Norway:

  • laura does not show up at the airport
  • the bus stop at Fantoft looks rather empty, as laura does not even bother picking me up from there, either
  • laura finally shows up – crippled
  • I am dragged along to some stranger’s bedroom to pick up a mattress, and obviously faint there – an amazing experience which I will never forget
  • I get fed with mouldy bread and FUCKING sweet water – diabetic style
  • I feel that there is some rather disgusting soaking wet toilet paper (hopefully not used) on my forehead
  • We then proceed to L’s room, where I am fed (again), this time with sticky rice and soy sauce – at least laura’s cooking skills are getting better by the hour

these are my first impressions of Beautiful Bergen..

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it’s about time..

..I experienced my first B-Blokk fire alarm! just great.
at least I wasn’t sleeping, which is good, wouldn’t have liked to look like the 99% of student population outside (angry sleepy eyes, nighties and flip flops).
I was just annoyed because my tea got cold and I forgot to take my jacket.

grr.

so..I shall now resume my sleepless night.

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Santa Claus

the weirdest thing I have seen in this city – okay, no. Not weird, but random – is the Christmas Tree that has been placed in the middle of the lake. No joke. first off, it’s weird because I can’t get myself to call that a “lake”.. it’s more of an oversized fountain, or a pool. And then that tree is just kind of small and .. creepy.
Almost as creepy as the mechanical and dancing Santas all around town.

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some reflections

some more reflections on Bergen..

1) why are the sidewalks so narrow?
2) why is it that the only place where you can get decent coffee is 7-11? isn’t that kind of twisted?
3) why is it that whenever I have free time the weather’s so fucking rainy, and when I have to be stuck inside the whole day, the sun is shining?
4) why do norwegian products (no matter how bad they are) cost way more than imported ones?
5) conversation with the record store guy:
me [in norwegian]: do you speak english?
him [in english]: yes
me [in english]: okay so I’m looking for this ep, etc etc
him [in norwegian]: yes, well there were some problems because the ep is self-distributed, etc etc
me [in norwegian]: I know, I was already here last week.
him [in english]: ah, yes..well maybe you should come back next week..

is that an insane city I live in, or what?