I am Marianne

The Demon Norwegian Teacher

2008-10-16T00:26:00.000-07:00

In my second year in the Norwegian High School (videregående), I had the most horrible teacher in Norwegian and Gym. He was proud and so full of himself that I gag just thinking about it. He refused to follow the usual method, and in every single class he came in, handed out a piece of paper which he read out loud. Then we had a spelling test to learn to spell things like "Supreme Court Justice" (Høyesterettsjustitiarius) and "penis case" (penisfutteral). Then he left, so that we could use the time to work on our own.

Let me put it this way: The third year, we got (what the school considered, and I agree) the best teacher at the school, so that he could repair the damage and help us so that we at least could pass our graduating exams. We had to spend the first semester just learning everything we were supposed to have learned the year before.

At the end of the second year, the demon norwegian teacher sent everyone in my class a letter, and Im putting it out here. It's in Norwegian, but I might find time to translate it, as I've finished my philosophy-essay and have nothing else to do today.

This last letter is the letter the school management sent when they were informed about the teacher's letter.

Summer vacation at Roskilde Festival

2008-07-19T04:07:00.000-07:00

This year, like last year, I went to Denmark to enjoy a week of constant beer-ing, smoking and concert-ing.
The Roskilde Festival is one of the largest festivals in Europe, with around 100'000 guests every year. It started in 1971 and is a non-profit festival which gives you a little better conscience about "wasting" an entire week, as your money dosen't end up in some rich pig's pocket, but like this year helps clearing mines in Congo.
I like doing charity, especially if it's as fun as the Roskilde Festival =)

The entire week is packed with fun and partying and wonderful music. But there's only one experience I want to write about from this year's festival, and that is the...

The Streets concert.

Me and the other campers had been sitting around beeing really down after some bad illigal substances, waiting for the concert that started at 1 am. After a while the to others almost yawned their jaws off and went to bed, but me and Liv-Tone stayed. As soon as the other to had left, we got a kick of energy! We bought huge pineapple-drinks and ran around having fun and talking to lots of people (me half blind, as a manged to poke a pineapple leaf in my own eye). So when the concert started we were in good mood and our drunkness was just perfect.

I think I have to mention that The Streets isn't my favorite artist. Nor Livi's. We'd heard the most famous sonds, like "Fit but you know it" and I love "Dry your eyes", but other than that isn't rap our kind of music. But as the line-up wasn't the best this year, we felt we had to go to the ones we knew of.

But this turned out to be the best concert I've ever been to! Mike Skinner (aka The Streets) really knew how to put on a show. He talked a lot to the audince and made us laugh, whoop and flirt with eachother! We danced during all the songs, but the climax of it all was when he sang (rapped?) "Dry your eyes". For those who don't know this song, this is a sad love song about breaking up.
It was so good I forgot the lyrics as I tried to sing along with a beer in one hand and my lighter lit in the other. Suddenly Mike interrupted himself and said "Oh, my God, you've got your lighters on!" and then he got really excited and started crying to the crew "Turn the lights off! TURN THE F*ING LIGHTS OF!". And The Orange Stage went black, and on the big screens they showed the mass of people: It was just an ocean of lights, like a great wave of a starry sky! Mike continued to sing (rap?) and, I felt outside myself. It was so wonderful, the feeling of love and sadness and beauty at the same time. It sounds cheesy but I know that everyone who was there will agree with me.

It was just AMAZING!

The 1990 Lord of the Flies movie.

2008-06-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

Warning! Do not, under any circumstances watch this movie!
I am one of those people who hate it when a movie based on the book differs too much from the original story. Seeing the Harry Potter films with me is not a good experience. It goes something like this: "WHAT?!", "Yeah, right...", "Oh, come on!!", "WHAT?!?!?". I hate them. "The Perfume" by Patrick Süzkind actually made a good movie, and so did "Bridget Jones". But the worst thing I've ever seen is the 1990 Lord of the Flies film.

The things I recognized from the book:
-The title
-The names of some of the boys
-Some of the lines
-That Ralph was made cheif
-That Jack made himself cheif of another tribe
-That the same people died
-That there existed a pig's head on a stick
-That Ralph started to cry when he saw the Navy guy.

The things I missed the most:
-That the boys were English
-That Jack had red hair and Ralph blonde
-Ralph's and Piggy's personalitys
-Simon's talk with the Lord of the Flies
-The parachuter
-The war, the atom bomb, and the reason the boys landed on the island
-The meaning of the plot

I just... argh.. What a waste of time!

The reason I saw it: I downloaded the wrong one, and thought I'd just see it because I was looking so forward to seeing the movie. FAIL! But now I hope the one from 1963 is a little bit better.

Summertime

2008-06-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Ah, exams are over and it's SUMMER!

I started the holidays getting sick, with a real fever and everything! I had to stay in bed for a week, and all the while the sun was shining from a cloudless sky and it was extremely hot outside. Then I got well and the rain came. Of course. But I did get to spend a few days in southern Norway, in Kristiansand, with Sigrid and it was great fun. Mostly partying, but what are holidays for?

I have also read my first summer vacation book, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I really enjoyed it. It was full of words I didn't recognize, so it was hard reading, but was still consumed by it. It was so scary in the end I had to go and sleep under the protection of the cat. I'm now looking forward to see the movie (the one from 19863, not 1990), because I loved the story - but had trouble with some of the English words.
I think it was interesting how the kids were so unwilling to listen to what Piggy had to say, as he was the only one with much intelligence. Also how they so easily changed sides when Jack started his own tribe, even though Ralph was the one with the plans for a future of survival and Jack's way of life concentraded around the present. Is this a desicion only children would take because they are not as smart as adults, and not yet have the capability (or desire) to plan ahaead? Or would a grown-up after a while start to make the same desicions as time went on and hope started to falter?
I thought a lot about the plane crash in the Andes mountains in the 1970's when a group of about 15-20 yong boys lived in the snowy mountains for over 70 days. Their survival instinct were so strong that they eventually eate the bodies of their friends. They did not turn on eachother, in contrast to the boys in "Lord of the Flies", but is this because they were older or simply because they were too cold?
I also kept thinking about how I myself would react if I was on a deserted island, or even in the mountains. Would my survival instinct be strong enough, or would I give up and try to enjoy the rest of my days?

I warmly recommend the book, not only for people who like to reflect on the ways the mind works under certain circumstances, but also for those who enjoy a scary book!

In five days time I'm off for my own adventure: The Roskilde Festival! I was there last year, and it rained so badly we almost drowned in mud. After only a couple of days there wasn't even a pacth of green grass left! So I really hope it will be better weather this year. But if it's not, I know it won't matter, 'cause we had a blast last year and will this time as well!
I'm looking forward to see the following artists/bands:

Bob Hund
Gnarls Barkley
Judas Priest
MGMT
Radiohead
Slayer
The Streets
Teitur
Neil Young

So I have a lot of planning and packing and CD-making to do.
Must not forget toothbrush or condoms...

Spring Ball and other facilities

2008-05-01T02:39:00.000-07:00

Today we're hosting a Spring Ball at Uglebo. There will be cuts (snitter) and champagne and pretty girls and boys.

The idea came, I think, one late evening at Friday night pub when me and Cecile where talking about the new dresses we had just bought, and that we didn't have an occation to wear them. Then we decided there should be a formal part during spring at Uglebo, as all the other formal parties happen during fall. And as smokers, we do not appriciate having to stand outside in the cold in our fancy dresses and shoes, just to have cigarette.

And so the Spring Ball came into beeing. As I'm the party-planner for the Philological Student Society, we could just get started.

So today we're making cuts for 50 people (app. 100 slices of bread), and decorating and stuff. It'll be good. People are really looking forward to it, I think.

This week-end, we were on the famous Danskebåt. This is one of FF's annual trips and it's always a blast. This year's trip greatly surpassed last year's, and I think it's mainly because of the foreigners. They had never been on a danskebåt, and as Gwyneth said "This is like liquer on wheels!!!". I think the foreigners had the best time, and I'm really happy they experienced it.

I had a really good time too, though. Me and Aneth were wasted before the Drøbakksund, and happy to be so. I was in a really good mood all week-end, singing and laughing and hugging everyone in sight. I've gotten some nicknames, as "Miss Danskebåt" and "Miss Wasted before the Drøbakksund" and stuff.. I take them as a compliment!

The only disappointing thing about it was Elfie falling asleep way too early, as I had planned getting him to bed (makes more sense in norwegian). But hey, you can't always get in both a bag and... a... bag.

On Monday it's time for my first exam this semester, and it's a home-exam which means three days of constant work and stress to write an 8-12 page essay about Edvard Munch. As I've only read 1/6 of the sullabus, I'm not looking forward to it.

Other things...

hmm

....

My new neighbour is complaining about me smoking inside ("this is a non-smoking building!"), and I hate her, 'cause noone else who lives there really cares. Except Smoking Guy. And her.

Stupids...

Oslo by Day

2008-04-04T02:50:00.000-07:00

Trying to be effective and stuff is much harder in life than in theory. Not just doing it, but it's as if my body resists it. I don't even remember my alarm clock going off at 06.30 in the morning, I just wake up at 10 being all annoyed and confused.

I'm only a month away from my first exam, and I'm trying to get through all the syllabus, as well as trying to lose some of the weight I've gained since I joined the Blindern Bohemians. Trying to have time and energy to both work out and study in one day without even being rewarded with a beeeeer at the end of the day, is like the Sisyphus-thing. Or not. It's just hard.

But at least it's spring soon. It's kinda spring right now, 'cause yesterday the sneakers were calling, and the students were all sitting outside, but no sunny warm days yet! So no sun = no spring.

I'm really looking forward to the Danishboattrip at the end of the month, after so much stress pulling the thing together.

Oslo By Night

2008-03-11T17:51:00.001-07:00

The view from my bedroom window ain't that bad. It's mostly roof tops and sky, and far away I can see the Oslo Fjord on a clear day. But what I'm most taken aback by is the light the city gives the sky. It changes. Sometimes it's orange, sometimes green and sometimes, like tonight, yellow. At Råholt the sky's always black at night.

It's 2 am, and I can't sleep. Not beacause I'm hungry or thristy or restless or have thoughts all over.. I'm just so damn nauseous! And I don't even have a reason to be so.. If only I were pregnant, that would explain it, but unfortunatly that's physically impossible. So maybe I'm like a cat, and have obtained a "pseudopregnancy", an imaginary pregnancy! That would be such a waste of time. Pregnancy' supposed to be a bitch, and why go through it if you're not even gonna end up with a Mini-Me?!

On the subject of things that are wrong with my body:
I am now about to be a brille-slange. I need glasses for my classes at Blindern, 'cause I struggle to see what's on the blackboard (or whatever it is), and get really bad headaches those days I have lectures. So that'll be fun. Just hope it won't make me look too much like my dad or like a power-lesbian.

I'm gonna go read in my Rome-book now, "Romans and Romerettes - Life in the Roman Empire". It'll be like having a cigarette while waiting for the bus. Either the bus comes straight a way (in this case sleep will come), and if not, at least you've enjoyed a cigarette (in this case an interesting book).

Cheerio, Charlie!

Back in Business

2008-02-09T11:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over, and a new term has arrived. My subjects this spring are so damn hard, I'm already getting nervous about exams. I try reading, for a change, to keep up but it doesn't seem to help.

But alcoholicly I'm really good this spring. I feel like I spend every single day at Blindern and every night at Uglebo. Not too bad, except that all the beer forces me out of the clothes I could wear a year ago =(

So, I tried to get the job as "locker-person" at FF, but Kari won the election. I was a bit bummed out, but she does a really good job, and it opened for me to be the "party-person". Woha! Which means I'm responsible of arranging the parties for all the people who work at Uglebo, as well as fun things like the anual trip to Copenhagen and the cabin-trip etc. I love it!

The boyfriend hunt was put on ice. I really don't think I can handle one right now. I really miss Sigurd, but not as my boyfriend. No thanks! But I miss the good talks and laughs, and I think I might contact him. Yes, I know it's a bad idea, but I'm just so curious about what he's up to these days.

I'm going to Rome in a week, and I can't wait!

Ciao!

Done anad DONE!

2007-11-27T03:53:00.000-08:00

Hooray, Christmas Holiday!

I'm-done-I'm-done-I'm-done-I'm-done-I'm-done!

Yesterday I had my last exam, and my holidays have started! Now I can finally sleep until noon, watch TV all day while I sit by my computer, I can do my christmas shopping, and read Harry Potter for hours...

No progress on the boyfriend hunt, but I haven't had time to do anything about it anyway..

There's not much more to write right now. I'm going home to my parent's house to relax and cuddle our cat, Franz Johan <3

Playing my games..

2007-11-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

Here's the things I like to do when I'm bored:

Laughing at cute kitteh-pictures

Saving kittehs from death

Jumping in the sky

Making sushi

Eating apples

Drawing

Watching Tv-shows

Just in case anyone's interested.

Thursday

2007-11-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

I think I'm starting to get the flu. Woke up to day with my nose all clogged and a sore throat, and feeling exhausted. So decided to rest today, and be fit for fight tomorrow and get some reading done then. And Fredagspub, of course. It's been ages since I was at Fredagspub now, so I'm looking forvard to it. I love beeing there, 'cause it's always someone I know there, and we just sit and talk and laugh at our bad jokes.

Last night I had another romantic dream, and this time about Handsomeguy from the Library. (Handsome guy I've had some eye-flirting with, and there was without a doubt an unspoken chemistry). He hasn't been there (at the library) for a while, so I was thrilled to see him again on Monday. Earlier this term, I promised my self to go up and speak to him the next time I saw him, but it was after I made that decision that he stopped coming. So when I saw him on Monday I was so taken aback, that when
I suddenly had my chance, when we were about to pass eachother by the printers, I ran in
between the bookshelves and hid. I was really angry with myself, but it's not as if I did anything about it later. In stead, I stood in the art-section, peering over the three copies of Gardner's Art Through The Ages, where I had a perfect view over to where he was sitting.)

So anyway, the dream was about the Roskilde Festival, but it was at Vikingland in Tusenfryd, not in Roskilde. And I met him there, and he said he'd seen me somewhere before, except he said he'd seen me on Facebook. Whatever that means. Anyways, he turned out to be a bit of an idiot. Boring and plain. A bit like the boys from my home town (no offence). But we still flirted and I think we sort of was a couple. The result was that I woke up feeling very disapointed, but still had the good feeling inside that I used to have when I fell asleep with a boyfriend next to me.

So it's starting to dawn on me that I'm longing for a boyfriend. Or maybe not a boyfriend yet, but a flirt would be nice. So that's my next goal. Letting a boy into my life again. It won't be easy, I still carry the scars from my last relationship, and from my last fling by the way (*shudder*). And of course, finding a guy that actually apeal to me will be the biggest part of the challenge, it's not as if there's loads of them and I'm just ignoring them...
It would of course be really cool to see if I can get anywhere with Handsomeguy, but that'll take a LOT of courage!

I'll keep you posted.. Now off to wax my eyebrows.

A few days later..

2007-11-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

I managed, after a little trouble, to finish my exam-essay on Picasso, and the feeling of freedom is overwhelming. But I still have a couple of exams left, so no resting on laurels.
I had a very strange dream about Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale from High School Musical. I dreamt that Zac Efron had a twin, and that they shared the part as Troy (like the Olsen-twins shared Michelle Tanner), and that they were Norwegians, and that Ashley was their
cousin (also Norwegian). I think I had a "thing" going on with one of the Zacs, and it was very weird.
Especially as I think Corbin Bleu (Chad) is the hottest guy in the film(s). Just without all the hair and the feminin face. Well, I didn't say he's the hottest in the world,
just in the High School Musical-films..

It was just weird. It's weird that I obviously can't speak English when I dream, and that I had a romantic dream about someone like that. Not that there's anything wrong with him, it's just... Didn't think he was my type.

I think I need a fling or something soon. But that'll mean I'll have to worry about someone other than me. It's so slitsomt.

Don't go givin' me evils!

SUPRISE!

2007-11-01T04:26:00.001-07:00

I'm STILL writing!

Well, at least I'm done with the Degas essay, but now I'm trying to do my Picasso-essay on 10 pages, due Monday the 5th, and so far I've written 2. I'm supposed to write two pages a day, but I couldn't do it yesterday. Just couldn't concentrate. I think I'm suffering from stress, 'cause I'm really tired all the time, I feel sick and my hands keep shaking and my stomach hurts, I feel hungry, but full all the time...

And yesterday I kept looking at funny kitty-pictures, laughing silently like mad (going red in the face, tears streaming, body shaking), and the people at the library got annoyed. So today I'm staying at home, to see if that works out better for me, but apparently it doesn't.

Gawd, I'm looking forward to Monday night when I'm DONE! At least for a while. Today's three weeks away from my first exam, so when I've finished this essay it's only to start revising.

Luckily, at Uni we get a long christmas-holiday. My last exam is 26th of November, and it lasts until 14th of January of something, so it'll be a good, long rest.

Still writing..

2007-10-26T03:59:00.000-07:00

I'm still here at Sophus Bugge, trying to write. I don't have much left, but I really want to finish it before the week-end. By now I have loads of stuff to write, it's just that I really, really need to go and do a number two. But as there are no private toilets in this place, I daren't. I'll just have to hold it in and try and concentrate. Not at all as easy as it sounds, as it feels as though my behind could explode any minute. I wish I had Carine's strength, she can crap anytime, anywhere.

Met up with Jeanette last night, it was nice. Haven't seen her in a while, as she's attending LIPA in UK now. She gave me a carton of cigarettes as a birthday present, gotta love that!

Meeting Pia next week, as she's home from Sweden. Why does everyone have to come home at the same time, and while I don't even have time to go to the toilet before I leave for school in the mornings?! If I fail to do my essays and therefore fail my exams, it'll be all their falut. They obviously don't get the whole University-thing, where one actually has to pass on ones exams, something that requires some effort...

Ah, complaining, complaining. Maybe you should keep writing instead of putting all the blame on your friends, huh?

The Sophus Bugge Library

2007-10-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

I am currently sitting in front of a computer at the library at The University of Oslo. I am supposed to write an essay about Edgar Degas' Viscount Lepic and his Daughters crossing la Place de Concorde.

I guess it's kinda interesting, but I just can't get myself to write today. I feel like I have everything inside my head, it just refuses to come out through my fingertips and touch the keyboard in the right places to form an essay on the screen.

Franz Johan, my parents' black cat is finally home again after a week and a half of disapperance. We thought we'd lost him, and mum was sad because he's her little baby now that me and my sister has moved away from home. And I was sad, because I love him sleeping in my bed at night when I'm there. And other than that, he's got a great personality too.

Anyway.. I guess I should continue writing. Or at least try. I've got a week and a half left to do it, and it's only four pages, so I should make it. It's just... you know...

I <3 OSLO

2007-03-19T03:53:00.000-07:00

This is my city, the capital of the Land of the Midnight Sun :)
I took a few pictures, just to show you.
It's not the most beautiful city in the world, but it is what it is...

This is the Royal Castle. It looks a bit like a shoe box, if you ask me. The flag on top means the King is in Norway.

A guard outside the "castle". Looks like a dull dayjob..

This is the main street, Karl Johan st. It leads from the Central Station up to the Royal Castle.

The upper part, near the castle, has expencieve shopping and trendy bars/restaurants. The lower part, near the Station, is the shopping district of 14 year olds...

This is the National Theatre. The most famous of the institutional theatres in Oslo. The green man on the right is Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Not very famous for his plays, but he wrote the Norwegian National Anthem and his son, Bjørn Bjørnson, was the first director of this theatre.

(A statue of our pride, Henrik Ibsen, is on the left outside the picture, because of the group of tourists flokked around him).

pro-husband??

2007-03-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

Sigurd was my first love. Or maybe he still is.. I care about him, and I love to be with him. I can't really imagine my life without him. Unfortunatly, he does not feel quite the same way, which make me a bit scared. I'm scared becase I'm afraid that I'll never find someone I care as much about, or will have the same intimate and close relationship with. I know we fight a lot, and I know I pick on him a lot, but the truth is that I like him just the way he is. I don't feel attracted to any one else. I can of course see hot guys, and think very non-virtual thoughts about him, but emotionally I don't really like anyone else.

But last night, him and I watched "the Green Mile" on NRK2, and I think I found the man of my dreams.. I was sitting there, with my hand in a bowl of salty chips, thinking "Wow! That's exactly the kind of man I could fall in love with!". I have never put this kind of man on my list of good man-qualities, but maybe because I didn't know they were out there. But oh-oh, moh-moh! It was a film! He doesn't really exist!
So:
1 Should I be happy as I finnally found someone who made me forget Sigurd?
or
2 Am I just as fucked, as this was a fictional character?

For those of you who wonder, the man of my dreams was the character Brutal Howell played by David Morse.

*sigh*

The first day of Spring. (pro-housewife)

2007-03-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 8 am yesterday, and thought I had overslept. I hadn't, but I still couldn't go back to sleep. I had promised Sigurd to do his laundry, and as I had my own mountains of it as well, I just got to it right away. I filled six washing machines, and later filled three clothes dryers. I also had to hang up some of it (a lot of it) in my room, and it got to a point where I couldn't sit down anywhere.
Usually I do this on very rainy days when I have nothing else to do, but yesterday was a Spring day. It was sunny, 12 degrees, the snow was only spots here and there, and I heard birds sing for the first time in months. And on days like this, the house-wife gene in girls like me pop out, so it was pretty natural for me to clean my room, my bathroom and my kitchen thoroughly. Dusting shelves and all..

I felt very happy all day long, doing the things I have hated my whole life.
It must be the magic of Spring.
Or a sign of pro-housewifeness...

A new day.

2007-03-04T04:20:00.000-08:00

Sometimes Sundays are great. Like today, when there's nothing you're ought to do, and as I didn't go out yesterday I don't have a hang-over and no nerves. I feel good, and witty and gay and all that, and I plan to stay like this all day.

My neighbour is making buns and bread and it smells like.... mmmm yummy!!!