Life´s Little Ramblings

Back in my comfy bed. Surrounded by few of my favorite things with certain new additions.
I believe I am slightly jet-lagged still.
Much has happened in America. Don´t even know where do I start telling,and if I did, I could write a novella.Therefore I presume I should just do a quick summary. And perhaps, pictures. When I am more in the mood, perhaps more random rants on things.

Entire trip was amazing. Simply, amazing.
Seen monumental buildings and attractions.
Things people talk about, things others have seen.
I had fantastic good food almost everyday, of all kinds and choices.
And, inner foodie in me, is pleased.
It always allow me to reminisce what I left behind and what road I have chosen to take.
Starbucks was still as good as I remembered it.
Slightly over-rated after the 20th or so cups.
Met up with new friends, or if better said, some acquaintances.
Learned about new cultures, differences and habits.
Senn Daniel Radcliff stark naked. Speechless, only this time, not exactly in a good way.
Enjoyed a Broadway show.
Got to ride an ambulance.
Got to go into an Emergency Room
Ushered in the New Year with 250,000 people.
Know now why Times Square is the place to be for New Years.
Utterly mind blowing spectacles of colours, smells, sights and feelings.
Added on pounds.
Opened my eyes, to the America everyone talks about, how different, how correct, how wrong my perception was on them.
Learned that my sister still pays most of my things.
Learned what I wanted and what I did not.
I suppose I should say, expect the least, and accept the unacceptable.
Wait, rephrase!. Why should I accept something that is unacceptable...
Overall,above all those few weeks thought me tremendously.
Ironic, considering I wasn´t planning on learning anything.
First I know, I can make it on my own. Well, minus financially speaking.
I had time to reflect, to contemplate, to think over certain things and what changes I might need to make in order for me to lead a slightly more fulfilling life for myself.

Can´t say I loved America. Or loathed it for that matter.
There were certain things I wish I could take home, and they were even more things that I am happy I have at home.

Now that I am home, there will be changes and choices that I will have to take. Slowly, one at a time.
Some would require more effort, more challenges, and more pain?
And only time can tell whether or not, they are the correct ones.
Hopefully somewhere about time time next year, I will know if they were the right ones.
Looking back, I am glad I was away. Perhaps I was meant to go there. Perhaps I was there so I can see things from a different angle.
And believe me, some things I NEEDED to see from a different view. And when no one is paying attention.
Anyways I am happy just to be right here, at home, right now.
Familiar faces, and places always provides a sense of security.
That is a nice feeling to have right now.

Hrmm, that was slightly cryptic wasn't it.
Oh well. Will write more sometime
Less cryptically
And when there are less things too digest.

Pictures first?


Gardemoen. 17th December 2008


Starbucks Number 1


We are slightly vain. Kazillion pics of just us


Need I say more?








Meet Linda, a.k.a Jellybean


Meet Lobsters, a.k.a My Dinner.


Meet Waan and Patricia


Meet my salad.


Nammy!, Red Lobster


Friendly´s


Sundae!

Right, this is certainly not a food blog. Will try and keep food to a minimum ehh.


Right, all my pictures, are of food.
Bah.
That was my Christmas dinner.


Meet Daniel.
Reason for strange behavior: Unknown, he is just strange.
Kidding, he was trying to block the sound of singing teens.


More food. Friendly´s again.
Seriously GOOD.


New York City.


Buildings.
Well, NYC has too many buildings.. This was Downtown.


More.





Moreee, bah.


Starbucks number... something.

Wall Street



Why do I look so horrid there.
Why oh why, does Tiffany close so early on my last day there.
Just incase you want to know, Tiffany closes at 8pm on weekdays.
Its an EFFING awesome store I tell you. The store itself I mean . Wall Street Store.


Chinatown.


Chinatown


Equus, Broadway.


Times Square



Subway.
Which mind you.. Stinks!


Cam-whore!. Long subway ride.


Half of Chrysler?


Even comes with a special offer.
What more can you ask for right?


My Escargot. Nammy!
Who knew, snails were this good.
New Years Appetizer.


Yes, the food took some time...


Ehh what?
Loads of PC ads, all over New York.



Getting into the mooooood.


I always thought Picasso was... "not that good"
But seeing one in person...
Amazing. This was at Museum of Modern Art.


My M&M!


Ben and Jerry´s, just around the corner from the hotel.
Literally.


Rockefeller.


Christmas Tree!


Statue of Liberty


Empire State, PERHAPS?


Last Starbucks?.


Glasses.

I was out shopping for a whooping 9 hours straight, minus about 30 minutes of food. But, Yes.
And, we did not even finish out all out store, there were just simply too many.
I was exhausted by the time I got back. But all and all, it was an awesome day!. Now I just wonder if all the malls in America are like this, because then I could almost feel my college fund running dry not long from now. I am already using back up money. But mummy has agreed to send more funds over. So yay!

I effing love American Malls. And shopping with my sister and her friend was wicked awesome, because she lets me buy whatever I want to buy.
*Now, there is just the problem of carrying all this things*

So, here is my take on shops in America. Some were a disappointment, some were so much better then I have ever thought it could be.

American Eagle Outfitters
I love this store! Well, they have really good cut jeans that were just the perfect length, I usually cannot get jeans that would fit me well, being vertically challenged and all.
Saw a really nice jacket that I want, but they didnt carry my size.
But, now I can go to New York and actually have something to buy. So great.
AE was very reasonably priced as well, sort of the middle price range store.

Macy's
I saw the flagship store for Macy's in NYC the other day, but Macy is rather awesome as well. Sister got a really nice DKNY trench coat for a mere 120 USD!
We both also got some new winter shoes. I got a few new shirts, some Clinique facial things, loads of designer make up products. All for a lot less than what I would have paid for in Norway.
Or at least, I would like to believe.
In Macy's you can get almost anything really. Prices ranges from 20 USD to 1000 USD.
I like Macy's.

Victoria Secret
Finally, I visited a VS!
This was one of the shops that were a disappointment, I must visit the flagship store in NYC to see maybe its much better there.
Like my sister say, really its the models that make the store, the underwear they sell are not THAT special.
Well, that certainly did not stop me from going on a small shopping spree. But overall, not that awesome.

Aeropostale
Yeah, this store is a bit like Old Navy, where things are basically not expensive. For regular teens who just wants basic things. But, the moment we walked into the store, we decided this store was not for us. The line to pay for things were half the store long!
But they do carry some nice things, just not for me.

Hollister
Now, here me rant.
This store gives you a major headache!
All their stores look the same throughout America, the entrance and all.
Google it, you will see.
Well, that is one thing, the store is like a Haunted House game. There are mirrors everywhere, its dark, music is crappy. Basically, a major headache just waiting to happen.
Clothes here were really nice though! if only they carry my size!
Everything here is ridiculously smaller then normal. My sister for example could only fit into S or even M. When usually she fits into XS/S.
It makes you all self conscious

Aerie
I also effing love Aerie, basically a store from American Eagle selling underwear.
We just decided to stop by there, just because. We were not planning on getting anything.
Yeah right.
In all honesty, they carry more awesome stuff then VS. We bought quite a bit of things from here.
100 USD worth of undies.
So that's awesome!

Target
Basically a higher end version of Wal Mart, I just realized how I am able to spend so much money on the most randomest things. I got loads of those fancy pancy designer shampoos here.
Don't know if I could carry them home though.

Friendly's
This was where we had our lunch/dinner.
Basically a regular sorta like Peppe's store. We have got a Friendly's just outside the college dorms, and I feel they would get a regular customer there soon..
Again, American portions...
Ugh! I had a so called "Real American Cheeseburger"
Uber yummy!, and it comes along with milkshake and ice cream!. I personally have not tasted Cheeseburger that good before.
Not expensive at all, I paid about... 15 USD for lunch. Good lunch mind you.

I cant remember all those small stores that we went too, but we didn't do any shopping spree in there, just small random items. Not worth blogging about.

Sister and I have agreed and decided that we would choose to live in our own world of delusion. Not counting how much money we have spend yesterday. Because, it was probably at least 600 USD. I am quite afraid to say its probably more.

But it was super fun!. I want to do it again, but I think I am going to lay off shopping for a week. That was the deal. One week, no shopping. Then we can shop all we want again in NYC.
I still need...
1. New expensive jeans
2. A new dress
3. A new jacket
4. A new sweater
5. Shirts
6. Socks.
7. Things from other famous retail American stores like GAP and Abercombie and Fitch.

Want to hear something funny, before I left yesterday. All I wanted to buy was a towel and some socks.
Dont seem to want that many things left, well cant wait to see what shopping in NY has to offer!. Cannot wait to see the higher end stores. Designer things that I cannot afford, or more like would not want to invest in. But we will see.
I need to see clothes Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg, Hermes, Ralph Lauren, Guess, my favorite Heatherette and most definitely have to see the Tiffany flagship store!

Ahhh, so much to see.

Oh, we are also moving to an "International House" later, basically we cannot stay in the dorms any longer. And I am going to Wal Mart, finally!
I need to get some hair curlers maybe
We are also looking for tickets to Boston/Florida on the 4th to the 7th. So maybe I will get to visit Boston too!

P.s : Why do all college students sleep like there is no end... I am up all the time, and they are all always sleeping!. That's the reason for the enormous amount of blogs, I am bored. Maybe I can go and get a milkshake in Friendly's myself...

Here are my random thoughts on America at first glance.

Where do I start.
If you ask me, I can start by telling you how annoying it is to have a different keyboard.
Because I keep hitting the wrong keys at the wrong times!

Other than that, my first take on America is this land of the great is really not that great after all,
I am glad I chose to go to Norway and not America.
In all due respect, I mean the place is much nicer and modern then some of the other countries that I have visited before, but it is no where near what I have heard from other people.
Hopefully I can change my views on this after a proper tour in NYC

Could be that I am a bit biased, coming from Norway and all.
(Don't know how this really affects my opinions but anyways, Norway is awesome)
According to some people I have met here, I should not have visited New York City before I visited the other parts of America, saying that New York City is not the typical America that they know. But oh well.

Lets see, from that one night I had in New York City, here are some interesting facts that I learned from talking to some Americans on the way to the Hostel.

1. Everyday is garbage pick up day.
And believe me when I say, Americans do throw loads of garbage. I did not have the opportunity to take any pictures, but I will. Now I know what people mean when they say that we produce a lot of garbage. Because if you have the opportunity to visit New York (not where the tourist attractions are) you will see massive piles of garbage just lying in the streets waiting to be picked up.
And this happens DAILY. Its amazing I tell you.
I suppose they really have got no choice considering there is really no space to put garbage cans considering the amount of people and all that.

2. New York City is expensive.
Well, it is. Or actually that could just be my horrible spending skills. My sister was amazed at how I managed to spend approximately 200 USD in one day. But in my defense, most of it went to the Tax Free Shop in Keflavik International. And if you break down my spending, you would also see that I did not (yet) buy anything unnecessary. We are doing that today

: Tax Free Keflavik : 80 USD
: Soda Airport : 3 USD
: Sandwich on plane : 2 USD
: Starbucks in JFK : 6 USD
: Taxi ride to NYC : 30 USD
: Hostel for the night : 24 USD
: Starbucks in NYC : 6 USD
: Dunkin Donuts : 2 USD
: Mc Donalds for dinner : 12 USD
: Poor men on street : 2 USD
: Soda : 3 USD
: Taxi to Penn Station next day : 15 USD
: Breakfast + Coffee : 14 USD
: Soda on train : 2 USD
: Taxi ride to sister's college : 10 USD

Reason for such accurate numbers : I did not know how to use coins then, so I had to pay everything with notes. Yeah, laugh on.

Right, that are things I can remember of the back of my head. Adding them all up would give me, 221 USD. That is about 1500 NOK. But see, they are all necessary items. But oh well..

Anyways, other than that, America can also be quite cheap. For example we are going to head over to Wal Mart today, and then you can watch me go crazy shopping. Things are cheap, at least by Norwegian standards, you guys are so spoiled. I mean a bottle of shampoo is going to cost me, about 4 USD!
Must get Tigi BedHead, remind me.
Yay!

We are also heading over to some restaurants later, in comparison to what one would pay in Norway is seriously cheap here. We are going to Red Lobster later, and that would probably cost me about 20 USD, that is about 150 NOK, for real seafood!

So yay!

And and, good skin care products like sister's Ole Henriksen is about 30-40 USD and a complete set is hopefully about 100 USD. Thats like 700 NOK for stuff you get in Norway for thousands!

Should I keep on going about this. I have a funny deja vu feeling that I would probably ran out of space in my backpack later. But I have not seen any nice clothing yet.... Hopefully soon!

I shall continue this after I come home from the mall today. I got loads to say still
But now, I got to go exploring the city.
Right, apparently there will be a snow storm today. So, yeah. Exciting!