Superbowl! We're SO exited!!!

Superbowl night is here (exept that it's not at night, it starts at 3pm) and we're really exited. Our job was to bring one dish. A Norwegian dish.. This is not as easy as it sounds! Fårikål? Smalahove? Nope.. That's trying too hard for a superbowl match.. So what IS Norwegian? Should we just bring fish? ... We thought of just bringing Norwegian meatballs (really they're Swedish), but we were not allowed to use Ikea, and there were Swedish people coming that would see right through us.. In the end we ended up on Norwegian waffles. With jam, sour cream and brown cheese - YUM!
To make a long story short - we managed to order in a heart shaped waffle iron (the Norwegian kind) and amazingly there's a Nordic house not far from here that sells brown cheese - yey!

After about 16 different batches of horrible waffles, we were able to get them from flat and sloppy (made by Terese) to thick and crispy (made by Elisabeth)! Hurray! (This is supposed to be the easiest thing in the world and we manage to mess it up again and again.. Good thing er practiced;) )

Arriving at Steve's (taxi was cheaper than bus - nice), we make our own waffle stand and force all guests to try our brown cheese. It was surprisingly popular! Not to mention the waffle-sourcream-jam-browncheese-with-whipped-cream-on-top-challange. "NO! You're not supposed to eat it with knife and fork, Mariana!!!"

The game starts, then there's commercial. Then the game starts aga - nope, commercial. Actually the commercials were the best part (hilarious) so it didn't really bother me (who still haven't understood the rules of American football. I'm sorry, Steve, I know you tried your best to teach me). Instead I ended up sitting behind the TV, trying to get a good picture of the audience when they cheered. That was way more fun:P

More and more food was put out, and it ended up being a day of constant eating. The game lasted for about 4 hours - that's a big meal.. But a good meal. And the waffles kept on being popular (yes, we are very proud).

Time to go home and our stomachs hurt.. Too much food. I think that will be our main memory of this night. Sorry - day. It was a lot of fun though, being on a real Superbowl gathering. Even though about 70% of everyone there were from Europe.. :P

Please notice the red cups - now THAT's American;)



Maria quote no 5: (Before the game starts) "Superbowl is baseball right?"
(That phrase was not too popular among the Americans...)

Going back to the 80's!

Friday night, night out, and we've heard there's supposed to be a "back to the 80's party" at Blakes. That would be kinda cool! so we discuss clothes and hair dues, until Terese calls out: "There's nothing about this 80's party on Blake's homepage.."
"Oh.. Well.."
"Who did you hear it from, Ingrid?"
"Just this girl I haven't really met really..."
"Oh.."

So dressing up plan is lost, we couldn't really be the only one's dressed up like the 80's, that's more awkward than not dressing up at all..

So the night approaches and we run to the nearest Liquor store to fill up our already empty booze shelf. About 90 minutes later, we're back (it said 15 min walk on google map, are we THAT disorientated!?) and start drinking early (we have learned now).

3 hours and 500 song requests later, we have found our new Berkeley song (of course Gaga's in it) and are ready to go. 4 pairs of high heels - about a 1000 claceticlacks - and we're there. And we can't get in...

"Why are you not dressed up for the 80's?" Well, are we supposed to rely on word on the street for that?
"You're not getting in here looking like that". Ouch.. that hurt..

Now, Blakes is a party place: dance, club and hard alcohol. The BAR we ended up at was a quiet bar, who served beer, and everyone is sitting. Our outfits didn't really fit that environment either.. Why so out of place all the time?

In the end we headed back to Blakes about 45 min before they closed - we must get in!
We got in.. Everyone else had left.

About a couple of songs (alone on the dancefloor) and a half hour standing out in the rain later we gave up and went home.

The bright side of this trip: our taxi driver (no more cliceticlacs possible) was a Norwegian loving personal trainer that offered us all free memberships and free spa. A pat on the shoulder after a rough night.

Maria quote no 4

Elisabeth: "Wow, Terese, you got a yellow Berkeley sweater, nice!"

Maria: "You know, Marissa had this pink Berkeley sweater, I mean she was supposed to get one, but then she died.." Maria looks carelessly out the window.

Awkward silence...

Terese, Elisabeth, Ingrid: "She died? Who? Why?!"

"Yeah, Marissa from the O.C. Did I forget to mention it was in a Tv show? Right, well.. Season 2 or 3 I think.."

Spring!

Days go past awfully fast and before you know it is Thurday 10am and the weekend has already started. So.. what are the plans for the weekend? Let's just go back to San Francisco.

What I love about San Fran is that it's so close, so big and so much to see and do and eat and drink and shop and visit and take pictures of.. it's just great. This time we all went, Terese, Elisabeth, Maria, Terje and I, and you'd think that among 5 people we'd have some plans about what to see and do! We don't.. It's pathetic how undecisive and non-caring we are when one of us asks where to go next. After some quarreling about how stupid it is that none of us have the faintest idea of where to go, we just continue straight ahead (we never turn, as we're all afraid we'll lose track of where we are and not be able to return home).

But we always discover something new this way and when the sun is warming - we don't really care about anything else.







Other than that we found out just how afraid Maria were of pigeons (how much Elisabeth loved pigeons), how Terese needs to pity her cake before eating it happily,

how much Terje hated shoe shopping ("is she going in the shoe store? Is she going in?! really!?! I'll just wait out here.....")

aaaaaand how many pictures it's actually possible for Ingrid to take during a day in San Francisco. (about 265)

Deep Fried Junk with Sugar on Top!

Yes, we have come to the land of fast food where Fjordland reaches a new level - you don't even have to boil it. It's true - you never have to cook again. Never ever. If that's what you prefer anyway. We all feared that moving to the US would make us fat, lazy and fast food addicted. And for the first few weeks that was the direction we were headed. With King Dong (hihi) on the corner with cheap wonderful chinese food (take out), Thai on the other side (take out), High Tech Burrito (hihi) further down (take out) - just continue and you'll find 50 more - and four girls tired of a long day of... well.. exitement - this was the only option. Until we discovered Berkeley Bowl.

Berkeley Bowl is a nice, big grocery store about 15 minutes away from our apartment (I know, it's a hassle getting there..) that has about everything (when it comes to food). They have a nice pick of fresh meat and fish etc etc.. But the most wonderful thing about this store is the fruit and vegetable section. Which covers about half the store. They have everything I've heard of, everything I think I've heard of, and so many funny looking fruits (or vegetables, hard to say) that are really.. I don't know.. Funny!! I know it's weird getting all worked up about vegetables, but you should see how perfect and delicious they are.. Ben&Jerry with some fresh strawberries is much healthier than just Ben&Jerry... At least that's what we tell each other at our Casa del Berkeley.

Walking the streets of Berkeley

Exiting my apartment to get a (heavenly) coffee across the street - it hits me as I walk out in the Sunday afternoon sunlight that I shouldn't return to my dark bedroom and study just yet. The temperature is fantastic - gotta hang the jacket around my waist and continue down the street and watch the quiet Sunday life.

Half of the stores are open - their Neon lights glowing. All stores in Berkeley have neon lights. From cafés to Pharmacies to Hair dressers. I turn right towards the hills. On my way people I've never met greet me with a smile. The homeless are the most polite: "Anything will help" they say as they shake their cup of money, and if I don't donate they'll say "you have a wonderful day anyway". (Argh, guilt guilt..)


There's an art gallery suddenly on my right inviting me in for a free look. It was wonderful to just look around for a couple of minutes in a bypass - the paintings really were amazing - and then continue my adventure furter away from downtown Berkeley.

Passing the University area, the smell of Marijuana and the sight of clothing stores still embracing the 90's hit me and the area is filled with all kinds of people. A big mix of cultures, religions, styles, protesters, young, old, rich, poor.. This is the place to be free - everyone's accepted. The hippie area of Berkeley. Even if you're born in the 80's - this is where you can relive the 70's.

The hills get steeper, there are more and more squirrels surrounding you and the houses fewer but more chic. Berkeley Hills - the richer part of Berkeley. Suddenly there's a huge stadium right next to my path and I walk in to take a peek. It's Humongous.... Only practice today, no audience. I'll come back for a real match.

Continuing up, nature embraces me and I meet three other Norwegians on their own discovery journey. I join them and we follow a path up in the forest. We even meet wild turkeys on the way. No bunnies out today - there are usually plenty:)



On the top we see San Francisco in the distance. A beautiful view my pictures could never retell - too bad for you guys:P

On the way back as I walk alone, a homeless guy decides to express his emotions for me: "You white b****, you f****** white b****!!!" What a peculiar thing to tell a stranger..

It turned out to be a very interesting day after all. A walk in Berkeley is always unique;)

Oh right - uni!

I got question about my blog - what about the University, you are studying right? I can see now that I haven't really had a big focus on that part in my blog (Ops..), but I'll get right to it. So the University is quite big. Not like a couple of buildings but more like a village with an endless amount of inhabitants. We always have to bring the campus map to get around even though we've been here for about 3 weeks. Some rooms are beautiful and biiig, others are tiny and shabby, and there's a big diversity throughout the University Area. And yes, we are lost at least once a day. We don't really have a lot of classes (6 hours per week - Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off:P ) BUT we do have A LOT to read. The way the courses are built up is about the quite opposite of the Norwegian system. Mostly in a good way. The professors are amazing. They know everything and they all have a couple of Phd's each.. It's an experience just being there listening to them. In one of our (two) courses we actually get a new professor to lecture every week! So that's really exiting. The grades are built up by 3 exams during the semester and attendency! So if you're there everytime you're almost bound to pass the course;)

Even though you have to read the required books (which are thick and multiple) you're not supposed to know them by heart as in Norway, the most important part is what the teacher tells you, the books are merely for you to reflect and get different perspectives. As they say: "You're not here to learn, you're here to grow". And I love it - growing already:)

Sadly I don't have any pictures of campus yet (odd) but you'll get a Maria quote instead (with a new Maria picture:) you're welcome)

Maria quote no 3: "So Maria, what are you wearing tonight?" "I don't know, is it supposed to be sunny out?"