Videos from Parkenfestivalen

Robyn is a tiny little swedish woman who has gained enormous popularity these last 5 years. She was DYNAMITE on stage, I don't think I've ever seen a more energetic artist. What ever she's on, I WANT IT! Although, you can't really tell from this video clip. I kinda suck at filming during concerts:P

Good crowd, nice weather, good times during The Hooters:

Ed Kowalczyc from Live did an AWESOME show, with all my favourite songs. Epic!

Lissie went on first on Friday, and although I missed my favourite song "When I'm alone" this was probably my favourite show that weekend. If I were in to girls, Lissie would be at the top of my list:)

...and theeeeeeen.....Iggy Pop finished the whole thing off:)

Bunad

Woman in traditional bunad, 1892.

It hit me that this is something I should have written about a long time ago, since I always get questions about it. The Bunad is the Norwegian national dress (or "suit") and I know a lot of my friends in the midwest have heard of it, or maybe has a grandmother who owns one, or has seen it in a scandinavian suovernir shops.

Wikipedia says: "Bunad is an umbrella (ella, ella, ellah..) term encompassing, in its broadest sense, a range of both traditional rural garments (mostly dating to the 19th and 18th centuries) as well modern 20th century folk costumes. The Bunad movement has its root in 19th century national romanticism, which included an interest for traditional folk garments not only in Norway, but also in neighbouring countries such as Denmark and notably Germany. However, in Norway, national romanticist ideas had a more lasting impact, as seen in the use of folk inspired costumes.The designs are typically elaborate, with embroidery, scarves, shawls and hand-made silver or gold jewelry known as sølje. There are bunads both for men and women, although women's bunads are more diverse and popular. However, according to daily manager Turid Liss Agersborg at Husfliden Oslo, they now produce and sell more men’s bunads than women’s for the first time in history. 

A number of books on the history of bunads recount the story of how once when on holiday in Hardanger with her Danish husband the British Princess Maud of Wales thought that the Hardanger bunads worn by the women in Hardanger were so beautiful that she had one made for her. At that time she could have had no inkling that a decade and a half later she would return to Norway as its queen, the matriarch of a new dynasty of Norwegian kings. She later wore this Hardanger bunad at numerous public appearances in Norway, a tradition maintained by the present Queen Sonja, the Crown Princess Mette Marit and Princess Martha Louise, although Queen Sonja and her daughter wear the East Telemark bunads, Telemark being the ancestral county of the Queen's own family. In Norway, it is common to wear bunads at various celebrations such as: folk dances, weddings, and especially the May 17th National Day celebrations. In recent years, its use has reached far outside folk dancing, folk music, and particular holidays. Accepted as proper gala attire, it is increasingly common to see people, and especially women, dressed in bunad."

Now, I don't do a lot of folk dancing or galas (note sarcastic undertone), but I take great pride in having a bunad and wearing it for our independence day, and other celebretorial occations where a cocktail dress is not apropriate, or baggy jeans are too casual. I got my bunad, like most girls I know, for confirmation when I was 15. It was a gift from my parents, and mind you, this dress costs anywhere between $2.000 - $10.000, depending on what kind you get. It's normal to get the design originated from your region or the region where your parents where born. No hard choice for me there, both my parents were born in Nordland, and so was I! Imagine that. I don't mean to brag, but the Nordlandsbunad is often refered to as the most beautiful:) Personally I think the ones from Telemark, Trøndelag, Troms and Finnmark are incredibly beautiful as well, and hey, if you have norwegian ancestors, you should look up what bunad belongs to your heritage.

Now, because of all the jewlery, it takes a long ass time to put on, and in my case the whole thing is made out of thick wool (except for the shirt), meant to stand for cold weather, so I only use it for special occations, and preferably not midsummer nights:) Still, I plan to have it for the rest of my life, and I love wearing it. Makes me feel extra viking'y :) I considered bringing it over to the states on one of my visits, but I'm pretty protective of it, and it would take up a LOT of room in my suitcase. Plus, your midwest summers would kill me in this:) Enjoy the pics:

Mythbusting...

Meanwhile, in Norway....time to put some frequently asked questions to rest.

...no, polarbears do NOT walk around in our streets. They also do not "swim over" from Svalbard, just to hang around.

Out seasons are just like yours, but our winter is pretty long. Spring starts in late april - may (up here in the north), and from this time, until august we have almost constant daylight. It's great, unless you get insomnia;) What I consider a hot summerday is around 70 - 80 degrees fahrenheit. They get up to the 90s too, but this far north that is pretty rare, we might get 3-4 days like that during one summer. About mid-august the temp drops and we start getting fallstorms and lots of rain, but there is always a sunny day waiting and fall is GORGEOUS here, with all the colors in the mountains. First snowfall can be anywhere from late september to late november, I'll keep you posted:)

....the industrial revolution HAS hit Norway too, believe it or not. So we do NOT live in cottages in the mountains, and herd goats, wearing furs.(Yes, I was actually asked this) I'd love to try and live off the land like that but I'm just to attached to my internet and hot showers.

Norway is NOT the capitol of Sweden. That's like saying the US is a part of Canada. Anything else you wanted to ask me?:)

Frost

It's pretty......pretty AWESOME:) And it sparkles! All of these were taken in the area around where I work.

Smooooke on the waaater...no, wait..?

Frosty car

Cool leaves. Get it? Cool..?:P

Yes, I have a thing for frost and water.

Frost on the kajacks and canoes.

Funny how old, rotting leaves can be so beautiful. Frost pimped you right up, leaf!

First snow

I took these about a month ago (or maybe it's more like weeks....?) when we had the first snowfall in the mountains. I got excited. Now we still haven't had a snowfall, and this stuff is still taunting us from the mountaintops, with false promises of winter wonderland. And next week is supposed to be real warm. Oh well.

Valnesfjord

Here's a youtube video made up of pictures from my little hometown, really shown from it's best side. She's a looker, she is!

Hippievikings

The Parkenfestival is a musicfestival held in Bodø every year, over two days towards the end of august/beginning of september. It was first held in 2006, and they expected around 2500 people to show up. The crowd exceeded that by about 5000 individuals on the second day, and it continues to sell around 7500 tickets every year. The festival has previously hosted international artists like Chris Cornell (he was awesome!), CunnunLynguists, The Roots, Clutch, Danko Jones, N.E.R.D, Manic Street Preachers, Kelis, The Hives and many more!
This years festival was held august 19th and 20th, and boy was I there! It was my third time attending, and it rocked some serious face!
This years list of awesomeness consisted of, among others, Lissie, Iggy Pop and Ed Kowalcyk from Live, plus a number of great norwegian and scandinavian bands. It was an amazing weekend, and I'm still coming down from the high of all that good music. Seeing Lissie and Ed from Live were just unbelievable, and if you ever get a chance to see our swedish cutie, Robyn, I strongly recommend it; she is a FIREWORK on stage! So good!! Of course I have alot of pictures, and I'll share a few with you. The videouploader is being a bitch ATM, so I'll post the videos later.

Lissie<3 Beautiful, talented, american Lissie:)

A very happy viking, watching Lissie, and obviously in need of new beer.

Look at all those people! Oh shit, am I in the way?

Eva & the heartmaker is an up and coming norwegian band that I really dig.

Drunk and happy vikings.

Foo Fighters

June 24th I went to Oslo to see the Foo Fighters live for the first time in my life. Naturally it was no less then completely epic. The whole day was about as awesome as they come; we spent all morning and early afternoon at the amusementpark I wrote about earlier, which just made me hyper and super extatic for the night to come. I was not let down. 20 000 people from all over the country showed up to see the show. Dave Grohl told us he had never played in a footballarena that hot before. It was like a sauna in there, but it all just added to the awesomeness of it all. Dave has got to be the nicest guy the music industry can offer, and they put on an amazing show. There was some trouble with the PA system; Dave goes "Excuse me? Are the Foo Fighters to loud for the PA-system?" and he just kept right on playing semi-acusticly. The highlight (oh but there were so many!) of the night, I gotta say, was when he played Wheels. I was conviced they wouldn't play it, cause it wasn't on the setlist from Stockholm, so I almost cried from joy when they did. It took WEEKS before I came down off that high, and I am DEFINITELY going to see them again.

VERY excited for the show to start!

Hell to tha yeah!

Telenor Arena before the show, not quite full yet.

Tattoooo

I finally fixed my shoulder butterfly. So happy with it, it turned out great. My tatooist is like a wizard!<3

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More airplane footage

Can never promote the view over Norway too much:)

Viking amusementpark

Tusenfryd is an amusementpark just outside of Oslo. I went there for the first time this june, and MAN ALIVE; you NEVER get too old for rides! This park has 33 attractions and over half a million visitors every year (which is alot for a country just shy of 5 million people). I can be somewhat squeemish about rides, but this park was BAD ASS. It might very well be the best day of my life so far, cause we got free tickets, there were no lines anywhere, and later that night I got to see the Foo Fighters play live! But that's a different story. Here's a videoclip from the badass over all at this park; the Spin Spider. I was all rode out, and didn't dare set my foot anywhere near it, but my friend Carien and her fellah took it, and sometimes late at night I can still hear their screams....:)

Viking migration

The only reason I am uploading this video is because I've never seen this many geese in one spot before, and I thought it looked cool. I counted 44. Neet. They are Canada Geese, so they should be quite familiar to you:)

Time for an update on my life

A recent photo. Not much has changed;)

I realize I haven't really told you guys much about what goes on in my life on a day-to-day basis since I got back from the states in december. I think it's time for an update on the awesomeness that is my life. I spent most of the winter getting a sore behind from sitting on it too much, watching Simpsons, prowling joblistings online (and, as you know, posting stuff in this blog). Not cool! From time to time I worked as a substitute teacher at the local elementary school, and at three different daycare centres. I found that I really enjoy teaching, and for some reason the real noisy and rascally kids are my favourite grades! Might be the rebel within me that sees alot of myself in them. I've also gotten alot more comfortable around small children (they've always been like an alien species to me), which I'm sure will come in handy some day;) After easter break though, I got a more permanent worksituation. I got offered a job at Valnesfjord Helsesportssenter, where I used to work before I went to the states. It's a rehabilitation institution and you can read more about it here. The rehab unit it devided between three teams that work with different diagnosis groups, and our team does what's called occupational rehab, where we help people with different health issues (physical and psychological) so that they have a better chance of staying at their job/getting back into the jobmarket and/or getting an education. I'm what we call an occupational rehab consultant, so I deal with the practical issues of our patients worklife, and help them map what options and possibilities they have concerning work, and what will be their next step. I love this job, and I'm learning so much every day! But come september I'll be going over to our research department to be a project manager for a project that roughly translates to "Activity against high school dropouts". A manager, mind you! How is it that I've been intrusted with this kind of responsibility?? I carry a Star Wars lunchbox for crying out loud!

What, I can't be a viking AND a jedi knight?
Why was I not informed of this??

Well, I got the job, and I am VERY excited for it. I think it's the first time I've been really passionate about a job, and I feel like I will help create something that others can benefit from, and finally get to practice what I was tought when I took my bachelor in Social Work. Our target group is high school kids with a disability of some kind, and/or some kind of social problem, and we'll be working towards preventing them from dropping out of school because of these problems, focusing on physical activity and contributions/awareness from/in the community around every individual. I'll be given quite a bit of freedom to shape the outlining of this project from my own thoughts and ideas and even though I know it's going to be alot of hard work with many moments of frustration, I'm really eager to get started. So that's what's been going on in my worklife. On my own time I try to be as social as I can, but living with my parents in the middle of nowhere has proved to be something of an obsticle in that area. I intend to change that though, as soon as possible. As soon as I found out more about my jobsituation I started looking for a place to live. I just started work again today, after having 3 weeks vacation, and I used alot of that free time to talk to my bank about a loan, and to look at apartments. I'm SO ready to get my own place, but I try to restrain myself so I don't end up buying some dump out of sheer impatience. I found an apartment now though, that I want to place a bid for, so keep all your american fingers crossed that I get it. I'll be moving back to Bodø, where I have the majority of my friends and network, and a bunch of the people I work with live there so the commute won't be too much of a pain (it's about a 40-50 minute drive to work, maybe an hour in wintertime). So yeah, that's where I stand right now. I'll be sure to keep you updated on the livingsituation. As soon as I start moving in somewhere I'm sure I'll post pictures like a crazy person, just out of pure extacy from finally owning my own home. Until then, big viking hugs for all of you!

More photos from the hike

The great conquerors; Kornelia and myself. Superready for this adventure.

Our fearless leader and guide; Bjørn. I call him Bjørn Grills now.

It's that'a way!

Can't believe we made it all the way up there. That tip scared the hell outta me.

Time for a break.

Nature is the place for deep thoughts and pondering the wonders of life. Or passing gas, which ever comes first....

Now how in the name of Thor and Odin are we gonna get up there? Our destination is the peak furthest to the right in the picture.

Lunchbreak! Superhappy we made it this far!

Starting to feel the burn alright....

The view from the top. Stunning!

You can see the mountains of Lofoten in the background there.

Kornelia chillaxing at the peak of a mountain 3600 feet above sea level....trying not to die.

We made it! Very careful high five!

Bjørn Grills even found time for some owling.

After an 8 hour hike I've never been so happy to see my car again. It's been 3 days now, and my feet still hurt!