So, its almost 1 am in the morning, and I just got home, but im not that tired at all. I don't have a lot to do, so I'll put up some stuff here.

Its been more than a month, and it was a month before that too, so I guess I've lost most my readers. Which is fine, really. My "epic adventures" are almost over!

To start it all off with something fun: I'm going to a coldplay concert tomorrow! It hasn't really sunk in yet, since it wasn't planned till yesterday (planning USA style), and its going to be really good to finally go to a concert again. Preparing for Hove :)

Track is almost over, I hope. In theory I could go to states, and have a few more weeks, but I really want to call it a day and spend my last week relaxing a little.

I went to two proms as well, and it was a lot of fun :) I have some good pictures, but I don't feel like working on uploading them right now, so if anyone wants to see them that hasn't already seen them and can't check them on facebook, let me know in a comment :)

We had a pre-departure orientation with YFU last weekend, and it was alright, but most of all it made me think about the fact that I'm actually leaving soon. Only three and a half weeks now, and the closer it comes the faster time goes. Nowadays I don't really know what to think about it, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again, but I really don't want to leave my family and friends here either.

And that was about it I think, for now :)

News

headline:
Tim moved out today.

Second page:
Assassins just started(game with water guns, where you have to shoot a target and someone has you and the winner gets 250 dollars).
Assassins is very intense so far, but I'm in good shape and will probably get through the first round.

Sports:
I have a track meet tomorrow. It got delayed for one day because the weather was too bad. (Too WARM)

Glamour:
I'm going to three proms and I'm currently looking for a tux.

life

after a little break, i'm back
i've had a relatively eventful month, with some peaks and some valleys.

I dont remember all ive done, and definitely not when everything happened since last time, so i'm just going to throw in some events from here and there to give you guys something to read, and me at least something to remember for the future.

so, first of my host parents went to Barcelona for a week a couple of weeks back. For various reasons Tim and I got a babysitter for those 12 days. All in all the week was pretty smooth. School and activities made time fly by, and I have to admit that I didn't really mind taking care of my own dinner every day. It gave me some interesting room for culinary experimentation, usually with decent results (i did have an accident this morning though, when i poured bacon fat into a styrofoam cup, unaware that it would dissolve upon contact). But it was still great when they came back from Barcelona!

On April 4th mom drove Tim, Trym and me up to Enfield were we got on the bus to Washington. I met a cool swedish guy, Alex, who is in a situation much like mine (except from being hid away far up in the cold north of Maine). There were a lot of people on our bus (the red one), some cool, and some incredibly annoying. The first night we got set hotel rooms, but the second we were allowed to change. After a lot of chaos, manipulation and drama i finally managed to get a good room with Trym, Pedro from Brazil and Alex. The morning before the roomchanges pedro broke the shower and flooded the room and became a celebrity.

We then saw a bunch of momunents and museums. That didnt really make my trip, to be honest. But i guess it was cool for all the tourists in the bus with cameras glued to their faces. However, the capitol and white house were cool.

We ditched the smithsonian to check out the shopping of washington, and didnt buy anything. In phildadelphia we ditched the liberty bell to go to some crazy foreign market inside a huge warehouse like building. It all looked old and partially rundown, but it was great.

We then arrived in New York, which i've visited a couple of times before. that status/knowledge immediately gave me the honorable title of tourguide amongst my friends, and i quite enjoyed it. It was especially cool the day we decided to check out shopping in soho instead of going to chinatown and i showed them some sweet stores. We all got some nice stuff and walked on the bus with our "urban outfitters" bags to a bunch of jealous faces.

Cool sights in new york were the statue of liberty, some tall building with a great view ("top of the rock") and ground zero. However, im not the big sight fan, so i think i forgot the rest.

The last day we were supposed to have a dance at the hotel, but some morons decided they had to drink. They also needed to get some girls drunk so they could get laid. So the idiots decide to take their alcohol and go OUTSIDE. There they get caught by hotel security and the entire dance is canceled. They didn't even get sent home, so I guess we all get an second chances over here (and in some cases, second second chances)..

It was slightly depressing to come home from hanging out with friends around the clock to two slow nights here, but probably the most intense monday nights of my life sorted that out pretty quickly. But i'm still gonna miss you guys.

Other than that I have spring break this week, and a lot of homework that i dont do. I better get working on that, but who can write 1500 words on some random Einstein quote on money? Not my favorite brand of cookie, thats for sure.

I got in the newspaper for running twice, once for getting "all conference" and once for running along a road where a woman was taking "spring pictures". My knee hurts really bad lately, but my coach always yells at me whenever i'm hurt, so i pretend its not nearly as bad as it is.

I think that's it, but feel free to ask in the comments if there's more you're wondering about!

Yaaaaay

no msn
no facebook
no blog

till the end of march

see you later.

West Coast Trip & Birthday

(click on the pictures for full sizes ;) )

Since last time so much has happened. I have to admit that life just races away sometimes.
I've finished track season, been on a magnificent trip to the west coast and been thoroughly surprised on my birthday.

Track season really fizzled out into nothing. After Conferences I was bumped down to alternate for the 4x800 relay, but I kept running. And then States came by, I watched the race, and my indoor track career was officially over.

The day after Trym, Terri (his host mother) and I stepped on the plane to Newark. Of course there was an hour delay, but fortunately we just made our connecting flight to LA! However, our luggage didn't. So we got a free little bag with a toothbrush, some shampoo, shaving cream and a razor. Of course the razor was horrible and I cut myself.

In LA we went on a tour of famous people's houses, hung out with my american sister Erin who lives out there and walked around in downtown Hollywood. There I found a great music store with thousands of records and cd's, both used and new at a great price. I bought the Gaslight Anthem and Kings Of Leon records.






Hermosa and Manhattan beach.













My new favorite store in the world.













Erin, Trym and me.










The day after we drove through the desert to Las Vegas. A huge 18 wheeler burnt down in the middle of the road, so we got the pleasure of enjoying a three hour traffic jam.








Sunset










Mountains in the "desert"











A rescue crew tries to remove the 18 wheeler











We almost (light blinking for ten miles) ran out of gas stuck in traffic, and when we finally got to a gas station it was a dollar more for gas than in any other gas station in the area. We still refilled half the tank. Las Vegas itself was HUGE, and the "strip" was tiny. And since both me and Trym were underaged we just walked around and shopped a little. There was a circular MILE indoors, with a highrised, arched roof painted as a sky. It was pretty cool. On the streets, there were mexican people handing out cards with pictures of nude girls and their phone numbers and prices. We slept in a fourty dollar motel right in between all the big an fancy ones.











Trym og en av "kort" utdelerne.
















Only in Vegas.














Vannshow utenfor et hotel.











The day after we got up early and headed for the Hoover dam, and the Grand Canyon in the evening. The Hoover dam wasn't too exciting, since we couldn't even stop to take a nice picture without paying for a tour.








Snowmen looking out over the canyon.


















Ignore the face..













Road to the Grand Canyon











The day after we went to Sedona, a national park further south. It's basically the edge of the same plateau as the Grand Canyon is on, eroding away. So the rocks are really cool. There's also some cool plants and animals. We took a "Pink Jeep" tour to see the landscape up close.









Trym & The Pink Jeep













The Camel Mountain


















Favorite picture, a cattle thing with caci.












Roadrunner! Meep Meep













Me, Terri and Trym









Afterward we drove to Phoenix where we slept over at Terri's friends house, Demetra and Paul (and their daughters Xanthi and Thallie). They are great and very hospitable :) We had a good time looking for and listening to records and visiting their enormous church. Its probably the coolest church I've been to. It was much like a rock concert, only with christian songs.

Unfortunately no pictures from there.

We also visited Terri's mom and sister in Tucson, swam in their pool, tried to tan and went cactus and desert animal spotting in a local "desert museum"











cool cactus



















another cool cactus












those two tiny peaks to the right, close to the bigger mountain is MEXICO!













there are "forests" of cacti.









And that was it from the West Coast! A great trip, some good and bad weather, good and bad food but only good memories :)


On my birthday, my friends got busy one by one, and I wound up thinking I'd be alone all night.. Then my host mom told me to go look for my host brothers check book in the basement, and I went down. I smelled some girls perfume, and was wondering what my host brother had been doing down there. I turned on the light, and all my friends where down there :) I was very, very surprised! Mom had the idea and provided food, and somehow Nick managed to round up my friends from all over the place :D. It was great! Thank you guys! And thanks to everyone who showed up :)































Other than that I'm hoping to finally go snowboarding soon :)
And I'm looking forward to the East Coast trip coming up.

Takk for gaven Vilde & Tine!

Og til Hove! fleet foxes :D
And thank you to everyone else who sent cards and money! I'm trying to get some cards (from the Grand Canyon) out tomorrow! :)

Hove!

Hovebilletten er kjøpt og betalt :D

+ Søkt på Lillestrøm i 3. klasse.

tomorrow's just a song away

Midterms are over,
I did well.

We had a yfu orientation this weekend,
it had some interesting, weird, strange, surprising and disturbing moments.

My new headphones arrived,
they are fantastic.

I fixed my polaroid camera,
but I'm waiting for a good occasion to take a picture.

I still run every day,
because states is in two weeks and coach wants me in shape in case i have to run.

I'm looking forward to a week of school
over winterbreak with Trym and Terri on the west coast.

Hove is announcing artists,
and there's some good stuff coming :)

And everything else i pretty much like before.

tonight I'm going to watch the Superbowl.

Watch out, I've got too much soul for the world

On friday and the first half of next week there's (were) midterms. I get tested in everything I was taught the past semester, and for some classes half of it is gone a long time ago. But since my grades have been good so far I have quite some room for error.

I've been doing pretty good for track. We had our first big meet last week (the conference meet), and I was only put in one race... However, I surprised everyone and got a 2.16 for my leg in the 4x8 (it was actually the first time ever that I ran it). And our anchor did really well too, so we got second place, a stupid little medal and "all conference". Also, coach put me as an alternate for the state meet, so I'm still running even if half of the team is done. Tomorrow we're going to Yale to practice at their indoor track.

Yesterday Trym and Terri were over and we planned our California trip to some more detail:

Sunday: Arrive in LA & hit the bars (sleep in nice hotel)

Monday: hang out in LA & see Hollywood etc (sleep in same nice hotel)

Tuesday: Drive up to Las Vegas & The Hoover Dam (sleep in scetchy roadside motel)

Wednesday: Drive over to the Gran Canyon (forgot where we're sleeping)

Thursday: See some really cool looking national park thing & drive to Terri's friends in Phoenix (sleep there)

Friday: Drive down to Terri's family in Tucson (sleep there)

Saturday: Hang out in Tucson for a bit and drive up to her friends in Phoenix (sleep there)

Sunday: Go to church in Phoenix & hang out in the city

Monday: Home again :)

So that looks pretty enjoyable!

Next weekend there's a yfu sleepover in the forest somewhere, which is going to be pretty cool.
Also, my new headphones will probably arrive soon (Grado Sr80's), and I ordered a really cheap polaroid camera to see if its cool. I paid twice as much for the film as for the camera..

When it comes to other things, I'll miss out on graduation, but since I wouldn't graduate anyways I don't really care. (Even though my chemistry teacher wanted to talk to the guidance councelor and change his mind for me!) Also, Prom is going to be interesting since I have no group to go with yet, nor ANY ideas for dates.

Big hugs and thanks to dad for the snowboardstuff and mom & Edward for the cookies :D

:( :( :(

Dagen etter jeg betaler for Arizona turen (og dermed blir tvunget til å selge Ryan Adams billeten min) går han ut og sier han skal slutte å drive med musikk den 20. mars..
Ødela dagen min, og sikkert helga også.
Jeg hadde nok ikke dratt på den turen om jeg visste.. Trodde han kom til å holde på i årevis jeg.. =/

http://www.vg.no/musikk/artikkel.php?artid=539776

Arizona & LA

So, today, Trym, his host mom and me booked tickets for a trip to LA (Erin) and Arizona for the winter break! I'll get to see stuff like hollywood and the gran canyon :)

Hove?

Departure June 17th at 10.03 am.

'09

First, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
A week late :)
I hope '09 will be even better than '08, for me and all of you.

So, a snowday saves me again; I've been way to busy lately to write my blog, so it came in very handy. It's so good to wake up in the morning, turn on the tv and see "Rocky Hill Publis Schools, Closed" roll across the screen.

Anyways, I've had a good Christmas break that felt really short even though everyone here said it was a long one.. (24th of december through 4th of january, shortest ive had).

My host sister was home for Christmas, and she reclaimed her room (which is now my room), and since I like my room, I just stayed. She still got my bed, so I had to sleep on a cott (aka, en sammenleggbar seng).

American Christmas is a little different than Norwegian Christmas in several ways, first of all there is almost no advent, secondly there is no days off school before Christmas eve, and then you go to church and unpack your presents on Christmas day morning! But the church looked magnificent, the music there was good, the food was great and being a grownup like me, who cares about when you get your presents as long as you get them, huh?

The day after I went to Nicks beach house with him, Chris and Melissa, it was pretty dark there, and cold, but I bet it will be a good place to hang out in the summer :)

On Monday one and a half week ago I went to lunch with Nick and some of his friends that lived kinda far away, and on our way home we picked Trym up. He slept over at my house until new years eve. We hung out with Nick most of the time, we went to New Haven and had pizza and hung out in his house.

On New Years eve we got another snow storm, great. The snow storm led to a parking ban, so at first we were talking about canceling our grandiose party. But then our neighbors said our guests could borrow their driveway, and since we had a lot of driveway ourselves too, we figured most guests could still come. Then our neighbor announced he was sick, so he couldn't snowblow his driveway. So I spent two hours snowblowing in the snow, cool.

Many people came, including Daniel from Sweden, a couple of the pastors from church and loads of people i didn't know. It was a nice night, even though we didn't have any fireworks!

Last weekend I went on a yfu weekend trip to New York with Trym and Daniel. We spent most of the time shopping. And we went to Taco Bell in a cab at 12:30 at night.

And that was my Christmas/New Years, and now school has started again..
I have two track meets on friday and saturday, so that's gonna be exciting :) On the saturday one only half the team is going, and I'm running in the 4x8 relay :D

peace.
(I really appreciate comments folks, keep up the good work!)