Under a clear blue sky

Okay, so I'll try to update my LJ now, and hope there isn't another DdoS attack! I've been meaning to do that for quite a while now, but LJ has been down every time. :/

And I've been neglecting my flist dreadfully and am very sorry. I had quite a bit to do the last week(s) and just handed in my home exam yesterday. So now I have aaaall the time in the world to procrastinate and catch up with everyone. :)

Sooo, I still love it here in Tromsø. And it's not as if nothing has happened, but there hasn't been a lot happening either, so I thought I could post some pictures until I can think of something interesting to write.

Now we have already entered the polar night, and it is dark a lot, but I took a walk to the shops on the 18th, one of the last days where you could see the sun above the mountain, and because I was very lucky, there was a beautiful sunset (at midday!) and lots of pretty snow. Fortunately, I took my camera with me.

( And here are the photos. )

Oh, and I'm about to get the Christmas cards, so if you want one, drop me your address here, and I still need to know whether I got your address right, ai_chi!

<3 you all!

ETA: And I almost forgot AGAIN that I forgot the birthdays of the lovely angrylogic and ai_chi this month, so I'm very sorry, and I hope you had a nice birthday! ♥
And if I forgot more birthdays, I'm sorry! I'm just really horrible at remembering them.

I'm still full of adrenaline... because I just booked my flight back home for Christmas! :D It was a bit too expensive maybe (waited a bit too long), but I'm still glad I booked it.

I don't know why but I was super nervous booking it. And I kind of suspect that my flight back to Norway is a bit too late (it's on the first day of the semester), but I couldn't afford an earlier flight back.

Now I feel weirdly Christmas-y even though it's still so long to go! :) Maybe because it feels like everyone on the Internet is talking about Halloween and Thanksgiving, and that gives me all these holiday feelings, but the only one we have is Christmas? Who knows... :)

Eeeek, excited! Wonn't have to spend Christmas alone, and get to have a nice visit in Berlin, too, since I am flying to and from there! :D

Please excuse the nature of this entry, but I need to vent. The world has to know my feelings!!

Soooo, the Norwegian post office and I are not on best terms at the moment anyway because they forced me to pay 199 NOK in customs for things not worth much more, but eh, I was ready to, well, not forgive them, but not hold a grudge at least, but today! TODAY!

So I got a note saying they have a package for me I can come collect. Thing is, they never try and deliver it directly to you, they always deliver it to your nearest post office... thing. (Ours is not exactly a post office, it's called "post i butikken" and basically a post counter in the ICA (a supermarket))
Anyway, so I went there to get my package and they asked me for an ID. Sooo, I gave them my German one (the only passport I have btw), and the girl working there just looked at me...

Her: "Don't you have a Norwegian ID?"

Me: "No, I'm from Germany, this is my German ID."

Her: "Okay, can I see your driving license with a picture maybe?"

Me: "I don't have it with me." (Also why should I, do I look like I could afford a car here?! xD)

Her: "Well, then can I maybe see your passport."

Me: "This is my passport, it's the only one we have in Germany."

Her: "Okay, but can't I see your real one?"

Me: "Erm, this is the real one. It's the only one I have. We only have this one in Germany. We only need a travelling passport if we want to travel outside Europe which I haven't done yet. So I only have this one."

Her: "Okay... so... can you show me your real ID?"

Me: "... It is."

Her: "I will also accept a health insurance card with a picture."

...

It went on like that for a while. >:/ In the end I got my package in exchange for a lecture how I should bring a "real" ID next time.

Ugh.

ETA: I feel like I have to add: We don't have health insurance cards with pictures in Germany. Oops.

Hello World! :D

Here I am again, bearing photos and even more photos from this beautiful town in this beautiful country! :)

Actually, I've been meaning to write an update for quite a while, but in the end was always to lazy... but that changes now, and here come an aweful lot of pictures from...

( ... my most awesome uni! )

( ... my most awesome way to/from uni! )

( ... my most awesome other photos that I can't give a collective name to! )

Soooo, phew, those were a lot of pictures! I hope you enjoyed though! :D I will try to update/comment more often again... if anyone even wants that, that is. :P

Hei hei, alle sammen! :D

First things first: this is the view from my room:



So, as you might or might not know, the air-traffic controller strike was cancelled just five hours before it was due to start which means, everthing went fine with my flight! :D

At the airport in Berlin I met a guy who studies with me and is going to oslo for five months, so that was really good against any first bouts of fright, I could have had! :)

When I arrived in Tromsø in the evening, there were people from the university waiting, I got my keys, and took the bus (the normal one from the public transportation system, nothing fancy :P) to my student hostel, together with some other exchange students I met at the airport!

In my flat (it's kinda lika a flat, 6 people sharing a kitchen and three sharing a bathroom) there is only one other guy atm, Roman, and he is soooo nice. :) Made me tea yesterday evening and gave me Russian chocolate! <3 He is from Russia but has lived in Norway for years now, so we spoke Norwegian. The other four people living here are Norwegians and still on their semester holiday. xD

( And this is the view from the kitchen window. :) )

So, today was my first day of the introductory programme from the university and I already met a lot of people from all over the world - and quite a lot from Germany too, of course. :P
I really love the uni! It has such a nice campus and the buildings are kind of cute and it has a rather big bookstore in the basement which isn't even more expensive but rather cheaper than ordinary book shops. ♥

We got food and coffee and biscuits for free and I talked a lot of English today. It went... pretty well actually. xD There were a lot of things we did and listened to and now I'm just exhausted. When I came home, I first set up the Internet and Roman helped me! He's so nice! And then he even showed me the way to the next supermarket and I bought some food. I bought 18 eggs because they cost the same as 6 would have! I would never do that in Germany, but I was just overwhelmed how expensive everything really is. xD

Really good day. :3 Hope tomorrow continues that way, I am rather afraid I'll suffer from a case of serious homesickness one of these days.

The last two days were really unlucky for me. :(

Well, today a lot more than yesterday where the only thing that happened was that I stepped on a tack. Barefoot. And it just stuck there in my foot and the view alone was pretty weird, and it hurt so much. ;_; But it's all better now! Once I pulled it out, it didn't hurt very long after. :)

But then. Today. I had an appointment with the dentist (and it was a small wonder that I even got one before going, it was pretty short notice). I take veeeery good care of my teeth, and usually they always just check and there isn't anything and I can go after five minutes (having waited something like 1 1/2 hours... xD), but today, oh today. :(

The dentist said that there was a dark spot on one of my molars, but it was probably nothing, and just to be sure he wanted to make an x-ray. Okay. I was already feeling queasy, but fine, it's always been nothing anyway. And then. AND THEN.

They made an x-ray and when the dentist come to look at it, he gets this expression on his face, and looks at me and is all "well, the dark spot is nothing, but unfortunately..." and then he points at like EIGHT SPOTS! I'M NOT LYING! And tells me that all those spots have caries, and especially this spot was pretty bad, and I really had to get it done before Norway.

ETA: Btw, I feel I should mention that those holes are not my fault, it's apparently some kind of bacteria, and either you've got it or not, and I have and it's ruining my teeth now. -__-

And I bet he said something more, BUT THEN I FAINTED. God, it was so embarrassing. ;_; I fainted just because I was so fucking scared of them drilling holes in my teeth (since the newer, "experimental" stuff without drilling is expensive :().

And I even told him "I'm going to faint now." Him: "Why, I haven't even done anything." "Yeah, I know, just thought you'd like to know, I'm gonna faint now."

And then I did. ;__;

My dentist was really nice then though. Holding my hand and I got handed some weird stuff to get my circulation going again, and then he explained me I would get a shot against the pain, and would feel nothing. And he said it was urgent and he could do it on Monday, but by then I'm already back in Berlin, and yeah. Said I would get it done in Norway, but checked and I would have to pay for everything and it's expensive.

But good (?) news is, I managed to get a dentist appointment on Monday in Berlin. Just hope they're nice, and give me a shot againt the pain, too.

This evening friends are coming over (because today is my last day in Kassel!), but I'm still feeling queasy and would much rather curl up in my bed and read. :(


ETA 2: And I just found the cat shat all over the carpet in the hall. Glorious day so far, really.

Was Ausblidungsförderung angeht, ist Deutschland einfach ganz, ganz beschissen.

Ich will mich nicht übers Studieren an sich beschweren, denn das ist immerhin gratis (größtenteils), aber die ganze Bafög-Scheiße werde ich nie verstehen. >(

Ich habe Auslandsbafög beantragt, weil ja nun leider in Norwegen alles sehr viel teurer ist als hier. Ich meine, ich wusste schon, dass ich in Deutschland kein Bafög bekomme, aber ich dachte in Norwegen, wo es ungefähr doppelt so viel kostet zu leben wie in Berlin, da wäre es möglich, dass der liebe Staat mir ein paar Gelder gibt...

Aber nein nichts. "Ihre Förderung beträgt 0,00 EUR." Ja, danke, ihr mich auch! D<

Die haben die monatlichen Kosten (meiner Meinung nach) viel zu niedrig berechnet (die Kosten für meine Unterkunft sind anscheinend 0 Euro!) und laut ihrem Vorschlag soll meine Mutter mir fast komplett alles zahlen. THE FUCK?! Meine Mutter ist Sekretärin! SEKRETÄRIN! Nicht mal ne Vorstandssekretärin oder so, und nein, das ist kein schlechter Beruf, aber ich verstehe nicht, wie die von ihr verlangen, dass sie mir fast ihr gesamtes Netto-Einkommen geben soll?!

Und ich verstehe nicht, warum ich kein Bafög krieg! Viele mit denen ich studiere, kriegen welches, weil ihre Eltern selbständig sind, obwohl die weit mehr Geld verdienen als meine Mutter.

Ich will meiner Mutter echt nicht mehr so parasitär auf der Tasche liegen. ;_;

Naja, werd mir n Job in Norwegen suchen und hoffentlich einen finden. -__-

Sooo, Alice, the lovely internet and telephone provider I have a contract with, wrote me a letter, in which they told me, in order to have my contract cancelled I have to send them official proof from the registration office of the place where I'm moving! That doesn't sound all too bad, I think. :)
The only "problem" is that I won't have that until, maybe, the end of August, and that may be too late to cancel my contract until the 1st of September, but whatever. Paying Internet I don't use for one month is still much better than paying for it until April! :) And I didn't even have to bother them about it. A few days (two I think?) after I got the mail, the letter arrived. I am very pleased now. xD
Let's just hope, they stay true to their word if I send them proof. :P

Also concerning me going to Norway: My acceptance of the offer for housing was registered! \o/ I guess that can only mean that it's okay I pay the deposit during my first week in Norway and not (as specified in the contract) right now!
It really seems nothing is standing between me and my little room right in the Norwegian nowhere aynomore! Hurrah!
Although there is one thing that still bothers me. According to the contract I only have this room until the 31st of December, but I'm staying there till June at least! xD Oh well, let's hope that's some standard procedure thing. I shall bother them about it when I'm there and moved in. :)

ETA: Almost forgot! I made scones today! They are epic! But I ate too many (with my mother's homemade jam *__*), and now I feel sick, haha. xD
It was much easier than I would have thought. :) I always figured they were similar to the Norwegian "boller" which are a kind of tea buns, too, but those are far more work. Shall do scones more often now. :3

OMG, you guys, I went to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" with some friends today, and I liked it sooo muchhhhh~! ♥

We went to see it in the original version, undubbed, which was nice, too. I was actually kind of worried, because just some months ago, I had some problems with understanding British English, but it turns out my remedy of watching British shows on YouTube really helped, so I understood everything! :D Though it was quite a change hearing their original voices. I watched all the other films dubbed in German, because I was too lazy to care... xD But now we made an effort and went to the cinema at Potsdamer Platz where they show the original versions, and that was nice. Even though we had to watch it in 3D which I really still don't like. <<

( Some spoilers and fangirling behind the cut! )

So, I guess that's enough rambling! :P Did you already see it? Any thoughts? Do you plan to?

Dearest f-list!

I have a liiiittle request to make...

I am bored out of my mind these days (mainly because I just keep ignoring university and Finnish. I just don't want to study...) and normally when this happens I read, but thing is: I just haven't been able to find a book that really grabs my interest in months. I'm reading this and that and have about 7 books lying around that I began reading, but just haven't found the motivation to finish...

So, I'd be very glad and happy if anyone could rec my some books? I don't really care about genres, I just want something that, well, just grabs you and doesn't let you go. :)

Sooo, anything in mind? What are your favourite books?

I will be gratefull forever for any recs. ♥