Some general observations about Milan

- Don't go here, it's not worth the hassle
- The people are dodgy
- The trams are made of wood and they don't tell you what stops they have. They also only stop on request so you just have to guess when you're supposed to get off.
- No one speaks understandable English, even at the station
- You have to buy tickets for the bus and tram downstairs in the Metro
- The atmosphere makes me nervous
- There is no architecture or beautiful buildings to see
- Only good if you have loads of money that you want to spend on expencive shopping
- Huge amount of police everywhere, no one knows why they're there, including them
- We felt so dirty and poor that upon spotting McDonals we went straight in and I got my first meal in 3 years. They also gave us Coca Cola glasses...yaaay, more useless, easily breakable stuff to carry around Europe
- Trains are horrible with bad aircon
- Make sure you've covered your knees and shoulders, otherwise you're deemed too sexy to go into the church

Some general observations about Bern

- Switzerland has colourful, pretty money
- The swiss are generally very nice and helpful people who also speak great english (score!!!)
- The streets in old town are called gasse, the surrounding ones are calle strasse
- Many great buildings and viewpoints
- Very quiet and tranquill
- Only place I've seen on this trip that has life sized chess boards in a public park
- Einstein lived here :D
- Swiss chocolate is definitely better than Belgian (take it from someone who really knows!!)
- Visit Interlaken or die, that place is so amazing (a typical swiss village), and you get to do loads of extreme sports here! Our favourite was Canyoning...you have to try it.

I am the Passenger

Totally about me today! Just Came back to England a week earlier...mouwahahahahahahaha...Scared a certain mr. X ;)

Some general observations about Paris

- Observed no fancy ppl in fashionable clothes of the latest season
- The city is only fancy in the centre, otherwise it looks like any other big city
- We decided that we don't like modern art
- Everything is SO expensive
- No one follows the traffic rules...and now neither do we (it's literally cross whenever you have a split second to do so)
- Stairs are following us everywhere
- Dan Brown is an incompetent stuck up idiot who has never been to the Louvre or any other place he's written about
- Mona Lisa is not a small painting...however, you won't get closer than 5 m
- Two hours in Louvre is enough for a lifetime as it tricks you to be more cultivated by luring you with fake EXIT signs that only lead you to more expositions
- Climbing the Eiffel tower is an amazing thing to do especially since you can see everywhere you've been earlier that day
- Parks are awesome and very relaxing
- It is possible to walk Paris in 2 days
- The food totally makes up for not understanding a word
- No matter what time of the day you take the metro, it's always extremely busy
- The Picasso museum is closed till 2012
- Disneyland is a dream come true for anyone who likes fairytales
- Not everyone knows French...someone should tell the Frenchmen about this fact

Some general observations about Luxembourg

- They speak French
- The scenery is defined by varied ground levels and steep hills. Expect lots of exercise while walking in this place
- Green country
- All information is in French and German. People generally don't speak English and keep explaining things in French even though you have tried telling them that you don't understand them
- Yummy bread :D
- Finding a toilet in the train station is a mission
- Much more quiet and nice outside the city
- Pretty Castles (best one in Vianden)
- Trains are on time....buses are not
- Relatively cheap place
- A tour of the city can be performed by getting on the bus - city circle line (costs about 3 euros)

Some general observations about Brugge

Brugge is a small place in Belgium :)

- Best place ever for chocolate lovers
- Small, but cozy streets that are welcoming and filled with architecture
- Many relaxing parks that are perfect for a lunch break
- Welcoming people
- A city for people who like exploring by foot -> perfect for a 2 day stay
- Very romantic atmosphere
- Horse carriages that are adorable, but will sadly not take you outside the city centre
- Interesting churches and museums

Some general observations

As you very well know, this summer I went on InterRail with my best friend Ingrid. During this month we visited 13 European countries, stayed at 19 different hostels, saw 17 cities, went to about a 1000 museums and never stayed anywhere for more than 5 days. I kept a diary all through this immense journey and now I want to share some of my experiences with you. I am, of course, not planning to re-write my whole diary on my blog (I mean, come on...I need to preserve at least a bit of privacy), however I will summarise the days in "some general observations" for each country. So here goes the first one:

Some general observations about Amsterdam:

- The city has a very distinctive smell. A kind of interesting blend of weed and piss.
- The alleys are filled with some dodgy shops
- It's an island
- People live in houses built on the river
- There are far more bicycles than cars, hence you are more likely to get hit by a biker
- You are expected to know the art of walking through walls as various signs point directly into one
- No real concept of winning and loosing (we were there the day after Holland lost in the World Cup and there were a 1000 fans all in orange celebrating the team's homecoming)
- Getting lost between the channels is a piece of cake as everywhere looks the same
- Awesome parks

InterRail

12.07.10

DRAMMEN – AMSTERDAM

Quote of the day: ”Vi tok flytogbussen som tok oss rett til flytoget som tok oss like til flyplassen.”

Started stressing as soon as I woke up. Did a million and one things including posting some keys and buying food. After that we took a bus to the train that took us to the airport. Managed to concour the evil check – in machines but were for some reason directed to the “heavy luggage” tilt (a piece of information we only received after having stood for ages in line for the normal bag drop). Grr. Arg. The rest of the flight went well even though they tried confusing us several times by changing the gate and changing straight from “go to gate” to “gate closing – last call” in a matte of min.

Well in Amsterdam the city welcomed us with a whiff of weed and piss, that and the sight of about a dozen bicycles. We had some help from nice people to find the train and even though Ben tried to confuse us with his “knowledge” of the city we managed to find our way there fairly quickly. As we came out of the train station some “damsels in distress” a.k.a. two guys from Norway who needed to borrow a phone because they’d managed to successfully loose their friend (great start to a holiday, right?!) and theirs had no battery. So we got to play the AWSOME knights in shining armor (armed with a whistle that is), borrowing them my phone and saving the day. Was skeptical to the idea at first seen as we’d just been thinking of the film Taken, but they seemed alright so we gave in.

Followed the route to our hostel trying not to get lost between the million bridges and channels that make up Amsterdam city centre until we finally reached our hostel. The staff at “Jordaan” was really nice and we went to bed straight away (or at least straight after I changed my tiny pillow for someone else’s big one).

Easter Eggs

Just came back home for Easter holidays. Already met up with two of my friends, which is better than expected (no offence). Is good to be back but every time I visit there seems to be so much news I need to catch up on. Relationships ending, relationships starting, people who start working, people who quit working and start school in stead, and also people who stop talking to each other for some obscure reasons. Sometimes it feels like I've fallen so far behind I can never catch up. It's like I exist in a different world and when I come back to this one I am an alien who has to accommodate to new rules and customs. It can be quite annoying sometimes. It's good to have my friends there to make the transition go smoother, but I wish I could be better at keeping in contact with them while I'm away. That is something I definitely need to improve on, specially since I have every opportunity to do so as they are all frequent facebook visitors.

This Easter I have great plans to actually finish planning my inter rail trip for this summer. I need to look up ways for us to get to our first destination, order all the tickets and hostels etc., and look up recommended tourist attractions in each country we're going to. It will be a challenge to find all the places we want to see and ways to get there, but I think it'll be alright because both Ingrid and I can be very organised at times and so hopefully together we can plan something that will end up being a wonderful trip :) I also want to get in shape for Hadrian's wall as it now seems that I am coming along to that as well. Don't even fully know what Hadrian's wall is or where it is but apparently 8 days will be enough to see it. Those 8 days have been promised to me to be filled with a lot of walking, so I kind of need to prepare for that in advance, so that I don't collapse on the first day and have to go home immediately. That is why I plan to start running 3 times a week. Hopefully I'll stick to my plan this time.

Somewhere in between all of the jogging and planning I also have to work and revise for my exams. All of my exams are crammed into 2 weeks so once again I will have to resume to living in the library. Seems like it's my permanent habitat, that place. Oh and I have to write a lab report while I'm home too, man this is going to be a busy holiday. Life is never easy, is it?!

The Return Of the Jedi

I have returned at last back to my beloved little "wreck" of a house that is always falling apart in one way or another. I'd get another place, but...I love it here and so do my housemates :D It's a house where nothing matches and no one is normal. Where the freaks and the geeks occupy the living room with their laptops and Ipods and sit there talking to each other on facebook chat while simultaneously watching Friends on tellie. It's a house of board games and music nights, of tea cups and all-year tinsel. I love it here :D

Packing

Well, just 2 days left and then I'm off to England again. And this time I'll have Internet so I'll keep you a bit more updated :)

For now I'm just packing all my belongings wondering how in the world I'm supposed to both fit it all in one suitcase and fail to exceed the 15 kg weight limit. It is mission impossible!

Here's the tune helping me:

A Few Words About New Years

Grossly overdue, but still. For New years I visited my best friend and her family. I was there for a total of 5 days.

This time there wasn't alot happening. The trip took longer then it should because of various delays (specially on the way back, it was due to our bus hitting another car. No one got hurt but the car driver wouldn't let it go even though it was his fault), but I got there and back safely.

The coming of the new decade was celebrated with our youth group "Gnisten", and the only eventful thing was the traditional "running like the wind and diving into the snow because the fireworks have fallen are are shooting in your direction".

Other than that, we played a few board games (which I lost at....all of them). And we did a bit more planning for our Interrail xD It's going to be the best thing ever!

After coming home it was back to work for me - gotta earn some money for my big trip!

Back to basics

Hey everyone, I'm baaaaack! You'll never believe me if I tell you why I've been away for so long, but here goes:

At first it was just the obvious lack of Internet that kept me away, but then something much worse happened. My laptop decided that it was a good idea to completely die on me, just for fun...to see how I would react. So I reacted the only way I could - by calling up my mom and asking her to fix it. She told me to call up Dell support, which I did and they came, saw...and then turned around and left without fixing anything. That's when I panicked and shut myself in my room on the phone to various people I know who study IT, all to no help. At last, when I came home, yesterday, my mother was finally able to figure out the problem and fix it :D I am now a very very happy girl. I missed my laptop and I missed blogging, but now I'm back and I have a few things to tell you about first term.
I think I'll start off by telling you about my journey home. Boy was that a challenge! You see, the Brits don't get snow very often. Most of the time they get to see it once a year, and only for a few days. Because of this they are, of course, completely unprepared to face it when it actually does come. During those days everything shuts down, and by that I literally mean everything. No buses, no trains, no flights, no lectures, no work and no cars on the roads. Everything is cancelled and shut because of the "bad weather conditions". The conditions previously mentioned are nothing more than 10cm of snow...at most. Now, people in Norway and Russia (where I live and come from), laugh at the British 10cm because having about 2m of snow is a given thing in these countries. There is no big fuzz about the weather, and no cancellations at all. Here is what happened to me:

Midday Thursday I was in town buying a present for one of my friends when it suddenly started to snow. I was very happy for this development at first because the snowflakes were tiny and didn't settle on the ground. While on the bus home, i noticed that the snowflakes were getting bigger, but rain came in between, so I figured there was nothing to worry about. Later that day, after having Christmas dinner with the trampolining society, we were preparing to leave for the Snow Ball. Little did we realise that in the few hours we'd been inside the restaurant, a blizzard had come our way and completely snowed us in.

After a brave rescue from our friend's boyfriend, we went to Snow Ball, hoping that the bad weather would pass by while we were there. No such luck. So my housemate and I ended up at our friend's house because we lived too far away from campus and there were neither buses nor taxis running anywhere.

Nothing worked till late Friday. The day was started off sunny. I was almost calming down and starting to hope ever so slightly that my flight wasn't cancelled and that my coach to the airport would be running. Then it started snowing again. I called to order a taxi for Saturday morning so that I could get to the coach station. They told me the roads were too slippery. I panicked again, called two of my friends begging them to drive me, got a refusal from one of them and nearly gave up when my other friend said he'd drive me. To him I owe a HUGE favor. He literally saved me! He collected me from my house the same evening and drove me to his so that I'd be near campus in case his car couldn't manage the roads in the morning, and sat up with me all night watching anime because I was too nervous to sleep. He also waited with me for the coach and calmed me down when it didn't come for 20 min. He is my hero right now!!!!!

After I hd gotten to the airport and waited for 4 hours for the plain to get there...you guessed it, it was also delayed, I could finally get home. And boy am I glad that I'm finally here. Oh yeah, and the reason I'm saying "Boy" so much is because I just finished reading "Catcher in the Rye". I may even review it on here later...but I'll doubt you'll like my views on this book, I really didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Anyways, I'm off to catch up on Grey's Anatomy :)

Grey clouds in the sky

No wonder, since I'm in Bergen (it's generally considered as the rainiest city in Norway). I came here on sunday to visit Ingrid and I was supposed to leave earlier today, but I missed my train so now I'm pretty much stuck here till about 23:00. It's not too bad of course, cause I get to take the train with Ingrid, but my mother wasn't particularly happy that I had to spend more money to buy a new ticket. She also wasn't too thrilled over the fact that she'll have to wake up at 5 am to get me from the train station.

Today would've really sucked, if it weren't for the fact that I finally got my results back! I passed with a very good mark, so there was really no need to worry the way I did (had nightmares and couldn't fall asleep. Didn't eat alot cause I had a knot in my stomick and generally just worried the hell out of myself). So, despite my horrific incident with the train, loss of alot of money and nerves, I am actually pretty happy. Can't wait to move into the new house with the rest of my friends. It'll be perfect, I just know it.

But before that I still have to catch the next train home, work, go to a Dream Theater concert on saturday (SO looking forward to it!!), pack my stuff and avoid irritating my mother for 10 more days...a task not easily accomplished after todays fiasco.

The Hot Cyprian Air

Didn't save me from getting a cold. In fact, it actually contributed to it, in a weird way. 36 - 38 degrees all week led to us setting the air conditioner to 18 degrees over night. Which of course meant that bathing in the windy sea for 2 hours the next day was a bad idea. Nevertheless, I did, and got sick for the better part of our holiday. Of course, that didn't stop me from having a great time!

We arrived in Cyprus on monday, feeling very much like stuffed turkey that had suddenly been crammed into the oven, very tired and somewhat hungry. At the hotel we had to wait two hours before we could check in, so we took a stroll along the beach, suddenly realising that all our tiredness was being swept away by the warm sea breeze. The view was amazing, and so was the hotel! That same day, after moving into our apartment and swimming in the sea for a while, we went on into town exploring. I soon realised that this was a family/couples resort place, and that we were the odd ones out. But that didn't really bother me because the whole place had a very nice atmosphere.

During the first few days we didn't do much more that relaxing. Mostly I was just reading my book in the sun, and sitting on the rocks in the water (note: I can swim, BUT the sea water is salt, duuuh, which means - it irritates the skin on my face...so basically my face is allergic to it but the rest of my skin is fine and since sea water is so good for the body I found rocks in the water I could sit on). We also did some paragliding and pedalboating (was great fun!). Sometimes there were activities going on in the pool, like water gym, water polo, water volley etc, that I willingly joined in on. And after a while I befriended the entertainment guy so I knew exactly when all the fun stuff was happening. I even participated in the table tennis tournament! I lost, of course, but I wasn't far behind and I was playing against the teacher :D

By the end of the week we were getting a bit bored with just laying around in the sun, so we went sightseeing. Travelled across the border to the north, Turkish occupied side of Cyprus. Two words - flags everywhere. I guess someone really wanted to make it clear whose land it was. I think someone was trying too hard.

But anyway, the trip itself was about two castles and one church (monastery). One of the castles was build over centuries, finally finished in the 14th. It is very beautiful, high up in the mountains, and it looked more like it had just grown out of the mountain itself, rather than someone having build it on top of it. Apparently Walt Disney (who, by any account, had a great imagination cause I sure couldn't have imagined it and still can't see any resemblance) got the idea for Snow White's castle after seeing this one. As a matter of pride we, as always, climbed to the very top of the building. Took us about an hour with all those crooked steps, but we made it, and were rewarded with a magnificent view.

The other castle was less impressive. The only good thing there were the chambers of torture and the 4000 year old ship they managed to lift from the bottom of the ocean. The monastery was far more interesting. The chuch there was the only greek orthodox chuch that still had all the original icons (because during the occupation people barricated themselves in it for a year and after a while the turks just couldn't be bother to rob it). And the monastery, although roofless (due to colonists that smashed it to get building materials for the english channel), was very well preserved. Anywhooooo, I liked it, and although my feed were bleeding from my new shoes (yh yh, I know, silly girl in her silly shoes...but they're so pretty!!), I enjoyed it.

Last few days were all about souvenirs, eating at local tavern's, and packing. We went to "Cyprus night", and got to see lots of national food and dancing. It was great, they even made us dance :p I won't say anything about food portions, only that after the 9th plate I couldn't even look at it anymore.

We left on monday, our favourite tavern being Marco's, where the food was awsome, the portions less overwhelming and thus eatable, and the menues were in russian :D

I'll miss Cyprus, but now it's back to work.

From Russia with love

Busy 2 weeks indeed. Had a lot of things to do and not nearly enough time to do them :( During the first weekend I was busy running around making plans for the rest of my stay. Handed in papers for my new passport, fixed my sandals and bought a new handbag <3

As soon as the new week began I headed out to our summer house to do some painting. Was easy and got help from Andrey (who was nice enough to come with, even though he had the flu), but as soon as we were done with the first layer - there was a storm. It was pouring down for four days straight! And although I got to meet up with my brother and my two oldest friends, after thursday I gave up waiting for the sun and went back into town.

Tried to squeeze in some cultural stuff, but failed as all the theaters were either closed or fully booked. Had three good, rainless days where I didn't get soaked as soon as I walked out the door, and used those to 1) walk around town and eat sushi *love*, 2) travel out to the nearest island "Kranstadt" that was used as a fort during the two world wars keeping the enemy away from our shores, and 3) to collect my passport and meet up with people I had no time for earlier in the week.

I really liked Kranstadt. I'd never been to a fort before and Julia (a friend of Andrey who lives there) was kind enough to show us around. We saw all the main sites, drove around on rollerblades *DESTROY now and never look at again*, and klimbed the fort walls. The day was nearly perfect (except for the fact that we didn't get into any of the museums and that those rollerblades made me hate the world, my life and the certain someone who thought it would be a good idea to scate around town).

Meeting the family was good too. I'm glad my father stayed away though, don't think I'd be able to handle him. Was a pity that I didn't have more time so I never got to meet my other brother or my granfather, but at least I now have a motivation to come back sooner.


I'm glad everything turned out the way it did. Even if it means that life will be more complicated.

Back to the roots

I am finally leaving for mother Russia (in a few hours that is). Can't say I'm thrilled to go, because I still haven't finished writing my coursework (only 1500 or so words left :S). I'm hoping that my friends can help me with internet and computer loans so that I can finish it. It sucks right now, so I hope someone can proof read it as well. Oh dear god I need to finish this awful coursework, cause I really want to come back to uni and live with my friends and have a great time! Feeling like an idiot for not having turned in my work in time :(

Another interesting fact is that my ex...the one I've been telling you guys about - the two year relationship that made me who I am today...well, he's decided to meet me at the airport and help me with my coursework. I can't say it's a bad thing, but I definitly don't get a good vibe from it either. How the hell am I going to survive this stay. Will my feelings for him come rushing back to destroy the past two years of trying to forget him, or will it all be cool with no feelings left. And if there are no feelings left will I be sad that something so powerful - that I thought would last forever, is gone? All these stupid questions are in my head right now and I can't do anything about them.

Also my father scared me by saying he might show up to meet me as well :S I don't like him, I don't want him there, and most of all, I do not need a frickin' welcoming party either. It'll all get waaaay too complicated if both my grandma, my dad and my ex will be at the airport. Bah, I hope my ex and I will be friends. And I hope he doesn't think I've changed to the worst. And I hope my dad stays away!

My grandmother has promiced me that these two weeks are going to be busy. Which usually means that I'll have to do loads of work and run about the town not even getting a minute to myself. I hope she's kidding, cause I have no intentions of painting fences and changing locks (don't ask). Oh and I'm supposed to be meeting loads of my friends too, and my brothers. Gah, this'll be interesting. I think one of my friends might think I like him (should really fix that before it gets too late! Wooopsie!), so I have to make sure we don't hang out on our own.

Whatever this turns out to be like one thing is for sure. I definitly won't be bored!

There and back again

Six hours, sitting in a bus and looking at trees and mountains as they fly by. Six hours of complete and utter boredom, of staring out the window and wishing the time would go faster...or that the bus would. Six hours of bus, and then an hour and a half by car, over the narrowest road across the mountains EVER. That is the journey I had to make to get to Ingrid (my best friend). I only went for the weekend and spent most of the time sitting on a bus there and back again, but it was totally worth it! Not because I happened to catch the latest Harry Potter film while I was there (because it sucked awfully, so don't waste your money on it), but because I had so much fun while I was there.

I got to see and play cards with Ingrid and her family (who've been like my second family for 10 years), and a couple of people I hadn't seen for nearly 2 years, I had time to participate in the making of a movie (I played the boss of the Russian mafia in Norway, wooohooo), AND Ingrid and I finally had time to organise and plan our interrail trip for next summer. It's gonna be so awsome :D

Sadly I had to leave all too soon, but I had to get back to work to earn money for our trip. But I love visiting Sauda, so I'm probably going to head down there again sometime before the term starts. Either that, or I'll visit her in her new appartment in Bergen ;D She's planning to live there and study maths (CRAZY girl :P)


Here are some pictures from the set of our film: