I have to show you Britain’s Got Talent

“You have the showmanship of a peanut” (Simon Cowell)

“It’s like watching giant condoms play the bagpipes” (Alesha Dixon)

“Can I just say, it’s a ‘Oui’ from me” (Amanda Holden)

You can imagine the Britain’s Got Talent auditions to be quite something, right?

What: Britain’s Got Talent auditions in London
Where: Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road

How: Free tickets from Applause Store

A couple of weeks ago, Chelsea, Sandra, Kristin and I went to central London to be in the audience for one of the auditions for Britain’s Got Talent. Again, it is all thanks to Applause Store for letting us attend for free (!). Since we are all studying something media related, we thought it would be an experience to see how a TV show is behind the scenes and under production.

The ladies in the audience

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures during the show as it is not sent on television yet and phones might disturb the production. But do not worry, I will describe our day for you.

First of all, it lasts foreeeeever. From we lined up to get in to the venue and to we sat on the tube on our way home, we had probably been there for about 5 hours. And we only got to see 10-ish auditions. So a TV production like this takes forever to shoot.

When sitting in the audience they can record you whenever, both image and audio. Therefore we had to look pretty at all times when in the venue, and make sure we did not say anything inappropriate that might feature on television (would be typical us though). We also had to look really engaged in the performances, even though some of them were really, really, really bad. I will just mention that one of the contestants sang “Spin your love, to the top, to the top“, and only that, for about 3 minutes straight.

As cool in real life as on television

And last, but not least, there are so many people involved in this production. The judges’ look had to be fixed between every contestant, and each judge had about 2-3 stylists/hairdressers/makeup artists each. One guy was just there to entertain the audience between the acts. 20-something people were holding cameras, and that was just the people I could see from my seat. We had 10-something people walking around with ear plugs doing something important (I hope), and so on. So you can imagine how many people are behind a production like this, and this was just an audition.

Until next time,
Silje

(PS: I do not think I have ever written a post so long with only two pictures, so apologies for that, but a blogger has got to do what a blogger has to do when there are no cameras allowed)

I have to show you Friendsgiving

Happy Sunday! I can actually say this with confidence considering that I did not go out last night which really makes today so much better.

This blog has shown you plenty of Norwegian traditions that my family and I do at certain occasions such as Christmas and Easter. It is not so odd considering that I am Norwegian. Ever since first year of uni, Chelsea has been one of my closest friends and she is from Canada. Her other Norwegian friends and I have made her try a lot of our Norwegian traditions, customs and not least our food.

A couple of months ago, in November, we were invited to ‘Friendsgiving’ at her place. I know, right? ‘Friendsgiving’? What is that?

Very accurate description

(Description from Urban Dictionary)

Sandra and I brought wine while Chelsea and her flatmates was responsible for the food. I have never done a Thanksgiving dinner before, so my expectations were only from movies and TV series, but Chelsea did not let me down!

How amazing is this?!

And this was only for 5 people (wops)

We had turkey, two (!) different stuffings, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans and vegetables! I do not know why other countries have not adapted to this kind of meal. Chelsea, if you read this, I am inviting myself over for ‘Friendsgiving’ this year as well.

Until next time,
Silje x

I have to show you Skavlan!

For all of you that are not Norwegian or Swedish, you probably do not know what Skavlan is. It is a talk show with a Norwegian host, Fredrik Skavlan, who talks both Norwegian and Swedish. Once a month he does recordings in London with more international guest. Previous guests on his show has been Rihanna, Robbie Williams, Bill Clinton, Bon Jovi, Pamela Anderson, Justin Bieber, John Cleese and Malala Yousafzai. Therefore you can imagine being an audience at his show is pretty cool.

Yesterday (Monday) I got the chance to be in the audience with Sandra and her friend Viktoria! Viktoria applied for tickets (which were free by the way) and she got to bring friends and invited us. What a nice way to procrastinate my uni work a bit more, right?

What? Skavlan, a Norwegian/Swedish talk show.
Where? ITV Studios, Upper Ground, Lambeth.

Guests? Gunhild Stordalen, Tristram Stuart, Jimmie Åkesson, Mark Knopfler and Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Patmore from Downton Abbey. 

ITV Studios, London

Biggest studio building I have seen.

The location

The location

Viktoria, myself and Sandra

Before the guests arrived

It was a really good show that took longer to film than I thought. The show is only one hour on TV, but it took 3-4 hours to film it. For a Media student it was a pretty cool experience, to see all the people behind a show like this and how it is to be in the audience. We were not allowed to take pictures while the show was going on because it is not aired on television yet, but we were allowed to take ONE picture of the set (Wops, guess I took three).

Until next time,
Silje

I have to show you The Commitments

Did you really get a family visit in London if you did not go to see a musical? I do not think so. It is nearly mandatory to see a musical whilst here for a holiday.

My dad is a huge fan of what I like to call “old music I have never ever heard of”. It probably does not explain much to you, but I do not really know any other way to put it (haha). He has been talking about seeing the musical The Commitments for months now so we decided to go see it Sunday evening.

What? The Commitments, a musical.
Music from? Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, James Brown and so on (you know that old music)
Where? Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue in Leicester Square.

How much? It varies from 30 to 70 pounds a ticket depending on when you plan to go. Tips: If you buy the ticket in one of the ticket stalls around Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square the day of the show, they are usually much cheaper. We got 60 pound tickets for half the price since it was a Sunday evening.

The show is about to start.

Family selfie minus one.

There we go!

The show is starting.

Musical + Stella Artois, a good combination.

Great singers!

I love theaters like this.

Such a fascinating bar.

Not really allowed to take pictures, but at least I tried!

End of show.

Even though I did not know that much of the music from before (except Mustang Sally, but everyone knows that song) I really enjoyed it! The story was great and the actors, who sung and played instruments actually, were magnificent. If you fancy a musical, but have seen the good old classics such as Mamma Mia and Lion King I recommend you to see The Commitments and I am not the only one. Just look at this:

Just seen @Thecommitments at the Palace Theatre – fantastic show well done to all the cast who were brilliant!

— Pat Sage (@PatSage1) March 4, 2015

@Thecommitments amazing show tonight! My second time this year and it keeps getting better! Talented cast and so funny!

— helen brittain (@BrittainHelen) March 4, 2015

The @Thecommitments fantastic show, so much fun and the singing wow #loveit

— Emilie (@Emilie_Cole) March 1, 2015

Until next time,
Silje

I have to show you a sunny Hyde Park!

Sunny Hyde Park

A blue sky is happiness

Snapchat Geotag!

My favourite Canadian, Chelsea

Sunny selfie

Beautiful view

London or the country side? Who knows

Selfie with the sun

A gift from the Norwegian people!

Can’t get enough of this view

Hyde Park in my heart

Shadow selfie

Sun everywhere

I want to live here, please.

Yesterday Chelsea and I decided to go for a Sunday walk in Hyde Park. She texted me at 11am saying that the weather was beautiful, so we had to get out and enjoy it while we could. Hyde Park is one of my favourite places in London. There is always a lot of people there, no matter weather.

“It came to me that Hyde Park has never belonged to London – that it has always been, in spirit, a stretch of countryside; and that it links the Londons of all periods together most magically – by remaining forever unchanged at the heart of a ever-changing town”
– Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

Until next time,
Silje

I have to show you the X-Factor final!

Since I am trying to show you the perks of living in London, I have to write about every single cool thing I get to do. Even if it is just a trip to the shopping centre or the grocery store. Just like the BBC Music Awards, the last event I went to is also pretty cool. THE X-FACTOR FINAL. Can you imagine? Yep, I actually went there too. You will not ever see me complain about London.

What? The X Factor Live Final, Sunday December 14th.
Price? Here comes the best part: it was free!
Where? The SSE Arena Wembley, North London.

So one of my closest friends here in London, Chelsea, got tickets to The X Factor Live Final and asked me if I wanted to come. Duh, no one says no to an offer like that. We were four girls going together; Chelsea from Canada and Kristin, Emma and I from Norway.

Let me just say to you fellow Norwegians that might read this blog; X Factor Final in UK is nothing like the shows we have in Norway. This is the real deal and one of the biggest events of the year on live television. Oh, by the way; One Direction and Sam Smith were performing live. No big deal, right?

The SSE Arena, Wembley.

What a way to start Christmas.

Emma, Kristin, me and Chelsea.

A pretty big deal, this show.

X Factor finals!

The size of the arena

Sooo much lights.

Bouncing balls!

My loves again, One Direction.

Congrats to winner, Ben Haenow!

I know. Pretty cool. It is too bad that I cannot upload videos on this blog, because I filmed a lot of the show, including Sam Smith and One Direction’s performance. Which were both awesome, of course. Sam Smith is just wonderful. I have no words to explain him, to be honest.

https://instagram.com/p/wotGqvLrpJ/

I managed to put in a 12 second video from the start of the show. They put out bouncing balls in the audience, and when the show started, we were supposed to make the balls jump between people in the audience. Everytime someone touched them, they changed color. I am amazed by this show.

Oh, by the way; the winner was Ben Haenow. I almost forgot, haha. My favourite was the other contestant, Fleur East, though. You should search for her name on YouTube. She has an amazing cover of Uptown Funk! It is to be blown away by.

Until next time,
Silje

Christmas at Trafalgar Square

Christmas feeling!

Finally!

Norwegian girls + Norwegian tree.

I love these girls, and I love Christmas.

Show me how to shine, tree.

Where you at, lights?

#treeselfie

Every year Norway sends a Christmas tree from Oslo to London as a gift to show appreciation for Britain’s support to Norway during Second World War. The event is filled with Norwegians, Brits, Christmas Carols, pretty lights and speeches from Oslo’s mayor and a representative from the UK Government.

#4 The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is donated to the people of Britain by the city of Oslo each year since 1947. #sayriddle

— Say Sales (@SaySalesUK) December 16, 2014

the christmas tree that Norway sends to Trafalgar Square every year is always so beautiful

— ellice (@ElliceMeek) December 10, 2014

So happy I got to experience it this year with some of my best friends. I will definitely go see it again next year as it is such a beautiful tradition.

Until next time,
Silje

I have to show you Sandra’s surprise party!

As I mentioned in the previous post, Sandra’s birthday was Friday November 14th. As it was Readers week, not everyone of our friends was in London. Many had gone home to Norway to spend time with their families again. Therefore Sandra was under the impression that her birthday was not going to be a big deal, and that we were just going to have pre drinks in my flat with some girls.

This was me in my head when she was convinced we were going to have a small gathering.

What she did not know, was that Lina and I had been planning Sandra’s birthday for several weeks. We had booked a venue close to where we live called Chandos Arms. It is a pub where the employees are so sweet and kind, they serve the best pizza in town and the atmosphere is great no matter what age, gender or interests you have.

What? Chandos Arms, our local pub.
Where? 31 Colindale Avenue

Chandos Arms located in Colindale, our favorite pub.

Lina was in charge of the cakes and inviting our friends while I was in charge of the decorations. If you want a quiet and calm birthday, do not put me in charge of decorating. In my head, birthday is huge. Birthday is banners, crown, cake, cute napkins and there can never be enough balloons.

I said to Sandra that I wanted to buy her dinner at the pub since we both love the pizza they serve. Therefore she had no idea that most of our friends were going to be at the pub when we were supposed to have dinner.

She walked in, and there they were! Most of our friends holding a “Happy Birthday” banner, Lina holding a cake with candles on it and balloons covering the floor. Sandra could say a word, she was in shock. Ten points to Lina and me.

I did not get a picture of Sandra’s reaction, but this picture is almost identical. I swear.

 

Surprise!

Blowing candles like a pro.

Birthday girl with the crown I made (proud)!

Decorations was on spot, of course.

Free Cava on the house

The greatest gang in London!

It was probably the greatest birthday I have ever organized! She was satisfied and surprised, I could finally breathe and the other guests had a good time. It was really a close to perfect Friday in London with good friends.

Until next time,
Silje

I have to show you Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square.

The National Gallery.

The English National Opera.

Until next time,
Silje

I have to show you Norwegian commercials!

This was me today in my last seminar. It was about ads and commercials, mostly from England. In my head I was saying “Hmm..I’ve never watched TV in England because I live in halls on a student budget with no money to pay for licence“.
So I was just nodding, smiling and pretending that I was totally following.
In reality, I was not. Lets use the hashtag #confused. It fits me well.

Therefore, I was thinking (again, I do a lot of thinking, believe it or not) that I should introduce my readers to Norwegian advertisements. That is what I have been doing for the last hour and a half in the library. If someone asks I was doing some very important study for my workshop in Media and Society, just so you know.

The problem is that most Norwegian advertisements are in of course the Norwegian language. No surprise there. Since I can not be bothered to translate every Norwegian ad I find funny, I have tried my best to find someone in English. So here we go!

The commercial above is from Tine, which basically is the biggest dairy company in Norway. At the end, the commercial says “Milk strengthens the body, because milk contains vitamins and minerals“. And it is hilarious. People falling is always hilarious.

Then we have this one for DNB. It stands for “Den Norske Bank” which directly translated means The Norwegian Bank. Yes, it is George Clooney. The one and only George Clooney. In a Norwegian commercial. With an unknown Norwegian actress. Way too cool.

This one is one of my favorite commercials. It is for XXL, one of the biggest sport shops in Scandinavia (Scandinavia includes Norway, for those of you who did not know) and was launched the same day as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The message they want to send across is just great, simple as that.

So what do you think? We’ve got funny clips of people falling (always good), George Clooney (also always good) and we’ve got equality (also good).

Now I should probably do some real work. Since I’m in the library pulling of the good student look hitting my Mac pretty aggressively.

Until next time,
Silje