Sam Smith – Lay Me Down (Flume Remix)
Tove Lo – Talking Body (Gryffin Remix)
Ellie Goulding – Take Me To Church (Hozier Cover)
There we have some songs to get us through this Manic Monday as well. If you have any recommendations for me at Soundcloud, feel free to leave a message. Motivation needs to be shared.
Until next time,
Silje
I have had a great Christmas so far. It is good to be back home with my family and friends. I have also had some shifts at work, so my schedule has been pretty hectic lately. Have a great Christmas and New Years, everyone!
Until next time,
Silje
Hi from rainy Bergen, Norway and Merry Christmas to you all!
Actually I landed in Bergen on Friday, but I have been so busy seeing friends and family again so I have not been able to update before now.
Friday was the day I left London. A little bit sad, but a big bit happy! Finally I got to go home and see everyone again and get in the Christmas mood. Or so I thought. You see, it has not stopped raining since I came home.
Since my view is not too much to cheer for at the moment, I’ll just put in some pictures from Friday’s journey instead.
My last hike to uni in 2014. It was warm, sunny and just delightful.
This is my friend from Bergen, Alexander. He is not a good packer like I am, so he had to check his luggage in as overweight. I on the other hand had 19,7 kilos out of 20. Can I get an applause for that?
Of course our plane got delayed, so Alex and I had frozen Margaritas at Gatwick while playing cards and having dinner. No complaints!
Now I am home with my lovely family trying to make time for everyone. This is my nephew, Leander, and I last night at a dinner party at my place. He is just 8 months old, but he is getting bigger and bigger everytime I see him!
Today is December 23rd and I still have some Christmas presents to wrap. Always late, I know.
Happy holidays to you all!
Until next time,
Silje xx
I have thought about a lot of excuses to why I have not been posting anything here for the last one and a half week, but the only reason is really that life got in the way.
Friday November 7th I went home to Norway for a surprise visit. No one knew except my big brother and two of my friends. I had been planning it for weeks, and I was so excited to finally see my family and friends again! We had a reading week at uni, so therefore I decided to have half a week in Norway and the other half in London reading and preparing for uni again. Great priorities, I know.
Of course you do. I landed in Bergen late Friday night and one of my friends picked me up at the airport and drove me to a party at her place (she was sober while driving in case you start wondering if my friends are totally lost) where all my other friends were having fun. I knocked on the door and just walked in. You should have seen my best friend! Not only did she cry her heart out, she sobbed, was shaking and could not say a complete sentence. It was awesome!
Saturday morning my brother picked me up at home and we drove to my mom and step dad’s cabin three hours away. When we got there I walked in and said “I heard there was a family gathering here this weekend, so I was wondering if my invitation got lost on the way“. You should have seen their reaction. They both started crying and my step dad was repeating “I do not want to look at her, it is really her?“. It felt soooooooooooo great surprising them like that!
On Sunday we returned home from the mountains and I continued with my surprise visits. I walked in on my aunt and uncle’s dinner party before I rang the door bell to my grandmother and grandfather. They had no idea what to say! I loved every minute of it.
Late Sunday night I texted my dad asking if him, my step mom and two siblings were going to be home that evening saying that I wanted to call them on Skype. He said that I could call them after the football game because they would all be home at that time. When the game was over, I walked in on them just saying “Hello!” and all my dad could say was “I though we were going to call each other on Skype?“. That was how surprised he was. I am so satisfied with my surprises.
Almost how I felt after my surprise visits!
For the rest of my time, I enjoyed being home and spending time with my best friends and family. No stress, no readings, no need to get up early for lectures, driving a car, breathing in fresh Norwegian air, having Norwegian chocolate, Mum’s homemade dinners and my queen size bed. I even got the time to wrap my Christmas presents and hide them for my family. Efficient, huh?
Wednesday night I got back home to London. Guess what happened the morning after? I woke up with the flu of course. It had to happen since I treated my self with a trip to Norway. It probably is my student budget punishing me, but it was worth it!
Until next time,
Silje
I have now been living in London for 40 days. That is 1 month and 10 days. That is 960 hours of my 177 912 hours long life, which is close to absolutely nothing. It still feels like I have been here for years, but I can not wait for the remaining months and hours of it. I am looking forward to explore what this city has to offer, to see how far I can go with my degree and just to live a life most people dream about.
When I talk about Bergen, it is home. When I talk about London, it is home. Therefore things get complicated when I try to explain things to my friends, especially my English flatmates. A conversation could go like this:
Flatmate: So, when are you going home for Christmas?
Me: Well, I’ll be going home December 19th and then I’ll be back home January 11th.
Flatmate: What? It takes you three weeks to get to Norway? I thought it was in Europe.
Me: I’ll be going home to Norway December 19th and returning back home to London January 11th if that makes more sense.
Flatmate: You should really decide on one place to call home, you know. I get confused.
So there we go. Not easy at all, having two cities to live in. Especially not when they are both close to your heart.
For all of you (probably like one or two) who have not heard about Bergen, it is the most beautiful city in Norway without a doubt. Bergen is the second biggest city in Norway with approximately 275 000 people living there, which on an English scale is a small village. Norway has 5 million inhabitants and it is a big country with it’s population spread all over, so for 275 000 people to gather in a city is a lot for us. Do not judge.
1. The people living here/born here are called “bergensere“
2. We are very passionate about our city and our football team. Do not insult either of them.
3. Our football team is called “Brann“, meaning fire in English.
4. We speak a certain dialect only to be found in this city (the most beautiful dialect if you ask me, but that is what every “bergenser” would have said)
5. Our city is called “The city between the seven mountains” because it is surrounded by seven mountains obviously. This leads us to the next point:
6. Because of the clouds not getting over the mountains, the city is also called “the city of rain“. We have the most rainy days in the whole of Europe.
7. The traditional meal from Bergen are heart shaped fish cakes, called “hjertekaker” or “heart cakes” in English.
8. When we have more than three days of sun during summer, we miss the rain.
9. First sign of spring is when restaurants serve alcohol outside. That is when “bergensere” travels to the city to have the first “utepils“, literally meaning “outdoor beer” in English.
10. Even though we are the most rainy city, we never use wellies or rain jackets.
11. We are always updated on what is going on at home, no matter where in the world we might be.
12. We have something called “buekorps” meaning bow corps or archery brigade which is a group of marching youths aged 6 years to 20-something playing instruments and wearing uniforms. They march around during weekends and celebrations such as Constitution Day.
13. We also love our touristy things in Bergen. Such as Bryggen (which means “The Quay”) that is a row of wooden buildings from as early as year 1100. It has been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage Sites since 1979 and is beautiful in both sun and rain.
And then there is London which I really do not know how to explain. You have to be here to understand how vibrant this city is. It is like living a dream every day (except the days when I sit in my room and do work for seminars of course)
Until next time,
Silje.
London by Silje 
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