Northern Lights and a Dominique

 I'm far too impatient to take good Northern Lights photos, I just snap them and then run inside

 But hey, the lights themselves manage quite well

And Dominique was pleased (even though she doesn't look it in this photo) so I'm happy

When Dominique came to visit me in January, it was the first time we saw each other since June 2011. After the first ten seconds of disbelief, it was pretty much as if time hadn't passed at all. We still agree - and disagree - about the same topics, and are so different that we become similar. 

Every night, we went out to look for the Northern Lights, but we'd only see late night ski-goers (this is Tromsø), snow, and stars. On the third night, I got a message from an acquaintance who had seen my comment on Facebook, saying that there were Northern Lights outside quite early. We ran out, and it was really amazing and grand, and even I was a bit awed.

More photos might be on their way!

Bristol

 was our first destination in the land of Eng

 and my Norwegian mind was mystified by all the sunshine

 so we went inside to the M Shed, a museum about Bristol, here represented by milk bottles

 and a guillotine hand-crafted by a French prisoner after the French revolution

 but also Wallace and Gromit, who are apparently Bristolian (this doesn't come through in the Norwegian versions)

Real props from the Were-Rabbit, I was probably too excited about this

Maja and I stayed with Emma and Lucy, who have recently moved there, two nights before going to Reading and Karla and New Year Fun Times. More photos to come!

This time last year

I had just moved back to Norway, and was looking for a job and enjoying nice, "warm" summer weather.
I just realised that I moved from Falmouth on June 30th last year, and came home to Tromsø on July 1st. I have already been at home for one year, but it feels like much less. And while I'm happier here, and for some reason seem to belong here (even though I'm half Southern), I still want to travel. Long-term. And live other places, and learn about other cultures and languages and weird ways of doing things. I'm not going to Colombia this year as I was hoping for, so I'm looking at another year in Tromsø, but then... hopefully. Something. Vague plans ahoy.

Let's talk weather

 28th May 2012, Monday

3rd June 2012, Sunday

 29th May 2012, Tuesday

(day after I came back from scorching London)

3rd June 2012, Sunday

(we had dinner outside, and cake outside, until 9 in the evening when it started to get chilly)

That's all.

Falmouth III

 Who is this Emma-person I see before me? MY Emma-person. So many hugs.

 English Sunday Roast is amazing.

 Tony, Karla, Mak, Maja, Emma, Jenny, me, Lucy (thanks, Henrik)

 Emma and Lucy

 Kimberley Park looking all right

Grumpy man, presumably enjoying the weather, the park and the ice cream he's eating

Aaaand we saunter (on a train, not really possible, but who cares) towards Brighton!

Falmouth II

 Met up with Anders, who's also from Tromsø, but studies Press Photography in Fal, and caught up on Tromsø/Falmouth

 Lucy resisted all my photography attempts

 Drying your clothes in the middle of a parking lot? Splendid idea.

Not sure when my interest in gravestones and cemeteries will turn into unhealthy obsession.

Not yet, surely?

Falmouth I

 Caipiroska-deliciousness at Eight Bar

 I know you, Falmouth

 The Princess Pavilion - to watch Freya's Oklahoma!-show

 Children on the grass drawing... the gardens?

 Falmouth Falmouth Falmouth

Man-made shell patterns inside tiny caverns in the Pavilion's garden

Going back to Falmouth was odd. On the way there I was scared I would meet friends I haven't seen in almost a year, and all of a sudden have nothing to talk about. Or not get along. Or this or that or something bad would happen. Instead I had an event-packed weekend, where we went to all our old pub haunts, watched Much Ado About Nothing by my old housemates' old drama society, watched Oklahoma! with my old housemate Freya, went to an engagement meal, went to more pubs, saw the Olympic flame go by (carried by a running 12-year-old), ate toast, drank tea, ate pasties and ice cream and fudge and a pub lunch and discovered break-ups had happened as well as people getting together, and all in all the weekend went too fast - I was suddenly on my way to Brighton. More photos from Falmouth to come first though. Nothing like a bit of nostalgia.

Brighton

This is me, sitting in Kayung and Kyle's back garden in the sunshine (and a bit of wind), drinking tea and taking it very easy.

The past week has been exhiliratingly busy, with Norway Day on Thursday, flying to Oslo on Thursday, flying to London and taking the train to Cornwall on Friday, spending the weekend in Falmouth (not sleeping much), taking the train to London on Sunday and sleeping a few hours at Ina's house before heading to Brighton this morning.

Now I'm chilling with tea and sunshine and lovely Kay who is writing her uni proposal, which suits me good since it gives me an excuse to lazy about and do nothing. I probably won't post much this week, but I wanted you to know I'm alive and happy as a lark.

ENGLAND PLZ

Planning London with mum, accompanied by tea in floral crockery, as should be

I leave in one week today! Thought I would put my itinerary here, because I'll actually be travelling a little once I'm first in England:

• May 18th: Oslo - London - FALMOUTH TOWN where Maja and I will be landing at 5:06 p.m., if all goes well, and we shall be watching Much Ado About Nothing by FECCLES, sat next to lovely people we went to uni with
• May 19th/20th: Falmouth Falmouth Falmouth meet up with everyone we know, hopefully
• May 20th: Maja stays while I whizz up to LONDON with the afternoon train, terminating in Londinium at 11:30 pm
• May 21st: London - BRIGHTON to see (stay with) Kayung and her boyfriend Kyle, both very lovely people who studied photography with me
• May 23rd: Brighton - LONDON to pick up my mum and sister and sleep at our Travelodge
• May 24th-27th: London London London go to flower markets, vintage markets, all the markets and some shops and see some Lions and Witches and Wardrobes in Kensington
• May 28th: London - Oslo - Tromsø, sleep.