The Last BlogLog

This is the last BerkeleyBlogLog there is. The meaning of writing this blog was just to show my impression of America and how their ways are different from ours. From the feedback I've gotten, both Norwegians and Americans have found this interesting and to some extent funny. It is therefore time to step back from my blog career and start my summer vacation back in Norway.

We started out as 4 Norwegian girls who met on Facebook (ah, the wonderful future) and decided to move in together. We found we are 4 totally different girls and this might have been the reason why we've had so much fun together. In Berkeley, In San Francisco, in Santa Cruz, in the Bahamas, in Miami, in Fort Lauderdale, at David Guetta concert, a real American baseballgame, in church, to Six Flags, at an endless amount of cafés and Cheesecake Factories and even more night clubs, at the gym (to make up for the Cheesecake Factories), through aching feet and blisters to sunburn and hungoverness, from shoe shopping to eating bread and water - we have been through a lot together.

On my own I have driven from SF to LA, from LA to Vegas. I have been to Lake Tahoe, and I've even met more than one celebrity. More importantly: I have been to Chippendales. I've seen the nakedness under the American covers (symbolically) and it's just as American all the way through.
I've tried the American education system and I've succeeded in understanding it. I like the system, but as it turns out, I actually prefer the Norwegian system at the end of it. Though I wish the graders back home were as nice as the Professors here <3

I feel I understand the American way more clearly now after the 5 months I've spent here. I understand why it's difficult to eat healthy when every streetcorner, every commercial, everything and everyone tells you to do otherwise. I understand why precautions are made everywhere as people like to sue one another to make money bacause money is everything. If you have money you're treated better. I don't understand the tax and tipping system and I HATE IT because there's always more money to pay than what you expected! And lastly there is one more thing I will never understand, that I really find awful, terrible and sad.. so sad.. Why do they still have pennies when you can't use them for ANYTHING? No where, no one, not machine, no human being will accept them and still here we are pockets full of unwanted worthless pennies. But no hard feelings America, in the end of it I had a great time. And maybe, just maybe, the homeless guy on the corner will accept my box of pennies. We'll see.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..

Have a great summer everyone! And remember, there is NO H&M at the corner of Shattuck and Channing. None whatsoever. But on the bright side, they were nice enough to put up a sign warning us.

Good Times...

The American Game

We've been wanting to see some kind of American sport since we got here, and the last week seemed like the perfect opportunity! How about Baseball?!

As it turns out, baseball is kinda dull.. And the field is supersmall so you don't really see anything. And it was raining. So! We found our own way to entertain ourselves and bought baseball cards! I never collected sports cards before but as it turns out it's kinda fun.

The cards were in the sales box (of course) but even though they were old, the players on the cards were on the field. Oh yeah, and the teams were Giants (that's us) vs. some Washington team. Can't remember the name right now. And we won! Homeruns and everything! Though we didn't really see them cause we were too into our cards.. We cheered though!

So yeah, going to a game is fun. And they serve food, that's cool. We now like baseball afterall.

Bay To Breakers!

Yep, it's been a looong time, but there has been no time to sit down for the last two weeks. Exams are finally over and friends and family from back home took this opportunity to cross the Atlantic. I've been showing them every inch of California in 14 days. Exhausted? Nah..

Over to the event of the year: Bay to Breakers, San Francisco. Now, for those of you who don't know, bay to breakers is actually a run. But we don't run. Most people don't run. They walk. Or stumble. 8am (in the morning) 50 000 out of 80 000 people were already wasted heading down the streets of San Fran to spread the joy. But also - we dress up in costumes!

We were prepared (as always) and formed a group including Flash Girl (yes, she flashed), Super Girl (that's me), Robin (as in Batman and Robin - female style), Bee (bzz bzz), a fairy (with wings so huge they always poked someone's eye when she turned around), Marilyn Monroe (wig and all) and Gangsta dude. A nice group indeed.

Some people weren't as much prepared.. they walked around naked.. and there were many of them.. Swinging around.. everything that swings.. Others had truly original and funny costumes. The Norwegian curling team was also there! Though none of them spoke Norwegian.. It was great fun.. And I also got to use my superpowers helping a very much drunk man putting together his cellphone. And helping him stand up. It felt good. To the rescue!

Yes, we started 8am and managed to party till the bars closed at 2am.. Some of the features included were karaoke, eating, drinking and picture taking. With strangers. For 18 hours.. we will not share much of it online. But some of it.

This day is very much recommended by all of us - drinking in the streets while the cops laughs and takes pictures of you is not an everyday experience.

My (New) Blue Suede Shoes

Girls like shoes. Well, that isn't always the case for Norwegian girls. In Norway shoes are way expensive, and if you want to buy pretty ones, the only place you can wear them is inside, in Oslo in July and on vacation. (If you haven't been to Norway - Norway is cold and snowy brr..)

Girls in America on the other hand - Norwegian or not - like shoes just as much, or even more, than any other girls. Here, shoes are cheap and you can wear them all the time.

That is why we now have more shoes here than we ever had in Norway (at least that goes for two of us). And we like to have fun with them.

Today as we were sitting in the living-room together whining about the exams we are writing, we had an idea: why not gather all the shoes to see how many we've got? Everyone got very exited. We even had to take pictures. And play. And arrange. And take more pictures. Then go back to our exams. About two hours later..

Shoes are fun. Hurray for shoes!!!

Who are you Again?

We decided to go to this party, even though we were NOT invited. Well, there's actually a good reason we weren't invited - we didn't know the people throwing the party. It was one of those parties you'd heard some friend of a friend talk about, and YES we decided to go anyway.

It was a beach party, and of course I had the best outfit of all.. "Wow, did you buy that for the occation?!" "Sure..."

Not knowing anyone is a great opportunity to make friends.. and to do things you hope none of people you know sees. Liz and Maria took advatage of the situation by testing the household's mouth wash. Thoroughly. It worked.

I tested how many stupid picture you could make by exploring my t-shirt.

Then we tested how many fish crackers Maria could catch with her mouth from across the room. It turned out: not many.

Were we good at throwing darts? Not so much..

How about convincing people to join us for group photos? No problem..

There's probably a reason why we're not invited to that many parties. We take advantage of not having to clean up after ourselves. If you, the people who lived there whoever you are, read this blog: Sorry about the fish..

Wanna Play?

It took us several hours to realize, while watching the SuperBowl, that we would never ever understand American football. European football on the other hand - a.k.a soccer - we know. The rules are simple, the guys have teeth.

When our American friends then asked us if we would like to watch them play "soccer" we didn't really know what to say. We've heard the rumor: Americans suck at "soccer".. Norwegian girl football is more interesting.. So we dragged it out.. Until the day came for their last match. There was no longer an excuse - we had to go.

To be honest, the game was fun. The guys were good. I mean.. Better than we thought! Absolutely! And I got to take a lot of funny pictures. Who cares who won when a guy from the other team had the most fantastic hilarious ways of running!

And of course we've got Sebastian to thank for all of the excitement. He fell, slid, kicked and rolled all over the place. Someone has to make action! Seb took charge. Sebastian ActionMan.

They probably wouldn't want me to write this but they LOST.. Tragically.. Sadly.. Badly.. Madly.. And they didn't take it well. Even blamed me and my camera for being a big distraction. I'm sure I was. Losers!

Sorry about that. At least I made the game memorable (took about 255 pics) and I guess they would want that. To remember the game of shame:P

The American Fest - Bonfire and Beer Pong!

Tonight we were invited to Santa Cruz for a real American party with beer pong and bonfire at the beach. Chris (a good friend of my sister) was kind enough to drive us all the way and let us meet his friends and the Californian beach. It was awesome.

Our first encounter with beer pong was scary - BUT we kicked American ass. Hard. It was so much fun. They even had to drink 5 of our cups because we were too good to be in such amateur competition.

(Terese and I have now decided to start our Norwegian Beer Pong team and start playing in the elite. Tournaments starts next season.)

After the devestating match (from the American point of view), we went to the beach to try the American bonfire (the ones you see on tv). We had fire, we had red cups and Maria was dancing the Norwegian-African firedance while yodelling. Everything was great. And then the police rolled up and told us to leave - again, just like in the movies!

Returning to the house, a couple of the guys got out their guitars and started playing for us - perfect end of the evening. I was gonna post a video here, but sadly the file is broken.

A Maria quote instead:

In the car - going to Santa Cruz. Maria and Chris just met 5 minutes earlier.

Chris: "So we have this song that is about this road right here, talking about the places we pass and stuff, so my friends and I when we drive here, we usually play it like really loud and sing along just for the fun of it!"

Maria: "Why don't you just sing 'Highway to Hell'?"

Silence.

Chris: "Well I.. eh.. huh?"

Payback Time

Though it seems through this blog (or so I've heard) that we don't do anything except having fun, traveling and eating cake (we do this a lot, but not all the time) we're now in a place I'd like to call the pay-back-period of our Berkeley semester.


In three weeks we have 2 exams and one 30 page paper we have to hand in that we haven't even started on yet. The weather is gorgeous and our rooms are hot (and messy) and there's nothing less tempting than reading and writing right now. We've already had 4 exams and 1 paper (due next week) that we just finished, so it's not like we haven't done anything lately, but these days are just the worst.

With no money left, the only thing we can do (and are allowed to by our conscience) is to go to the gym. The non-writing/non-guilt part of the day. We like it at the gym (for once) and that's where we'll be for the next 3 weeks. Till all "hard work" is over.

AND this means we shouldn't feel guilty by eating ice-cream everyday:)

Ben&Jerry<3

The City of Money

Money is everywhere in Vegas. It's in everything you see, it's all you hear and there is always something to spend money on - food for example;)

To give ourselves a little treat we went to the Bellagio for their famous lunch buffet, and oh my god was it worth it.. Delicious food was brought to another level! And when we were beat after three servings of the main course, there was dessert to press down as well. Heavenly dessert making me dizzy just thinking about it.. And there was Champagne..

Hardly able to stand up we went out to discover the famous Bellagio fountain that dances to the music played over the speakers. Married people taking pictures (here as well, there were chapels all around and girls in white dresses having the most special day of their life.. ....)

In the evening we went to the most fenomenal Muse concert there ever was (I wouldn't really know, this was my first). And though no one in America has ever heard of Muse, 10.000 managed to fill up every corner. It was amazing. Another successful day in Vegas...

The Day of Delay

Of cooooourse our bus is delayed (the one taking us to Vegas) of course we have to make a transfer and wait an aditional 1,5 hours half way there, of course the bus breaks down in the middle of the desert and of course we arrive in Vegas at midnight – 4 hours later than planned.

But Vegas starts at midnight.

Our hotel was situated in the middle of the Fremont Experience and as we walked in the roof (covering the whole street and casinos and hotels and everything there is) turns into a Queen screen showing his most famous moments on stage as the music blazes out of every corner – this can only be Vegas.

The view from the hotel takes your breath, cause Vegas is not to be imagined – it can’t be – it’s just moooore than you could ever believe. The casino’s are so big and there are so many lights, signs, music and people swirling around you at all times. And money is spent big time.

I’m not a gambler – but almost became one as I won $100 dollars by playing $5 at the bar (if you make the highest bet you get free drinks, which led to my big win;)) is was so much fun (especially as the drinks kept coming).

Girls just Wanna have Fun

Warner Bros Studios - Home of Friends

We don't need Disneyland, Sea World, Universal Studios -but we need Warner Bros Studios. And we'll never regret going there. Not only did they start of serving us the best ice-cream in history - we got to see it all.

From film and series sets inside (we went into the house where the episode of "Friends" when they're all young and going to prom was shot) and outside (the "jungle" where some of Jurassic park was shot) to costumes (All of Harry Potter's costumes and props! There was no touching allowed but I'm proud to say that I've touched Malfoy's suit from the sixth film and Harry's cloak - thihi).

Then we saw THE Batmobile.. And it was sooo cool.. Sadly there were no testrides included..

It was so cool seeing how everything was made. The sets were so small and as we walked around the set where the Mentalist is filming (they weren't there at the moment, apparently they were filming on Hollywood boulevard that day - tough luck) everything just looked so realistic yet so fake. It must be so much fun (yet boring) to work in that business. And the city in the background seen from out the window was just a biiig poster. With a spotlight behind it. Cool..

THE best part was of course.. Wait for it.. You ready?? ... We got to see the actual Friends set. And walk in it. And touch everything! No, that part's not entirely true.. But we DID get to sit in the famous sofa. Which was just OK comfertable. But it was cool. And we took pictures (an old man was very nice and said he'd e-mail them to us as soon as he figured out how the internet works.. it might take a couple of years..)

But it was great. Hearing gunshots in the background where they were making a movie.. I felt like a star just being there. And you gotta love the bluescreen;)

Everybody goes to - Hollywood

No, we shall not rent a car!!! From the beginning we were both very sure about one thing, we were going to manage in L.A. wihtout a car (as none of us really wanted to drive the roads of horror). Everywhere we went people urged us to drive, park and rent rent rent – there was NO WAY we were going to do without one!

Stubborn as we are – we were going to prove them wrong. Though I agree that we would indeed save a couple of hours if we did have a car. On the bright side, the bus fare was only $1,25.
Going to Hollywood we decided to drop by L.A. downtown (a huge detour, but of course this was the only way by bus) and as we’re about to take pictures of the amazingly huge sky scrapers in the financial district – we realize our camera has decided to quit. Forever.. So we’re traveling through L.A., Hollywood, Las Vegas and a Muse concert without a camera! Sure, why not!? Our new Holga camera would have to do.

Hollywood though.. was just… Hollywood, baby.. Sooo cheeeasy, but ooooh sooo cool.. Celebrities walking up and down the walk of fame (no, not the real ones), costumes, wiggs and every kind of junk (that you looove) is everywhere and everything is just big and faaaabulous.. (as well as the Hollywood sign)

Standing outside just admiring everything (after an aaaamazing lunch) we got free tickets to Jimmy Kimmel and decided to go (we didn’t really have any plans) and on our way down, we took a short-cut (I believe) down a deserted alley, where suddenly Luke Wilson comes out and gives us his autograph (yes! ”see a celebrity” check!). He was one of the guests of the show that night. However, no bags were allowed inside and we weren’t too keen to find a place to put them, so we decided not to go (already seen the celebrity – why bother..?)

Instead we went to a script store selling movie and episode scripts from tv-shows, and of course I had to buy a script of an episode of Friends.. It was super cool. And it looked like a lot more work than what we see on tv..

Trusting our guide book oh once again, we managed to find a comedy club, more hidden, where Hollywood locals were hiding, and saw one of the best and funniest shows ever. With great drinks and a lot of laughter we had an amazing time in Hollywood. It was definitely worth the bus ride (even though we spent about 3 hours getting home – couldn’t find that damn bus stop!!)