hal takes a trip

i don't read the sunday papers;

2010-01-31T19:21:00.000-08:00

but it seems like a good day for some blogging! and it looks like an update is in order. school-wise things are going alright. handed in my first paper about a week ago and yeah well...i got an a+! which felt extra good considering i almost always feel like i am behind everyone else. i guess i am not and that i am actually a genius. good to know for future reference haha.

what else have i been doing? mainly i have met some really fun and interesting people to hang out with. international students and americans, feels like a good mix. moving somewhere new always leaves me with acute home sickness, but it always works out in the end. this friday i was out with two swedish friends and an american. we went to a bar in pioneer square where the drinks were strong and cheap. lethal combination. then on to a club with drag-queens and horrible dance music. because drag-queens are always sarcastic and rude, ie funny, i didn't really bother dancing but chatted with them instead. after the club it was time for an afterparty which basically was the best part of the whole evening. silly americans!

today i haven't done much, did some reading and chatted on msn. msn really is a lifesaver sometimes. oh and i made meatballs with "gräddsås" that i bought at ikea. win! grocery shopping in america is really hard, i never know what to get. so if i make dinner at home it is almost always something with pasta. hard to get rid of that habit! i am not entirely useless in the kitchen, though, a while ago i helped a friend make a gyoza dinner, which is japanese for dumplings. looks good, no?

Omnomnom!

2010-01-18T21:09:00.000-08:00

well, hello again to the 10 people reading this blog!

things have been quite hectic, what with lectures, assignments, getting sorted in the flat and trying to socialise. i'm not going to go on about university because... that would be boring and i want to write about fun stuff. like, for instance, what i did over the weekend. i see that i wrote earlier that i was going to do some sightseeing in downtown seattle last weekend. obviously, that didn't happen so i decided to go this weekend. so, i ventured out with a friend on saturday afternoon, first going to the pike place market down by the waterfront. this market, i believe, is mainly famous for selling all kinds of seafood (hence the title of this post) but there are lots of other things to buy, like really crap arts and crafts stuff, flowers, chocolate pasta (!) and old vintage posters. i went into the shop selling these posters and there was a section dedicated to old political propaganda posters. i want them all! so i must go back at some point.

another thing we did was go to the seattle aquarium. because aquariums are really interesting and i had the pleasure of being in the company of a marine biologist! added bonus.

while there i had to touch something, obviously, and they had handy touchtanks available.

so it's not all hard work over here! except for right now, i have an essay due wednesday for my geography course. what i'd rather be doing is go see avatar, and i will do that on wednesday. over and out!

"no, bruce! bruce lee!"

2010-01-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

just a quick post to both update the blog and add a somewhat absurd and really quite funny thing that happened in a lecture two days ago. it's a small course named "urbanism and urbanisation" with a really experienced and knowledgable professor so i am glad i chose the course. right, anyway, the people taking the course are, as always, of different backgrounds. the university has lot's of oriental students and one of them is in my class. so the professor is trying to learn everyone's names based on a printout with all of our photos on it. he comes to me and pronounces my name quite perfectly, but just to make it easier i tell him he can just call me hal for short. then he comes to this chinese guy and this is what happened:

prof: blablaarigamoto?

chinese guy: yeah, but just call me BRUCE!

prof: sorry, what's that?

chinese guy: BRUCE! i go by bruce.

prof (obviously thinking that this is some chinese name too): oh, how do you spell that?

chinese guy: no! bruce.

random girl behind me: i think he means bruce like as in bruce springsteen...

prof: oh! i see!

chinese guy: NO! BRUCE LEE!

wait, wut!? needless to say, i lol'd both inside and outside. my good friend albin suggested it should become a meme.

the amount of work required here is massive, much more than any other educational institution i've had the pleasure/displeasure of attending. which i guess shows they mean serious business! basically, i'm in uni from monday-friday. how odd, right?

so this weekend seems quite packed with stuff. tomorrow there is an introduction for international exchange students. then, on saturday there is kind of a mini-tour of seattle, which includes a visit to the space needle (just to get that over with!), a tour of the pike place market (apparently america's oldest public market) and taking the light rail. should be fun, i will make sure to bring my camera so i can put up pictures here on the blog!

so for now, i will include a handy google maps image just so you can all see where i am living at the moment!

Vis større kart

sleepless, but not jet-lagged, in seattle

2010-01-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

hi, my name is blog!

so this must be what it feels like when you finally succumb to the pressure of getting a facebook account or something like it, because i never thought i would end up blogging, but then again it is practical now that i am on the other side of the world, namely seattle, us! i do promise to try to make this interesting and fun, and hopefully it will be. otherwise, what would be the point? diplomatically, i've decided to do this blog in english so that everyone from london, norway, sweden and everywhere else inbetween can follow, comment and judge.

let's start! obviously, i've arrived in seattle by now. after surviving horrendous security measures at keflavik airport, iceland, i landed in the evening on the 28th of december. i jumped into a cab and enjoyed the seattle skyline as i was approaching downtown. i spent my first night in a hotel, and did some walking around as well to see what seattle was all about. for one, it's very hilly, which i don't know why i was surprised about. i had a meal and then proceded to walk into what looked like the world's dodgiest bar (of course i went there!) but it was actually quite nice.

yes, americans are overtly social, which perhaps will take some time for a scandinavian to get used to. they are friendly, friendly, friendly! i got some numbers which i've already put to use, in all of my norwegian-ness. speaking of which, i've already met over 9000 norwegian-americans.

the next day, 29th, i moved into the flat where i am going to be living for the next 6 months. it's ok, it's all quite neutral, big and sort of empty. ikea, where are you? apparently i'm going to live with 3 other guys, one of which i've met. a guy from japan, he was very nice and has been showing me a bit of the local area and where to go for necessities. the area is very good for shopping, there is a huge and quite exclusive shopping centre right next door. so i guess i won't be shopping there! though they do have an h&m there. thank god. also, lot's of restaurants.

i live close to campus and i hate to say this because of the obvious cliché factor, but it does look like straight out of every american college film ever made. old historic buildings in grey and red surrounded by lots of cherry trees and greenery where squirrels and raccoons (!) run about.

there is a long avenue next to campus informally called university avenue, packed full of bars and cheap eats. bonus! and of course coffeehouses. when in seattle... i'm not a coffee connoisseur so most coffee tastes the same to me. let's see if that will change. there is one thing i will sorely miss and that's "hälsofil" which i don't think they have here. all you swedes reading this will know what i'm talking about!

i wish everyone a "godt nytt år"! (my new years eve was spent in the flat, unpacking and organising with a slight tequila-induced hangover. yes, happy new year to me...) tomorrow will be the first day of uni, so wish me luck. thank you for reading and i hope you will follow to see how this pans out!