Paris (vol 3)

Yeahyeah, I said I'd write it on Friday. Turns out I was busy throwing up/coughing my lungs up. I hope you can all forgive me (and if you don't, I couldn't really care less, heheheh). Turns out Lisa gave me her disease (very kind of her),..

Anyways. I believe I dropped you all off on Saturday night. As you might know (and if you don't, read the post beloow) we slept in like a Paris suburb. It was nice. I woke up around 10am on Sunday, and guess what: brilliant weather! We ate some breakfast, cleaned up our mess and headed back to base. Chilled a tiny bit and then went back down all the stairs!

We went back into the metro, and then headed in some direction (as usual I had no idea where we were going, but we were in Paris so I was pretty much satisfied with anything). Then! We're walking down/across/up some street, when I suddenly start noticing something special..

We were surrounded with stores like this. No wonder they call it "the city of love" eh?

heheheheh. Funnyy. No, this is not why we were walking there, just happened to be a good coincidence! We were heading foooor

The Moulin Rouge! I don't know about all you guys, but I've always loved that movie, and I'm in looove with Ewan McGregor. Omfg, he's so /insert dirty words here/.hehehe

Then we continued to walk further on, and then. More stairs. To see this building..eehm Sacré-Cœur. It was a nice building, but what was even nicer, were all the streets around! Boaah. Would be awesome to live there.

The stairs leading us to Sacré-Cœur

I don't know how many times I asked where we were, and they said: "Montmartre" And every time I thought to myself; it sounds soo familiar. It didn't hit me, until we were in a certain restaurant, why it was so familiar. I had to facepalm. Montmartre. It's ofc the café where Amélie works. In one of my favorite movies. Hahah, lol'd. But yes, I got to drink coffee at the restaurant where she worked in the film. More than satisfied.

Here we aree. Lisa is holding a secret in her hand!

Then we went back to see the Eiffel tower, because the weather was nice. Personally I think the photos turned out a lot better with the nice weather. Hihi. And theeeeen. I think we went back to the apartment and died a little bit (tired). Eight-ish, we went out to eat at some fancy american restaurant. And guess what! One of the dishes they served were called "Norwegian eggs"! I tried like a million times to take a photo of the menu. But it was to small, too dark, and made me sad inside. Oh, and the irony of that is, like 10 seconds after I found out about the menu, I heard someone talk in Norwegian. It was really funny. They sat there talking about people that you only talk about when you think no one is listening. And I was. Ninja.

The Eiffel tower in nice lighting. Oh so pretty.

Then we went back home again, watched some movies (The Pursuit of Happyness & the sixth sense). Theen, I tried falling asleep, but I couldn't. Dunno why. I think I was really happy. Anyways, we got up around 7.30, the brother was leaving, then the sister had to go to work, and me and Lisa would just walk around and look at stuff for the entire day until we jumped on our train to Zurich (I'll get back to that part.....).

At aabouut 9 we were out and then we went to the train station, paid the stupid people a lot to take care of our suitcases for a few hours and then hit the streets of paris once again. Tourist style.

We did a lot. Erm. What did we do? lol. Well, I'm not sure if I'm writing this in the correct order, but we went to Champs-Élysées, Louvre, Centre Pompidou, Notre Dame, some sweet bridge, and apart form that just walked around looking at whatever we wanted to. Ooh, and we went to this awesome café where they served really cheap and good espresso's, aaand.. the waitor was totally hot. HEHE. Something else that was very funny/sad, was that we found a block/quartier that was great for our kind of shopping (read: cheap and chinese(no offense intended!)). Ofc we barely had any money left. We did however end up with a thing or two. It was an awesome day. I'm really happy we went. I think we're going back. We really want to. Sometime in May. Not only Paris, but like France or something. (hei mamma, kan tenke litt på akkurat ditte og so pønske litt på ka ej ønska mej i bursdagsgave. heheheh neida (joda litt))

Oooooh Champs-Élysées. OOOOOOOH Champs-Èlysées! Singing

From the café with the hot waiter.

This has to be the most bullshit car I've ever seen.

And now. The train ride. My god. First this happens.

No iPod. Great. 7 hours without music. F*** me. I already then knew I was gonna go insane. I mean, I have trouble sleeping in moving vehicles in general, without music it's impossible. Paris-Strassbourg, kid crying. Strassbourg-Zurich a very very strange guy decided so sit next to us. The entire time he talked to himself/me in French. And he was like missing all his teeth but two. Creepy. I also learned you can't rely on any train system but the swiss. We were supposed to be in Zurich at 23.00, and then we had 12 minutes to get to our other train to get back home. We came to Zurich at 23.10, we had two minutes to get to our train. Boy did we run. And we did make it. On the train there were many seats available, things are finally going my way. No. We sit down, start chilling (keep in mind I have no iPod), and then the guys sitting like directly behind us (we had the four seat thing), start jabbin. On English, very loud, and very stupid. I think only one of them was american, cause the other ones had a really strong swiss accent. They. Pissed. Me. Off. When I was stepping off the train, I made sure to hit every one of them with my suitcase on the way out.

Put photo of me being pissed here

The rest of the trip back home (about 30 min), went alright. And then I went to bed. I think I dreamt something funny. But that /make funny voice/ is a completely different story.

Cheers for now

Sunny.

Paris (vol 2)

Alright, as you might or might not know, we managed to get a lot of stuff done in just a few days. So vol 2 will not be as short as vol 1, but I will only be covering Friday and Saturday. If not I'll be writing this forever.

So, starting at the beginning. We took the train from Schwanden at 8pm and headed towards Zürich. We were supposed to go at 6 or 7, but we realized that if we went at 8, we still had to wait one hour in Basel. And we decided we'd leave at 8 instead.

Traveling essentials.

We went Glarus-Zurich-Basel. In Basel we waited about an hour for a bus that was taking us to Mulhuse (No idea how I really write it, but it's in France..), where we had to wait from 01.15 until 03.45 for our train. We agreed this was shit, but we'd live it through. We figured we'd just sit at the train station and do what we had actually planned to do (homework ftw..).

But then, our good luck stepped in. We arrived at Mulhuse at 01.20, and were about 50m from the train station. It was empty. First we figured no one were there, and found this alright, because then we could just spread out and stuff. But no. It was closed. from 00.30-03.30. It was 1.30 in the morning and the station didn't open for two hours. Did I mention it was cold?

I swear to god I thought we'd freeze to death. We decided there was no way we'd survive two hours in this cold, so we went like to the other other side of the (big) street. Well, more across a park or something. Here was a hotel. We went in and asked if it was okay if we could sit in the reception for one or two hours. We swore we wouldn't be loud and we'd behave. No, he couldn't, it wasn't allowed. But there was a restaurant somewhere around the back of the hotel, we could see there. We went searching.

Restaurant closed 01.30. Awesome. We met some guys and Lisa (who speaks French, tg) asked if there was a restaurant or bar or fast food place that was still open at this time of day. They gave us directions to a bar that they thought might still be open. Bar was closing when we got there. Great. We asked the owner(?) and the guy standing in the door if they knew something. "Only clubs are open after 01.30" he said. He then proceeded to give us directions to more than one club. It's not good, but at least it's something. They were all 18-up. Perfect. Thoughts of freezing to death returned as I started losing the feeling of my toes. Hour and a half until the station opens.

We decided to go back to the hotel and ask for a city map or something. We came back in and Lisa tried our luck; explained the situation and asked again. "Welll.. alright" he said. He showed us to a back room/salon where we could sit. I have honestly never been this happy to sit in a chair before. Ever. Later he brought us pillows if we wanted to rest. I did (can't sleep on bus, train ++). Slept (badly) on the floor. When we were about to go, we wanted to give him some chocolate as a thankyou (he did really save us), he refused to accept. And then, when we started saying goodbye, he said; "waitwait, I've gotta get something for you!" and he disappears for a second. We're getting a bill. I was sooo sure. And then he returns with BREAKFAST. I love this guy, forever.

Our amazing (and very French) breakfast! Complete with coffee/tea. After enjoying this, we almost missed our train. lol

But hey, we didn't miss it, just almost. We found our seats and I tried my hardest to sleep. My very, very hardest. I think I slept for like 5 minutes, because I remember listening to Jamie Cullum - Mixtape and closing my eyes, when I opened them there was another song (Karpe Diem something). Oh yeah, and Lisa was suddenly gone. I had to pee real bad, but figured she'd beat me to it and decided I'd wait. And I waited. And waited. When I was sure Lisa had managed to flush herself out the window or something, I hear someone cough. A lot. A-ha. Lisa had switched seats. Sneaky. Then I sat and looked out the window a few hours, still trying to sleep. Think I slept 5 min a few more times, but not sure. Then suddenly we were in Paris! And guess what? I had forgotten to pee!

We bought ourselves metro tickets, and started finding our way to where we were going: The apartment. We found the address, success! Then we go inside, and Lisa says "She lives on the sixth floor". Omfg. And we walked all the six floor all the way up. And then; sweet relief.

Stairs. Puh

Oh. Btw, now it's Saturday. We chilled at the place for a short hour and a half, I got to meet Lisa's host siblings. Very good people. We then proceeded to hit the streets of Paris. We went to drink coffee (first one). Went to some famous street/area (I've already forgotten what it's called). With lots of brand stores. You know, Prada, Dior, Gucci, Wang, eeeeeeeeer, and many more!

But there were also some H&M's, Zara's, stuff we could afford. So we decided to split up and the two others went to eat, and Lisa and I went to shop a little. Not gonna show what I bought because I cba to take photos. All in all I came back with a new pair of shoes, a dress, a tank top, a pair of pants, a pair of shorts and a blazer. I did good. Then later we met up with the brother (I'm not gonna mention names because I don't know if it's a-ok), had another coffee and then Lisa and I went back "home".

Went up allllll those stairs. Chilled. Then the brother came back. We chilled some more, and then we went to a different apartment because the neighbour was supposed to have a party, and we wouldn't have been able to sleep. We took the Metro for quite a while, ended up in Boulogne(?) where we entered another very nice apartment. I got to eat Crêpes! I like it. It was like norwegian pancakes, just thinner and less sweet. I liked it a lot! nomnom Then we watched a movie, the two other girls went to bed, then we watched another one, and went to bed.

We also went to see the eiffel tower briefly before shopping. Decided to back again when the weather was better.

So sometime, probs on Friday, when I've had the maths test I'm ignoring atm, I'll write part two. I'll put in some more photos then. Very lazy atm. I just cleaned my room for about 1,5 hours (did it very thoroughly), also just to ignore my maths test. I suck. lol Anyways, on Friday (Paris (vol 3)) I'll try to write better. But then I won't be depressed because of the test we'll be having (I might be depressed because of the test we've had, though..Hm).

Cheers for now.

Sunny

Paris (vol 1)

This will be the very short version, for you lazy readers who like to watch photos!

(Don't worry, I prefer that too sometimes)

This is what I brought with me

This is how we started the trip

But what did we do in Paris?

Here's a hint

Hehehe, Not even gonna tell you if it's true or not.

We did however also..

Take the mandatory amount of photos of the Eiffel tower.

Have a look at the Champs-Élysées

Go see the Louvre. I happened to find these trees just as interesting. They house birds!

We watched some art (Pampidou).

I had myself distracted whenever I saw something that had to do with Norway.

Walked many of the beautiful streets of Paris

Drank a lot of coffee in French Cafés

Chilled out after walking.. a lot.

And this (on the way back) is where I wanted to kill myself and realized that I would have to endure 7 hours without music.

The rest will coome.. sometime!

Cheers for now

Sunny

Bonjour

I'm really feeling the trip to Paris right now. Like really. I've been fishing my clothes out from the hamper (read: separated my clothes from my sisters clothes). In a day or two (I'll get around to do it on Thursday, I'm sure) I'll be buying a certain amount of Euros - we all know if I bring my card to Paris I'll be skint the next few months I'm here.. hihi.

Haha, Lisa's clothes to the left and mine to the right. HMM

Before we get down to business (hoho), I want to give a shout out to one of my girls. The one girl in school that - even though she carries her big ass computer (it's huge) every day - hardly ever takes her computer up in class without being told that we need one. The girl that doesn't even have facebook (I know. Your jaw just dropped)!! The girl that posts a comment on almost every one of my posts, and I know when I write that she'll read this. You are the sweetest sweetheart. This is a picture of her:

HEI RANDI! Blir like glad kvar gong du skrive, det e so kjekt at du følge med! Sjøl om ej veit et par andre kika innom av og til (hei pappa), so e du min (einaste) trufastaste (hehehehe) lesar/kommentator! Ilu!

Apart from that, there was something I wanted to write about. Exactly. Switzerland. Sveits. Der Schweiz. My host country at the time being (yes, this means exactly what you think it does - I'm not gonna base myself in Norway my entire life).

Every time when we go out and do something, where I get to know someone new, there are the standard questions: "Where are you from? What are you doing here? Do you like it here?" (If I wanted to I could write these questions on German, btw) It's simple, it's interesting (or is it?) and it helps start a conversation (when I move somewhere else in Norway, I might pretend I'm from abroad just to get to know people, hah!).

So you guys probably know where I'm from (Norway), what I'm doing here (exchange year) and if I like it here (well, if not I would be whining 24/7. We all know it). But then, after the opening questions, there are some special individuals who get as far to asking me; what do I like about Switzerland? Weell. I don't know really. I mean, I'm sure I could spend a lot of time right now just thinking about some stuff I really like about Switzerland. But I'm tired, I've got a full schedule tomorrow, and - being born a Norwegian - I'm trained to pointing out the stuff I don't like before I get to what I find good. So let's start with the main thing.

Looks like breakfast/lunch/tea/every bloody day if you ask me.........

Cheese. Right now your probably thinking: "WTF? Who goes to Switzerland when they don't really like cheese all that much?" I'll tell you. I do. Because I don't stereotype (read: was crossing my fingers to end up in a lactose intolerant family). Don't misunderstand me here. I do eat cheese back north from time to time . I just don't like it (well, I like feta and home made pizza. nomnom). But being a good exchange student as I am, I have eaten cheese, probably every day (not today though! But it's only about noon.. so we'll see). Every kind there is. And even though I was trying really hard to like it. I didn't. I'm sorry Switzerland, I prefer other milk products.

Gotta love that yoghurt.Nomnomnomnom. That's one thing I like about Swisslandia (this is how Joel likes to write it), they have a lot of different yoghurts. And it's cheap!

Alright, so now that I've been able to whine about the one thing that really bugs me (actually food in general, I pretty much just really like Norwegian (Kneekkebrrøøøøød med sylte!), Italian and Asian food. Even though I'm open to try anything and when I'm hungry I can eat everything (without meat ofc), there are a few special dishes that I like. Everything else I just eat. lol). What do I like here?

Well. ERM. Seeing as I'm mentally trained to complain about stuff, and I could only think of one thing that really bugs me (alright, so the school system bugs me a little bit. But that's just because it's not adjusted to my lazy personality), there has to be a lot of stuff I like, right?

Hate to break it to you all. But this here, is the best milk in the world. It's the only one I drink (any other type of milk is a wannabe!). I give this milk 50% of the cred for my good health.

The funny thing is that I can't really put my finger on it. I mean, I like the public transportation (it's on time, which is more rare than you'd think), the scenery (when the sun shines) and so on. I think all in all I've just been extremely lucky (finally some good karma eh?). It's like I've hit the jack pot where it really counts, you know? I've got a good (and experienced) host family, I've been placed in a small area where getting to know people is pretty much easy, and I've been placed in a class with lots of great people (I like all of them, strangely enough. Normally I always manage to find one person that annoys me), and my teachers aren't all that bad (and I know from former experience that this makes one hell of a difference). And as a result, everything has kinda sorted itself out.

So what do I like about Switzerland? I'd have to say the people. The mood. The fact that they have (almost) all the good qualities Norwegians possess, but lack the ones I dislike (e.g. extreme carelessness)... well, at least I like the people I know, lol. Not making a statement about the entire swiss people, just about the 100+ people (yes, totally did that on purpose) that I've gotten to know the short time I've been here. Good people.

Did I btw mention that I got through customs with this in my hand luggage?

Zurich-Amsterdam-Oslo-Ålesund pause Ørsta-Oslo-Amsterdam-Zurich

Noticed it first when I got back that I carried it my pencil case the entire time. Bet you I wouldn't have been able to if I was wearing a burka!

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go prepare for Paris.

Watch this in the meantime

Cheers for now

Sunny

woopsie

I'm just gonna lay myself flat out there. I'm a terrible blogger. I do have a lot of stuff I want to share. I can sit on the train and see something and be like "haha, I'm gonna write this on my blog," and then I just never do. Tut mir leeeeeid. But it's like that. I just happen to be a very lazy person when it comes to doing stuff that takes a fare amount of time (writing a blog post takes longer than you would guess!). And besides, I've been on holidays. I've been up early every morning and - well duuh - late in bed. Sleeping in? With one meter of snow? What? Na-ah, no way. Up at 8 every morning (almost every morning at least). I can sleep when I'm old!

(Don't worry mum and dad, I have been staying away from the avalanches, I haven't been breaking any bones (just hurt my shoulder, but it's all good now hih))

Nice picture of me (pretty old). Just for you.

Annnyyyway. Sometime, this week, I will write something meaningful (wednesday, I think). And then the next time you all hear from me, I'll be back from Paris! Weeeeee! I'm going to Paris on Friday. not looking forward to sitting 11h on the train (seeing as I can't sleep. I hate myself for not being able to sleep when I'm some sort of transport (bus,car,train,airplane,boat, you name it. If it's moving I have a hard time sleeping)). And then we'll see. I'm feeling kinda guilty not writing at least one post every week. I'll try to squeeze in one more. Like, one every fifth day or something (won't happen). But by all means, be patient. I know more people might be reading this, but I hear nothing from them, and my brain needs direct contact. When not I use it as an excuse not to write.

I'll get a grip. Promize.

Cheers for now

Sunny