inspiration and a little Meryl

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There was a spark of inspiration, a need to write a few hours ago. What was it that brought this on? Well, I was watching Julie and Julia, sewing part of the strap on my travel backpack and sipping a warm cup of tea when I suddenly felt the urge...the need. Could it be because the heroine of this movie, the whiny yet determined Julie, was blogging about her cooking triumphs and following the recipes of Julia Child, all while throwing in her own thoughts and experiences? Or could it be that I wanted to shed my thoughts and clear my wandering mind after a day like today? Who knows, but the movie definitely played a part in the inspiration. And no, it was not the urge to cook or to watch more Meryl Streep movies because honestly, that lady kind of drives me crazy. It was the urge to blog. And although this blog is technically supposed to be about travel, it is actually about my life. And today, right now, my life is about inspiration with a bit of Meryl.

Today was a day of epic proportions, or rather, this whole week has been successive moments of outstanding acknowledgment. It started off with Monday, an early morning Norwegian language class. And we were all a little nervous, a little sad, and a little unsure given that it was one of our final four classes and the exam is swiftly approaching. But as we expanded our Norwegian vocabulary to include important phrases such as "I don't like to vacuum" and "Housework, cleaning up, and washing dishes are boring," we were also smiling. Our Norwegian language professor, Kit, is one of the funnest (yes, I'm using that word) and most laid back professors I have ever met. She is the perfect blend of discipline, understanding, empathy, and support anyone could ask for. Perfect for a bunch of international students learning the basics of a very difficult language with over 200 dialects in Bodø alone. And as she asked each of us our opinion on housework, she also made a commanding joke as one guy said his girlfriend did all of the housework. Her answer, "UT!!" (meaning OUT) as she pointed to the door. Then she proudly stated that all of the girls should sit and watch TV (ser på TV) in class while the men clean up. It's this humor and sarcasm that make this class so much fun to go to. And she even lets us get away with making comic jokes as we pair words together in not so common variations. For instance, when we had to write a text about shopping, my partner and I wrote a dialog about skipping class because we had the desire to go buy red shoes to wear on a sunny day in Bodø. And Kit's response -- flott (excellent)!

After class, I meandered to the library for a bit then headed home and procrastinated until much later, fiddling around with my new mp3 player and talking to my friend online, the one person I've talked to almost every day since I've been here. And when I was finally sitting down to do my homework, I got beckoned across the hall, tempted by free chicken and noodles. Of course that then led to socializing and a trip downstairs to see our Russian friends that we had missed so much. By the time I returned upstairs, it was too late (or rather too early in the morning) to even think about homework. And Tuesday was the day where the epic-ness truly began. I spent the whole day researching, analyzing, memorizing, scribbling, and contemplating my plans while in London in just under two weeks. You can do everything in that city and it took me all day to decide. Around 2pm, I took a break and went down to the gym to get in a nice workout and grab some food. Then the researching continued. By later that night, I was completely satisfied with my bookings and the money I had spent, way excited about what was to come. And I even wrote some of my story...something I have been working on for years and had set aside this past semester because other things seemed more important. But on Tuesday, I wrote about 4 pages of it and felt very happy with myself for continuing this long forgotten project...sort of like the scarf that my best friend Vicki taught me to crochet a year ago and that I just recently finished.

Wednesday was spent with more fiddling with the mp3 player, trying to get it to work right. And then Norwegian language class, lunch and a chat with friends, and another unproductive trip to the library. But I did print off some articles and educate myself on some sturgeon research to prepare for an interview. And last night, I was all ready to go to bed, but a sad ending to "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas" and some bad dreams about people of the past led me to toss and turn all night and left me utterly exhausted this morning. But a mission required me to get out of bed (despite not having class) and venture into the cold unknown. The mission -- clothes!

I'm not much of a clothes shopper unless it's for a fancy event like a wedding and then I can accessorize. But I needed to go downtown and find an outfit, one fit for a Broadway play. So my roomy and I set off, took the 40min. bus ride to downtown, and ended up in the GlassHuset (Glass House mall) and H&M to find some clothes. And to my surprise, I found just the right outfit and bought the first one I tried on. This of course led to the need to get some nylons (or as Norway calls it, tights) and shoes to match. And after wandering to the next H&M (the younger version upstairs), I walked away with a beautiful black scarf, some long gloves extending to my elbows without fingers, black tights, but no shoes. So we wandered over to the "cheaper" shoe store a couple blocks away and I found a cute pair of heels for 300kroner. All-in-all, all of the stuff I got was 1000kroner which is a pretty good deal by Norway's standards.

A bus ride home, a stop at the main kantina for some baked salmon (yum!), and a skype interview with a potential graduate school professor in Michigan (it went pretty well as long as I can come up with a research plan about sturgeon)...now I am here. And just before I got inspired to write, my movie was interrupted by a knock on the door. Nina, the German girl from downstairs brought me a book. We discovered awhile ago that we both had a passion for Paulo Coehlo books, the author of The Alchemist, and so she brought me one and said to pass it on when I was finished. Probably because all of us international students have the same problem -- deciding what we want to take home, only the essentials in our luggage. After getting the book, I went back to my sewing (and honestly, I don't know how to sew) and patching my bag. We'll see if it holds. And now, I am afraid this blog must end since I have wasted enough people's times with my frivolous words. Ah, what a week. I only hope the next (my last of classes) is just as eventful! Goodnight, World!

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