Thor 3D

Today I finally took the time for another movie with The Shadow Project. We saw Thor in 3D, and it was actually pretty good. A few clichés every now and then, but really good effects. Seeing it in 3D is definitely not a must though. The movie is about Thor, Odin, Loke and northern mythology, but with an american twist. Thor gets banished and ends up in new mexico, but I will leave it at that in case anyone wants to see the movie for themselves. If you do decide to see it, there's an extra scene after the credits so don't leave. I think it was worth seeing :)

Trying to make studying a little less awfull

Spring, if not summer, is here and I just want to sit outside in the sun, hang out with my friends in the park and grill stuff. However I have 3 more finals left and the first one is in 6 days. I still want as much sun as I can get though so I moved out to the balcony to study there for a few hours :) One of the benefits of living in what's possibly the most quiet part of central Oslo, hehe. Oh great the huge cloud that was blocking the sun appears to be gone now, out to study some more!

My trip to London

I just got home from London last night. It was a really great trip, partly because of the great city and partly because of the awesome people I traveled with (Lene, Margrethe, Camilla, Luna, Maja and Knut). Going to tell you a little bit about what we did every day now - so this will probably be a very long blog entry, added some titles though so you can easily get back to it and read the rest later if it's too long :)
Getting there:
We took a pretty late plane to London, in fact Im not sure if I have ever arrived so late in the evening to any of my vacations before. We landed at Stansted arround 11 in the evening local time (so thats 12 in Norway) and by the time we had gotten through security it was already close to midnight. We took the bus from there and arrived at Liverpool Street arround 1 in the morning, then we got taxis to the hostel where we arrived half past 1 or something like that. Good thing the reception desk was open untill 4. Allthough we stayed at a 14 person dorm, only one person were alseep when we got there, the rest were probably out drinking or something as they were there in the morning. The dorm was quite allright considering it was a 14 person dorm, my bunk had a little safe, a nightlight and walls.

Day 1 (The Kernel, The Nathional Art Gallery and randomness):
Some of the girls wanted to use at least two days on shopping in Oxford street so 4 of us went there already the first day. I didn't really have the money to buy a whole lot though, and Knut and Camilla wanted to go to a micro brewerey so I figured that was a smarter thing to do. It was a really nice and sunny morning and we got of the subway close to the Thames. We had a nice wiew of Tower Brigde and the Belfast as we walked towards Druid Street (where the brewery was located). The micro brewery, The Kernel, located under a train bridge was only open on saturdays and just untill 3. Going there was really awesome, the beer was brilliant and the staff was friendly and helpfull as well. We actually tasted tons of beer for free before we even bought anything. Knut bought 12 bottles of beer to bring home with him to Norway and we all got a few bottles that we enjoyed in the sun. Like I said all of the beer was great, I especially liked the citra that tasted kind of mangoish (mangoish was the guy working there's term - I did NOT make it up ;P). I really regret not buying some bottles to bring home now.
When we had finished our beers we headed to the Nathional Art gallery, we didn't have a whole lot of time there in the end, but it was pretty nice untill it closed. When we got out from the gallery it was raining all of a sudden. This was actually st Georges day so we ran into some sort of celebration as well, people singing on a stage the crowd all singing along.
A little rain never stopped us either, so we headed down to Westminster to have a look at the Parlament and Westminster abbey. The pictures didn't really turn out that great though so won't post them here.
In the evening we went back to the hostel, but we didn't find the rest of the group so the three of us went out to dinner on our own instead. Then we went out for some more drinking. Met the others on our way, but they wanted to get an early start in the morning so they didn't join us at the pub. It was a pretty quiet evening apparently, not a lot of people out - the pub did have Strongbow on tap though so I was happy regardless. Was a really awesome cat walking arround as well, it tried to get into the snacks shelf all the time.









Day 2 (Hyde park, the Natural History Museum and Buckimham Palace):
Day two we all went to Hyde park and the Natural History Museum together. The park was pretty supersize compared to the ones we have here in Oslo and there was some nice monuments as well. The Natural History Museum was pretty huge as well, tons of exhabitions most of them free. I went to see the dinosaur one, the creepy crawlers, the apes, the sea animals and the stones (cause they had diamonds there as well). I still didn't see it all though, it was a really big museum. After the museum we went back to the park to slack there for a few hours in the sun. It was really great to have time to just sit in the grass and relax.
In the evening Lene and I decided we wanted to go see something more, and decided pretty much at random that Buckimham Palace was the place to go. Going to see it after dark was actually real nice. Hardly any people there at all and the castle looked great. We realised The Clocktower (often called Big Ben though that is just the bell inside it) and London Eye was within alking distance as well so figured why not have a look at them after dark too. Then we got the last subway back to Kings Cross and tried some fish and chips (great food, bring it to Norway:) ). When we got back everyone was playing cards, next to our group was a group of British Marine Bilogists playing Munchkin - me and Luna couldnt stop staring at their game so eventually they invited us over, hehe. They seemed real nice, but they were leaving in the morning so we didn't meet them again.

Day 3 (St Pauls, River Cruise, Comic Book Stores and China Town)
The third day we first went to have a look at St Pauls cathedral,I decided to wait outside as it did cost quite a lot to enter (close to 30 pounds) and I have seen it before when I went to London with my family, the other girls didnt want to pay for entering either, but Knut went inside. It still looked really great on the outside though and we were perfectly happy at Starbucks meanwhile. Late on we split up again, I went with Maja, Lene and Margrethe down to the Thames. It was yet another nice and sunny day and we found some really cheap tickets to a short cruise (4 pounds or so). The captain was pretty awesome, he told us about all the major sights as we went down the rived, but he also made funny comments like
"Do remeber to bring all of your personal belongings, it would ruin your day if you left something valuable for me to sell on Ebay".
After the cruise we went to some huge comic book stores (yeah not really a tourist thing to do, but they dont have comic book stores that big in Norway!) where Maja especially got tons of random stuff mostly related to dr Who. I also found a cupcake place that I insisted on trying out, in love with cupcakes after we got free ones one day at school. Then we went to Chinatown, but we decided to eat at a Japanese Restaurant (why have chinese food in Chinatown right? :P). They also had a purikuri machine close by (purikuri are sticker pictures that you get to draw on, etc before printing them out) so we obviously had to check that out as well. Purikuri is great fun, I liked the machines in Japan better, but it was fun to take a series in London as well.








Day 4 (Oxford Street, Tate Modern and a great Pub):
Most of the others wanted to do some major shopping on the 4th day, and I figured, even if Im kind of saving money at the moment, I could join and just have a look arround Oxford street at least, maybe buy a few small things. I did pretty good actually, all I got was one t-shirt from UniQlo that was on sale and some tea. And thats all the shopping I did on the entire trip, didn't think I could pull the whole not shop to much thing of, but I did. Later on Camilla, Knut and I went to Tate Modern. We got there kind of late, so we just had about 90 minutes there, but we did check out the entire 5th floor at least before it closed. Modern art is kind of confusing at times, but I saw several pieces that I really liked there as well. They had severa documentary photos on display that made me feel really sad, but were still really good for example. Some of the super modern sculptures were kind of cool as well actually, so Im happy I joined. Close to Tate Modern we found a pub that also sold food, and as we were kind of hungry we decided to eat there. Somehow we ended up staying for quite some time drinking as well and me and Camilla met a couple of really cool british guys that we played dart with for a while. Good thing we met them, as we didn't know the actual rules. We took the bus home when the pub closed, and got to sit in the front seats on the second floor - YAY!

The last day (John Soane's Museum and getting to the airport)
We actually had some time before leaving for Stansted the last day so some of us went back to Oxford Street while Knut, Margrethe and I went to Sir John Soane's museum. It was a pretty tiny house with tons and tons of art inside of it. One of the highlights were a small room with 100 paintings in it - the guide just kept opening up the walls to reveal more paintings and eventually a sculpture. No pictures was allowed sadly, but this is a post card I bought just to have a picture of the room with all the painings. The others had gotten tons and tons of stuff from Oxford Street, think most of the other girls spendt arround 1000 NOK at least. I love shopping as well, but I had a great time at the museum and I definitely need to save up for China. To get back to Standsted we got on the bus again, but it was kind of late and getting seats on it was like a death match so that took a while too. When we got to the check in they were calling for all passengers to Rygge airport to come to the front of the line, and on the other side of security we barely had time to visit the taxfree at all. As it turned out our plane didn't really depart on time either though so our rushing to the ryanair part of the airport was all for standing in line waiting. From Rygge it was yet another bus, but we got home eventually and it was really nice to sleep in my own bed again even if I miss England already.

Niko trying to play the piano again :P (Ombre by Ludovico Einaudi)

The plane doesnt leave untill this evening, so I have had plenty of time for randomness. Here's a video of me trying to play the piano.. damn I miss taking lessons! I used to be pretty good at playing the piano, took lessons for about 10 years - but then when I quit highschool I just somehow didnt keep it up :( My skills are not even close to what they were now, but this song that my brother borrowed me the notes for is really nice and not too hard to play either. I still mess up a bit (especially towards the end), but I wanted to show you all the beautifull song. And now Im serious when I say I won't be blogging for a bit, haha

Leaving for London Tomorrow :)

I might not update my blog for a while, as I will be leaving for London tomorrow - yay!
Last time I was there I just had to rush through the city trying to find my train to Birmingham, so atually staying there will be a nice change. I have been on vacation in London before as well though, with my parents and my brother (Ida wasn't born yet) and we did definitely have a nice time there. My parents did apparently have some trouble with their hotel though, wasn't clean and the staff was pretty awfull to them - ended up with them changing hotels before I even got there, haha. Hope nothing like that happens to me and my friends when we go there now. We will be staying at a youth hostel, in a 14 person dorm.. but I still hope its clean, haha :) Economicaly speaking this trip is the worst possible idea right now, as I have to save money for China and all, but getting to go on this trip with my awesome friends from the old Chinese class will most likely be 100% worth it. We have saved some money on staying at the dorm and also by flying with Ryanair as well, so as long as I manage to not spend too much on shopping I think I should be more or less fine. Expect one long long blog entry in about a week or so! :D

Setting the date

So I know when Im moving to China now - july 26th! Cathrine, Irene and me booked tickets just now. I am so excited about moving right now that I actually feel slightly nauciated! We got a pretty good price on the tickets as well, Finnair does this youth discout so we payed less than half the original price (good to remember people who might want to come visit me!). So if your younger than 25 years old, Finnair is very affordable (we payed about 3000 NOK from Oslo to Shanghai) and if your older its kind of expensive. Finnair is a pretty good airline as well, used them both times I went to Japan. Shanghai is getting more and more real every time we fix something or I get more information.. damn I can't wait! I will miss everyone home in Norway (of course!), but it will also be brilliant to get to study abroad again :) If Fudan decides to reject my application now (allthough they have never rejected any student BI nominated before)I will be really depressed, but we did of course get tickets we can unbook again just in case. I have some closer things to look forward to as well, I will be going to London with my friends from my old school UiO the day after tomorrow :D We are staying there for 5 days and I think it will be great. Staying at a dorm, but there's 7 of us so whoever we are sharing with will most likely be the ones intimidated rather than us :) Flying with Ryanair as well so it is definitely a budget vacation, but it's still a vacation and Im really looking forward to it!

Another day off :P

I should probably have started to study again today, as I actyually did take yesterday completely off - but I really wanted to meet up with a few of my friends and the weather was still pretty nice too. Bad start of the day, I did a test for work in the middle of my finals.. and my boss called me today telling me that I failed it :( On the bright side I had enough correct anwers to retake it in two weeks, but it's still kind of lame to fail it. I focused on the right thing though - school. Even if I feel awfull for letting the people at work down it is more important that I did well on the oral finals.
Kind of decided there's not really anything I can do about it now and have more or less moved on.
So I met up with Nicolai (he got the coolest guys name ever right? :P) for a walk in the Frogner Park. Wasn't as warm as yesterday, but still pretty good. Walked arround for about 2-3 hours and just talked about everything and nothing, really nice to meet him again, had to cancel on a movie marathon with him and a few other friends because of the evil finals. After Nicolai left for Saltnes I went to Victoria and Chris's place for this years first outdoors BBQ. We cheated a little bit as they have a heating lamp on their terrace, but hey details details we still sat outside in the sun having a BBQ and it was great. After we played the boardgame Besserwisser and the Xbox version of Risk. I just love playing Risk without having to keep track of all the miniatures and reinforcements myself, and the fact that I won the game was a huge bonus as well of course. I had the cutest army as well - cats :D SO! Tomorrow I will have to be a little more serious, have to do laundry so I have enough clothes for London and I should probably discuss planetickets for Shanghai with Irene and Cathrine as well.. oh and of course I should also study - sounds like so much fun.. *cough*

A day off :)

Today I took a long wanted day off from everything. Went to visit my friends Kaja and Stian in Lillestrøm and it was really nice. Me and Kaja had cofee and later on beer out on their balcony in the sun. It was actually really nice and warm outside, didnt even need a jacket and I think Im actually sunburned on one of my arms now. When Stian got home we all had dinner, watched disney movies and played nintendo wii. Those two playing mario together made me laugh so hard actual tears came out several times - Stian gets so annoyed with us for messing up. Kaja and Stian also just got a new kitten - Chrono. He is adorable. Their other cat, Kena, is actually real small - but next to Chrono she looked like a giant. He is only arround 7 weeks old so he is tiny. Whenever I find a place where Im allowed to have a cat, and I know for sure that I won't be living abroad in periods I am definitely getting a cat! Not sure when that might be though as I also love to travel and want that to be a part of my job as well ideally. Ah well I guess I can possibly try and have a hamster or something when I move home from Shanghai again - heard they just live for about half a year so that's a smaller commitment, hehe :)

Slacking

Today was my first day this season actually working at a ride again at the amusement park. My job was easy enough - sit in a box and watch over one of the rides the new employees have to learn how to run. I had music, cofee, candy and my lunch box so it was pretty ok sitting there doing more or less nothing all day long, hehe :P The most exciting part of my day was the single time an alarm went off and I had to make two of the boats be further apart. (When you sit in the box you can actually control most of the ride, its just easier to let it all be automatic unless something happens) After a whole day of just slacking you should think I now have tons of energy and want to go do something right? Somehow thats not how I feel at all tho - Im actually kind of tired. Guess Im just not used to getting up early in the weekends yet. Now to make some dinner and then I will just watch a movie or something, superslack day - but I have earned it after the last two weeks of stressfull finals.

The start of another season at Tusenfryd

So today it was back to the summerjob, Tusenfryd (biggest amusement park in Norway) for my yearly training. First we talked about uniform rules, company policy etc for an hour or so, then we had lunch and then a walkthrough of all the rides in the park, discussing anything we might be unsure about. We do this every year partly to remember it for ourselves and partly to all agree on what we teach the new employes when the season begins. It was actually real nice to do the walkthrough because today must be the warmest day this year so far :) I will be working tomorrow as well filling a position the new kinds can't really learn yet so they can learn the rest of the ride. Slackest job ever honestly, as I will basicly be sitting in a box listening to music and paying attention to a ride. Apparently I will be cleaning a bit and stuff as well, but I dont mind it's extra cash for the april paycheck :)
Oh and I just have to link another Dollyrots song, love this one as well!(not kidding I finally found the mp3 and added it to my ipod yesterday and Im already at 79 times played)

Finally!

This will be my last entry about the final in International Marketing - promise!
Today was the final round, and it was also our turn to present a case. We met up at school at about 11 and basicly just practised our presentation over and over again, giving eachother advice on how to improve. Time went real quick and all of a sudden it was time to go to the final.
When we thought we were about to start our presentation, tons of other students entered the classroom.. at first we thought they were in the wrong place, but as it turned out their "big group" didn't have a group 4 to present the last case, so they were supposed to be there and listen to us instead :S
The extra people made me even more nervous, but nothing we could really do about it so we just had to give our presentation regardless. At least the extra people left before the discussion part. Having to write down everything everybody was saying turned out to be pretty stressfull. Catherine and Irenes jobs were harder though, deciding on who got to talk and control the discussion. When it was time to give us our grade the sensor seemed to have about a gazillion things he ment we had done wrong or needed to improve, and I got more and more nervous as he just kept on brining us down.. the grade wasn't that bad though - we got a B. I guess some people just like to scare others.. NOT NICE!
And now we are actually done with this seeminly endless final, Im so reliefed. Think it must actually be the most demanding final I have ever had, as I have probably mentioned several times now we had to be there for 3 hours in the evening 4 times.. 1 time presenting and 3 times discussing.
This was also the last oral final for me this semester, still have 3 written ones in may though, but I have some time to relax first I guess :)
Our group wanted to celebrate finishing this annoying final, so we went out for dinner and drinks. The place we went to - Yayas, is definitely recommended if you like thai food. The entire place was built to look like this charming beach place in Thailand. Food was really good, great service as well - and I got a HUGE Strawberry and pashion fruid daquiri for just 87 NOK, that is actually real cheap for Oslo. In the middle of dinner the lights went out and we heard rain/thunder noises - real nice touch! Loved the place. After dinner we ninjaed this decoration and took pictures in it, not sure if we were allowed to, but it just looked so cool that we had to ^^Now Im going to take a shower and then just go to sleep, would have stayed out longer to celebrate, but I actually have to go to work tomorrow for some info and my uniform etc, so decided it was a bad idea.

Just one more day!

So tomorrow is the final part of the International Marketing final, and it's also my groups turn to give a presentation. Right now Im not all that nervous though, as I did well on the first 60% and it's going to take a terribly bad presentation to ruin my final grade. I still want to do as good as I possibly can though, because some of the other group members need these last 40% to be good. Today was the final discussion, thats such a relief! It's terrible having to raise your hand all the time and then maybe not get to say everything you would like to add, or have people misunderstanding you and bringing you down in front of everyone. Tomorrow I will be doing my part of the presentation (thats like 5-6 minutes only) and then I have to pay close attention to the other 3 groups while they discuss as my job during that part will be giving a summary. When we're done I am going out to dinner with my group to a place called Yaya's. I am actually really excited about going there, as people have been telling me a lot of good things about the place, and its thai food so thats a huge plus as well. Before my final today I met with Vivian, my chinese speaking partner, again. She had a final today as well, in spoken norwegian, so I tried to help her find a few good sentences to use, also borrowed her a couple of childrens books I got from my family. Vivan taught me some new chinese words as well, and I tried to introduce myself in mandarin - its sad how much I have forgotten from the year I studied mandarin at UiO, I hope that it can all come back if I rewiew a bit and also practise talking with Vivian. Here's my confidence song:

Really love it - makes me feel better when Im nervous somehow ^^
Im happy that Im almost done with the oral finals, then the written ones are in may, so I will have some time after I get home from London to prepare for the first one.
Anyways thats todays randomness, take care :)

Application forms!! :O

I have been wanting my application form for Fudan for some time now, and today I got an e-mail from school with the applications for both the language course and the year we are taking abroad - also got a document explaining how to fill it all out :D
I am so excited, China seems a lot closer now that I got the actual form from Fudan and not only the BI one. Allthough we have to apply to Fudan now as well, they have never declined any students BI has nominated, so I feel confident I will get accepted. To think, this time next year I will be living in Shanghai! It's kind of unreal to me, even if it feels less so now that I got the new forms. I have planned more or less everything, I will be living with Cathrine and Irene and the three of us have looked at some plane tickets as well that we will be ordering soonish -as for finding the appartment we will use a couple of contacts down there to help us look for the right one and negotiate the right price, so thats why we didnt decide on one yet. Oh this is awesome, needed something cool in the middle of this stressfull and annoying period :)

The bright side of my day

Today I was "only" at school for about 5 hours, as I had made plans to visit my parents place. We are more or less finished with the presentation by now, and I really needed a slightly less stressfull afternoon :) It was truly great to see my family, my parents got us all pizza, my brother borrowed me some Ludovico Einaudi notes so I can play some of the pieces myself when I have time to practise the piano (started a bit on an easy one - might post a video of me playing it when Im done), and my sister made me clear some stages in mario DS for her. I also got to borrow some childrens books for my chinese speaking partner. They are all so awesome, I don't know how I will manage to live without them for an entire year in China :)
Found some really promising spring signs today as well, the trees are beginning to grow new leafs, and my sister had picked coltsfoots (the first flower that normally shows up here in Norway). Can't wait for summer!

Showing face against bullying

Just posting a picture for a campaign in Norway, to show face against bullying. The goal is 10000 faces apparently, and their main concern is bullying that happens online. This kind of bullying has a huge effect, as it can happen more hidden and make the victim feel anonymus, so I decided it is a good cause. Here we go :)

(the text basicly says: "I am against bullying!")

Losing focus

So today was my personal best on time spendt at school this semester so far: 10 hours. Sadly I wasn't that effective though. I met with my group as usual and we worked on the presentation for IM round 4. We found a lot of things we felt as if we had to look into all over again though and it will take some time to finish it all, really demotivating. We agreed on who will be saying what and stuff as well, so thats good at least. Im just sick and tired of having to stay at school for hours and hours studying all the time, have to remain focused but it was really quite hard today. Wasn't all bad though....School was apparently celebrating 5000 likes on facebook, so they gave out cupcakes to everyone - they were really good too, hehe.
Now Im really tired and Im considering to just.. go to sleep really, at 21.30 thats just sad.

Iman Irenes birthday

Yesterday was my future room mate Iman Irene and her friend Shirleys birthday party, as you can see from the pictures it was pretty great. Tons of really good food, including the two awesome birthday cakes (for Iman Irene and Shirley ), marinated chicken and taco :D
I was kind of tired because of the long long week and Cathrines birthday the day before, but once I got to the party it was great fun. I only really knew Cathrine and Iman Irene there, but I have met a couple of the others before as well and they were all really open and social so it wasn't a big problem. We went out as well, to Stravinsky - they had ordered a table so we got in for free :) Eventually I simply got too tired to stay though, guess everything just caught up to me so I went home. I considered to go to school and study today, but I think Im just going to try and relax a bit at home, possibly check out the case we will be discussing in International Marketing round 3. Next week will be almost as stressfull as this one by the looks of it. Looking forward to finishing the last two parts of the final in IM though, and we are going out to dinner when we're done :)

Stupid stupid stupid!

I am simply furious with myself right now. I have been stressing with my assignment in consumer behaviour for days now, neglecting group discussions in International Marketing and everything.. I left Cathrines party early yesterday as well, so I would be able to go to school and write the rest of the case in the library. It was still real hard to get up and force myself to come here.. then I open the case text once more, to see that the deadline is MAY 11th, not april as I though! I double checked the student web.. and the deadline is indeed may 11th. So now Im here at school and Im not sure if I want to just go home again and get some sleep, or work a bit on the paper anyways. While Im deciding why not blog a little bit? Here's my happy morning face (sarcasm):
So let's talk about something a little less fail. Yesterday was the second round of International Marketing - and also Cathrines birthday. Me, Yong, Irene and a few others just dressed up semicasual before the final (as it was an evening final) and went directly to the party. I felt kind of weird sitting there in the discussion with a dress, but luckily this is Business School - so I don't think anyone even realised I had dressed up at all. It was a pretty messy discussion compared to the first one, and the teacher didnt want to give anyone an A. Considering this I am really happy with my own grade (a B).
So like I said a few of us went directly to Cathrines place after the final, Cathrine had bought pizza for all of us so we didnt even have to buy food - after the long day at school and all the stress this week with 3 days of finals it was like heaven to go to a party. Quite a few of the guests were from the International Marketing class and I got to know a few new classmates as well (yes it is possible to not know all your classmates.. my class consists of about 120 students). We went out as well, to Fugazi. We were on the guest list so we got in for free :) Didn't stay for that long though as I thought I had to finish that paper today. It was also fun to hang out with my friends from the IM-group in another setting than just school for a change - they are all great :)
So I think I just made up my mind, Im going home.. after all there is a party today as well to get ready for, and the deadline IS more than a month from now :) At least this way I made it to the Wine Monopoly before it closed, on saturdays thats quite the achievment :P Laters!

Time to juggle

So this weekend looks pretty filled up! Today I got the second round of International Marketing, from there Im going directly to Cathrines birthday party. Tomorrow I want to finish my paper in Consumer Behaviour then Irene is celebrating her birthday as well. Sunday will be the least filled up day, but I might end up having to work on Consumer Behaviour then as well, and the International Marketing group want to meet up as well to prepare for round 3 and 4. I guess I will just have to try and take this one day at the time, try to think of smart ways to make time for everything I want to do without neglecting all the stuff I have to do. Problem 1: what can I wear both to school and to a birthday party? Decided on this dress.. its kind of casual, but it is a dress so that means I at least dressed up a little bit for the party. I can wear a jacket as well at scool so it will all look really normal :P Oh and look its my first "look at me I can take a picture of myself with my cellphone in the mirror" picture! I am becoming a real blogger at last.. hehe. So to focus on today, I will just wear this, bring only a few notes to school (and not my laptop) and study the text book for a few hours before the final. Then after the final I won't have to go home, meaning I can still get to the party at least as early as the birthday girl (she has the same final so ^^). Then I will just take it easy tonight so I have at least some energy to work on the paper in Consumer Behaviour. There thats one day solved :D

International Marketing round 1

Im not sure if people really want to hear about my final in International Marketing today, but I think it was a pretty special type of final, so I want to tell you guys a little bit about it :)
The final consists of 4 seminars - and it's actually all a big Role Play. In each big group, there's 4 smaller groups, every time there is one group that plays the part of a consultant team - presenting a solution to a problem the company is having. The rest of us play the parts of board members. Today I was a board member, and it was actually almost a little fun. I thought I would get really nervous and not say enough - or possibly just raise my hand and then still don't get to talk. I had way way way too much cofee while preparing for this case though, so I was still on a caffeine rush. I constantly raised my hand, and got to say a whole lot - I dont think even half of it was relevant to the curriculum, etc.. but Im still actually pretty happy with the result :D Now that I know more about this type of final, I will be able to make an even better case tomorrow and maybe use more theory from the text book.

Light at the end of the tunnel

As whoever has read my blog lately know, this week has been pretty stressfull for me. I had a final monday, I got a paper that has to be done by next monday, I also have a final today and one tomorrow.. and to add to things, a bill caught me by surprise so Im pretty broke as well. Next week will be slightly better, but I have two finals then as well, so Im pretty stressed out. I am now, however, trying to think positive. This weekend should be pretty fun, both Cahtrine and Irene are celebrating their birthdays, and even if I can't really afford to go out I am definitely going to the before parties :) Then april 15th is the last final for a few weeks (the next one after that is may 5th) and also the day my next student loan gets in. The 4 finals I have now are all really just 1 subject (International Marketing), and we are 5 of us that have been working together on it, so we are all going out to dinner to celebrate when we're done. Not to mention, april 22nd Im going to London with my friends from UiO - I have tons of good things coming up as well, and while I naturally have to keep focused on the final - Im trying to keep in mind that this hard period of tons of studying and having to save money won't last forever, it's actually over (at least for a little while) soon :D Anyways back to studying, my final is this evening (of all things) - wish me luck! :)

Another day at school :P

So we're here at BI today as well, working on the first part of our final in International Marketing. I feel that I know enough of case 1 to be able to at least raise my hand a few times during the discussion tomorrrow, so Im not being over serious today. Today I also met my new speaking partner for the first time, her name is Vivian and she is actually from Shanghai - so it's great that I get to talk to her :) The point is that I should learn mandarin and she should learn norwegian, but today we mostly just got to know eachother and we talked in english. It was so nice to do something that's not studying for a change, hehe. I plan on staying here for a while today and work on consumer behaviour as well, but I don't feel as if I should do that while my group in International Marketing is still here, so Im taking it easy now while we discuss the case for tomorrow. I should probably be more nervous about the first day of the final, but it's not our group presenting tomorrow so I think it will actually be allright :) Trying to be a little positive about a final for a change.

BI - my new home? :P

So today we met up at 9, determined to study the case that is up for discussion this thursday - we're going to discuss it further tomorrow - then there's the two finals.. and this weekend I am considering to come here as well to finish up my case in consumer behaviour.. I even returned to school yesterday after I finished the english final, feel as if I spend more time at school than at home lately. I guess that's just the way it has to be when I got all this work to do, still kind of sad hehe. Now I am working on my site controller test for Tusenfryd, not schoolwork but as half of my group left already I think it's allright.. and I have to mail the test to Tusenfryd by tomorrow so I really need to get it done as well. Im really tired of constantly sitting at school working on something and I look forward to being done with International Marketing, I think that is the most challenging final this semester most likely. Now I am trying to make my mind work by listening to classical music, or well close to classical music anyhow - there is this really great composer from Turin called Ludovico Einaudi, his work is classical but also kind of similar to several movie soundtracks. This is one of the plays I like the best - Divenire (to become), really helps me focus and relax :)

Facing my fear

So today was the day I have been worrying about for about a month now - the english oral final exam. I woke up way too early, feeling extremely nervous about the presentation. I really hate talking in front of people, even if I know it will most likely be a vital part of my work after I graduate. I went over the presentation for myself a few times, but mostly I just complained about how nervous I was to whoever would listen on facebook and msn. I went to school a little early, to print out my Preparation sheets for the examinators and have some time to find the right room. I still got there kind of early, but as it turned out the student before me had been a no-show, so they wanted me to go in and do my presentation right away if I was ok with it. I told them it was fine, and more waiting would probably just make me nervous anyhow. During the actual presentation I was terribly nervous, Im sure I didn't even say everything I wanted to - but at least I managed to force myself to make eye-contact with the examinators.
For the discussion part, I felt it went really really badly because they asked me about an article I didn't really study that well and I also got a case I didn't really remember that much about. When I got out of there I felt as if it hadn't gone all that well and I was prepared for maybe a D or a C with some luck. One of the examinators came out to give me my grade, and I felt more nervous than ever.. but then the most amazing thing happened, the nice lady said "excelent work, we gave you an A". Apparently I had seemed rather nervous during the presentation, but the discussion was really good! Im still in shock, hard for me to belive it actually went this well and Im thinking I must have heard it wrong or something, but I guess I didn't.. I actually aced the final I was the most worried about! This gives me faith in my ability to talk in front of people, and makes me really really happy! It's even better to do well on something you don't think your good at than something you already know your good at. So now Im really happy and reliefed, allthough I want to see the grade in writing to make 100% sure it's actually real.
No time to relax though, I also got a case for consumer behaviour today that is due next monday, and there's 2 of the 4 seminars in International Marketing this week as well to worry about.. but hey this was a GREAT start of the finals and I will use it to motivate myself to work even harder on the next ones. To sum it all up:
Niko: 1 - Stupid nerves: 0!

H&M me

So this is it - this is how I want to look this summer :P
Picked out the clothes myself on H&M's homepage. Saw that JJ had tried the whole "trying the clothes on someone else" feature out, so I wanted to have a look as well. Honesly Im not sure if I like it or not, this is a model - it's not me. Still it's nice to see how different clothes can work together I guess, really want the dress now at least - if I do allright on my first few finals I will go buy it on the next student loan, haha :)
Then it is only a matter of growing 5 cm and loosing a few kilos. No time for the gym in the middle of finals though, or well sometimes I just go do other stuff instead, like trying out this feature on H&M's website or blog about it after, but to actually go work out takes longer.
Today I have simply been the worst student ever, hardly even looked at my presentation or the curriculum.. all I did so far was listen to some audio lectures online =/ I will still be fine though, as I promised myself to not go to sleep untill Im positive I will talk for about 7 mins during the presentation part of the final and I know all the key parts of the curriculum for the discussion part.

Nervous!

So tomorrow is my first final - english oral. I have read or at least discussed more or less the entire curriculum and im very ready for the part of the final where I am supposed to discuss it. What I am more worried about is the other part - I have to do a power point presentation, and I am kind of nervous about it. It's silly, because the presentation is on an elective subject, and I have more or less finished it already. The only thing left is to finalize what I want to say on each slide, have the general idea but it needs to be 7 minutes sharp, so I guess a set script might be a good idea. My plan all along was to not have too much to do today, thats why I have already gone over the curriculum and I have most of the presentation ready - I will probably end up repeating the presentation to myself over and over and over and over again all day though, now that I have the curriculum covered. I don't think it's healthy that I am this nervous already, but in 24 hours from now, I am in a classroom somewhere discussing negotiation techniques with the teachers! There's also a good thing about that though, in 25 hours I am done with one of my finals! :)

My name is Nikoline, and Im a caffeine addict

To those of you that thought I had finally quit cola - I failed again. To those of you that didn't know, I have been more or less addicted to cola for the last 6 years. I have managed to quit in periods, but always with cofee or tea as a substitute, if I don't have any caffeine I am likely to get a terrible headache, and become both tired and angry for no reason at all.
Tried to quit several times, but it's no good.. eventually I always crack. It can be the agony of flying for 15 hours and then arrive in Japan to hear the guy at the airport saying "Good morning miss". It can be grabbing a cofee with my friends. Once it was simply enough to walk past the cola in the store on a bad day.. my point is, it is very possible to be addicted to caffeine! A lot of people tell me my addiction is all in my head, and that might very well be true, but my the pain in the back of my head is very real, and it is almost certain it will be there if I don't have any cola/tea/cofee in my system. Once I managed to quit all 3 for about a week, had headaches for the first 5 days of that week. I feel a little frustrated at the moment, as today was one of those days I didn't drink any cofee in the morning right away.. I got a pretty bad headache, took a painkiller and it didn't help.. then I had some cofee and voila - the superstudent is back. Now is not the time to quit though I guess, in the middle of all the finals and everything, but I would really like to solve this problem some day =/

Alone?

So I did it, I actually managed to get up on time and got to the library when it opened. When I got there it was like a ghost town though - me and the washing guy.. and that was it. I thought I had to get there early to get a spot, but I forgot that most people don't really have finals in april, so I was more or less all alone the first hour or so, haha. At first it felt like a waste to go there so early, only to find that I would have gotten a spot no matter what. When I think about it now it was actually smart anyhow, as I had promised to have dinner with my family this evening to celebrate dads birthday. This way I still got 8 hours of studying, and read about 100 pages - Im proud of me! Dinner with the family was awesome and Ludvig talked me into watching movies with him this evening rather than study even more before going to sleep, I do have my first final monday, but considering I studied 8 hours already and 9 hours yesterday as well I guess it's fine :) Going back to study more tomorrow as well - the plan is to get there when it opens and leave when it closes :)