Life changes fast..!

Why am I saying that? Well, one reason might be this guy:


His name is Espen, and we are officially a couple! Yes, I'm happy about it, hehe, and he seems to be too, so who can complain? ;)

I'm not gonna post his entire life-story here, so if you want to know more just ask me! I can say that the first time I met him he experienced my endurance in singing while at a Wow-party, and we weren't the best of friends at that point, haha. Good thing it changed :)

And yes, I have turned into a giggling 14-year old. I'm pathetic :P
WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

BTW

Need to show you guys the picture of my arms during/after the Kali seminar in Kristiansand in September, it's a little freaky, hehe... Enjoy!

SNOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!

And so it came around these days this year too.
The first snowfall.
I really don't care how long it stays or how wet or cold or dry it is - it's the first snow this fall!!! And it always makes me smile, and always gives me more energy, so YAAYYY!!! :D

And now I need food, have been working out :) And then I'm meeting Ingvild from Snertingdalen, yay! (Cabin-neighbor) And then It's Kali, MAN what a great day!!!!!!

Love ya'll! ;) *giggle*

Update!

About time with an upate if you ask me, it's been over a month since I've written wanything here! :S Sorry about that guys. But here it is at least :)

Well, I've made friends at school, am coping with math somewhat, and still feel very motivated with everything! :D I even managed to talk a girl from class into coming with me to a Kali-practise, so she's coming next week I think! :D

Single life is still treating me pretty good, but I notice every once in a while that I miss to have someone to lean on, someone to call just because, and someone to say goodnight to. But the last week I've become even more independent, so it's not a problem, and I hope it won't be! :) I moved out a month ago, am still moving, haha, and will be on the move for probably another month, lol...
But at least I have my own place, and I like it here! It's kind of a dorm with several people sharing a bathroom and a kitchen/livingroom. Nice people, no huge issues (except the garbage, hehe) and a great janitor running around fixing stuff for us! :D

I no longer feel so lost, am more confident and feel like I can stand on my own two feet - more than I have before. Right now I have no one to lean on in my everyday life, it's me and only me I can "rely" on, and it feels darn good to know I can be me and only me and still get through rough times - like my two first weeks after moving out. Not because of the break-up, but because of everything else to be honest. Just was extremely busy, but I turned it around and made it work and got through it! So keeping busy became more real than I wanted, haha, but I had myself to blame, so couldn't really complain either I guess.

Wow, that was a lot of me me me me me meeeeeee, but it's my blog, isn't it? :P *hihi* Oh, and I'm now a member of Gjøvik IKAEF Klubb, where i practice Kali with some great people every Wednesday and Thursday, at least that's the plan, hehe. Go see the website here: http://gtren.blogspot.com/
I am really falling inlove with this stuff, and I'm sending lots of thanks to Espen for introducing me to it!!! :D

Thanks to my little-sister too, who had to put up with me a couple of weeks ago, and still has to! Hihi.... Love you heeps my love!!!!! *smootch*
Ok, mom, dad - thanks to you too, you spoil me wrotten, but I love you for it, hihi... Thanks for being there! :)

Now I gotta go to bed, it's way too late...!

Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
- Niebuhr

School

First day of school is here, and I'm a little nervous. No friends, no idea what I'm up against in math, and no idea if I'll manage to stay motivated to make sure I can cope with math, hehe. But my spirit is strong! ;)

Life as "Annema" and not "girlfriend of Anders" is ok so far, we're still friends and all. Looking at appartments this week though, so it won't get more awekward than it maybe is. There are some cute guys walking around campus too, hihi... ;)

If all goes well, I'll be happy, if it turns out to suck, I'll be crabby and miserable. I'm guessing you'll find out which one I go for soon, hehe. This is so new, and I feel a little small, but I'll figure it out as I go along I guess. Head and stomache is a little off, but if I keep busy, I'm sure I'll be fine - that's usually how it works. If you don't have time to think, you won't notice how life is passing by, hihi.

Feel free to leave encouraging comments here, or any other place for that matter, that's always nice :)

Now I need to go kick some math-ass.

Single

Alright, so it's finally official: Anne Marie is as single as can be...!
So yes, you may ask me out, yes, I might say no (hihi), yes, you may hit on me, and NO, you can't sleep with me, hehe... :P ;)

Anders and I broke up Sunday, and so far we are still good friends! :) We both saw it coming, so there was no big fuzz, and we're both fine with it so far. Maybe that indicates that it was the right thing to do.
Yes, I'm fine, so don't worry, right now I'm actually kind of excited to see what is coming next in life. Lots of new things going on!! :)
Posting later! ;)

Job-interviewing!

This Friday I was at a very exciting job-interview! It was for Viken Folkehøgskole at Gjøvik, and I applied for a small possition as a voice teacher! I really hope I get the job, it would be a great experience! :D I was hyped before the interview, during, and DEFINITELY after, cause I felt it went pretty well! I'm still hyper, cause I'll get the notification this week!
It's 4 in the morning and I can't sleep, partially cause I'm sick and partially because I just can't relaxe knowing I might get my reply tomorrow/today! So I've been up for an hour or so fixing stuff online and stuff. Tomorrow/today is school too, so I could really use the sleep, but I guess that's not possible atm. We'll see later.
But guess I should go, and updates will come!

PS: been to other interviews oo, but this was a big one ;)

And here is a pic from Botanical Garden in Gothenberg :)

Feeling better

Mood is up, energy is up, it's all good again! I'm glad THAT'S over, gosh. Today I also got a call to come to an interview I'm really nervous about, yikes...! Plus, the interview was set to this Friday, and I have to prepare 4 songs, so YEAH, I hvae reason to be a little nervous. But hey, it's all gonna be goooooooooood :P

Other than that I'm still applying for jobs, still working out, going to my cabin this weekend, then a party, then maybe Gjøvik for some more "I'll kill you!"-work-outs, hehe. Then scool starts! SCHEIZE!!!!!!!! But it'll be good to get into a normal rhythm too.

The rest I will update you on later next week ;)
Check out my Facebook for pictures soon! :D

Confusion....

..... in my head..! This whole love-life situation is tearing m down, I'm getting depressed and my energy level is SO low, it's so draining..!!! *sigh*
That's all for now ;)

Ooooh, gotta post a few pics from Viking camp:





That was so much fun!!!!!!!! :D :D :D Viking-boat-rowing, knattleik, horse-racing, bow and arrow-shooting, shopping VIking-stuff an so on. Plus, the weather was GREAT! And yes, I won the horse-race, hihihi......
Besides that, been working my ass off.

Summertiiiiiiiiime

And the living is truly eeeeeeaaasy. I'm such a slacker, haha... Well, ok, not really, but it feels like it! *hihi*

Working a bit at Rimi, traveling around visiting friends, working out, going horseback riding, applying for jobs and acting like a housewife, hihi. Enjoying life basically!!! And Anders just bought a new cam, so now there will b new pics posted soon! :D
Here is one for now:


Mølen ved Stavern

Home, sweet home!!!!

Wow....... I'm HOME!!!!!!! :D
And it is truly sweeeeet... Everything is the same back home with mom and dad, and I LOVE it!!!!! Me and my sister are having a great time together, and I'm learning to live with my BF again, hehe...

AS most of you know, I went to Peru with Tessa in May, and WHAT A TRIP!!!! I love that country now, it has so much to offer!!! Such diversity, from the coast to the jungle to the mountains, the big cities and the tiny villages, WOW!
Go to www.facebook.com
and see my pictures, and you'll fall in love too...! Man, so much love and hospitality, rich in culture but poor economically/financially. Just go see my pics...! :D

Highlights from the trip:
* Mud bath in Mancora
* Inka museum in Chiclayo (where we lived with THE sweetest old couple)
* Just an absurd stay in Tarapoto
* Police-escort in Yurimagua
* Boatride from Yurimagua to Iquitos (who knew the sky had THAT many stars...?)
* Jungle stay meeting baby crocs and seeing village life
* Machu Picchu, all of it
* Tessa's diahrea :P
* My diahrea :D
* Last day in Lima when I finally dared speak more spanish to the family we stayed with, haha....

Here we are in Machu Picchu! Yes, it was steep, you can see the Inka city way behind there, hihi....


But there are SO many things that happened, small things, details, ajajaj.... Travel people, TRAVEL... For what it's worth.....


The US: I have learned SO much about myself and others, an I com back a wiser person. I miss people, I know I'll miss more, plus the teachers, but I also know I will always remember them. And thank GOD for internet! :D

What would I be in the dictionary...?

Anne Marie Erichsen -- [adjective]: Extremely extreme! 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

-[ Anne Marie Erichsen ]- Walked across Antarctica 3 times 'What will you be remembered for?' at QuizGalaxy.com

MISSING: Anne Marie Erichsen

Was last seen eating at arby's

'What will you last be seen doing?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Just a quick one

I'm in PERUUUUUUUUUUUUU, and I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D:D
Lots of pics and stuff will come up here when I get back, yaaaaayyyyy!!!!
I am doing great, Tessa is even better, and now we're going out in the jungle to find some tarantulas! :D

Sisten

I'm sorry this is in norwegian, but I really don't have the energy to translate it atm. Sorry! But it basically says "write 6 things about you, tag 6 other peoplea dn make them do the same".

Her er spillereglene til Sistern på blogg, noe nytt som er på gang, hehe.
Spillereglene: Hver spiller starter med å skrive seks rare ting om seg selv. Bloggere som blir "tatt" må skrive seks ting om seg selv i sin egen blogg, i tillegg til å angi reglene for spillet. Til slutt velger spilleren seks nye bloggere som "har den", og lister navnene deres. Etter at det er gjort, skriver han eller hun en kommentar på bloggene til hver av dem, for å la dem vite at de har blitt "tatt", og at de må lese bloggen til den som tok dem for mer informasjon.

Here are 6 about me you are DYING to know :P
1: I sing. A LOT.
2: I love HoDo (the lounge/bar at Hotel Donaldson)
3: I am married to Michelle Bar
4: I miss home a little, especially moms food
5: I can do cartwheels both ways (slå hjul)
6: I am learning spanish, my 6th language! :)

Now, Espen, you better help me out here. I mimght tag Samuel too, just because. Enjoy!

The week after tour

Boy this week has been kind of hard...! Adjusting to "real life" again after tour was something I thought I was prepared for, but then again maybe not, hehe... It's been hard getting into doing homework again, but it's getting better for sure! This is my week:

MONDAY:
- I felt sick, tired and lonely and not in the mood for school so I stayed in. We didn't have spanish either way, in conducting they watched a video I borrowed later to watch, and the teacher was still on winter time in Voice methods and missed class, so... I didn't miss out on anything!
- Helped Don with a project he is working on: getting hi mself and his family to Norway this summer! They want to live there for two weeks while his wife is doing some sort of internship or something.
- Tessa and I went to Sehla's and did homework, bumoed into Cathrine, another Norwegian on campus :) Turtoring at nine as usual, worked on my upcoming oral and written test. Yikes.

TUESDAY:
- Had the easiest oral exam ever in spanish, haha....
- Walked into a door on my way out from english, SWEET! No one was around to laugh at me, but I laughed pretty hard myself after I got over the worst shock, haha..... Didn't bruise up too bad, Just alittle green-purpleish spot and a red little line under my eyebrow.
- Had my first Social Dance class, and although it's a little slow for me, it's fun!
- Got married to Michelle Bar. *hihi*
- Picked up the cd from out Christmas Concert, I LOVE IT!!! :D :D :D
- They are arranging Concordian Idol here on campus, and I had so tign up, cme on, what do you take me for, haha.... I laughed my was through the audition, sang horrible cause I was out of breath from running, but we'll see, some of it went well, hihi.... FUN!!!

WEDNESDAY:
- My eye bruised up quite a bit more today, I find it kind of funny - after all, I've never had a black eye before!!! Haha....
- Got that spanish test from before break back, and I was right when I thought it went well: 96% and a straight A!!! :D The test that I took after class didn't go too well though I think.... Oops...
- Spent a lot of time in the music building, played my cello and reading. In between i ran an aerand with my wife Michelle, had a great burrito - both in taste and size, man that was a big burrito...! Lost a 20 too. *sob*
- Went to a LeadNow meeting even though i am not sure i will get the certificate because they had a meeting I needed while I was on tour, hmf.... It was originally set to be before, but got postponed, sigh. But we'll see.

THURSDAY:
- Worked out before school it was awesome! I love doing that, but with classes starting at 8.30 I usually need my sleep :S But we'll see when I get back on track more! :)
- Not a very exciting day, but went to the Frosh Finale at night, a showcase where Freshman audition to participate. The hosts were the best part actually, hihi, they were hillarious! Here's why:

Just one of many very funny outfits, hihihi.....!

- Tutoring again with Amazing Mike :P He was very pleased with my A! Here is a picture I took just for you guys, hehe:


- My eye looked really bad at night, so I took some Advil and iced it (with my peas, hihi) on advise from Jenna. Here is another pic:



FRIDAY:
- I love jazz.
- Not an exciting day, but went out bowling with Fran, Momoko, Jillian and a bunch of other people at night, we had a blast! And I ROCKED!!! :D Pics:





SATURDAY:
- Did some reading in my book again, I feel like I'll never get done!
- The Scandinavian Assosation devided to celebreate 17th of March instead of 17th of May because we're not here in May, so we had hot dogs and ice cream and watched "Lange flate ballær" - which I have never seen before - it was great! :D Of course we didn't have the right ice cream or the right lompe, but it worked, hihi.






- Was invited to Dixie's for dinner, they celebrated St. Patricks day this weekend apparently, hihi. Weird thing, but a good escuse to have fun as usual, hihi. Great dinner, then we went to the little girls's ice skating show after, a lot of adorable, and talented kids out there! :)




- Did some hoework before Jess, Sam, Chelsey and Katie came over to hang out, that was nice! Then more homework, woot!
- Tessa and I dragged Inger Helene along (one of the new excahnge students here, from Moelv!) and ended the evening at HoDo, after all it had been 4 weeks since I had been there! I got a bunch of "welcome back" and "how was your tour" from both guests and personell, I LOVE HoDO!!!! :D Inger Helene loved it too, I think she might be bitten by the HoDo-virus, hihi.... We met a few new people as usual, here is a selection of pictures, hihi:





SUNDAY:
- Did a LITTLE reading again, went swimming alone, went grocery shopping with Michelle and Tessa
- Was at the Chapel Choir concert (the choir I used to be in, sob) and it was great! Loved a few of the new pieces and still love the ones I did with them too. They did a cool piece of Eric Whitacre, Cloudburst - check that out!! :)


- Then I goofed around on facebook and this blog, hihi.....

Don't worry, I'll get my tour written down too, just be patient! :)

Wow, awesome....!!!!!!!!!

Well, tour is done! And I have no idea how that last week fle by! When I woke up yesterday morning after coming home, it seemed like the tour happened 3 weeks ago! This post will be extremely long, most because of pictures, but I'm gonna try to keep to a minimum, and then please go to my msn space to view the rest of my pics! I took a BUNCH (like 700) but I'll select the best ones to shoe off there, hehe. Enjoy!

Friday:
- The tour started out a little earlier than people had planned..! I were supposed to leave at 5am (yes, in the MORNING) Saturday, but there was a blizzard on the way, so we wanted to make sure we weren't stuck in Moorhead and left Friday afternoon instead. Thank goodness we already had packed our suitcases and only needed our carry-ons for the flight! But that can be bad enough for a girl, plus, a lot of people didn't get to their aerands before leaving.
I was one of the lucky ones too, I got the message at 11am Friday morning, but some didn't get the message until half an hour before we were supposed to leave, which made people a LITTLE crazy, hehe. I even had time to work out though, it was great!
We stayed at a nice hotel/motel in Roseville just outside Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Saturday:
- Woke up bright and early to get ready for our flight, I was still hyper too, hehe. Had a very "funny" breakfast, aka, I giggeled a LOT, hihi...
- On schedule leaving for the airport, got the airport, waited at the airport. This is what some people did:




Keep looking for updates here! :)

Spring is DEFINITELY arriving!!!!

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......!!!!!!!!!
That's pretty much how I feel these days. The mini tour gave me so much energy, and my body doesn't seem to want to slow down any time soon! Wuite annyoing when you need to do homework and you can't even focus for more than 5 mintues at a time - at the most!

- Well, Monday there was definitely a change in the weather - sun is melting the snow creating water puddles all over! Had a voice methods test today - which I totally had forgotten about! Oops... I studied for an hour before, and I will pass it (I hope) but the grade won't be superb! Or who knows, it might be fine, haha....
Went to Tessa in the afternoon, she had Annema-abstinences, hihi.... Stayed at hers until 4.30am to finish my paper - it took me 7 hours to write 2 pages and one paragraph. This is how my body is working these days. And no, I'm not on drugs or drinking coffee...!!!!

- Tuesday I thought I would be dead beat, but noooooooo, still the same bzzzzzzzzzz-feeling. And frankly, it's getting to the point where it very annoying, at least when I need to do homework. But at least I don't have much truoble getting up in the morning! *hihi*
Had a spanish test, which I think went alright, except the essay at the end. I started making stuff up, haha.... So we'll see! Tried doing homework, didn't work out too well for long, but got my stuff done at least. Even got time to cut Paul's hair! *proud*
Weather is getting warmer and warmer, weeeeeee, it'll probably be gone by the time we get back from tour, cause I am soon going on a tooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuur!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D

- Wednesday I woke up at 5am to pack the rest of my stuff. Weather is getting warmer and windier, not sure I like the wind too much, hehe.
Had my final presentation in Music methods for the classroom, got an A! :D Well, ok, fine, I shouldn't have problems getting an A in this class, but I'm still happy about it :)
Was invited to Jillians to have dinner with her and her mom and Fran (who made Apfelstrudel, yum!). We had a delicious tex-mex meal! Pictures here:




- Thursday I worked out in the morning, had cello whereas my teacher told me a carried myself elegantly - that totally made my day!!! - worked on an essay/analysis, had tutoring. STILL feel hyper, but can focus a little more at least, hehe. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Friday in conducting: First of of all, got an A- on conducting an arrangement of Per spelmann, hehe... TEhn Dr. Clausen said: Guess what, we're leaving this afternoon at 4pm instead of tmorrow morning at 5am!!! So I worked out (to unwind) and packed and left! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, ON A TOUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(That's all for now because of the tour, wait for update!)

Spring is coming!

My oh my.... This week has flown!
I haven't really been doing a whole lot, just messing around doing my usual stuff, hehe... The weather has been GORGEOUS, sunny and freezing, but no wind, I really like it!

Tessa "dragged me" to HoDo Wednesday night, and we had a good time as always! Met a few people, a cute older man and a couple of guys:


I was starting to get sick that day, and going out probably didn't help! But I had some branco fervent or whatever, herb stuff, it bet it helped! *hihi* Let's hope this cold will be like the one I had before Christmas concerts, that was good. SHort and mild. Yup.



Then came THE WEEKEND!
Minitour with the choir, we went to Hibbing and Brainerd and it was fun! Wish I had been totally healthy, but I coped. Had had little sleep to, so I figured I'd be dead by the end of the weekend, as I was sure not to get any while on tour, hehe... But instead the opposite happened! Let's take it from the beginning:

We hopped on the bus Saturday morning and drove up to Hibbing where we got dinner at the church that hosted us, did our concert and went home to our host families. Concert was alright although we seemed a little insecure some places. And the location - if you don't know Hibbing high school, you should. It loos like something from a movie from the 1800's, my GOODNESS!!!!!!!! Wow. Apparently the miners in town wanted only the best for their children - they have chandalears from france and stuff... Unbelievable.
Now, living with host families can be weird, but the people we stayed with were amazing. We got great, healthy(er) food, they played fabulous background music and were very interested in hearing about us and telling us about them. A great night!

The next morning we got a great breakfast, a little lunch and a little Bailys, haha...... I told the old man I liked Bailys on the rocks (it came up) and he fetched a cool bottle he kept in the fridge and said "here you go!" Of course we declined as we are not allowed to consume alchohol during the trip (representatives for the school and so on), besides, I'd say no no matter, that was just too weird, haha...
Anyway, we drove off towards Brainerd, a little sleepy, so I slept a little. At Brainerd we had a nice lunch, although I wasn't very hungry for some reason. Oh, and by the way: We all have choir duties on the tour, and I am in the skit-group whoa re suppsoed to entertain after each meal. Right. So Sunday I was a blue bull. We had a pretty decent concert, got standing ovation and had a little reception after to meet with some kids.
On the way back I got to talking with a nice guy in the choir, Paul, we talked for the 2-3 hours it took us to get back! This is what I love about tours - you get to meet and know new people - and you know how I love that!! Kjirsten and I (A friend from across tha hall and in choir and class, hehe) ended up watching a couple of movies at his place (he lives above us in the same building) and talked until 1am - who needs sleep, right..? Haha........


So, this was a very nice start of our tour and a great end before a new week! And if you are wondering why I don't have any pics from the tour - I forgot my camera at Tessa's and couldn't get a hold of her before we left!!! But I'll be asking around for pictures, and I borrowed Sara's camera (another friend from choir and Tessa), so just be pacient!!

Life is FAB by the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Last week

Time flies fast when you're having fun - or when you're just super-busy, hehe.... This is for the week from the 5th until the 11th of February!

Monday.... Hm........ Yeah, what happened Monday? Not much I think! *hihi*

Tuesday I went swimming with Tessa I think. Or maybe not...? Don't remember, haha... what a great week!!!! :P

Wednesday I had two tests, in Spanish and music methods. They both seemd to go fairly good, so no worries there! I also went to a meeting with LeadNow - when I have been to 6 of those meetings, I will receive a certificate that says I am fit to lead, hihi... I'm being such a good girl! ;)

Thursday we surprised a Sri Lanka'n friend with a cake and stuff at midnight, as her birthday was Friday, that was fun! No real party, it was a weekday after all, hehe.


Friday we had a "formal" birthday party for Buddhinie, we went to a great mongolian restaurant, much like Mr. Hong back home with stuff you can pick on your own and watch them cook. GREAT food!!!



After that Tessa and I went to HoDo as usual, hihi... We met some Ukranian and Russian people, and I met a funny hairdresser and stuff, I had a good time as usual! Don't know if there's much more to say about that night really. We stayed until everyone was gone as usual too, cabs har hard to get a hold of, goodness grief! But it's all good when you don't have to pay a dime, hihi....


Saturday I was picked up by Don (Lyle's cousin) and drove down to Alexandria where I was to sing at Lyle's church Sunday. We went to "The Mousetrap" (by Agatha Christie) that night at the local theatre, and a funny thing happened: the man handing out programs had a "lusekofte" on! So I started talking and it turned out he had lived 1 year Vesterålen in Norway, and his son, which I know, was in my class last year! Coincidenses are fun! :)


Sunday morning it was time to sing! I sang "Mitt hjerte alltid vanker" (My heart always wanders), and they all liked it very much. What was most fun though, was that the musical director came up to me, barely said hi and then asked if I wanted to sing in the choir that day, haha... So I did! And of course a bunch came up to me afterwards citing their one Norwegian phrase they knew, hehe... But that was just fun, I don't mind it at all, it's nice to meet new people! Anyway, here are a couple of pics:



After church I had to leave to get back home - I wwnt to "The Miracleworker" at the thatre on campus, a play about Helen Keller, it was amazing! Then I went to Tessa's and did homework and stuff, you know, hehe... ;) So that was that week! Keep a lookout for this weeks elabboration! *giggle*

Shaping up

This past week has been even busier, wow...!
I told my dear beloved boyfriend that I usually never have one whole hour where I am not doing ANYTHING (in other words; relaxing), and he was shocked and couldn't understand how I do it. But actually - it works better than having a LOT of time on my hands, then I never get to do anything at all usually. Now I don't have time to think about being lazy, and it's fabulous! :D So here is what I did last week:

The week started out pretty easy, the weather getting colder which gave me a pleasant surprise Wednesday morning! It wasn't really snowing, but it wasn't really NOT snowing either; the air was filled with twinkling crystals dancing around, floating like light feathers touched by the light wind. I couldn't help smiling, it was truly beautiful!

I also had a Spanish test Wednesday, and I feel I rushed it a little, so it's probably not as good as it could have been... But I'll just have to wait and see! I did a lot of Spanish homework this weekend, and Tessa helped me a little, hihi.

Thursday morning I woke up to more snow, and that's ALWAYS a nice surprise these days! I had my cello as usual, and in the middle of my lesson my celloteacher paused for a second and said: "I like what you do - I like you!" *cheer* That actually made my day! That's just a great compliment!
Thursday night Tessa, Fran, Momoko, Lorena, Meredith, Juliane and Aleks went to HoDo, and one of the guys we ran into last Saturday was playing with some other guy. Just regular Rock/Pop/Jazz stuff. Then we managed to run into a couple of Danish guys, FUN!! They are attending NDSU this semester, doing majors in technology or something. Tessa got, without warning really, pretty drunk, we goofed around and ended up driving those guys home. But we had fun as usual, hehe... ;)





Friday it was a liiiittle hard getting up in the morning, but not as bad as it could have been, hehe. Friday night Tessa and and I were supposed to go to this place to do some salsa dancing, but we couldn't find the place; we ran up and down dosntown Fargo, but there was no sign of salsa dancing people. Long story short - we found them after a lot of running, cab-driving and -waiting, but then it was over. So we went to HoDo, found a republican that Tessa could argue with, and finished off by talking until 5am in Tessa's appartment. (Without the republican, by all means!)

Saturday was pretty relaxed, I liked it, hihi.... Sunday I swam again, with Tessa I guess, hehe.... The weather is FREEEEZING these days, but it's been kind of nice, we get more snow almost every day, the sun is shining higher and higher in the sakies, and I love it! :D

Think I'm gonna put next week in another post, this is getting long! Oh, and:

Busy, but fun week!

Where do I start?
Hm, well, I got a few papers and tests back and they are all in the upper range of the grade-scale! Conducting, Spanish, and a presentation in Music Ed. class. So things are going good, and I don't really have any major troubles this semester. Although, my english class is kind of challenging, and there's a LOT to read! But so far it's ok I think - and I think I can do better.
Spanish is demanding just because we speak it too little, and I would like to get it into mys system. But hey, it's been like 3 weeks, I'll give it some more time, hehe.

Tuesday I had my first voice lesson where I taught a student! It's part of our Voice-metods class to do so. She is very eager, and we have fun, so I think it's going to be good! :)

Wednesday I went out with Tessa - she decided I should come Salsa-dancing with her, and so I did, hihi. You know I love to dance! We had a BLAST! Even our ride there (taxi) provided some good fun, our driver was crazy, hehe. I/we danced for about 4 hours, I got to dance with an intructor, and I also danced with Carlos, Tessa's friend, and that was so much fun!!!! LOVED it! :D

Thursday I had my first appearance with The Concordia Choir! Only problem was that I freaked out because I started with the wrong song for some reason, and that put me off so much that I was paralyzed the entire concert! Very little focus on my part, can't say I've ever been like that before. New experience! But although I stood there like a zombie it was fun! :)

Friday night there was an A Capella conert on campus, that was fun! :) After that I was across the hall from my appartment wathcing a movie while my friends were sleeping, haha... It was a very cheerful evening, I was in a very good mood and wanted to go out dancing again! So I danced in my chair at the concert, hihi... I love being so social again! :D

Saturday Tessa and i went swimming, we swam 1,6km, we were pretty proud! :D At night we went out to this dance event, but the music got a little monotone, so we went to a bar and sat there talking instead. We had such a good time, and we took lots of pictures of course, hehe... Here is one!


Tessa bought me an Orgasm, haha....


I also started tutoring in Spanish, altough I really don't need it, it's nice to get inout from a private tutor, make sure you pronounce stuff right, and just practice conversation and vocabulary! The guy that is tutoing me, Mike, is also very nice, so I don't mind going. He brags about me too, haha... :P By May, when I am going to Peru I will ROCK in spanish!!! :D

Both Saturday and Sunday was pretty cold, and it still is today (-24 Celsius!), so I'm wrapping up real good when going outside! Sunday it snowed and left really nice powdersnow (which I didn't get any pictures of before it blew away again... *sad*), it was so pretty out!
But now I'm gonna stop writing before this gets waaaay too long, hehe. Just leaving you with the picture of the year, hihi...

Social time

I must admit - last semester I wasn't very social. So this semester I am going to do something about that!
So I've been dining with friends a few times, hung out with them on occasions, and the funniest thing was inviting Tessa (a Norwegian student here, the only one from the same school as I) over for some brown/goatcheese on Wednesday! She has missed that stuff sooo much, and when she took her first bite, she was in heaven. Gotta post her picture, hihi:



Thursday I was at the grocery bingo they have here every once in a while, just Fran and I! We brought our spanish homework, and some german and Norwegian chocolate, YUMMMM! And somehow I got in a realtionship with a gay guy during the night, haha.... Anyway, I am enjoying myself a little more than this fall, and it actually give me more energy and more motivation to do good in school! So so far it's all good!

Fran with bingo, books and CHOCOLATE!


This weekend I am going to a couple of recitals (small concerts that features one student) and I am even invited out for dinner to celebrate my celloteachers birthday! At the same time the Norwegians are gathering up at a "pizza-party" the Norewgian dude here is throwing for the two new Norwegian students here, so I'm a little torn to be honest. I want to get to know the other celloists, but I also want to hang out with the Norwegians, so.... Well see! It's all good anyway!
See ya in a week ;)

Life is good

Alright, I admit I am a pretty positive person in general, but life is good these days! I feel like I put a descent amount of time into my homework/school, take time to meet friends, work out and good around.
I just came back from my second cello lesson, and she said I had good progress and had a totally different sound compared to put first lesson. I am very motaivated for this, and I even felt I didn't get to practice as much as I wanted, so I think this is going to be a productive semester!!! :D

When walking to my lesson today it had just started to snow again outside, and I couldn't help smiling. A little snowflake found it's way to my cheek, and melted there, tickling me so I giggled, hihi. Isn't it funny how these little things can brighten your day? It's still snowing a little bit out. The flakes are few and far apart, but I love the way you can see them dance around, making their way to the ground after a tumbling journey from above... Dance my dear ones, dance!

Once you have tasted flight,
you will forever walk the earth
with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been,
and there you will always long to return.

- Leonardo Da Vinci

First week of school

Well, first week of school after the break is hereby over and done with, and I survived!! *hihi*
Wednesday I had my first voice lesson, and Thursday I had my first cello lesson that I've had in 9 years, yikes!!! Voice lesson was ok, we talked a little, found a couple of pieces to sing and stuff. I am still getting over my cold, so the voice isn't all there yet. The cello lesson was fun, I learned HEAPS just during my first half hour! I found out I lacked a LOT of basic good techniques, even when I used to play, so I am really looking forward to this semeste with cello. The teacher is stricts, but fair, and we are getting along good I think. She for sure knows what she is doing!! :D

I also started learning spanish, and my first two days were just overwhelming! But I'm geting there I hope, the book isn't as good as I wished it was compared to my needs and methods for learning, but hey, I'll get there I think! ;)

All in all I am just very excited about this semester, the only class I am a little worried about is my English literature class. There is a lot of reading and we are analyzing stuff, which I haven't done in 6-7 years, so that's gonna take some time to get into. But I used to do alright in those kind of things, so hopefully I'll be alright, just need to get into the "groove", hehe.

Choir is going good, I love most pieces we are doing, they all hav emoments of grace in them! So for those who are able to come to our concert during the tour - look forward to it!
Now I'm off for comedy night, see ya'll!

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WOW, what a Christmas!!

This post is going to be LOOOOOOONG unless I manage to be short and concise - which I doubt, hehe. Anyway, here we go!

As most of you know, I spent Christmas here in the US with my family and our relatives. Before I picked up my family at the airport, I stayed with a very nice family who took me in for a while (as I have written before), and I had a great time staying there. Thank you to Katie and her parents!!!!


I picked up my family at the airport Thursday the 21st, and we headed northwest for Paynesville the first night. Maureen and Dwayne took good care of us before we moved on to Fargo/Moorhead the next day. We did some shopping and then spent the night in Janice Kjesbo's house. I'll always feel at home there! Next day (Saturday) we went to Grand Forks to drop off the rental car. Jeff picked us up and drove us to Devils Lake after some shopping and an excellent meal at their house!

It was weird realizing it was Christmas Eve the next day! And it was kind of sad not being able to watch "Tre nøtter til Askepott" with my sister at 11am as I usually do - but at least I had my sister there! :D Weird not eating "risengrynsgrøt" too! I got confused I even forgot to dress up for dinner, which made me sad... And although the food was excellent, I missed moms Christmas dinner, hehe... No offense Janis! AFter dinner we went to a Candlelight service, which was nice. :) Then it was time for presents, and we had a good time opening each others presents and presents from friends back home, hihi. I got a lot of good gifts! :D


We spent the next couple of days just chilling and hanging out, shopping a little too of course, hehe. Tuesday night Janises house got very crowded as three of her daughters brought their families to her house, haha, it was crazy! People eating dinner all over the house, on the floor and I wouldnæt be surprised if someone sat in the bathroom, lol. Loved it! All of the people were great, and of course we made some music with Bonnie's boys, they are all very musical, at least the one old enough to play instruments. Good fun, hehe.


On Wednesday we moved out to the famous Bibelcamp by the lake (Devils Lake of course), and what a cirkus, hihi. We all got settled in, and within the next 24 hours people kept pouring in. For 4 days we played games, talked, goofed around and just had a blast. Staying up WAAAAAAAY past bedtime and getting up way to early compared to that gets to you after a while, but we did it, haha. I didn't go to bed before 3.30 am for one week I think, hihi. We even managed to give Calen a new hairdo!



Friday evening we had the late celebration of Christmas Eve, and had the Christmas Program and the gift-orgie, my goodness. Wrapping paper flying all over, people climbing the same paper trying to get to someone to give them a thank-you-hug, gifts being traded here and there, cookies being sent etc. It was madness, and I smiled the entire time! And I got a lot more presents than I thought I would, my goodness!
At the end of the week it was sad to see everybody go, but at the same time we were all so tired that it probably was for the best, haha. I now have friends all over this country, and I loved getting to know everybody.

New Years Eve was just weird. Private households aren't allowed to shoot fireworks here NYE, and the "city" of Devils Lake sure didn't send up any. People even started to go to bed before midnight! OUTRAGEOUS!!! But we youngsters went out in the streets screaming and cheering as I usually do around midnight, and the boys rang a few doorbells so we had to run. Fine, I'm childish, but I had fun, hihi...

Then it was time to send my family home. We spent Monday night at Lyle's place in Alex before going in to Minneapolis Tuesday morning/afternoon. We managed to squeeze in dinner at Doug's before sending them off! The goodbye was alittle rushed, I don't either of us realized we wouldn't see each other for another 4.5 months! But I got a few good hugs before they left, so I'm happy!

It was pretty empty in my appartment when I came back, a bit of an anticlimax, but kin dof nice to just relaxe a little. Joel and Sue helped me with some groceries too, so I'm set for the weekend. And tomorrow is my first day in the concert choir!!! *cheer*

At last I just want to thank everybody for their hospitality and good companionship, I had such a good time with all of you!

I MADE IT!!!

I can't believe I haven't written this here yet, but I got big news:

I MADE THE CONCORDIA CHOIR!!!!

This is the big concert choir that tours through some of the states every spring, wooooot! The last week before christmas I got an e-mail saying there was an opening for an alto 2 and a barryton, so I signed up for an audition of course! I felt that the audition went ok, wasn't perfect, but close to it. I even managed to smile a little and relaxe and show my personality, which apparently had something to say in the matter according to the evalutaion sheet. The next day I checked my e-mail probably 50 times before I finally got the good news - I was their new alto 2!!!!
Most of you know that I have been mad at myself for not being able to try out for this choir, and here was my chance. I grabbed it, and what do you kow, I got in! Even if I hadn't gotten in, I would at have had the chance to try out for it, and that was all I wanted - a chance. So getting in is just a GREAT bonus, hihi.

Go to http://www.cord.edu/dept/music/ensemble/choir/tour/ and see where we are going!

CAN'T WAIT!!! :D :D :D :D