Round 2

After what feels like the longest summer ever, I'm finally back in Oxford after traveling with too much baggage..again. Every year I tell myself that this time I won't bring too much. And every time I fail, resulting in pain, sweat and almost tears. Not a happy camper trying to make my way from the airport express train. A total of 50 kg baggage just is too much. Crossing my fingers that when I'm leaving for Christmas I'll finally learn how to properly back a bag.

I'm living with my boyfriend in the same flat as last year, with the same loud neighbours. I was praying for them to move out during the summer, but my prayers was absolutely not heard. I was also praying for the bathroom to be finished before I got back as it has been refurnished during the summer. But those prayers obviously got lost on the way too. So now I have tools spread all over the living room, dust all over the place, and a bathroom with a toilet that has not yet been secured. I'm hoping the toilet won't suddenly fall so I end up with a flat full of sewage. That would have been even more disgusting than the fact that bathroom tiles have been cut in the kitchen...IN THE KITCHEN... I even have dust from tile cutting inside every cupboard and the oven. It's crazy.

 I ended my Summer in the mountains on a hunting trip. The hunting was result less and the only thing we saw was some feathers, but it was fun anyway.

If you have followed this blog a while you probably know that I live next to Cowley Road, a road full of restaurants, shops and what nots. So as I sit her on the sofa looking at tools I don't even know the name of, I thought I could share my Cowley favorites. You can find food from every corner of the world on this very road, but some of them are better than others. 

South Park 

Well, this isn't exactly a part of Cowley Road, but it is a park nearby, and it also is one of my favorite parks. It's 5 mins from my flat, and I walk through it along with many others on my way to Brookes. It is a perfect place for a picnic, a walk or even a run. On the weekends the park is frequently used by runners, people attending bootcamp and those trying to recover from yesterday. It's like a miniature version of Central Park in New York. It's also the location of circuses, firework shows and concerts. And the view on a sunny day is unbelievable. You understand why Oxford is called the city of dreaming spires when you're looking towards the city centre from South Park. 

Atomic Pizza

247 Cowley Road 

My second day in Oxford my boyfriend and I went to Atomic Pizza to eat and we kind of ended up there by coincidence. Both the inside and outside is filled with well known comic figures, and they're also showing good old music videos inside. The food is really good, especially the burger with chili con carne, and the prices are reasonable. 

Kadai & Naan 

209 Cowley Road

A little further down Cowley Road is Kadai & Naan, the best Indian restaurant in Oxford in my opinion. What's also great about it is the student discount. Need I say more? 

City Arms

288 Cowley Road 

City Arms is a short walk from both restaurants mentioned above, and is a huge pub. They have multiple TV's for the sports interested, pool, and seating areas both inside and outside. It's definitely a place where you can watch football with the guys or order a huge fishbowl of drinks for a silly low price. 

George & Delila 
104 Cowley Road 
If you've never been to Oxford before you'll soon see a couple of George & Delila cafés, and one of them is located on Cowley Road. It's often used by people to read or work during daytime and in the evening they frequently serve as a live music concert venue. It's intimate but spacey, and a popular café for students.



I hope you've managed to settle in and that you're ready for your first semester at Brookes. I'm more ready than ever, even though I've realized that the two upcoming semesters are going to be hard with a lot of work. But I sure am ready for round 2! 

The most difficult decision ever

As I'm the only international student in this group of bloggers I feel like it's time to talk about studying abroad.

Choosing to study abroad, leaving all my friends behind and go all in for a "new life" in a foreign country is probably the hardest decision I've made so far in my life. As with every life changing decisions it has its pros and cons, a list constantly expanding with new things. Before I moved to Oxford I studied International Relations and History in Lillehammer and Political Science in Oslo, two cities in Norway, but I felt that neither was what I was really looking for. So at the end of the first semester in Oslo my boyfriend suggested a trip to the education fair, because he was thinking about applying to the Norwegian Police University College. When we walked out of the education fair we had completely changed our decisions about continuing our studies in Norway. We wanted to study abroad, and the UK in particular.

After the education fair I spent like a week just browsing the Internet, discovering how many universities there are in this country! In Norway we have 8, and if I'm not entirely wrong I think the UK has 116... It's a jungle!

I didn't tell anyone at first about my plans about studying abroad, because I was quite sure my mum wouldn't approve of it and if I didn't get accepted anywhere it wasn't necessary to enter a discussion with her. When the dreadful UCAS application process began, and I was really pleased with my letter of recommendation and motivation letter, I told my family that I was applying to universities in the UK, and so the months of struggle begun. On one side I had my dad, really supporting and kind of jealous that I got to do something he always wanted to. On the other side I had my mum, sceptical about the whole thing, worrying about the expenses, future employers and so forth. She Googled her way through the Internet, e-mailing me different university rankings, and that this was too expensive, too risky and not worth it when I could get an equally good education in Norway at a much lower price (we don't have tuition fees in Norway). I was quite frankly torn. I got accepted at the universities I applied to, and Brookes was the university I wanted to choose. Eventually, after several weeks of heated discussions and telling the rest of my family that I was moving, kind of turning them against my mum to get her to see that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity (kind of cruel, I know..), she finally "made peace" with my decision. As of now, she is enthusiastic and happy that I moved, getting a degree, standing a bit more out in the crowd, and I think her scepticism was rooted in lack of information.

I thought I would have gotten homesick by now, but that hasn't happened. Probably because there's always something going on, always an essay to write or a presentation to prepare. The only one I actually miss when I'm in Oxford is this little boy

And sometimes my sister

I haven't regretted my decision for a second, and in fact, I love studying abroad so much that I'm pretty sure I'm doing my postgrad here as well. So sorry mum, not coming home for a while!

If you're an international student thinking about studying abroad - DO IT! You will learn so much other students won't, make friends from all across the world, become so much more independent, and of course be able to speak English fluently.

On Friday Brookes hosted LiveFriday at the Ashmolean in Oxford, which turned out to be really fun.

Artie (the robot) was definitely the main attraction for a huge part of the visitors at the Ashmolean, and it was so fun to finally get to see him, even though he was constantly crowded.

I hope you had a fun weekend and wish you all a nice week! 

Dating, queuing and crisps

As a thank you for reading my blog, and because this blog post contains generalization, I wanted to show you how many Norwegians dress on Christmas Eve, the Norwegian National Day, christenings and sometimes at weddings. If you're invited to dinner with the Norwegian king and queen you're also allowed to wear it.

It's called bunad in Norwegian and is a folk costume representing different parts of Norway, and come in all different shapes, sizes and colours. My bunad is from the northern parts of Norway because my dad's family lives there. Northern parts of Norway are colder than southern parts (that's where I'm from), and my bunad is completely made of wool. On the 17th of May when we celebrate our National Day, let's just say it sometimes get's too hot underneath the bunad. That's my little sister on the right by the way - she's almost 5 years younger than me, 5 cm taller and wears shoes almost 2 sizes bigger than me. While I'm in Oxford she's living the dream as an only child, getting oh so spoiled... 

Before I moved to Oxford the possibility of big cultural differences didn’t really strike me as a possibility. I mean, the UK is a two-hour flight away from Norway, two countries only separated by some water and they're on the same continent. If I had moved to the US the culture clash would have been inevitable, as Americans are known for being extremely outgoing and chatty. The first week or so in Oxford I suddenly discovered how big the differences actually are. You queue for everything, you say thank you, sorry and please – words you hardly ever hear in Norway. If you’re lost in Norway and you need help with directions you will realize that it’s quite hard to get people talking. In Oxford however, people seem to be kind and helpful, which is handy when I’m lost and just want to see the Radcliffe Camera.

Some weeks ago during a group discussion about culture differences during a seminar, a friend of mine asked me how Norwegians date. The answer is that we don’t. We don’t even have a word for it. Either you’re a couple or you’re just hanging out as friends. It’s not like we don’t go on dates, but you hardly ever do it unless you would categorize your relationship as exclusive. And don’t think you’re able to date/go out with several girls or boys at the same time, if you do that you will get a bad reputation and the whole country will know it. When watching American movies where the girl gets picked up by the boy in a car (it seems like they always gets picked up at 7pm as well), the boy pays for dinner and then drives the girl back home, it all just seems so far-off. If you're Norwegian and going on a date you take the bus, the bike or simply walk. Now, we could use our cars, but it’s a strict zero-tolerance on drinking and driving in Norway, and of course we drink on our dates. That’s something I’ve never understood, why do they always drink and drive in American movies when so many are killed by drunk drivers? Shouldn’t they promote walking, or at least riding bikes?

Another big difference between UK and Norway is probably the way we approach strangers. In Norway we don’t talk to or smile at strangers, and if you ask a Norwegian a question on the bus you will either get the evil eye or just be ignored. In the UK, or Oxford to be more specific, I’ve been called darling and honey numerous times, talked to strangers on the bus and even been told by complete strangers that my hair looks nice. I guess Norwegians aren't best at everything (even though we really like to think so). The first time a stranger complemented my hair I instantly thought he was flirting. Norwegians don’t do that. Unless we’re drunk. Really drunk.

And whilst we're talking about alcohol, I don't get used to the alcohol advertisements, or the tobacco advertisements for that matter. In Norway it's illegal to advertise alcohol and tobacco in any form, so I always get surprised when I see it during prime time on TV. 

Apart from the obvious differences as groceries and alcohol being so incredible cheaper in the UK (a beer in a pub in Norway usually costs £8 or more), Britons eats an awful lot of crisps. I mean, when I’ve actually made an effort to do a whole day of studying at the library, it’s quite annoying having to not only hear but also smell bacon flavored crisps, making it really hard to concentrate on the political theory I’m trying to understand. You don’t eat crisps in Norway unless it’s a Friday or Saturday night. You just don’t.

I don’t know which culture I like the most though. I should probably say the Norwegian so I don’t piss off any Norwegian readers, but it’s something really nice about being able to talk to strangers or when the lady in the reception at the gym calls me darling. I think I will have to go for a combination of both, but if you stop eating crisps at the library when I’m there I would probably choose the British culture. 

If you were at Brookes applicants day this weekend I hope you enjoyed it and got answers to your questions (and if you didn't, that's what I'm here for). 

On Friday 14th of March, Brookes are hosting Live Friday at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, to announce Brookes 150th anniversary celebrations. It's a free event where you can, among other things, turn your smartphone into a microscope, talk to robots and see a bamboo mountain bike! Click here for more information or here for even more information about the artists performing, the robot and other announcements. So if you're in the area you should definitely join!

Now I'm going to finish my sociology essay about Marx, which is a dreadful thing to have to do when Oxford is soaked in sun and it's 18 degrees outside!

Hope I see you at the Ashmolean on Friday!