The American Date – in L.A.

Our first day in L.A. actually started with a 2 hour flight delay at the San Francisco airport. Which meant we didn’t arrive in our hotel in L.A. till 6 pm – somehow 3 hours later than planned – but on the bright side, I managed to read the whole guide book and by arrival I felt I knew L.A. inside out. (I didn’t…)

The hotel was nice (right at the beach and very cheap) and we started the day (or evening) by wandering by the beach and getting the worst lunch we ever had (deep fried junk covered in sauce - led to about 2 hours in severe pain).

Still regretting ever having placed a foot inside the horrible lunch place, we went to discover Venice city center – this was to be quite an experience according to my book – but it was not. The place was deserted. And the restaurant we were headed to ("A lively place!" - Book quote) just didn’t exist.

We had just about had enough when we returned to our hotel (still a bit sick from our dreadful lunch), but decided to give the book another try. This time it worked. We walked the beach at sunset (this time in the other direction towards Santa Monica) and ended up at the sweetest little amusement park by the pier. Inside was also an arcade where we tried out all the games we hadn’t seen since we were 6 visiting Spain - and believe me, it's just as fun now!

A perfect date at sunset by the Ferris Wheel and riding arcade motor bikes (I looked good) had to continue at a nice restaurant (recommended by my book – but this one actually existed woho!) where they served the best dessert and wine we’d ever tasted (at least so it seemed, still remembering our lunch).

For drinks and ocean view we ended the night at Bubba Gump bar with America’s super size drinks. (No, we don’t really need the glass as a souvenir, thanks..)

Hotel California

Finally I got to be a real tourist in San Fran - I'm gonna sleep at a hotel. And not any hotel, the 4,5 star Inter Continental hotel;)

Usually we could never afford living any better than at a hostel, but at the easter-special-price, we took a chance. And it was worth it.

I've never felt richer and I know that if I always lived like this I would become a very obnoctious and terrible person. Good thing I'm just a poor lovely girl.

The room was enormous, the bed was enormous, the bathroom, the shower, and wherever you went, you have a full view of San Francisco. Even from the shower.

After showering (using up all of the soaps the room had to offer) we put on the bathrobes and walked around the room looking for more free stuff. We found a gift certificate for bloomingdale's, a sowing kit (always good to have) and of course the minibar. It was so hard to resist. Everything is so tiny in there - so tempting. And after looking at, touching and lifting out some stuff (just to get a better look) we realized this minibar had a automatic scanner - we'd probably just bought everything in there..

Sadly, one day was all we had, and it ended too soon. It was a sad goodbye to the hotel experience we'll never forget.

SF Parks

Beautiful weather for a stroll in the park(s).

The parks in San Fran aren't just big and beautiful - they're fit for any kind of excursion! You have the dog part of the park, the children's part, the youth's part, the exercise part and the family picnic part - all surrounded by magnificent trees, squirrels and green nature.

Usually, you hear nothing but the birds and the childrens' laugh in these areas - sadly this was not our case. The hotel we were going to this day told us we had arrived at the wrong day (i.e. booked the wrong day) so we had to carry our suitcase around the whole day at the parks. This meant that the horrible suitcase rumble followed us everywhere.

But we managed. Alamo square was nice with its view over the pink ladies, Buena Vista Park was even better with its hills and thick trees. Then at last as we arrived at Golden Gate Park, everything else seamed tiny - it was huge (and we saw about 5% of it). After having seen the botanic garden we felt tired and managed to get a cab to the Marina to eat their magnificent fish & chips. And it was one hell of a ride. We felt we were a part of the French Taxi movies, feeling to sick after jumping every San Fran hill at 100 m/h..

Where did we end up but at the Buena Vista Irish pub at the end (where we celebrated St. Patty's day - yes, they recognized us..) and had some (a bit more than some) irish heavinly coffees;) Mmmm, a lovely lovely day indeed..

Back to Normal... and Easter!

Back to school, back to reading for a new midterm.. But there's an upside this time - easter!

Not only are the stores full of Lindt bunnies (gotta love those bunnies) but I have the honor of eating the famous Norwegian Freia Påskeegg. The egg is chocolate and inside it is a milky, creamy white chocolaty filling that just blows your mind.

I know I write a lot about chocolate, cupcakes, candy, energy bars, ice cream etc.. but there's just sooo much tasty out there waiting to be eaten.

To all Americans: start the Norwegian egg import!

To all Norwegians: save me some...

Detox

Coming back from our spring vacation our bodies feel terrible. The vouchers they gave us on spring break were to be used at Burger King and SubWay for certain menues at certain times and we got so sick of fastfood we just felt nauseous at the end of it.

We therefore decide to start working out the very next day - not once a day, but twice. It was so hard. We were sweating more than ever and when we came home our stomachs were twisting trying to get rid of all the alcohol and bad fat we had stored during the week.

It's strange to actually feel how alcohol is pure poison to your body (no reason to give it up - but at least now we can go back to drinking just once a week or less). And never has a homecooked meal tasted better.

Our bodies may be shaky and tired but at least now for the first time this week we're neither dizzy, drunk or hung over. Just sleepy.

Turbulence & Starvation

To fly across the US tends to be very shaky compared to other flights and I was therefore prepared this time with sleeping pills so that I wouldn't get scared. The instructions said to take two pills, but the pharmacy lady warned me - I must only take one!

So I took one right before bording. Then another after a couple of hours. I was exhausted, but couldn't sleep whatsoever.. Hopefully dinner would get my mind off things..

But no, dinner never came. On our 7 hour flight, all we got was water and cookies. You didn't even get the possibility to buy a sandwich.

Several bags of cookies and crisps later my eyes were blood shot, I could hardly move my arms - every part of my body was asleep but me. And the turbulence didn't exactly make it better.

I don't recommend JetBlue to anyone who's planning to fly 7 hours and whose diet consists of something else than water and crackers. And blue chips.

But we made it home to Berkeley in the end - and I finlly got my long awaited sleep. Zzzz.. Looking forward to eat tomorrow..

This is not Ibiza - This is Miami

People ask us why we left the Bahamas so early, and the answer is just that we had already fallen in love with Miami. And that we kinda felt a bit old for the American spring break.. :P

Returning to Miami was nice, it was incredibly hot outside and we finally got to lay on the beach - the beautiful beaches of Miami. The hotel we booked in all our rush was fantastic and was situated about 15 meters from the beach - and we had a pool and a jacuzzi.

Miami is all what you've heard plus more. Fancy cars, fancy people. Guys who work out on the beach (show-offs) and girls that show more skin than you would in a bikini. The south beach area is all about setting the right mood for a good party. Everything is so classy and the music so good - we're looooving it..

What was great about Bahamas was that everything was sooo cheap. Going out in Miami on the other hand turned out to be the quite opposite. It was close to Norwegian pricing. We didn't know this and decided to enter a club that had a fairly high entrance fee (35 dollars). When we got in (a very nice place) we went to the bar to get some drinks and were shocked that we had to pay 60 dollars for the four of us. Don't think the bartender liked us that much as we refused to tip more than 2 dollars.. Cheap tourists..

It was shocking. How were we supposed to afford a night out like this? We couldn't, so the options were leaving or staying sober. Leaving would be losing all the entrance (there's no reenrty).. Staying would mean being bored. Untill one of us got the brilliant idea of sweet-talking to the bartender in the far corner in the bar and maybe get some cheaper drinks since we're poor sudents. At first it sounded quite stupid. Poor students from Norway that study at Berkeley and fly to Miami for drinks.. But he felt sorry for us and we ended up paying nothing for a great night out.

Sadly (and obviously) the manager of the bar discovered what the bartender had done (there were cameras there) and a classy club doesn't just give out drinks like that. The night ended with us being thrown out of the bar and the bartender most likely getting fired..

Before all this, we had a great time - it was definitely a memorable night. Though we do feel sorry for the bartender. Who probably had to pay for all of it in the end. I think he learned his lesson: never trust Norwegian girls..