The IMAX Experience

Several months of waiting, the day is finally here - time to join Alice in Wonderland!

And when we first go to see it, we go all the way. Both train and bus to get to IMAX cinema in Emeryville. Good thing we look Gooood in IMAX glasses;)

IMAX 3D is not like normal 3D. If you haven't tried it - go. It is so real. I've never felt closer to Johnny Depp. And it felt good.

The movie was great, but after having superduper high expectations (and having seen Avatar that kick ass) it wasn't a supermegafantastic one. But you definitely should see it. In IMAX.

The animals and animations were amazing and of course all the (famous) actors did a superb job. Depp was indeed mad as a hatter, Carter was just incredible with her big head and bad mood, but most of all I loved the smiling cat. How I would love to have that cat..

I might not see this film again anytime soon, but having been to IMAX, there's hardly any going back to normal 3D. Maybe I'll have to see Avatar again here.. Yes, they still show it. And yes, it was THAT good.

Chickin out FastFood!

The only fast food chains that managed to cross the Atlantic and migrate all the way to Norway were McDonalds and Burger King. We therefore had to check out some of the other popular places here in the US that serves your meal in a jiffy.

First up is In-N-Out. This place is, according to my American friends, one of the best places to go. And I kind of liked it! They're supposed to be known for their milkshake, and I must admit: mmmmmm;)

Arby's. I hadn't even heard of this place. Their burgers don't have normal meat in them but are filled up with roast beef! They call them Roastburgers. Me like roastburgers. With bacon on top. And their own bbq sauce. And CURLY FRIES! I LOVE curly fries! They're so funny! I'm serious when I say, you're allowed to play with your food at Arby's.

Let's go to Wendy's! Wendy's have square burgers. Original? I guess. Weird? Sure. Does it tempt me? Oh yeah;) Somehow the bread is round though. Not sure why. Maybe a burger can't be burger if it's all square. Desert? Sure! I'll have the Vanilla-Oreo-Twisted-swiiiiiirl. And it was good.

I'm not a fan of take-out (except for King Dong!!) but these days as our stove "hit the floor" it's all we got. And it's not too bad;)

Lake Tahoe!

Yes, I'm a traitor, going to ski in the American mountains, but I can assure you, it's just for research. My heart still belongs to the Norwegian nature. This was just a trip for comparing - and for snowboarding;)

Lake Tahoe is about 3 hours outside Berkeley, and we were 13 people renting a beautiful cabin (it was a big house) together. 3 couples, 7 singles, 8 beds, 4 bedrooms - of course I was sharing a room with a couple.. Their romantic gettaway in a beautiful bed together - with me right next to them - I don't think it was exactly how they planned it..

But, bedroom hanging was a very small part of the trip. The first day we went to Alpine ski center. It was far away from the "cabin" (about 1,5 hours) but this was were I could borrow snowboard clothes - I had nothing, and I was not going to buy anything as I have too much at home. A good friend lent me everything from layers to snowpants, jacket and gloves. Wonderful<3

The snow was great, the temperature was perfect. And even better was getting home to the big hot tub in the backyard with a nice cold beer. Day two we went to Kirkwood - even better (especially for snowboarders, no stupid moguls) and even more sunny. The hills were fantastic, only thing to complain about were the insanely slow lifts which stopped everytime a kid got on (yes, I like the kid's piste ok?), and there were a lot of kids.. And they were good.. At least I looked cool in my rental clothes.

I might have disappointed as a Norwegian mountain troll, but at least I had a ton of fun. Mostly while getting stuck under the snow in the forest. Who doesn't love the neverending war against the snow on top of you..

I didn't know California could give both summer and winter within the same 3 hour-area. Very impressive. What I still can't understand though is why what they in the rest of the world call "afterski" Americans call "après-ski".. Hmm..

Whose University? OUR University!!!

Our classroom was almost empty today. What is going on?

The big strike! In defense of public education, all the students were to join the big parade from 7 in the morning till late in the evening. And loads of students came.



They held speeches, sang, danced and were so devoted to this case - at least we were there, cheering them on a little bit.

This also gave the hippies from the 70s a reason to put on their colorful clothes and join the club - they had obviously been waiting for this moment for quite some time. Why not cheer for free love and peace while we're at it..


We were impressed by how much effort they had put into this, and I really hope it did get through to someone. The parade looked like a russetog from Norway on the 17th of May (18 year olds put on red suits (or other colors) and make a parade and a lot of noise. It sounds like a weird Christmas, guess you have to see it to understand). This may have been even more fun to watch than that. They even had huge walking dolls among them, very creative. And all were screaming:

Whose University? OUR UNIVERSITY! WHOSE UNIVERSITY?? OOOOOOUR UNIVERSITY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cut!

Yes, I can't stay away from the hair dressers forever, so I finally went to the hair salon.

Here, you don't even have to schedule, wait 5 minutes and they're all ready for you. I found it a bit weird that when I said I wanted high lights, she didn't ask me what tone, how much, where, no nothing. So I calmly settled in the chair, took a hold of my nervousness and let the lady "work her magic".

Scary, I must admit. She didn't really take much thought into what she was doing, and I didn't have a mirror in front of me (!??) so I wouldn't know. Just stay calm, it'll be alright..

Apparently, miss lady hair dresser had a cough today, but with her hands well engaged in my hair she just let it out all over me, no turning away. Mmmm.. Then when the high light process was finally over and the only thing I could do was to sit there and wait - she herself washed her own hair in the sink next to mine. Then she grabbed a cup of coffee, ate some lunch. I didn't have as much as a magazine (but I'm not complaining..). Just a little bored (and hungry) that's all..

All done and ready for the cut, I say I just want the same hair due - just a little shorter. It shouldn't be that difficult. But I don't think she listened. She wanted to do it HER way.

In the end of it I walked out there looking like a 50 year old anchorwoman. She had cut my hair in layers like a wedding cake, curled the ends in with lots of hair-dryer-power and of course she had parted it in the middle - I can't wear that! No one can wear that! Expect for the anchorwomen from CNN, I bet this is where they go..

Luckily, this was something I was able to cure with a bottle of sparkling wine (a shower) and a ponytail.

Exam-Bam!

Midterm time - the long-dreaded school exam. No six hour exam where you get the time to take some notes, plan out what to write - or even think! No, this is a 1-hour-and-20-minutes-exam where you write all you know, ever knew, you think you know and should know down as fast as you possibly can.

We stayed up most of the night reading.. Drinking coffee..

Early morning. You have to bring your own sheets (called the Blue Book, but it might also be green (?!) ) and pen and that's all you've got. Not even a dictionary (not that you would have the time to even open it) so our exams (talking from the Norwegian point of view) were full of stupid sentence and spelling mistakes..

"Is 'necessary' with one 's' or two? Or even three? Two 'c's? Better use all the possibilities.."

It was a mess.. We all wrote about 9 pages on our little desk (the little ones you pull up that are attached to the chair) and it seems we were the most stressed in the room. Americans are used to this kind of rapid writing, we're too lazy. The girl next to me was busy remodeling her hands by "breaking" each finger over and over while systematically going through her paper. We wrote till our wrists went sore. And then..

..time's up and you don't even remember what you wrote - there is no way you had time to read through it. The whole experience was like speaking in public, when you're done you don't really remember how it went. Oh well, at least you're done.

Leaving, you only had to write your name on the exam. And the professor is far from recognizing each and every one (we are quite a few) so it wouldn't be difficult getting someone else to do the exam for you (like you see in the movies). They don't even check I.D.! I find this very curious. And a bit unnecessary. Necesssary. Neccesary. Nesesary-al-li-ly!

Follow the Crowd to Celine Dion!

Happy New Year, China!

Yes, the streets of San Fran have been packed - they are celebrating New Years! And we got to witness some of the event from our beloved Cheesecake Factory (8th floor on Macy's) in the middle of San Francisco.

Being that there were so many people everywhere this weekend I knew we had to be early to get good seats for the long awaited cinema experience - "Celine: through the eyes of the world". (I know you're all jealous, I would be too).

So well prepared we show up at the cinema 30 minutes ahead. Good thing we bought tickets a week earlier, for it was packed!!!

We had to push ourselves through the masses to get seated right at the end of the back row, wow, must say Celine Dion is popular in the US!

YES, ok, this is ALL a lie. We were about the only ones there (also a couple of guys, a few women in their 40's, and one kid that wouldn't shut up..). Yippyyey..

Next to me sat a blind woman that (obviously) didn't catch much of the movie (exept the singing part) so I did the translation job through most of it. I just hope she speaks French as Celine and her family spoke French about half the time.. Subtitles don't help much then..

The movie was ok, but i'm disappoited in her American fans (does she have any at all?) as one of the biggest, most central cinemas in SF stands "empty" during her show.. How sad.. I'm here for you, Celine, and I'm also posting a video from your concert in Paris - which I (of course) attended. I your face, America!