Svartediket - a pilgrimage

The weather's been glorious this weekend, and it seemed a shame to waste it by sitting inside and doing my homework - ahem - so I decided I was going to go and find the real Svartediket. It was about time I had a look really.

'I think we're getting close!'

After some stumbling around, I eventually walked headlong into a damn (Fish swims into a wall. 'Damn!'), which was just about as close to a big sign with flashing lights around the edges saying 'It's here!' as I was going to get, really. You can't walk over the damn just now, because they're busy working on it - boo - but I found a nice path running alongside it, and I managed to take a couple photos, although they aren't as good as I'd hoped because a) it really was too bright, and b) I couldn't get that close to it and there were trees in the way mostly.

Aaand, here's me walking:

Ice-skating

Last weekend Buddy Bergen arranged for us all to go and make fools of ourselves at the local ice rink. Great fun was had by all, and it transpires that helping people up/trying to help them not fall over is a great way of getting to know people.

It wasn't solely let out to us, so there was also a number of young Norwegians making us all look bad, but they quickly got into the spirit of things and started introducing themselves to first-time skaters in need of a bit of help. I grinned wider than I have in weeks when I spotted an enormous black guy (he was about 6ft5) being held upright by the two tiniest little blonde Norwegian girls you've ever seen (they must have been about 7).

Due to some worry that I was going to fall flat on my face, I didn't actually take any photos, but here are some that were taken by the representatives from Buddy Bergen:

One of the first-timers I helped up at one point (middle) with a Norwegian guy who dragged me out into the middle of the rink right at the start despite my snarling (right)

The writing on the wall

'You don't know how beautiful you are'




'Samba from hell'
'Stomach problems?'
'The samba's from Brazil. It's hot there, but not as hot as in hell'
'How do you know that? Have you been to hell?'
'Yep :P'
'Was it nice there?'
'In Sao Paulo? It's certainly hell there, I've heard'
(one of many ongoing conversations on the toilet wall at UiB)




'believe in yourself, you are fantastic'

I also stumbled across this on my travels:

Flavoured chunks of what?!

Robin Hood og Lille John løper gjennom skogen..

This has got to be one of the most underrated Disney films - it's sooo good! And I've found it in Norwegian :)

Sjøfartsmuseet

Last Thursday I went to Sjøfartsmuseet (the best translation I can give you is something like The sea-faring museum) with a couple of the students from my Norwegian language class. It was quite interesting, with exhibits organised chronologically from the Viking age until now. Of course, we started off in true student style:

I think we make good sailors :) look out seven seas, we're coming for you!

We probably spent the most time in the Viking area. They had a lot of small models of Viking ships which are currently being exhibited at Vikingskipshuset in Oslo. It was quite nice to see them scaled down, because while visiting the real deal in Oslo is incredible, they're so huge you can't see inside them or anything (maybe I should suggest they get a viewing platform).

Model of the Oseberg ship (sorry the photo's a bit dark)

Photo of the prow of the real Oseberg ship, which I took when I was in Oslo in April (it was too big to get a decent photo of the whole ship!)

Other items which interested me:

Check out this guy! This was a gourd/pot/water container type thing

Really cool old map

Quite a tragic character, no?

An old crate :) from when Bergen used to be called Bjørgvin

I was very interested to see the part of the museum dedicated to WWII. Norway didn't play much of a role in WWI, managing to stay more or less neutral throughout, but during WWII they were occupied by the Germans, and it's said that the war only ultimately ended when the Norwegians managed to destroy a heavy water plant which the Germans were controlling in Telemark (ending their attempt to make an atomic bomb). I got rushed around it a bit, because by this point our concentration was beginning to wane, but what I did see was very interesting

Poster from WWII

On that final note, I'm obligated to show you the trailer for Max Manus, a brilliant film about WWII in Norway:

Klubb Fantoft Quiz

Oh yes, they're fond of pub quizzes in Norway :)

But this was slightly more nerve-wracking than usual, seeing as I had to write half the questions for it and do all the technical/advertising stuff. Then just when I was settling into the idea, this Facebook event page appeared:

A big thank you to a certain Tim Findlater (see guest list) for heaping on the responsibility!

However, it seemed to go well - everyone seemed happy enough with the questions, and some of the answers I got back were hilarious:

Q: Who composed Peter and the Wolf?
A: It was the duck.

Q: Which European language is this? (played an audio file of a guy speaking Welsh)
A: That's just some guy with a speech impediment!

... maybe you had to be there.

So now I'm trying to think of possible categories for the next one we have to do. Any suggestions would be welcome!

International Quiz

Last week we had our first Buddy Bergen event (for those who haven't read the earlier entry, Buddy Bergen is a student organisation which pairs up international students with Norwegian students so that we might integrate ourselves a bit better and get to know a bit about Norwegian culture at the same time), an international quiz. Everyone was encouraged to come along with their Buddies, and as a result the place was not unlike one big can of sardines. Cosy.

Most people were meeting their Buddies for the first time that evening, so there was a fair amount of shy chitchat going on to begin with, but after a while things livened up, so much so that the poor girl reading out the questions was constantly hollering 'INDOOR VOICES, PEOPLE!'.

I had met my Buddy the previous weekend, and I like to think that we clicked pretty well, although of course she might be like 'holy crap - who's this idiot they've put me with?'.

Me and Hanne at the quiz (we both looked at this photo and said 'hmm.. you look nice')

The quiz was good fun, with a lot of different types of questions. I think we did quite well, even though the Norwegians couldn't think what all the different districts of Bergen were and the literature student couldn't remember who wrote Gone with the Wind.

Our team, The Wiser Buddies

Sara's team, at the table next to us (who didn't know who Reginald Kenneth Dwight was.. tut tut)

What else would we do while we were waiting for the answers?

And you thought we were laid back...

I sent an email to the guy who runs Klubb Fantoft (the student bar where I work) yesterday to tell him that I was swapping shifts with someone. This morning, the following response was in my inbox:

Much inhaling of broccoli ensued. Note to self: do not open emails from Vegard while eating.

________

Fjord Cruise

On Saturday a number of the international students set out on a fjord cruise that had been set up by Buddy Bergen, a student organisation which matches up international students with Norwegian students so that we might integrate ourselves a bit better and learn a bit more about all things Norwegian. However, the Norwegian students were never sent the registration details for the trip, so it was just the international students in the end - epic fail.

Setting off from Bergen

Our destination was Modalen on Osterøy, a four hour journey away, but we had plenty of nice scenery to look at, so we didn't mind, and when we got a bit cold we just hugged the boat's exhaust pipe, naturally.

Sara trying to regain the sensation in her fingertips

They gave us a ridiculously hard quiz to do in case we got bored (how are we supposted to remember what the precipitation level in Bergen is? We just know it's abnormally high), and then threw us some lunch, which included this delightful vegetarian option:

Finally we landed in Modalen, only to be told that we had to be back on the boat in 25 minutes. I don't think some people even bothered getting off after they heard that. We just about had time to scurry our way across to the bottom of a waterfall that Sara wanted to take some photos of before we had to run back again.

Our boat, moored in Modalen

The waterfall that we had spotted from the boat

The four hour journey back again was somewhat more tedious. Everyone was tired and there was a lot more huddling around cups of bad coffee. However, the scenery was still lovely so we tried to stay outside as long as possible.

Tristania - thoughts on a new album

This is the part of my blog where you all have to put up with me rambling about things which interest me which probably bore you to tears. I'll understand if you skip to the next entry (and I apologise if at the point that you're reading this, there isn't a next entry yet!). It's all relevant to what's going on in my head just now though :)

One of my favourite Norwegian bands, Tristania, released their new album at the beginning of the week. They're a fantastic team of musicians with a lot of potential to create something amazing, yet what we were finally given was a record that was just rather mediocre. Even new singer Mary (who's come up against a lot of opposition from old Tristania fans who think the sun shines out of Vibeke Stene's -old singer's- ass), who I know to have an amazing voice and energy from having seen her perform live, comes a cropper as everything kind of mashes together into one big pile of bleh.

Now I've given it some thought, and I think that if I listened to it without knowing it was a Tristania album I might like it more. With that in mind, I am desperately seeking that 'aha!' moment when I suddenly realise why it's awesome.

But things change. I know that and I have deep respect for that (I respect it partly because I harbour a deep hatred of people that are too stuck in the past to see what's good about what's happening now, but that's another story).

Tristania - Year of the Rat, taken from new album Rubicon

Will bash on with listening to it in any case, and I'm still looking insanely forward to their show in Bergen in October (just need to figure out where to get tickets!).

Troldhaugen

I have Thursdays off from uni, so I thought it'd be nice to try and catch the lunchtime concert at Edvard Grieg's house, Troldhaugen, which is luckily just a short tram journey away from where I live.

Grieg's villa

His composing hut next to the fjord

I walked around a bit and then it was time for the concert. They had a singer in as well as the pianist, and they started with one of my favourites from the Peer Gynt Suites - Solveigs Sang.

I recorded the performance (something you're probably not really supposed to do, but I was feeling rebellious after I got tailed in his villa. It's not my fault I look suspicious, although the filthy look I shot the person following me around probably didn't help my case), and you can listen to it in the video below, which is also a slideshow of some of the photos I have taken so far. Apologies for the slight rustling noise at the start.

I've been wandering around singing it to myself ever since (just not opera-style).

Solveigs Sang

Kanskje vil der gå både Vinter og Vår,
og neste Sommer med, og det hele År,
men engang vil du komme, det ved jeg vist,
og jeg skal nok vente, for det lovte jeg sidst.

Gud styrke dig, hvor du i Verden går,
Gud glæde dig, hvis du for hans Fodskammel står.
Her skal jeg vente til du kommer igjen;
og venter du hist oppe, vi træffes der, min Ven!

After the concert I took I stroll down to Grieg's tomb (cheery stuff), which is set into the rock face just above the fjord, which I sat next to for a while and tried not to think about how pissed off I was with the staff (ruining my nice day out.. grumble grumble).

The tomb of Edvard and Nina Grieg, set into the rock face

A path out to the fjord

I leave you with a short excerpt from Trolltog (March of the trolls), which I also recorded before my camera started complaining that it'd run out of memory.

Sian - Scottish Standard English

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I know there should probably be some vowel length markers in there etc etc, but you know... :)