The Return

 

In the 1 ++ month since I last wrote a blog entry,  a lot has happened. Not much has changed, but a lot of exciting things have taken place in my life.

The main one is that I returned to Norway for a quick visit. That’s the first time I’ve seen my family and friends in a year and a half, so that was quite exhilarating.

I was hoping for three weeks of sun, barbecues, swimming in the ocean and hanging out with friends all day long but, alas, I must have forgotten that I was going back to a Norwegian summer. That means max. 15 degrees Celsius and rain. Bucketloads of rain. Overall I got to experience roughly 3 whole days of sunny weather and temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius. But at least I got to see my friends and family.

Oh, and the day before I returned to Norway was the date of my boyfriend and mine’s 6-month anniversary, and we celebrated it with a romantic dinner at night. It was really sad having to leave the next day, but at least I got to spend that important milestone with him, which I’m thankful for.

I returned to NZ on July 12, two days after the uni holidays had ended, so it was straight back to uni for me – I even missed out on a few lectures. But now, a week and a day later, I’ve gotten back into the normal routine of going to uni, studying, hanging out with people whenever I can and, best of all – today I’m seeing my boyfriend again, for the first time in over a month! Ever since I woke up this morning I’ve had butterflies in my stomach at the thought of seeing him again tonight (at 8pm), and they are not getting quieter as the hour approaches; on the contrary!

I’m actually in a literature lecture atm, but I can’t concentrate, so I figured I might as well update my blog.

It’s good to return, no matter where to. The very word implies roots, which, whether I like it or not, I have. In different places. Family, friends and my childhood roots me to Norway. More friends, education, and the love of my life roots me to New Zealand. So travelling between the two places is not like travelling to ‘another’ place, it is always a return, to a place I call home.

The Countdown Is On

In exactly one month I will be flying out of Wellington, headed for Norway and three weeks of summer and seeing family and friends.

At the moment I’m trying to finish (lies – start) my final assignments for this trimester. I’ve got three essays due to be handed in on the 13th, 14th, and 16th of June. They all have to be between 2000 and 3000 words.

As for what I’ve been doing lately, I’ve got three words to sum it up: uni, boyfriend, parties. I’ve spent far too many days (and nights) in the library so far this year, writing essay after essay, doing research and drinking coffee. When I’ve had a day or two off I’ve escaped to Christchurch to be with Nathan, or he has come to Wellington for the weekend to see me. This long-distance thing is really working quite well (apart from the economical side of it, naturally. But it’s all worth it). Thursday last week I jumped on a plane and flew down to spend the weekend (as well as Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) with my man, because he got some days off work due to a back injury, so I wanted to be there for him and keep him company. Plus it was his birthday last Monday (he turned 22), so of course I wanted to be there for that.

Nathan and me at my flatmate's 21st

I had just come home from university last Thursday and looked up flights to Christchurch, and there happened to be a really cheap flight that afternoon, and a cheap return flight for Wednesday (yesterday), so I quickly threw some things into my suitcase and got a taxi out to the airport, and an hour or so later I was in his arms at Chch airport.

For once I was a bad student (but a good girlfriend); I missed out on all my lectures this week as well as two out of my three tutorials. Oh dear. Thank god for Blackboard.

I took Nathan out for dinner on Sunday night because he had to go to work on Monday, but on Monday night we went to the movies, so at least he got to do something fun on his birthday. Then on Tuesday night we went to his auntie and uncle’s place for dinner, which was great, and on Wednesday night (our 5-month anniversary, incidentally), I flew back to Wellington.

This Sunday he will fly to Wellington to do a course just outside the city, so he will (hopefully) get a chance to come and visit me every weekend. After his course is finished he has a week off work, and that’s the week before I fly back to Norway (and the week when all my assignments are due), so it’ll be great to have him around then.

As for the parties I’ve been to lately… Well, most of them have been held at the house where I live. We had our awesome flat warming, and so far we’ve had two 21sts, and the party for the second one is actually tomorrow. It’s got a 1950s theme, so I went and bought a dress for that today.

My flatmate's 21st (Hollywood themed)

So much is happening right now, and I love it. This year has been amazing in almost every aspect so far, and when I get back from Norway I will seriously start looking for a part-time job. Also, in one month’s time, when I’ve handed in my three assignments, I’m halfway through my bachelor’s degree. Fancy that, huh.

Me dressed up as a gypsy at our flat warming (circus themed)

Twenty Candles

Just sitting here eating some chocolate love hearts. And listening to Christmas songs.

I got the chocolate from my best friend in Norway. Because today is my birthday. Or, well, technically it isn’t yet, because of the fact that I was born in Norway, which is about 12 hours behind New Zealand, but I only see this as an excuse to celebrate for 2-3 days straight, to make sure I cover my birthday in all the different time zones.

Holy cow. There was just a delivery for me. A basket full of flowers and stuff. From my family in Norway – thank you, I love you so much!! You just made my day.

I started celebrating my birthday last night, with a few close friends. I had an amazing night, and despite the fact that half a bottle of malibu and half a bottle of vodka was consumed, I woke up this morning feeling fine.

I’m still undecided about what I’m doing today. So far I haven’t made any specific plans, other than to tidy up my room (there are empty alcohol bottles and cans, dirty plates, cups, etc, general rubbish, and clothes lying around…), eat a fair amount of unhealthy food, listen to some good music, and reply to messages on Facebook. Tonight? No idea.

I prayed for some nice, sunny weather today, having celebrated my birthday in dark, cold and usually wet conditions for most of my life, but the weather gods didn’t really listen to me. It’s overcast and about 13C outside.

Whatever, I’ve got chocolate.

I once knew a funny story…

 

…but now I seem to have forgotten what that was, so let me tell you another one instead:

The brain really works in mysterious ways. Forget about any so-called deities working in mysterious ways – it’s your brain you ought to worry about. As late as this very evening on which I am writing this blog entry, I realised something very funny about the way my brain works. I had decided to make a very simple dinner, which I knew wasn’t going to fill me up, so I decided to have some ice cream before dinner (I know – I’m a Rebel with a capital R). The reason why I had what many people would correctly label as ‘dessert’ before my dinner is simply the fact that when I have ice cream I get so awfully cold (can’t possibly imagine why), and so I need to eat or drink something warm to heat up again. In this case, my dinner would restore me to a normal temperature. So I loaded up a bowl with yummy vanilla ice cream and ate it all up (it felt so good) whilst cooking dinner. When my dinner was all cooked I was just about to find a new bowl for it, when I changed my mind and cleaned the one I had just used for my ice cream, because otherwise I would have to clean two bowls. And I suppose you now see what makes this a funny story. No? Well, of course I had to clean the same bowl twice, anyway, so what’s the difference? But in my mind it was more work to clean two different bowls than it is to clean the same bowl twice. Also, when I went to sit down at the table with my dinner, I was just about to turn off the light in the kitchen when I realised that when I do that, my brain tends to think that the dishes I’ve used to prepare my dinner have magically vanished, which often makes me put off doing the dishes ‘till the next morning, and that is not a fun realisation to wake up to. So what did I do? I left the light on, of course. And you know what happened? I did the dishes the moment I had finished eating. I like to think that it was because of my awareness of the mysterious ways in which my brain works. I don’t think it had anything to do with me manipulating my own mind.

 

Guess what I’m doing tomorrow? Oooh I bet you are excited now. So am I, by the way. I am going to a pre-screening of the movie Going the Distance, which is a new romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, and is about the trials and tribulations of a long-distance relationship… I got free tickets from the very awesome Sony NZ (I don’t get paid to say that, honestly), and I am going to make it into a big night – that includes the 30 minutes it takes to travel (by train) to where the screening takes place, which is in Lower Hutt. I’ve never been there before, so that’ll be interesting. At least I’m going with someone who seems to know the place (better than I do, anyway). I’m also going to feast on unhealthy foods, so there will be no breakfast, lunch or dinner tomorrow.

What I’m loving this week: The weather. I spent an hour sitting in the sun down by the waterfront on Monday afternoon, and I got some colour on my arms as a result! Would you believe it – technically, if we go by the rule that the seasons are the complete opposite in New Zealand compared to Norway, it’s still only late winter here. Not approaching summer, or even early spring. Late winter. And it’s possible to get a tan from sitting in the sun for as little as one hour. I love it.

Another thing I love is the decaffeinated coffee I got from the supermarket today. Last weekend I consumed over a period of 72 hours more coffee and various other energy drinks than most coffee-drinking people probably consume over 2 weeks. It really messed me up, in more ways than one, so now I’ve put myself on a strict low-caffeine regime, and today I’ve only had one double-shot and one single-shot cup of coffee. Yesterday I had one triple- or quadruple-shot (is there such a thing?) and one double-shot. I am finding it really hard to cut back on coffee after the hard weekend, and suffered from a horrible headache most of yesterday. Today I really felt like just chewing on some coffee beans or something, and so when I went to the supermarket I spent about 10 minutes in the coffee section, trying to pick a decaffeinated coffee but always finding myself back in front of the normal ones. Eventually I picked up a bag of decaffeinated coffee and ran for the exit (well, not literally, but almost). Since I returned home I have had 3 cups of it. I love how it tricks my body into believing that it has got its caffeine kick, because it tastes like coffee, but I don’t have to suffer any of the side effects (plus, I can drink it all day and all night long – my life is complete!).

 

(There will be no more of this for a while.)

Hurra!

I thought today would be the day to make my title Norwegian, seeing as it is, after all, Norway’s National Day today, on May 17. I’m not going to celebrate it in any way, though. I could lie and say that it’s because I’ve got two lectures and a PASS class today (which is true), but the truth is I’m not celebrating because I just don’t care… I’m in New Zealand now, and here we don’t celebrate May 17, so why should I? It’s not like they’d give me a day off from uni to celebrate, either. But I’m still happy today, which is why I decided to at least write a blog entry about it, and not let it pass in complete silence. Fact is, I’m really happy. I’m handing in my English essay today, and after that my next essay is not due until June 3, so I can finally breathe again for some time. And I’ve got coffee appointments for later on today, tomorrow and Thursday, so I definitely feel very much at home in Wellington now. I’m currently sitting on my bed in my pyjamas, bath robe, and slippers, enjoying two cups of morning coffee whilst listening to nice music, so yeah, life’s pretty good at the moment.

Something I made yesterday and glued to my bedroom window.

(OK so maybe I’m just a little proud…)

Weekend Blues

You’d all be forgiven for thinking that I’d quit updating my blog. These last few weeks I’ve been terrible at it. Who knew that that’d happen when I got a social life?

Anyway, today’s Saturday. I’m not sure what I’ll do today, but what I do know is that I should be writing my English essay which is due in on Monday (in two days, I know), but I really hate that essay, and I must admit I’m kind of hungover from last night. Last night was supposed to be amazing. I was going to watch the season finale of Supernatural and, as my bewildered mind told me, talk to a friend in Norway on the phone. For some reason I got the time zones mixed up, so I imagined that Norway was 12 hours ahead of NZ when actually they are 12 hours behind. Sorry about that, dear friend. Let’s try that again tonight.

I did, however, get to watch the season finale of Supernatural. Twice. (I had to.) This is what ultimately ruined my night. But don’t worry, I won’t say anything about what happens. But when I started watching it, I was eating pizza and sipping chardonnay. When the episode was finished, I started on the chocolate, opened some bottles of beer, gulped down some more wine and stayed in my room for the rest of the night. I couldn’t leave, my eyes were too red and puffy for me to be around other people. Unintentionally, I got a little drunk, so that eventually my subconscious self succeeded and I had to get into bed because I felt a wave of extreme tiredness wash over me.

When I woke up this morning, I felt lost, like I had nothing more to look forward to, and I also realised that I haven’t got any plans for tonight. But then again, I should be writing my essay. However, I still feel like getting drunk. Argh, Supernatural, what have you done to me?!?