Much ado about what to do

Lia, one of my best friends here, uses the word “mission” a lot. It’s endearing. An example from yesterday:

Me: «Hey Lia. Do you want to come with me to student services?»

Lia: *thinks for a moment*

Lia: “Actually, I have no mission now, so I’ll come with.»

Yes! Why not? In a way, going to class, or doing homework, or swimming at the RecWell Center, is a mission. 

We’re nearing the end of the second week of the semester now, and I’m still wondering what my mission (in the Big Way) is. My degree is one the main mission, of course. But I’d like to have more. 

I also have social missions. Two types, I would say. Related to that, I’m also deeply devoted to the business of smelling the roses.

But also: I have an interview on Monday for a mission that I’m very excited for, that I’ve been trying to take on for months. I hope it goes well! If it does, you’ll definitly hear from it, my sweet blog which had 11 visitors in August according to the official WordPress site stats.

Lia & I

Midwest = Midbest

My roommate is a fantastic writer and her blog is so cool. I’ll never blog like her, but I should at least be blogging like I said I would.

It’s been just over a month since I started university, and there’s tons to write about. To keep it simple, and inspired by My Brilliant Roommate, here is a listicle of things that have happened. Starting from August 3rd, when I left Eden Prairie and started my Minnesota uni-life.

Living situation part 1

  • Moved into Centennial Hall at UMN
  • Room was standard single dorm. The light from the fire alarm was flashing on and off all night. But otherwise it was quiet (except when there were thunderstorms, they tend to sound like the whole sky is crumbling—or when a helicopter occasionally flew into the ER, which was right next door)
  • I slept so well on the hard dorm mattress. i love hard mattresses it seems.
  • But I was STRESSED from not having a fridge and barely (barely!) a kitchen space to work with. That was the biggest drawback by far. I felt like a little mouse so much of the time, because I tried to live off the bagged nuts we got as snacks during the school day, as well as small stuff like babybel cheese at CVS. Longed for the day i could keep some cheese and ham in the fridge and make a sanwhich whenever i wanted.

Living situation part 2

  • Finally moved into my long-term place in a hip young cool charming slightly scruffy Minneapolis neighborhood two weeks ago. My first meal there was a cheese and ham sandwich.
  • The relief I felt when my mattress was installed, a couple of groceries were in my fridge, and I knew that while I had a lot of things to get settled, I finally had everything I strictly needed in one place… unmatched
  • My roommates are so cool. One is UWC, actually. The other one is from Ohio and in the beginning she kept reminding me of the college girl from Judy Moody Goes to College (biggest compliment). Both roommates are hard working and present in their IRL lives. Admirable.
  • ^We had our first party/gettogether two weekends ago. We each invited a couple of friends. It was so great to see everyone get along. It also felt good to do something the three of us. My two roommates have already lived together for a while and are very good friends, but have been nothing but inclusive. I’m losing the stupid feeling I sometimes get, ever since ski camp, that people don’t want me around (only comes back, a little bit, when I’m stressed or worried)

School stuff

  • We had a three week introduction course, for all of us international students at the program. It was mostly interesting things. I struggled getting into a healthy routine though, and felt so tired at the end of the day, most days. I think it mainly had to do with the food thing, see “living situation part 1” bullet point 4.
  • Now we’ve done 1 week of law school classes. In not fully certain about my course selection, but am getting there fast. Lots of reading, already in the first week! But I’m so happy to learn. I think I’m learning a lot.

Miscellaneous Minnesota

  • Is it still 2004 here?! Sometimes it feels that way. Ahhh. I love it. Something about the air, the houses around my neighborhood, and the way people look. My roommates being so Present, also! That contributes a lot.
  • It’s still tricky, but doable, to do everything I need to do sans car. The bus has not been as sketchy as I had heard it could be, even at night. But it’s so infrequent, especially after afternoon falls and on the weekends. That’s hard, because I have had a couple evening&weekend engagements over the last few weeks, and think I’ll keep at that for a while. I really don’t like paying for uber! But it comes in a clutch.

Hmm. I actually don’t know what else I need to say right now. I went on a trip to Two Harbors, on Lake Superior, but that’s not listicle-material. There’s also my friends, and other colorful characters I’ve met so far. But I think this post is just for catching up on the basic things.

I’m finishing this on the phone, by the way. First time not blogging on my computer. For a while I thought it was better to keep blogging as a ceremonious Big Screen-activity. But this is so useful. For instance, right now I’m sitting on a chair outside of chick-fil-a (they are so kind, I think they don’t mind), waiting for my friends to pick up. It’s raining lightly, on and off. Everyone around me is either rushing somewhere or walking with friends. It feels niiiice to be in my own world right now. The world can wait. For five more minutes. That’s when my friends get here, yay.

I’ll round of with a picture. I don’t know which one, have to see what I find in my camera roll.

Actually, I’ll take a picture of my view right now.

You can only be one place at the time, and this is where I’m at right now. East Bank Stadium, near the University.

In Minneapolis.

Minnesota.

USA.

!!!

Yeehaw Minnesota !!!

It’s the morning of my third day here, and my host/friend and I are taking it slooow. Thought we would go to the Consulate so I could vote in the Norwegian election today, but the cars are both taken, so it’ll have to be another day. Instead I’ll take this chance to write about some of my first impressions of Minnesota!

Cars. I knew, but I didn’t know, how hard it is to go anywhere without a car. Well, no, maybe not in Minneapolis. I’m in Eden Prairie at the moment, which feels like a suburb to Minneapolis, and it is, but it’s also a city in its own right. Driving from here to Minneapolis to the Minneapolis city center takes around 25 minutes. Taking the bus takes more than an hour, according to Google Maps, and my host/friend doesn’t even believe that bus exists. So I don’t know. I don’t have a car. I don’t even have a liscence! (my greatest shame). Grocery stores are much rarer to come by in the city than back home. I also need to get all my stuff to my long-term apartment, as well as a bed and perhaps more furniture too. HMM… I had a wee panic about this the other night. Luckily I have a couple of weeks to figure it out. We’ll see how it goes.

Eden Prairie. It’s so gorgeous here. Very Wisteria Lane. Host/friend thinks I’m ridicilous for wow-ing at everything. I thought he is ridiculous for not recognizing it. But, he does. He just sees more faults in the streets around here and the neighborhood in general that I am able to. And it’s interesting to hear about. I didn’t even notice there are no side walks on his street until he pointed it out, haha. Still I wondered how a neighborhood can look nicer than this. Last night we drove through the Edina Country Club District, and I understood how. But oh my gosh. According to my eyes, Eden Prairie breaks the niceness bar (espeially when host/friend’s dad took me on an evening walk down to a local lake and I saw how the people near the water live…). So the places “above” that, I don’t know, it’s like it all blurs into one big soup of NICE and WOW and HOW?

Americans. Fun bunch. I overheard quite a few Americans the aiport in Oslo (why is it that you hear their voices so clearly in a crowd, even when they aren’t speaking especially loud, is there something in the timbre?). To be honest, I really wanted to talk to talk to them (=I wanted them to talk to me). I was starting to feel disappointed that it wasn’t happening when, in the queue to board the plane from Reykjavik to Minneapolis, one man asked me something, his family jumped in when I replied, and before I knew it six of us were talking and by the time we bere on the plane I had plans to hang out with one of the girls in the queue and an invitation to visit a University of Minnesota Research Center from another. And on the plane, I cracked jokes and shared stories with my two seatmates, a couple from North Dakota who had done been traveling Scandinavia for their 50th wedding anniversary. All these interactions felt like little blessings to my stay. Friendly people are the best thing in the world.

I also met some of host/friend’s friends last night, when we went grilling on lake Bde Maka Ska. They all met doing “Nordic skiing” (langrenn) in high school, but now their lives were so different from each other. Sitting there, hearing about one person’s incoming baby (one month left!), another’s breakup, someone else’s studies in Europe, and the last ones second bachelor’s degree and retail job, I once more felt like an antropologist, deep in the field. I’m very happy I have so much more time to do it.

Minneapolis. Yesterday we drove into the city for the first time. I saw a lot of the campus, and we even stopped to walk around the neighborhood I’m going to live in. Very different than Eden Prairie and Edina. Quirkier? I don’t have the word at the moment. They carried my favorite Michigan beer in one of the local bars. Weird weird weird.

One of the many houses I’ve seen. This one near lake Bde Maka Ska. Very different from Eden Prairie/Edina and my neighborhood, and very nice.

T-one month

Last night I watched Fargo (1996) with my parents. It’s one of their favorite movies. My mom told me she got her favorite expression from one of the characters. I asked what expression that is.

“Thanks a bunch”.

: ^ )

Personally I loved it when they said “yeaaah”, with a soft but discerinble ja baked in there.

Preparing for a new academic year has never been so relaxed. My brain was fried when my parents helped me move out of my old place last week. I had an irritating cold too, that made me feel like a flat tire every time I walked up the stairs.

Now I wake up slooooowly to the sounds of birds, morning rain and, today, my dad singing outside my window. Actually, no, most nights so far I’ve had stress dreams and woken up a little panicked. But I have time to wake up slowly every day. And I have a room cleaning (purge) going, where I get rid of a (“thanks a”) bunch of things every day. I think less things in the room will make the nights less stressful. Time-distance from the Stressor that was June 17th also helps.

But yes, preparations for the next year. Watching Fargo = preparations because I’m traveling to Minnesota in about a month, where I will study for a year. It was so cool to see all the Minni-sights, with the tiny towns and long flat roads and especially Minneapolis. As I started writing this my dad handed me a 2022 Edition of the men’s magazine Monocole, turned to page 196 about, to show me this new Southern style he loves. Texan tailoring is apparently excellent. A world out there to get to know!

I don’t know. Being slow right now is gratifying. Earlier this week I attended the Norway-America Association’s diploma ceremony for new scholars. It was such a venerable event. Beautiful venue. Inspiring speeches! I felt so lucky the whole time. And last night, before the movie, I thought about how busy the last breaks have been. Like how I was working on said NORAM-application up until New Years last year. The academic breaks this year have been more applicaitons and catching up than anything else. So I guess now I feel like I’m using the PTO I’ve saved. And I definitely need a hobby, since I didn’t get a job for the summer. But so far it’s been nice. Even when I’m bored, it’s nice.

OK, that’s it for now.

Bye!

PS: the word “honky-tonk” is stuck in my brain again. How do I get it out. Maybe I don’t need to. It’s a fun one.

Arbon og dobelarbon og halskende

I’ve been home for about 24 hours and it’s wonderful. The neighborhood is a summer rainforest. Here are three pictures of what’s up:

I dragged my suitcase all the way from the train station to home because I’m too stingy/frugal/money savvy? to buy a bus ticket. Nearing my street I saw TWO GIRLS SELLING HANDMADE BRACELETS AND NECKLACES ON THE STREET!?!? Incredible sight. I bought one, and as I walked away I thought, this is what it’s all about. How do you go one day without having some earnest “realization” about life that you’ve actually realized a hundred times before? Oh, wait, I guess that’s what “being reminded” is.

Soon after I got inside I went back for another one, that I will give my best friend tonight. VENNSKAPSARBON!!!!!

Sometims a rabbit meal is the best thing in the world. Why do Ray Peat-followers insist you have to shave your carrots, I wondered as I got my vegetables out. Then I thought, maybe I should do a peaty experiment myself. I ate my three-carrot salad, and about one third in I felt like I had had enough. I asked ChatGPT then about how many carrots Ray Peat recommends. Turns out it was only one. My intuition was correct (Valerie voice). And that is very peaty of me. So I have decided to give peating a whirl, starting today.

Since I have a lot of questions about Ray Peat’s curious food and health views, I stuck with ChatGPT for a while. For instance, I never understood what T4 and T3 means. Now I do, at least a little bit. Ms. GPT was helpful as always, but also very… I don’t even know what to call it. Look:

I wonder what I have said to trigger this sort of response. Hahaha!!!

Now I’m going to study. I love monitors and I love that my dad has one. I don’t know what I expected, but seeing the BeiDa-friends on the bigger screen when I connected my laptop delighted me.

Je t’aime, neighborhood!

Potatoes and Pioneers

Is your fate set?

I have wondered before and now I’m wondering again.

“You control your own destiny,” my American friend once said on the phone. Matter-of-factly. But it was like those words handed my soul the reins and gave it the go-ahead. Because I don’t know (know-know) if that’s true. I have always hoped it is. But there are gnawing voices and suspicions that say otherwise. “Vi er mer like enn du tror,” my dad says. And talks about family patterns that have started feeling less like fun quirks and more like a carosel I can’t get off.

I was browsing the fiction section of the university library today when I noticed a book entitled Du kan ikke lage en potet. You cannot make a potato. Fun title. But it caught my eye because that’s the the central theme of the book I think about everytime I think about destiny: Svøm med dem som drukner, by Lars Mytting.

I read Svøm med dem som drukner in the 11th grade, first year of high school, for a school assignment. Everyone did presentations on our books and I remember I thought mine was pretty good. I don’t know what the presentation’s more precise theme was, but I had a PNG potato looming in the right corner of every PowerPoint slide— until I revealed what I thought was true theme of the book, which is (spoiler?):

People think they are their parents’ offspring, but they are really their clones — like a potato.

Potatoes do not propagate like plants do, I learnt from the book. They replicate themselves. Main character searches for his family’s history. Learns that like the potaters he’s harvesting, he’s been his father all along.

Or that’s how I remember the potato thing now. It’s been almost ten years. Was it the dad he was looking for, or someone else?

The next year, in another Norwegian high school class but now at UWC, I read a book with a similar theme. Jeg forbanner tidens elv, by Per Petterson. About a young man who has the chance to go up and out. Decided to “self-proletarize”, become a Worker, instead. Be the change you want to see in the world? He was a communist in Norway, I remember that. In most of the book he is searching for his mom. I know there was a physical pursuit, but I’m sure there were inner journeys to mom-land too.

In this book, the mom had wanted him to be better off than she was. But he decided to stay put. Still, even though it was his decision, it did not feel like he was the master of his destiny. There was no reins-in-hand feeling, at all. When I read the book back in high school, I recall it was like there was some dreary slimy entity that took control of him, and made him do it. It was sinister, it was going down and it wanted to drag him down with it. The choice was outside of his true realm of control.

—

A while after I read the book, I was home in Oslo on a break. I sat on Marie’s bed and marveled at her pretty things and mesmerizing high school life as she cleaned her room. She had started reading more, and I browsed her bookshelf. All books in the Norwegian language. At that point I had switched sides long ago and couldn’t remember the last time I—outside of school— picked up a book in norsk. I even went to an international now, where everyone spoke English.

But I admired Marie for her shiny ownership of who she is. I felt bad about my preference. Cringy. I am norsk, too, after all. And proud of it, yes yes, I love where I’m from.

So I wondered why I preferred residing English books to Norwegian. Was it really some internalized Norway-hatred, after all?

After some reflection, I do not think it is. At worst, it is only a fraciton of that. When I thought about these two books together, Svøm med dem som drukner, and Jeg forbanner tidens elv, it solidifed a sneaking feeling I have had: Norwegian adult* books are depressing!

I don’t want to be set in my fate. I don’t want to be a potato.

Meanwhile, the heores of the Ameircan books I read had AGENCY. Their actions could mess everything up, and make everything good again. It was up to them, and it mattered. I had never encountered a potato in any American book I have read. The protagonists are cowboys instead. Bending the world to their will. Same goes for the movies, too.

I guess that’s all I have to say on the matter. If the message we take in from books and movies and songs matter, I would rather be a cowboy than a potato. But that does not mean I don’t love Norge.

—

*Norwegian teen and kids books are the best. On a recent trip home I read Markus og Diana before bed. I laughed out loud, I got reary eyed, and I looked forward to going to bed each night. Good stuff.

Mindcycloning

I’ve been visited by more ideas recently. On walks, in the shower, when I’m supposed to be thinking about other things.

It’s so lovely.

I’m even craving having ideas. Yesterday I walked back from university with Marta (love). When we passed Kolonialen AS, the adorable grocery store/café/pub on Sydneshaugen, it struck me: I wanted a brainstorming session there so bad.

Brainstorm what? I don’t know! But I told Marta, and we brainstormed topics to brainstorm in the future. “Cool choir songs”. “Unconventional workouts”. “Ways to style a white t-shirt”. Pretty tame stuff, now that I think about it. Our brains are rusty, we clearly need a good ‘storm.

Maybe I will have a ‘Brainstorm Summer 2025’. Or a biweekly ‘Beer & Brainstorm’ in the next season of my life. But for now I will make a plan to brainstorm in that spot, Kolonialen AS, at least once before I live this city. Er du med Marta?

A weekend visitor

Sometimes I think that if I am aware that I take things for granted, it’s okay. But is that true? Two things there:

  1. Am I really taking things for granted if I know I am? That necessitates I know their worth.
  2. If it’s possible to knowingly take things for granted, does it even help if you’re aware that you’re doing it?

This weekend I had a guest visiting me for the first time. It was also the most materially perfect Bergen weekend in 2025 so far. “Most perfect” is a weird phrase. It was perfect. It was Bergen’s first perfect days all year. Two perfect days that coincidentally landed on a weekend, Friday through Sunday. And coincidentally took place just when my guest was here, and was overtaken by the rain and the dullness as soon as I got on the tram back from the airport on Monday.

My guest is from the digital realm. It’s funny to know someone online and then be in each others IRL, all of a sudden. It was fun and amusing, sometimes uncomfortable, and other times oddly familiar. Sometimes Guest said things I had never heard before, and sometimes I was reminded so much of people and scenarios that I never thought I’d experience again.

The coolest thing we did was take a daytrip to Stanghelle. Here are a few pictures from there:

Guest is very taken by Norway. Having a lot of international friends in Bergen (and from my UWC-days), I am lucky to many times have experienced of seeing my city and country through outsiders eyes. It puts things in perspecitve. It makes you grateful/realize how ungrateful you can be.

But I’m very taken by the place Guest is from. It’s funny how Guest and I are maybe, possibly, hopefully, making a temporary a switcheroo. So I listen with great interest, and some level of apprehension, when Guest tells me why it’s hard to feel good about their homeplace. It’s scary to have your dreams challenged. But it also feels like a lucky thing, like Guest and I got to serve multiple purposes for each other over one weekend, and one of theirs was to give me these insights that I didn’t want but maybe needed.

Stanghelle could not have been more perfectperfectperfect. Everything was right, I felt God’s presence in the air and in my body which was young and moved smoothly and skillfullly over the terrain. On the way back to Bergen, Guest suggested I get away like this more often. I wondered then if feeling stuck is a choice. Wandering the Stanghelle penninsula, our destination, I tried to think about concerns from my Bergen life and had a hard time remembering any. Maybe a possibility for the future is a simpler, serene life, in a place like there. I have no doubt most days are not like this weekend, jeg har vært ute en Vestlandet-vinternatt før. But with a meaningful job and adequate spare time to let my mind be free, who knows. And a permanent guest to do it all with.