Photo A Day May - Part Three

From the left...

1. Something you do every day - We have a small balcony by our kitchen and I like to stand there each day and look at the view. There isn't much to see, just a few trees and a small mountain in the background, but you'll never be more thankful to see the fresh green leaves of the trees than when you've spent the winter in an icy Scandinavian town... 

2. A favourite word - One of my favourite words is 'smultronponny'. 'Smultron' are those tiny forest strawberries and 'ponny' means 'pony'. It's a kind of Swedish candy that I love, but I kind of just love saying that word.

3. Kitchen - You might have read about my amazingly disgusting kitchen that I have to share in this flat. I didn't want to gross you guys out so I took a picture of our painter's ladder instead. He painted the walls that same shade of horrid-weird yellow. I made friends with him while I was eating my toast, he seemed like a nice man. 

4. Something that makes you happy - Ice cream makes me happy. Especially when I get to eat it while I'm wandering around in the evening, chatting with a good friend, with the sun's warmth still in my skin. What makes you happy?

Thank you all for your sweet 'good luck' wishes. The exam went ok, I feel like I could have done better but that can't be helped now. Today I had a very long and tiring day sorting out paperwork, ready to leave here. I finished my essay as well, which was the last piece of work I had left to do. I'm feeling relieved but also a little overwhelmed so I think I'm going to take it easy tonight before the crazy packing and cleaning mission begins! How are you all doing? I miss you! I can't wait to get back to normality so I can spend some time here with you all! 


PS: If you have a moment, please pop over and see Gail, she's walking on Sunday for Autism Speaks, an organisation that helps families who are affected by autism. She's written a lovely post about why 'Team Isabella' are walking on Sunday and it would be great if you could show them some support :) 

inspire nordic

♥

My last week in Oslo

Today is the beginning of my final week in Oslo. This time next week I will be on my way home to England, having packed up my little flat and said goodbye to some of the dearest friends I've ever had. It's a funny feeling, some moments I have butterflies because I'm so excited to go home, and some moments I feel like crying because I've grown so fond of this place. 

I won't be posting for the next couple of days because I have exams. On Wednesday afternoon I will have my phonetics exam and I'm hoping to have completed an essay I'm writing for another course by then too. On Thursday it is the Norwegian national day and I'm planning a huge post to tell you all about that. I will be wandering around Oslo all day with my camera so that I can come back and teach you all about it!

So I'm sure you will be hearing from me by the end of the week, but until then I need to study very hard. If you see me creeping around here anytime before Wednesday, you have my full permission to shout at me and tell me to get back to work!

Keep safe, keep smiling, have a lovely week and I can't wait to come and see what you guys have been getting up to while I've been gone! 

inspire nordic

♥

Holmenkollstafetten 2012

Today was a very warm and sunny day in Oslo and I hadn't planned to do anything but stay inside and study. However, I ended up having an unexpected day out. My friend was running in a relay race, so I went to take care of her things and give her some water at the end of her run. Since it was quite a spontaneous decision and I hadn't heard much about this race, I thought it might be a minor university event with a few small teams or something. I was so pleasantly surprised when I found out that I was wrong! This race was the Holmenkollstafett, an 18km long relay race with 15 members in each team and 40,000 people taking part!

It was really fun to watch the people running. Some of them were dressed in a special way, representing their company, university department or charity. We saw a blind man running with the help of a guide, a man in a furry gorilla cosutme and even several young, but very energetic children taking part. There were various mishaps, mainly due to crowd control - it was unbelievable to see the amount of people wandering vaguely in the middle of the street, in the way of all of those exhausted runners! There were also a couple of occasions where the person who was meant to be taking the baton was missing, which resulted me learning a lot of Norwegian swear words!

One of the fun parts of the day was hearing the Norwegian crowd cheering at people running past. In England we don't really say anything specific, (do we??) but here they shout something that sounds like "hai-ya, hai-ya"which sounded quite unusual to me. It was nice that even people just passing by stopped to cheer a few random people here and there. The race felt very inclusive and everyone who took part was given a lot of support and encouragement. 

We stayed for quite a while, watching people whizz past and sunning ourselves happily in the unusually warm weather. It was a really exciting day and it really confirmed for me how much I'd like to take part in a race someday. It must be very rewarding to train for so long and to take part in an event like this, where so many people come out to watch your hard work pay off. 

Have you ever competed in a race? I hope your Saturday was as beautifully sunny as mine turned out to be!

inspire nordic

♥

Sweet dreams

My dears, I just wanted to share a pretty song with you. Whenever I'm having difficulty sleeping I always listen to music like this to help me to drift off. I discovered this song today and it has such a lovely melody:

She's singing:

She sat alone beside the sea

and sang his bittersweet songs

until he appeared, and said,

"Swan, swan, tell me, where will you sail when the sun goes?

Swan, swan, tell me, where will you sail when the sun goes?"

but he never received a response.

If the world knew the other, better, side of life.

Swan...

The song is by an Icelandic band called Rökkurró whose album I was given a few years ago. I hadn't realised that they had released a new album since then and was very pleased to find this song. I hope you like it. I will probably make a post about this band later on, but for now it's time to close your eyes and sail off into dreamland. 

inspire nordic

♥

This made me smile

I found this yesterday and it made me laugh. I know a few of you that will like this...

Having lived in Norway since last August, I'm sure you can imagine how much I'm missing my little dog. Her name is Mackie and she is probably the most-snuggled animal on this planet. Most people fear becoming the crazy cat-lady, and I sometimes think I'm destined to become a crazy anything-furry-and-cute-lady. But the best part is, I'm not even remotely worried about that. I'm kind of looking forward to it!

inspire nordic

♥

Photo A Day May - Part Two

From the left...

5. Bird - This is the little bird ornament that Eunseong gave to me. He is sitting in the failed-birdfeeder that I used to have stuck to my window. Before taking this photo, I had had the very high expectation that, after filling the little birdfeeder with oats and nuts, pretty birds would come flying towards my window and I'd be able to take an amazing photo for this post. Are you surprised to learn that it didn't turn out the way that it was in my mind? The failed-birdfeeder wouldn't even stick and I keep finding nuts and oats everywhere. But it was a nice try.

6. You - This picture was taken last year on Midsommar. Here is a tutorial I made for the wreath of flowers I'm wearing on my hair.

7. Someone that inspires you - This is my flatmate Eunseong. She is very clever at astronomy. She inspires me to always look up at the sky. She once told me that "the best thing about the future is the fact that we cannot know what is going to happen until we get there". She is wise. 

8. A smell you adore - I love the smell of the forest. I love it when it's that perfect combination of sun-warmed wood, wildflowers and wet grass and soil.

Who inspires you? A friend or relative? A celebrity?

inspire nordic

♥

Photo A Day May - Part One

From the left...

1. Peace - It was very peaceful to live in Oslo last Semester. Last night we were thinking about our former housemates and the lovely times we had. One night we were all upset about various things and we sat together in the kitchen, cried and ate oranges. We always managed to calm each other and I miss the way that we used to live together so peacefully. 

2. Skyline - I know there should really be buildings in a skyline, but much of Norway's 'skyline' looks like this. Natural and serene. 

3. Something I wore today - I live in floral dresses and long cardigans. This outfit is kind of my comfort-wear. It's just a light cotton dress and a warm snuggly cardigan with deep pockets to keep my candy in!

4. Fun! - Fun is people-watching on the warm balcony, whilst sipping glasses of ice cold 'Fun'. Strawberry and Rhubarb flavour is the yummiest. (And pinkest!) 

How are you doing today? Is it as grey there as it is here? It's now less than two weeks until I pack my bags and move back to England. This time I will be moving into our new house, I'm so excited to get to know the new area and to decorate my new bedroom! 

I have a lot of books in storage and some are brand new. I'm thinking about having a giveaway soon because I want to find good homes for them. What do you think? Is a book giveaway something you'd be interested in? 

inspire nordic

♥