Vegan for a week

So I decided to try something different this week. One of my roommates, Palina has been a vegan for the past few months because of some religious thing (I don't remember what.) You are apparently not supposed to eat any form of animal products from about January to the third of April . That includes fish, chicken, any form of meat, cheese, milk, butter, eggs++ You can't even eat honey... wow, what can you eat?? Just survive on vegetables? There is actually a lot a vegan can eat, you just have to be creative and look well through the supermarket. There are a lot of alternatives to dairy products and meat such as soya and tofu.  Anyways, since she now only had one week left, I decided to join her and try to be vegan for a week. Back in 2007/2008 I was a vegetarian for four months, so this shouldn't be too difficult. Went shopping yesterday and got rice, pasta, potatoes and a lot of fruit and vegetables... So we'll see how it goes :)

York!

Last weeks adventure was going to York.. So early up Sunday morning, and then bus for 3 hours to get there with 7 other girls from my class. Even though we only had 5 hours there before the bus went back to Cambridge, we still go to see pretty much of the city. Went to the York minister (the last picture) and walked up the 285 steps to get to the top of the tower...Puuuuh!, walked through York gardens,  went to a museum, a tower, the city walls, some old ruins (the city is almost 2000 years old!), went to some stores and had lunch :-) York is really nice city! Summer is finally coming to Britain, so were yellow daffodils everywhere.. Beautiful! Next weeks adventure: Nottingham.... Stay tuned

Vet hospital open day

Today the veterinarian hospital in town had an open day in relation with the science festival which is in Cambridge at the moment. I took a break from all my homework and rode my bike down to see what was going on there. And I have to say,  the visit didn't exactly make me less eager to become a veterinarian! With tours of all the facilities, we could look at x-rays, listen to a horses heart, listen to different lectures about the vet school and what they do there, see all the animals (everything from puppy's to alpacas..) I had a great time walking around and seeing more of what it's like to be a vet. I have since I was 5 wanted to be a veterinarian, so hopefully one day my dream will come true :-)

Curry night!

Today our host mom Selina taught us to make a traditional Pakistani Curry dish with bread and Chutney. Was really good!  So watch out mom and dad.. when I get home (in under two months) there will be plenty of spicy food coming!

Yummi!

Happy Birthday Grampa!

Today is my Grampas birthday. And not just any other birthday, he is 90 today!  Wish I could be in California now to celebrate it with him and the rest of the family.. But at least my dad got to fly over to be with him on the big day..Even though we might live on two different side of the planet, we have kept in good contact over the years. With visits to Norway and I being to The States several times, I have so many good memories! And I have to say, I have the coolest grandfather in the world!

I love you Grampa <3 Happy Birthday!

Amsterdaaaam

Hey! Just got home from Amsterdam about an hour ago... Had a fantastic weekend there with four of the girls from my class. Crazy how we can just go to another country on weekend trips! Can't exactly to that at home in Tromsø... But here there are just so many more opportunities, so just have to grab them! We left England early Friday morning and spent 3 great days there before returning Sunday night. Stayed at a really nice hostel that was very central and we could pretty much just walk wherever we wanted to go... Amsterdam is a very nice city and there was plenty to see. We visited the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Anne Frank house, went on a boat trip through the many canals, did some shopping, ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, went to the Red Light District, went to the Vondelpark and rented a tandem bike.. Unfortunately I didn't get to see my cousin Amanda who was also in Amsterdam that weekend... I don't know what happened, but I couldn't get a hold of her on her mobile.. Oh well... :-(  Too bad when we see each other so rarely, but nothing to do about that now.. we had a great weekend anyways. Here are some pictures:

the Anne Frank house

Thursday..

Yes a very original headline...I'm just THAT creative! Today it is exactly 2 months and 4 days until we have to move back to Norway again.. Thats not much at all! It seems like this year in England has gone by really fast, but at the same time it feels like forever since I've been home.. So just have to enjoy and do as much as I can now in the few weeks we have left.. Still keeping busy with school, driving lessons and traveling.. Tomorrow 4 girls in my class and I are going to Amsterdam!! Really looking forward to that, heard it's a really nice city..!  And the most random thing is that my cousin Amanda who I met in London a few weeks ago also i going there this weekend! Pretty funny how we both booked a trip there the exact same weekend without knowing. Guess us Lilly's are good at picking out the right places at the right time..! Apart from that, some girls in my class and I have  booked a day trip to York next Sunday and we are also going on a weekend trip to Wales in April where we are going horseback riding in a beautiful national park. I still have 3 more concerts to go to+ Easter vacation coming up in 3 weeks when Karoline and I are travelling all around England, Ireland and Scotland..And in May we are going to Berlin! So plenty to look forward to :-)

Yesterday Karoline, Siri and I made our host mom a "typical norwegian meal."  She wanted to try something Norwegian, so we decided to make "fiskeboller i hvitsaus" ( I have no idea what it's called in English, but it's a traditional Norwegian fish dish) I really didn't think she would like it, because the fish has a really weird consistency, but surprisingly enough she really liked it! Next Wednesday it is "curry night" and she is going to teach us how to make this really good Pakistani curry dish! Yummi!

 

Brighton up your day

Last weekend I took a trip with my roommate Karoline to a city on the south coast called Brighton. Karoline had been a week in Norway, visiting some friends and going to a concert, so I met her at the train station in London and then we headed for Brighton.  When we got there we hurried to the very nice (not) hostel we were staying at, and then went to the Brighton Centre where we had tickets for the Ronan Keating concert which was playing there!! Yes I’m a sucker for concerts and can’t say no, so when we saw he was playing in Brighton we could kill two birds with one stone; see Brighton and go to his concert! So that was it! When we found our seats at the Brighton centre, and looked around, we were pretty much the youngest people there.. Mostly ladies in their forties, haha but we didn’t care…It was a great concert!  Ronan has a such a nice voice and his songs are really good.  J

Sunday the sun was shining bright and we had a lovely day walking around Brighton. Did some shopping, had a really good lunch, and then went to the movie theatre and saw Alice in Wonderland! Really good movie and Johnny Depp was of course brilliant as always in his role of the “mad hatter”. Was really fun to see the movie when I’ve seen all the actors playing in it.. After it was over, we headed for the train station and went home… Another great day in the UK! J

LIVERPOOL IN MY HEART

Saturday night after coming home from the "skydiving" I got a 2 hour break, before I had to pack again and head for Liverpool.. 3 girls in my class and I were going there and seeing Liverpool Football Club play against Blackburn Rovers.. Liverpool has always been my favorite soccer team, so going to Anfield and seeing them play for the first time was a perfect ending to my perfect week.. We took the train to London and then a bus up to Liverpool, so we weren't there before 6.30 AM... An early start! (or late, didn't sleep much on the bus.) Nothing was open at this time, so we just sat at the bus station until 8 and then wandered around and went to Starbucks for breakfast.  After that we went to the Beatles museum.. Since the Beatles are from Liverpool they have made this great museum in their honor, so we went to see that.. Walked around for almost two hours, it was really nice! The city is very proud of those four guys, and with good reason.. They truly were the greatest band ever.  After that we had some shopping time (we also stopped by the Cavern club, where the Beatles first were discovered ) before it was time to head up to Anfield and finally see Liverpool play!   Being in the Beatles mood, we asked the taxi driver if he could stop by the street "Penny Lane" on the way, since that is one of the many brilliant Beatles songs. Our taxi driver was neither a Beatles nor a Liverpool F.C fan, but he was more then happy to take us there, and he even stopped at John Lennon's house and Strawberry field.

We'd had enough of the Beatles for one day, and were SOOOO ready to see Liverpool play now! We arrived at Anfield, went and got a scarf and a  program and entered the stadium. And WOW! I got the chills when we walked up the stairs and saw the green field and the cheering audience for the first time.. And the chills didn't exactly go away when the players entered the stadium and 45.000 people were holding up their Liverpool scarfs and singing "You'll never walk alone." MAN! It was a moment to remember... Couldn't believe I was actually here! We had some really good seats, and with my camera+ Karoline's super lens, I got some really good photos.. The game began and I was stoked!! It was just so totally awesome to actually be standing there and watching them play.. In real life, not on TV; Gerrard, Torres, Carragher, Kuyt, Agger, Reina, Lucas and the rest of the brilliant team. It was an exciting game from beginning to end.. Soccer matches go soooo much faster when you're watching them in real life compared to on TV unfortunately. And before we knew it it was over :-( But we saw a phenomenal game and Liverpool of course won over Blackburn... 2-1 was the end result, the two Liverpool goals were scored by my absolute favorite players, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard! PERFECT!! :-) I couldn't be any happier. After the game we went to the Liverpool F.C club store and bought some souvenirs, before heading for the bus station and going home..

What a day! What a week! What a life! :-)

The cavern club

Penny lane, Strawberry field and Lennon's house

Ready for the game!!

<3

I believe I can flyyyy

On Saturday, 16 of the Norwegian students at our school were supposed to go skydiving, but as you might have read further down, it was cancelled because of the weather.. I went to sleep at about 4.30 AM after the lady gaga concert  in London, and then woke up 10 minutes before the bus left for the skydiving place at 8 o'clock, so didn't get much  sleep that night.. When we arrived it was raining, so the people working there told us we might not be able to jump if it didn't clear up... A bit disappointed, but still  with hope we went and sat in the cafeteria and waited for it to clear up.. After about 5 hours of waiting and playing cards the clouds had disappeared and the jumping could take place!! Our group was not first in line, so some other people got to go first up in the little airplane and sky dive. It looked so cool, but also quite scary from where we were standing...The weather here in England changes very fast, so unfortunately after the first plane went up, it started to rain again, so no jumping for us.... We were told we could come back next Friday so hopefully the weather will be much better then... They also had this "wind-flying-machine-thing" there, so since we weren't able to skydive they let us try that if we wanted to.. It was so cool! floating around in this little tank, it was just like flying!

a bit nervous?

cards-cards-cards

lucky people!

flying!!

haha, that was sooo much fun!

GaGa Ooh-lala

On Friday, Karoline and I went to London to see Lady Gaga! A week full of exciting events and Friday was no exception! I was quite tired since I got back late from London after seeing Mr. Depp Thursday, but packed my bag after I got home from school and headed for the bus station..

(found a package on the kitchen table just as I was about to leave; a birthday present from my friends Helene and Anja in Norway <3 aww they’re so nice. )

After two hours on the bus we were finally in London at the O2 Arena and the show could begin! Support acts were two bands called “semi precious weapons”  and “alphabeat.”  The first band was horrible, but alphabeat wasn’t that bad.. Had at least heard a couple of songs by them before.  

When Lady Gaga finally entered the stage 3 hours after the doors opened, the stadium went crazy! She is definitely one of the biggest names these days, and recently winning 3 Brit awards and 2 Grammys, and being the star that she is, she knew how to put on a good show. Her odd and fabulous outfits were of course a big part of the concert, and she probably changed her outfit between 10 and 15 times.. It was an awesome concert and I got to hear all the songs I wanted to hear; paparazzi, pokerface, lovegame, the fame,  just dance, bad romance +++   

I didn't have a very good camera, so I'm just posting some pictures and a film I found on the internet:

Lady Gaga performing the last song "Bad Romance"