…var jeg så heldig å få treffe Rupert Grint på premieren av Into the White i Oslo. En av de sykeste, beste dagene i mitt liv!

Les mer her og her.

Picture from here 

In August this year I’m going to Chengdu, China to work at a panda reservatory for two weeks (you can read a bit more about that here in Norwegian). And today I booked my flight from Kristiansund to Chengdu! I’m so excited!

I booked my journey trough SkyScanner and SAS, and I only payed 8200NOK! That is REALLY cheap concidering I’m traveling halfway around the world. The two weeks in Chengdu is organized by the fantastic X-plore, and isn’t really costing me a fourtune either. I’ll get to spend two days in Chengdu, work at the panda base, go on smaller trips to other exciting places in the area and just have the time of my life while I’m there.

If you live in Norway you can see where I’ll be working if you turn on TV2 at 20.00 tonight and watch Villdyrlegen, where they will be visiting the reservatory.

Now it’s time for crackers, cheese and white wine at my dad’s before I head to the city tonight for the last two days before I go back to Portsmouth.

Top five events of 2012?

- Traveling to Rome with Marije in August.

- Moving to Portsmouth and starting university.

- The BIGBANG concert on December 15th.

- Traveling around England to places like London, Isle of Wight and Stonehenge.

- Meeting Rupert Grint at the premier of Into the White in Oslo.

What did I learn in 2012?

- To tell people how I feel about them when I have a problem. If people can’t handle it it’s too bad for them.

- Don’t wait around for friends what will never be in contact with me.

- Avoid drama.

What clothes did I use the most?

Thights, singlet and a t-shirt covered with a jacket.

Top films I’ve seen in 2012?

Always: Sunset on Third Street, Into the White, 71 – Into the Fire, Bride Flight, Mongol, The Woman in Black, Soul Surfer, Kon-Tiki, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, We Need to Talk About Kevin, James Bond: Skyfall, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, In Time.

What did I listen most to?

BIGBANG, 2NE1, Super Junior, Alan, EXO-M, PSY.

What did I watch?

The Big Bang Theory, The Inbetweeners, Modern Family, Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice.

What people did you get to know in 2012?

A lot of nice people I met in Rome, people I worked with during the summer and so many amazing people in Portsmouth.

Where did I travel?

Rome, Oslo, London, Isle of Wight, Windsor, Portsmouth, Stonehenge, Salisbury.

The best thing I bought?

My Canon EOS 60D.

The best book I read?

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin

List found here

What did you do in 2012?

This Christmas has been lovely. I almost haven’t touched my computer because I’ve been off doing something else, which has been really nice to be honest. It means I have been neglecting my blog, but don’t worry – I’m back!

So when I finally found a taxi that would take me to Heathrow Airport at four in the morning, I made it to Oslo where I met up with my friend Patricia for a few hours. We went out for a nice dessert and just walked around Oslo until it was time for me to get back to the airport to catch my flight to Kristiansund. I had almost forgotten it was winter while I was in England, but when I came to Norway the roads were so wet and slippery it was hard stay on my feet! It was still very nice to be in Oslo again, even for a few hours, but I was sooo tired and I just wanted to go home to my bed, really.

1. In Oslo • 2. “Watch out for the moose burger”. • 3. Huuuge Totoro!

At seven that evening I was back in Kristiansund! And of course way too excited to unpack my stuff in my mum’s new house to go to bed. I ended up going to bed at 12 and I had to get up at seven to go to work. Ugh. I worked six days that week and spent my evenings unpacking. And knitting! Out of the blue I figured I’d try to knit a hat, so I did (I finished it yesterday). I also went for a drink with some friends, it was so nice to see them again.

1. Unpacking my room. • 2. My new street! • 3. Awesome Norwegian food. • 4. Knitting. • 5. Awesome Norwegian snacks. • 6. Me and Ronja.

On December 22nd I went to my dad’s place. It was my brother’s 12th birthday, so the whole family came over for cake and coffee. Since I  didn’t have a birthday cake at home this year, my dad made one of the cakes for both me and my brother and he wrote “happy 32nd” on it, haha. Genius.

December 23rd is the day in Norway where “everyone” decorates their Christmas tree and put out decorations around the house. So my dad went down to the woods and chopped down a tree, which we decorated. I still feel like a little kid inside during Christmas, so decorating the tree with my brother and sister was really nice. Of course we also watched Home Alone that evening and went to bed early.

1. Me and Sofus. • 2. The birthday cake of me and my brother. • 3. Lunch at my grandmother’s. • 4. View from my room at dad’s. • 5 & 6. Our Christmas tree.

On Christmas Eve we woke up early, watched some TV and drove around the last Christmas presents to my friends. We also dropped by my grandparents for a while. After that we went home, got dressed and ate an amazing Christmas dinner – my favourite part of the day. Pinnekjøtt (salted, dried and damped lamb meat), mashed swede, boiled potato and sausages. YUM <3. Rice cream with red sauce for dessert and then it was present time (In Norway we open presents on Christmas Eve, not Chritstmas Day) I got a lot of money, books, necklaces, films, baking stuff and bed sheets. Quite happy with this years “catch”!

Christmas Day we took a five hour road trip to visit my grandparents in Trøndelag for a few days. My aunts, uncles and cousins came for coffee and cakes as well and we ate halibut for dinner. We went home the 27th and I worked 28th and catched up with friends on the 29th. Today is the 30th and tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. Time has really flown by while I’ve been home and in a week I’m going back to Portsmouth. (And I still haven’t done my homework…) I’m almost looking forward to Easter break already!

1. Me and my sister ready for Christmas Eve. • 2. The pets got their own Christmas dinner. • 3. CHRISTMAS DINNER • 4. Cake man with chocolate. • 5. Finished my knitting!

How was your Christmas? Did you get any nice presents?

On Sunday I returned home after a week in Rome and two days in Oslo. My trip was amazing. Rome is amazing. All that history in one city, I’ve never seen anything like it before. There were ruins everywhere, old stone buildings, roads, parks and even the signs telling you what street you’re in was made most beautifully and detailed. You can really tell that Rome is an old city and a city that has been planned before being built.

Rome

We (I went with my friend Marije) got to see basically everything while we were there. Colosseum, The Vatican City, The Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain, Castel Sant Angelo, Pantheon, some amazing churches and some skelletons. It was quite awesome to see all those historic buildings which I’ve only seen in movies and school books before.

Colosseum

The second (or third?) evening we went to the bar across the street from our hotel, which turned out to be a very good decition. We met so many amazing people there from all over the world who were travelling around Europe. The bar and the people were so awesome we ended up going back every night and we had so much fun getting to know new people, playing Flip Cup and Beer Pong and just enjoying our time in Rome!
I also asked a few of them if they were traveling alone or with someone. Most of them were traveling alone and they would just meet people on the way and then travel together. I think that sounds great! No hassle to try and figure out who to take on a trip, where to go, if everyone’s free on the same dates… Just go if you want to!  (So now I’m really determined to go on an interrail next summer. Alone if I must!)

Marije, Tanith, Chelsea and me (was a bit difficult for me to include myself apparently)

So yeah, I really had fun in Rome. It is such a pretty city and I reccoment everyone to go there. I will upload more pictures in the upcoming days!

If you had asked me one year ago if I wanted to study in England, I would have said no. To me, studying in England, USA or Australia just seemed too mainstream. Most Norwegians studying abroad goes to one of those countries, and I always wanted to do the total opposite of everybody else, so it was never really an option for me. I thought.

When wasn’t accepted for Chinese Studies in Oslo last summer, I decided to retake some subjects and exams and to try again this year. But I felt I needed a back up plan, so I started to look at some other courses in Oslo as well. One of the courses I was real interested in was International Relations. But the grades I needed to be accepted there were even higher than Chinese Studies, so I knew I wouldn’t make it. Plus I wanted to study an Asian language, which the International Relations course did not offer.

I don’t know how I got there, but one day I found myself looking at courses for International Relations and Chinese Studies in England at sonor.no. I found out that there was a course at The Univeristy of Portsmouth called International Relations and Languages and they offered Mandarin as a language. “Well, this is just perfect!” I thought. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do my whole bachelor overseas. So without telling anyone, I sent an e-mail to Sonor asking about the course. They sendt me back an application form for me to fill out. So I filled it out and it was done.

16th of January I was having coffee in a cafè when someone from Sonor called and said that I had been accepted at The University of Portsmouth for International Relations and Languages with Mandarin.

I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to accept the offer or not, but I decided to do it. The course just seems so perfect for me and Portsmouth looks like a really pretty city to live in. I will also save some time doing the course in England, because if I would take a bachelor in International Relations and then one in Chinese Studies in Norway it would take me six years. At Portsmouth I can do the bachelor in four years. And the third year I get to spend a whole year in China, which I am really excited about!

I woudn’t have had it any other way now. What if I hadn’t sent that e-mail or accepted the offer? I don’t even want to think about it because I am so looking forward to going to England now. I think it’s going to be four awesome years!

Source image 1, image 3