It's a camper-van kind of day

After arriving in Norway yesterday I pretty much went straight to bed. I woke up this morning being murdered by hay fever. I am so tired of hay fever it's unreal! We had a quick breakfast at home before we got in the car and drove through to my aunts camper-van. When we got there I stripped down and claimed the only tanning bed there. Dad went straight into the forest to check for berries. It gave me and my gran some time to catch up before my aunt came back from work. When she did we all enjoyed some salmon sandwiches that dad made earlier and then a wee walk down to the newly built dock. On the way back I nearly died from a heat stroke. Not that I'm complaining at all, I love the heat <3

That wonderful feeling of passing

Today I finally got my results back from the oral exam I had 4 weeks ago. I was so sure I failed it cause I messed up and forgot what to say twice. I wasn't far off though, I just barely scraped a pass. However, I almost started dancing around the house from happiness. There is no better feeling than passing! So this morning I celebrated by having a bowl of ice-cream and going for a walk in the heat. Leaving the house was like walking into the canary islands. The blast of heat smashed me in the face and nearly knocked me over. I love the heat! I even printed off my flight ticket just now and I am buzzing =D
Yesterday I met up with Stephanie after she finished work. We went for a Starbucks and then sat down in Princes street garden and had a long lovely chat. When I got home Connor, James and I ordered pizza and watched The Watchmen. The ultimate night if you ask me. We've been at Lee and Dannie's house since Saturday and I have used the garden as much as possible. I even have a tan now. In this heat, sunbathing is impossible to do over a long period of time, so I keep on going back into the house to cool down. Oh bliss! Here are some pictures of Lee and Dannie garden <3

Summer

I am finally done with semester six and have 4 weeks of summer holidays in front of me! I'm not going to lie, on several occasions this semester I really struggled o see the light at the end of the tunnel. I had my last exam of second year on Friday. I think it went OK. It's kind of hard to tell as I really felt like I didn't have enough time, but I could answer all the questions. I've been really busy the last few weeks and blogging has just not been a priority. Though I'm sure you're all sick and tired of reading that. Since the last time I updated my blog I've been home in Norway for a weekend, been at two flat warming parties, met Verity's baby boy and had a few nights out. Yesterday I tried to sunbathe in Lee and Dannie's garden and I actually had yo give up cause it was so warm. Oh summer, how I have missed you <3 Tomorrow I'm going home to Norway so I'll update yous all on how the rest of my summer goes.

do you like to party party?

Yes, I like to party party. On Tuesday we went out for Amy's 20th and I had such a good night. We started with pre-drinks at Amy's flat where we played tons of drinking games and were generally too loud. When everybody finally had gotten themselves in an intoxicated state we wandered over to Dusk. Dusk was filled with Americans who I proceeded to mock for the rest of the night. One of my conversations went like this:
"your accent is pure shite"
"what?"
"I said your accent is pure shite"
"I'm not shy"
"I said SHITE"
"But I'm not Shy!"
"shite as in SHIT"
Highly entertaining, especially as when I moved over to Scotland most people thought I had an American accent.

Procrastination queen

I have an exam tomorrow. That is the only reason why I am sitting here blogging; I hate revising. The exam is a viva (oral analysis) where we have to choose 4 skills we have learned in placement and relate it to evidence. So far I have done close to nothing and should REALLY get my shit together. However, screw that, I'm going to blog about the last few days instead. Moving into a flat has been a hassle. There has been hundreds of little things we have forgotten about. TV licence, council tax, registering with a GP and dentist. I think we have finally done it all. Today I even got my first bill through the post - oh damn I feel adult. On Tuesday last week we had a BBQ in kings park here in Stirling. The weather was beautiful and it was just what we needed after a long day in lectures. It was a great day where the majority got sunburned. I though that was really funny and made tons of jokes about their "Scottish skin" etc.

Turns out I was too quick to judge as a few days later I went to sunbathe and ended up with this:

 

That was not very fun at all. Later that night I got sunburned Connor and I went up to Gowan Hill to watch the sunset. It was beautiful!

Living together

On the 31st of May Connor and I picked up our keys for our new flat. I had been looking forward to and been terrified of the moving in day for a good few weeks. Terrified because we live on the 3rd floor with no lift. Lee took the day off work and helped us move. Her and Connor came up in the jeep. I don't know how they managed to pack the jeep so full, but they did. After going up the stairs the first time the sweat was dripping off all of us - it was going to be a long day. It took us about 2 hours to move Connor's stuff up into the flat. Luckily Lee had brought snacks; if she hadn't I have no idea how we would have survived. While Connor started assembling furniture we had bought in IKEA the week before, Lee and I went over to my old flat and moved my stuff into the jeep and drove back to the new flat. It was time to get going again. Up and down until we once again collapsed on the sofa trying to catch our breath. Lee was a real life saver that day, I see no way of Connor and me doing all of that alone and actually survive. That whole night we spent unpacking and assembling furniture. The shower I had that night might have been the best shower of all time. I was planning on staying awake until Connor was done with his shower, but it just did not happen. I slept like a baby that night. The next day was spent doing more unpacking and more organizing. Unfortunately we didn't have enough shelves and storage units to put things away in, so there was not all that much we could do. Or maybe that was just the excused we used and the real reason was us being stiff from the day before. Steph came over and had a take out with us and checked out the flat. That Sunday Lee, Dannie and Jack came up to check out the flat. They took us over to Springkerse Retail Park and she bought more shelves, a hoover and a few small things for the flat. Now, two weeks after moving in we are all set up, finally have internet (that we only just got today) and are as happy as we can be. Life is good.

Most of my stuff, ready to go. Can't believe that when I moved here 2 years ago I only had two suitcases with me!

 Our keys for the flat and our new street

The view from our flat. It's stunning isn't it =)

Parisian love - day 3

Ok, so now I actually have a valid reason for not updating my blog for ages; I've not had internet in my flat! It's a month since we came home from Paris and I guess it's time I wrap it up by saying what we did on our 3rd and on our last day.
We started the day at Café Marly. Then we went shopping at le carrousel du Louvre. Then we wandered over to the Eiffel tower. The original plan was to go up to the top, but we have both been up it before and the queues were massive - like they usually are. So we sat down in the grass and enjoyed the sunshine and heat.

After some more wandering and shopping (mostly window shopping as we were both kind of skint) we sat down at a restaurant and had a heavy meal. I must say we were both exhausted by that point. We killed about an hour or two there we went/rolled back to the hotel.

We fell asleep the moment our heads hit the pillow. It was a good thing as the next day was leaving day. We had breakfast in the hotel, packed and left. We had a few hours to kill before our flight; so we went to the local cheese shop and bought blue cheese and wine for Lee. I had already bought my souvenirs for my friends, so there was no need to shop, but of course I did anyways. When we got to the airport we raided the tax free; not for us of course but for last minute gifts for our friends.
All in all it was a wonderful holiday. I really feel like I haven't been able to express just how amazing it was. Maybe one day I'll become a better blogger =)

Parisian love - day 2

On our second day in Paris we spent the morning/afternoon in the Louvre. Most people know the Louvre is huge, but my brain still can't comprehend how much history and art you can squeeze into one building. Not that they actually have to squeeze because the building is HUGE. Connor and I spent around 4 hours in there and we barely even saw anything in there. What we did see was the Egyptian section:

There was so many treasures and fascinating things to see that my little head just went numb from it all by the end of the day.
The Roman section:

The roman section we hardly spent any time in at all. Or maybe we did? This is the problem with writing the blog-post 2 weeks after we have been there. Wops. I found the roman part a lot more fascinating than the Egyptian part. That might have something to do with the face that we have all seen Egyptian exhibitions before. I don't really know. I loved all the beautiful statues. Quite embarrassing but I cannot remember the mane of the first statue but the second and third one is Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace

Then we came over to the rooms with all the pained ceilings.  I was truly amazed by those rooms. My neck started to hurt after a while due to me staring up all the time. I took so many pictures of this and I could honestly not choose a favorite one. I was blown away by all of them 

At the end of it all we went to see Mona Lisa, wedding feast at cana, and the young martyr. We were exhausted by this point and went back to the hotel for a nap. 

At night we went Pont des Arts and hung up our love lock. Then we went to a lovely restaurant near Seine and sat there hour hours drinking wine and talking. Before we went home we wandered a bit and took a few late night pictures.

It was all very romantic.

Parisian love - day 1

(actually day one and two, but since we arrived so late on our first day I'm counting our first full day as day number one) I know I promised to post this within a couple of days, but I'm lazy, OK? Good. Glad we got that out of the way and can focus on the task; writing the post about Paris. We went to Paris on the 8th of May/Connor's 21st/our 3 year anniversary. By the time we got to the Hotel it was so late that we just wandered down the street, grabbed some Chinese food and ate it in the hotel. Our Hotel was in the street next to Moulin Rouge and was nice and cosy.

A long and good night sleep in a hotel room that was just a bit too warm later, we wandered up to Sacré-Cœur. We lived in Montmarte so it was only about a 5 minute walk up there. The stairs up to the church is murder on the legs, but the view is oh so worth it. I would really recommend going up there rather than spending time and money on the Eiffel tower. Especially if you're on a budget. 

The metro was close by so we got on it and took it to Notre Dame. We wandered all the way from Notrea Dame to the Eiffel tower. It might not seem like much, but on the way there is so much to see and do that by the time we got to the Eiffel tower we had to sit down and chill for a while. It's hard trying to tell you about all the things we saw and did, simply because there was so much of it. 

At night we went to visit some distant relatives of mine. Claire-Jane and her husband Eric. We had a lovely meal and even got to meet her brother and a lovely little french boy who spoke English with a strong Birmingham accent. The meal was more than lovely actually. It blew me away. At night Claire-Jane and Eric took us for a ride around Paris and showed us a lot more than we would have been able to see without the car. I am so glad I got to know some of my French relatives. I have heard a lot of stories about them, so it was really nice to actually meet them. 

I'll write about the other two and a half days later. Knowing me it might be a week or so until I finally get around to it.

17th of May - Scottish style

After a math exam in the morning I rushed into Stirling and jumped on the train to Edinburgh. Today is the 17th of May; Norway's constitution day! There is a parade in Edinburgh every year and last year I missed it because of placement. I was determined not to miss it this year! Connor came with me in the parade. The parade goes from parliament square to the Norwegian stone in Princes street gardens. The sun was out and I felt really really emotional when we sang the national anthem. When we came home we made a cinnamon cheese cake with the Norwegian flag made out of raspberries, cream and blueberries. All in all a wonderful day. Gratulerer med dagen

Love lock

This is mine and Connor's love lock on Pont des Arts in Paris.
We came home to Scotland yesterday after 3 wonderful days in Paris. I will post a blog post about our French adventure in the next couple of days so stay tuned! 

Songbird

Not much has happened since last time. I only have one weeks of placement left to go then I am over and done with semester five. It's only ten days until Connor and I go to Paris and 34 days until we move into our flat! I have so many reasons to be happy right now and I truly am enjoying every second of life. Yesterday I got up at 6am to get a lift from Stephanie into Edinburgh. I wasn't supposed to be going to Edinburgh this weekend at all due to Connor's exams, but I needed him to sign the contract for the flat so hey ho there we go.
I got to Connor's house really early, luckily he was already awake. It would not have been fun sitting downstairs for a couple of hours waiting for the rest of the house to wake up. Once I got to Connors room he handed over a packet with the two Bioshock Infinite necklaces we've been waiting on. I couldn't decide on which one I wanted, so Connor bought me both! (Yes, so maybe I'm a little spoiled). At night we had Jambalaya that Connor's mum made. It was awesome, but oh my lord I felt full for ages and ages afterwards. After dinner Connor, Jack and I went to the Omni center and saw Iron Man 3. It was a good film, but like expected it could not be compared to the first one at all. I woke up to a sunny day that quickly turned into a rainy one, but it changed it's mind several times and was sunny the first minute and rainy the next. Stephanie came through to Musselburgh and picked me up to drive back to Stirling. Once we got home we had a lovely nap and then went to the cinema to see Evil Dead. The movie was scary and had plenty of scenes where I got quite uncomfortable. It didn't have much of a story line though and when it came to the torture scenes it seemed to only want to be gross and not scary. I felt quite sick afterwards. After the cinema I had a lovely Skype date with Eva and Tanni (and we we're supposed to have Karianne there as well, but she ditched us for her grandma. Shame on you Karianne..). It really makes me happy speaking to my friends even though we're so far away. I really do miss them a lot <3

Amazing times!

This weekend has been a truly amazing weekend. It all kicked off with spending the whole of Saturday viewing flats with Connor up here in Stirling. The first flat we viewed was a decent size, but slightly old looking flat very close to where I am living at the moment. The couple who owned it were lovely and the flat had a stunning view. I guess a lot of my love for the flat was simply because of the fact that it was the first flat we had ever seen together. I think a huge part of it was the excitement that comes along with the thought of moving in with each other. The second flat we went to see was huge in comparison to the first one. However, it was dirty, dark and obviously moldy in the toilet. The person who had lived there before us had also at some point punched or kicked a whole in the wall. The flat had a study room. This was the flat that I was sure I wanted before we went to see it. I just don't see how the letting agency is expecting to let it out to anybody when they haven't even bothered hoovering the carpet. For the third flat we went to see we showed up at the letting agency's (Homes for U) office and got walked over by a lovely lady called Marie. The flat was on the top floor of a well looked after building. It makes a nice first impression not to smell cat piss the moment you open the door that leads to the stairs. It's on the third floor (fjerde etasje er det vi hadde sagt i norge) and when we finally made it to the top I needed a moment to catch my breath. Stairs is truly my worst enemy. The flat itself was bright, open and just beautiful. I am not too keen on the green sofas, but again that is just a minor detail that can be over looked. The flat was clean and had a nice big size bedroom and a walk in closet in the hall. My words can not explain how much I loved this flat. Which is also why we ended up taking it. The last flat we saw we saw just in case it would blow our minds and knock the third flat into the ground, but it didn't, because it couldn't.

On Sunday Connor and I spent most of the day watching TV series, eating and napping. About 5 pm we got in the car with Stephanie and drove to Edinburgh. Stephanie has just started working in The George Hotel in Edinburgh and as a part of her job it is required that she does a guest experience. Which means she needed to spend one night in the hotel, dinner and breakfast included for free AND she could bring a friend. Sounds like the best place to work ever if you ask me! Once we had said goodbye to Connor we checked into the hotel, got ready, went down to the bar and collected out (free) glass of champagne and then went to the restaurant and had our lovely meal. I had a smoked salmon for starters and huge steak for my main course which of course was beautiful and we shared a bottle of wine. It was lovely just sitting chatting away at dinner. It is lovely just being two friends out for a meal having time to listen to each others life stories and not feeling rushed in any way. We also somehow managed to squeeze some room for ice cream at the end of our meal. Once we got up to the hotel room I had a shower and some more wine (oops) before we got ready and hit the town. We ended up in the Opal Lounge where we had an amazing night. The club was right next to our hotel so we didn't have to get a taxi or freeze our asses off walking home. My alarm was set for 9am so we could go down stairs, eat breakfast and phone the letting agency. I phoned the letting agency just in time to get first refusal on the flat and BOOM Connor and I are moving in on the 1st of June <3