Done! :D

I am finally done with all of the final exams! :D
The last one I have been worried sick about for at least a week now, as it was on practical economics and management. Everything with calculations is normally impossible for me, but today I feel as if I might actually have done ok. The final itself was almost the same as the trial exam that we have been working a lot on the last few days, so I knew more or less how to solve all of the problems - what a relief, I was sure I would fail untill I saw the actual test! The final even had true/false questions in it.. not too hard at all. Ah well, maybe Im wrong, maybe I failed, but I think I should have passed (heard you just need like 30% correct so I don't see how I can possibly have failed).. that means I will have enough credits to go to Shanghai and that is actually in less than two months, damn thats weird to think about - but also really cool!

Facing my fear - numbers!

Today I decided I had no chance whatsoever of understanding this practical economics business on my own, so I studied together with my friends. Yesterday I had more or less given up on this entire final all together and I was still kind of down this morning. Studying with Yong, Nina and Cathrine actually helped quite a lot though - we got thorough the trial exam twice, I undestood more or less all of it - now I just have to remember it (and tons of other stuff) and pray I get something I can at least partly understand tomorrow.. hopefully it's ok that I pray even if I am not a christian.. hm.. yeah it has to be! :P Our humor today was even worse than all the other times we have been studying too long at school.. we even came up with "Fear Factor - the BI edition".. our fear was doing ABC budgets and technical budgets, but caffeine, Yong actually understanding it and more caffeine made it all ok ^^ I stayed at school for about 8 and a half hours.. I simply cant stay as long when it's economics.. I get too upset when I don't understand things, even if I get the right answer and everything, haha. Now I have taken a break and I guess I will have to study at least a little more before going to sleep. Anyways - I have a slightly better feeling about this today than I had yesterday.. my new goal is now a D, but Im happy as long as I pass to be perfectly honest.

Trying to understand practical economics..

The subjects I always struggle the most with are subjects including calculations and economy. The last final this semester is Practical Economics and Management, so naturaly I am rather confused trying to study for it. I am now trying to solve a series of problems related to technical budgeting, and it makes me rather frustrated how little I understand.. I have never had any ambitions about awesome super grades in this subject, but it would be nice to at least not fail it.. hope I can manage that at least. The plan is to study 7-9 hours a day all weekend - as I solve the problems or learn from the solutions sheet how they should be solved I write down the formulas in a way that I can actually understand - then I will try to memorize the formulas that I have written down. I think it's the best I can do... hopefully that will save me from a fail. I am worried about things I shouldn't worry about - affraid I have failed both the last two finals I did, even if I actually wrote quite a lot on them both and I can't know anything untill I get them back.. the thing is that if I somehow failed those two and I also fail this one I don't have enough credits to go study in China.. so I hope I didn't!

Chaos..

Obviously the last few says have been rather stressfull for me. I have been stuck in an ashcloud for two days, wondering wether I would even make it home to finish the finals and how serious it would really be. Flying home while knowing we were most likely close to the ash was rather scary as well to be prefectly honest, but it's not as if I had any choice, I had to make it back in time for B2B. Then yesterday I studied all day, trying to at least be able to pass the final I had today while all I really wanted to do was reload after the whole vulcano thing. I don't feel as if the final went good at all. I can blame the vulcano and the stress all I want, but I guess it's my own fault for not studying more evenly all semester.. my style is the whole.. panic attack the last few days thing, and it normally works out pretty ok. Didn't count on Grimsvötn having an eruption though, even if I guess the odds of being stuck due to an eruption must be higher in Iceland than anywhere else in the world. And yes, I realise it is selfish to feel sorry for myself when farmers close to the eruption have lost their animals and stuff, Im just feeling frustrated after the final. Right now Im just really tired and angry with the whole thing.. apparently most of my friends had a pretty hard time with the final as well, everyone I have talked to felt unprepared and were surprised with the questions we got. Everyone seemed really tired and we all made terrible jokes that everyone actually laughed at all day yesterday and all morning today (because we were all so tired). I can't do anything about the B2B final now though I guess and I all I can do is move on. There is another final in 4 days, and this one is on practical economics and management.. so yeah, I will need a lot of luck and hard work if Im going to have any chance at passing it at all I guess.. on the bright side that is the last final, and two months from now Im on the plane to Shanghai :O

And back to school again

Don't get me wrong, I am actually happy that I made it home for my final - having to study for it on the other hand.. not so much fun. My awesome friends at school made it a whole lot better though. I got to look at their notes, they told me what they thought was most important to remember and the guys even shared their pizza with me :) Thanks to them I now feel that I at least have some chance of passing the final, hopefully Im not wrong, hehe. I was at school and studied for about 8 hours, then I studied a bit at home as well - just hope I will remember most of the stuff Ive read tomorrow :)

Home sweet home!

We were all rather ancious this morning, wondering if our new plane would be able to take off. When the guesthouse's owners gave us all souvenirs and goodbye hugs we figured that was most likely a really good sign though (sunday they basicly said "yeah we'll drive your luggage to the airport if you find out that you can leave today, but we doubt it - just go to the Blue Lagoon"). We got a lift to the airport and to everyones relief the plane was still on "confirmed". The plane took off and the clouds outside of the window where pearly white and didn't look dangerous whatsoever :D We made it all the way to Bergen and then to Oslo with no issues. One thing that was actually rather sad though was that when I landed in Iceland I got stopped by the lady waiting first in line to take the plane back to Reykjavik. She looked really really upset and scared, and she asked me if I had been in Iceland during the eruption. She lived in Reykjavik as it turned out and I was very happy to be able to tell her that there was no megathick layer of dangerous ash there. Apparently the media must have given everyone in Norway at least the wrong picture of this disaster. Just so everybody knows: The eruption was awfull, but NOT in all of Iceland. In Reykjavik and Koppavogur all we noticed was a funky ash cloud and then a really thin (almost invisible) layer of ash on the cars in the morning. Everyone in Iceland have been nothing but kind and helpfull to us, especially the people running the guesthouse - Sigga and Tolli.I hope people will keep on visiting the country even if there are 139 vulcanos in it. I have never experienced nature this unique before either, with the geysirs, the vulcanos and the hot springs. It is a beautifull country, but I guess it's not 100% tamed :) It was a great trip, even if it lasted two days longer than planned. Tomorrow I will just have to study my ass off I guess and hope I can pass my final.

oh dear..

My brother decided to go to a norwegian newspaper and tell them about the situation beeing stuck here in Iceland with our finals and everything.. I figured they might make it a small article somewhere in the newspaper, but it is now a headline and it is on the top of their webpage. For those of you that understand norwegian you can find the actual article here. Im not sure how I feel about this getting that much attention to be honest, after all the real victims here are the farmers that live close to the actual eruption, not us. Got an e-mail from school shortly after the article got out saying that I can take the final at the first oppertunity after Im home in Norway again, so at least it did some good I guess. A lot of people are throwing us mean comments about how we can just take a boat, take the final later on and stuff like that. And I can understand that they feel that the focus in the media is wrong when they post this rather than talk about the farmers or something like that, but we really did not mean any harm at all and we had no idea this would be on the frontpage. It actually looks good for us now, they are most likely opening up the airport again this evening and we're on a flight to Bergen in the morning :)

Still in Iceland..

You probably all know, but yesterday there was another eruption here in Iceland. This time it was Grimsvötn apparently. It is located pretty far away from Koppavogur wich is where Im staying, but obviously the air traffic is closed for now so Im stuck here. The ash cloud from the vulcano is real close to Koppavogur and tomorrow the area might be covered in ashes when I wake up. Im not in any danger though, so I don't want anyone to worry about me, worst case scenario there is a boat leaving for Denmark this thursday we can probably take. My only issue with that is my final in Business to Business marketing that is also this thursday - I guess an eruption should qualify as a valid reason for not making it though. We decided to go to the Blue Lagoon wich is close to the airport and see what happened. This morning everything seemed really normal - the sun was up and there was hardly even any clouds. The Blue Lagoon was beautifull in the sun, rather crowded though as people had taken the bus there from the airport. We're the lucky ones, Sigga (that owns this guesthouse) has kept us updated on everything that has been happening all along, and the first thing she said about the eruption was "We might have to adopt you, you might have to stay here", so we have a place to stay and everything. On our way home we saw the ash clouds, my dad didn't even belive me at first and he said it was probably just rain or something - but I knew it was the wrong color, hehe. I can see it on the outside of my window now, looks like fog, but a slightly more black color. I don't even know how to react to this kind of thing, but as long as there's no danger I guess it's actually a pretty unique and interesting experience - Im really curious about how everything will look tomorrow morning, hehe.

Iceland Day 6 - Reykjavik Zoo

Today my parents were at their conference in Koppavogur again, so me and Ludvig took Ida to the Zoo. As Iceland is never really all that warm, even in the summer, I guess they just didn't want to keep african animals there. They had cows, horses, goats, sheep and other household animals as well as seals, arctic foxes, raindeers and some aquatic animals. It was a nice little zoo and Ida loved it. Now she is at the local pool again (3rd day in a row) with my parents - later on we are all going to have dinner in Reykjavik and then Ludvig and I are going out again.

Iceland day 5 - Horses :D

Today my parents had to work a bit, so Ludvig, Ida and I went horseback riding. Iceland horses are pretty short (but don't ever call them ponys to a person from Iceland's face) and they have tons of hair. They also have their own special gate (tølt) that is pretty cool. When the people working at the stables heard that I already knew how to do this they decided to give me a rather lively horse. I had to hold back the entire time as all he wanted to do was run past the other horses. It was real nice to go horseback riding again and I think I managed to try the special gate at least once, but it might just have been a weird trot rather than tølt, can't know for sure as I never tried before.

Iceland day 4 - more nature + a pub in Reykjavik

Today we went into the Icelandic nature on our own. We went to one of the places where you can see the boder between the European and the American land masses, it was pretty cool . Then we went to a huge waterfall called Gullfoss or something like that, it was huge anyhow - really beautifull. After the waterfall it was time to see some geysirs. Not all of the geysirs in the area we went to are still active, but Strokkur can still be as tall as 25-3o meters. It was really awesome to see this unique nature phenomenon up close. In the evening me and my brother decided to go back to Reykjavik and check out the nightlife. The city seemed pretty dead, but we found a sports bar that was pretty nice. It was only about 5 people there, but the guy working at the bar was really cool and we met 3 other guys from Reykjavik as well. We got a free shot of icelandic "brennevin" that was actually pretty strong - apparentlu it is like norwegian akeitt only without the extra apple flavor according to the icelandic dudes. Definitely a great day and a great evening as well :)

Iceland day 3 - Into the wild

Today we went on a daytrip with a man from Iceland called Bjarki. Several of the others from my parents congress was there as well. We went into the Icelandic nature with a special 4 wheels bus that can drive places a car just simply can't. Our first stop was by a huge waterfall that we could also walk behind and make a wish, it was pretty cool. We also saw the bottom of Eyjafjallajökull (the volcano that caused all the problems with the air traffic last year), but we couldn't go any further up, as there was a snowstorm up there. We had to go with plan B, but that was actually a pretty awesome trip as well. We went deep into a canyon. At the very end of the canyon there was a small cave with a waterfall inside. It was a pretty magical place, the light and the rock formations combined with the waterfall was just briliant. Really nice day, but it will be nice to drive our own car tomorrow. Bjarki was a brilliant guide and most of the others were really really nice, but some of the Germans simply used way too much time - Bjarki said to meet at 2.30 and they would be back arround 3.30 and so on. Got two more photos I want to show you guys - the left is me in front of Eyjafjallajökull and the right one is me in the waterfall cave (both stolen from my dad, hehe)

Iceland day 2 - Reykjavik

Day two here in Iceland started with a very nice breakfast at the guest house with some of the other people going to the same seminar as my parents. Then we went to meet a guy called Bjarki. We are going on a trip that he is arranging tomorrow into the wild so we just wanted to say hello and find out where to show up tomorrow morning. Bjarki was a really nice and very social guy, so we ended up having cofee. He also showed us arround a bit and told us where to find a convinience store, etc. Then we went to central Reykjavik. The city isn't really all that big, but the nature surrounding it is really beautifull. We also went to Hallgrímskirkja, that is a rather new church. The wiew from the top tower was pretty awesome. My parents friend recommended a guided tour at the culture house. The tour was pretty interesting, as Icelands history also includes Norway every now and then. The vikings moved to Iceland from Norway and Iceland has also been under us at some point. We got to have a look at some of the oldest books found in Iceland, written on calf skin The guide was really awesome as well. In the evening we had dinner at Perla (the pearl). Perla is the tallest point in Reykjavik and it is also where all the hot water they use is gathered in huge tanks. At the top of these tanks there is a restaurant overlooking the entire city, the wiew is amazing. The tables actually rotate slowly as well so the wiew changed as we sat there eating. The food tasted great too, so it was definitely a nice dinner. Tomorrow we are going on that trip into the wild, so that will be awesome too :D

Iceland day 1 - The Blue Lagoon

Today I went to Iceland with my family and so far I just love it here. The trip started with possibly the nicest planeride I have ever been on. We had our own touch screens, free drinks and tons of extra stuff for my little sister. All of this for a 2 hour flight, I think Im using Iceland air if I ever decide to go to America as well, hehe. At the airport we met up with the people we will be staying with, Sigga and her husband that I forgot the name of. They were great too, took our luggage to the guest house while we took the rental car (that they had also gotten for us) to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon, needless to say, was definitely a pretty unique experience. The air temperature in Iceland now is at about 7 degrees while the water was at least 30, if not even warmer. I can only imagine how weird it must be in the winter, hehe. We stayed in The Blue Lagoon untill it closed before we headed back to the guest house. Sigga and her husband met us and showed us the rooms, I really like it here. We got a free wifi, a jacuzzi, a kitchen and well yeah.. everything we need :) Sigga actually talks almost norwegian. In Iceland everyone learns danish, but they pronounce it like norwegians would have - so when they talk "scandinavian" as they like to call it it's a mix between danish and norwegian (at least thats what it sounds like to me) and quite easy to understand. We are going to check out central Reykjavik and then maybe go for a drive tomorrow - as we got free internet and theres not that much to do arround the guest house in the evening I will most likely be updating my blog a lot ^^

In a few hours..

In a few hours I will be in Iceland :) Im really looking forward to this, never been there before and I hear the nature is completely unique. We are planning to go to the Blue Lagoon directly after we land as it's close to the airport, going to be awesome! Im not sure if I really have time for this in the middle of my finals and everything, but Im bringing some of the books and my laptop with me. Me and Ludvig are going to study for at least 2 hours a day as he has a final as well, I hope we can keep it up :)

Rainbow!

Wuhu saw a rainbow today :) A lot more of it was visible, but I didnt get it on my camera.. hehe. Went to visit my parents place after school today to scan a document I need for the student loan application. It was really nice, they made my favorite dinner and we planned our trip to Iceland a bit, it is in two days after all - will be nice to go away again, even if it will be hell to study for the finals after I get home.

Woot

Today I havent really done anything productive whatsoever.. bad niko :/
I went to school briefly to give my friends some free tickets to Tusenfryd, and they have all started preparing for our final in Practical Economics and Management apparently.. I didnt even start yet, crap! It's decided, tomorrow will be all about school for sure! Then saturday I will be working, sunday Im going to Iceland.. and when I get home I will have 1 week for the next final. To think, the last final is may 30th, thats not too far away at all, my vacation is right arround the corner :)

Goooood morning!

Thanks to my own uselessness and lazyness I ended up doing my assignment in Consumer Behaviour tonight.. the only sleep I got was a powernap from 3.30 to 4.30, the rest of the night I spendt trying to finish the assignment on time. I think I should have enough to not fail it now, have the amount of pages needed and I used the textbook theory all the way.. This was not how I planned to do this, I was going to use several weeks thinking it over and writing it, finishing last minute like this probably made the assignment a lot worse, and it also really sucked to be up all night writing it after working 4 hours at Tusenfryd. Now Im kind of just waiting for school to open so I can go hand in the assignment, then I want to sleep for a couple of hours before doing the digital test for Buiness to Business, that I have also kind of had a lot of time on but didnt do yet. I have to start planning my time better so I avoid crap like this :(

Stress...

I am pretty stressed out right now, have to hand in one assignment and one digital test for school within the next few days, and Im also working today.. The assignment is for tomorrow and the plan was to do it yesterday after work, but I just simply didnt have the energy for it. We didnt have a lot to do at work, but somehow I managed to twist my ancle so it was still hurting when I got home and the painkillers made me supertired. Im really tired today was well, not sure why cause I did sleep for at least 8 hours. The digital test I have to do by the day after tomorrow, but tomorrow Im not working at least so I can just head up to school and use the entire day on it. My motivation is more or less gone by now, but I just have to drink a big cup of cofee, get the motivation back and get these things done by the deadlines.

My brother growed up! :O

Today was my brothers 18th birthday, wich means he is actually legally an adult now. I still remember him as a one day old baby, so it is kind of weird. I was a little worried about fitting in at his birthday party, but I went there anyways as he wanted me there and it was a pretty big day. Ludvigs friends were actually rather mature (or perhaps Im immature, who knows), and I even know some of them from Tusenfryd so I didn't have any trouble at all. It was a controlled, but still fun party with dinner, drinking, boardgames and talking.

Not so quiet anymore :)

Yesterday I was kind of sick of studying on my own in my quiet appartment so I met up with my brother, Ludvig, and we went to my friends Victoria and Chris. We stayed there for ages, just eating pizza, watching TV, playing Risk on their xbox. Me and Ludvig went back to my place arround 3 AM (the last round of Risk took ages) and stayed up talking for some time. In the morning it was back to Tusenfryd. Because Ludvig started earlier and we wanted to take the bus together I voluntered for helping out with building a small stage. Im not really the strongest person in the world, so I was unsure if I was the right person for the job and felt kind of out of place. It was actually quite ok though, pretty easy money. It was still nice when I got to go work at Sky Coaster though and do something I know how to do already rather than ask questions every 3 mins. It wasnt all that crowded in the park in general today, but we actually had quite a few flights. I still think it's the new group discounts that makes people more positive this season :) Now Im supertired and Im kind off considering to just go to sleep right away.. probably a good idea to have some dinner first at least though, hehe.

Quiet..

Sometimes I feel lonely, just because I live on my own. The appartment is just so quiet and empty. Listening to music and watching series sometimes help, sometimes it doesnt.. when the song ends or the show is over the quiet is till there.
I think I feel like this right now because I went on that trip to London and lived in a 14 person dorm for 5 days, to then go back home and study on my own more or less all the time. Studying at home, studying at school, doesnt really matter as none of my friends were taking the subject my final yesterday was on. I am done with that final now though, and my brother is coming over later. He and I will go to my friend Victorias place for dinner and then he will stay here untill tomorrow. I think I really need some social time right now, can't deal with this quiet and empty appartment anymore, makes me feel too sad and alone. I have to study for the next final as well, and do a case and a digital test, but I will still have time for that after the weekend and right now I just have to meet people before I go insane.

Yawn

So yeah.. anohter awesome day of preparing for the finals. Got one tomorrow in Consumer Behaviour, should probably be really nervous right now but somehow Im not. Im just tired of studying and have a hard time finding my motivation. Guess my trip to London gave me a taste of life outside of the library, hehe. I hardly think I will fail even if I dont study anymore today, but obviously I want to do well so I guess its time to memorize important models and facts.. yawn. On the bright side when Im done with this one I just have two more finals left, and then I will just have Tusenfryd and preparing for Shanghai left to worry about. And HEY not that long untill Im going to Iceland with my family, that will be awesome as well. Anyways it is time to draw the consumer decision making process over and over again untill I can do it from memory.. yaaay! But before I do I feel like linking a nice song (or well it is actually a cover) featuring one of my favorite bands, I Fight Dragons:

Trying to play the piano again (again!) ^^

And here we go again, posting a video of myself playing the piano, hehe. This is one of the songs I played on my final in Piano 5-6 years ago when I went to music high school. Not sure if I am even still playing it right, but I really love the plau. It is called Passacaglia in G Minor and its written by Händel.

Information meeting

Today there was another information meeting about next semester, but this time with representatives from the BI Liasion Office at Fudan and it was all in english (because "we are international" and two of the representatives were chinese). A lot of the information was things we have heard about in writing already, but we got some new info as well. Basicly their advice to us was to take the summer course and take chinese seriously, live close to school and attend field trips and meetings. Apprently some real estate agent fooled most of the students living there now into paying a too high deposit and possibly too much rent as well, so they warned us about that too. I think Cathrine, Irene and I will be fine though, Irenes mum is following us to Shanghai to help us out and everything. Going to events and field trips and such I will obviously try to do, as its a good way to network. As for the chinese, I already had every intention of taking it seriously so no problem there. The 3 students from Drammen came to Oslo for the information meeting though that was pretty cool, they all seem nice. I still find it hard to belive that I am actually going to live in Shanghai, it looks so modern it's almost unreal in some of the pictures.. haha. It gets more and more real though, now I have handed in the last applications, I have info about the visa and a written confirmation to show the national student loan fund. I can't help feeling as if this is the start of an adventure, and hey it probably is. (this song is awesome for that feeling :P)

After the information meeting it was up to the library to look for a free seat. The big quiet section was filled up, but I found a spot in the small even more quiet section. In this part of the library you not only have to be quiet, you can't use your computer or eat either. Sitting there actually made me study pretty effective though and I read a little more than 100 pages in 3-4 hours. Eventually I just got too hungry though, and as Im broke after the London trip that ment going home to eat :P. I did get a free burn from some people trying to sell telephones though, so that kept me going for a little while at least ^^

Done with the application (at last!)

So today I went to school to fill out and hand in my application form to Fudan University in Shanghai. Yes I know I said I got in already, but what I should have said was BI agreed to nominate me already, hehe. Fudan has never rejected any student nominated by BI though, so I feel pretty confident that Im going to get in. The application forms to the language summer course and the one year course were both really long, and it took me over an hour to fill them out. I also needed a photo of myself and a copy of my passport. In the application they asked all sorts of things, a lot of it was contact info, but they also asked what languages I know, my religion, etc. When I had finally finished it all I managed to print out the wrong document, so I had two of the summer course form and no one year program form. Scary to imagine what would have happened if I hadn't noticed, hehe. I ended up handing in the right forms about 10 minutes before the International Office closed, took a lot longer than I thouht. I need to study for my final in Consumer Behaviour today as well, so I guess I will have to use the evening for that.. bleh. Im happy to be done with the application forms though, and I also found "placement test" on the summer language course program. Thats awesome, as I have studied mandarin for a year already and kind of dont want to spend money on learning the basics all over again. Considered to just not take the course, but the placement test made me decide to take it :)

The weekend

This weekend has been pretty busy for me. Saturday started with a day working at the amusement park. It was quite a few guests at the park, 5 or 6 thousand I think they said, and with the new prices a lot of them wanted to take sky coaster as well. I think it's more fun to work when there's a lot of people at the rides though, time goes by faster :)
After work I went directly to Kajas place as she turned 23 may 1st (she always celebrates the night before). Petter, Jeanette and I got her a photo frame she has wanted to buy for a while now, but her boyfriend Stian hates it so she didn't yet, hehe. Kaja loves us now and we got to make fun of Stian as well so it's all good. The party was pretty cool, nice to meet Kajas other friends (That I now consider my friends as well, but I don't meet without Kaja) again as well. Sunday it was back to work again, a lot less people there, but mum, dad and Ida was 3 of them so that was nice. Ida is the sweetest kid in the world, she had walked up to sky coaster directly after getting in to the park to see if I was there - that ride doesn't open untill a little later though and I didnt really work there that day either, so she didnt find me. Poor little thing, I did meet them later on though, several times :) Today I will have to study.. A LOT, and also fill out my applications for Fudan university with a copy of my passport, a picture of me, etc.. its like they want my whole life story in the application.