marți, 21 decembrie 2010

Jeg elsker dere!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?


I don't know...
I'm in my room. It's green. If I turn around I can see my toys, my plants, my books and photos. If i glance outside I can see apartment blocks.

I said I would write the last entry in Norway...didn't happen. I'm glad it didn't because I had a lot of other things to enjoy on my last days there.



Bergen and Oslo
After singing carols in the train station in Drammen, we stepped, me and April, on the aprox. 10 hour train ride to Bergen.
We got on the vertical tram ride to see the city of rainy skies from 300 meters above. Instead of rain we got a beautiful sunrise, loud children dressed as angles and a funny troll.
Next stop Bryggen, the old town. Wooden houses soo old and colorful. Christmas decorations and the smell of pine trees everywhere.


A nice old man sharing the history of the "ghost town" with us in a warm room filled with black and white postcards.
A walk to the big red church, passed a great view of the mountain. Pat a friendly, fat Norwegian cat on the way...

Breath the fresh morning air...stretching of arms and dreading of backpacks.
Talk to a lady about the best way to get to the aquarium and enjoy the seal show and feeding of penguins.
Talk to the crocodiles and spiders.
Spend the rest of the day walking through the city centre, eating sandwiches packed from home in Burger King.








Singing Romanian carols at 10 p.m. in the train station in Bergen. A wonderful echo...
Another train ride to Oslo


7:00 Oslo
9:00 Oslo Opera House
Munch Museum, The National Gallery, The History Museum, The Royal Palace.
Meeting friends and having tea -> Ida <3

Getting on the bus to Kristiansand...

Tired...but...I have to clean my room...because the Metallica loving cleaning lady will kick my ass with a bill if I don't...
I want to party with my friends!!!!!

Miss you...Thank yooou Jossi and Thomas!

Lost my wallet in K-town...no worries, I have awesome friends that took care of me! :) Thank you April & Theresa!!!

Home...all over the World...

I found friends, family, art, education, sun, snow, breathtaking landscapes, awesome books and songs, interesting cultures, warm hugs, open minds, talented and wonderfully weired people, long kisses and sincere eyes...I found all this and more in the past months.
THANK YOU!

the last Norwegian Thing: Jeg elsker dere!

vineri, 10 decembrie 2010

lucky go happy

Amazing day!

I set my alarm clock for 8:59...I woke up at 10:15. got dressed and was out of the dorm by 10:40. got to the Univ.
found 100 kroner...remember when I found 50 in the beginning...now I'm a week away from leaving.
I thought, if I would stay for another semester..I'll probably find 200 at the beginning of the semester and 500 at the end hahaha
no seriuosly..poor person who lost it.
I bought gifts for friends ... so I don't feel so bad about finding the money anymore :D

then I got my documents settled and went to say goodbye to my awesome teachers. they were really nice..it was a pleasure to know them and as they put it...they were pleased to have me there as well :P

I got an A at my Beat Culture class...Michael made me blush, he said wonderful things about my play :D

next thing: I got a book for free from the libary, just because it has a few pages floating around. yeey

on top of everything I got a great reference from the Student Radio to take home!

I'll go to a pizza buffet tonight and tomorrow I'll plan my trip to Bergen and Oslo.


this is from another pizza party with my special girls! Thank you: Eva, Ann-Katrin, Melanie, Anita, Pauline, Nastassja, April, Sanaa!

and this is from the white turned colorful t-shirt party...sad times...I miss a lot of wonderful people.


last but not least I want to wish a good friend a warm and happy birthday! love ya Onu!

I'll write again before leavig to let you all know what I thought of the rainiest city in Europe and the Oslo Christmas market. Can't wait to see my family friends again!!!

keep your cheeks rosy, your hands in mittens and your heart warm!
take care all!

oh...Norwegian things - loosing money, smiling and whistling on the street, decorating trees and streets with good taste. Candles, wooden hearts and stars on doors. Children of 8 jumping into freezing water along with their family.

vineri, 3 decembrie 2010

bracing myself for the reverse culture shock

so...I have just one exam to go...not nervous at all...
Had an oral exam and a theatrical performance, which turned out to be one of the most amazing things I did...ever.

ok...so...these little dots that I keep annoying you with are the non-verbal expressions of my deep meaningful thoughts that you won't get because you won't "get me" when I come home :P well some might, and some might be like "shut up" or "watevs" or "where's my gift?"

all in all can't wait to see you guys and I promise I won't be over-talkativy and braggy.

just found out about reverse cultural shock, I knew I was going to face it, I just didn't know it had a name -dots dots dots-
now that I think of it..my shock will be greater than the one people from Germany, France or US will have..it's Romania after all...

http://www.vagabondish.com/how-to-survive-reverse-culture-shock/

you should be supportive of my "disease" when I return! :P

So..what else

-14 C, walk half an hour to the univ to study almost every day.
goodbye parties, sad times
wonderful scenary, untouched snow, frozen lakes and boats in the docs
amazing sunsets
sweet people I am sad I didn't get to know better
the thought of you
the thought of me
having rice and milk with ccinnamon and raisins...the thought of home

I am going somewhere and not just going back home...16 days to go

miercuri, 1 decembrie 2010

mon jardin d'hiver




this is a winter garden, a place where we're safe, warm, happy. where we bloom and grow and leave a mark. this is a semester on exchange.



duminică, 21 noiembrie 2010

the snooooow keeps on fallin' even if we were bad :D

And what I mean by bad...is behaving like the opposite sex. I neeever been to so many parties that I had to dress up for!

This time I was a French guy...reaching puberty...my moustache "fell" aka getting wiped off by the end of the night...
Interesting to see that the "girls" had more fun than us...although we "guys" got to laugh at the high-heeled-sockboobs-shortskirt fenomenon. They seemed to behave in a way they would like girls to behave...kinda cheap, but of course if we were to do that, we would be something from a house with red curtains and dim lights :P
It was hard to behave like a guy, especially French...not too boyish, not too girlish...I should have been a transvestite...oh well :P
This happened on Friday



Yesterday - trip to Mandal and the southernest point in Norway
Me and Patricia, a girl from Germany went to visit a class-mate who kindly offered to show us arround Mandal, a small town 40 min. from Kristiansand. She and her husband were great! They took us to Lindesnes Fyr - The Lighthouse on the south coast of Norway. After loosing our way because of road/bridge reconstruction we finnaly got to the Fyr (lighthouse)
No comment.

After this awesome trip we were invited for dinner, and not any kind of dinner but an Iraqi meal, Zinab, being from Iraq. A lovely atmosphere, exotic food that looked and tasted like "sarmale" and "ardei umpluti" - Romanian dishes, only so much more aromatic.


Finnaly we got to dancing on Arabian songs and I got to learn some more words :D

We left Mandal, barely catching the buss, at 6:55 p.m.

It was a wonderful day for a trip...snowy, not too cold, and the company was lovely!

marți, 26 octombrie 2010

hai la hoora mai baieeeti!

Romania at the international pub

Mexico with the day of the dead, France with the croissants and me and others singing "La nuit" from the movie "Les chortistes", Hungary with Sziget and Romania with hora and tuica.

Essentially we just got people to like us by showing them a world without Romania, by twirling them in our traditional dance (which they were really good at - jos palaria!) and giving them 60% alc. shots...

I was really surprised when showing them the tourism clips with the land of choice...they knew Nadia and Hagi...yuhu. Some were disappointed because we ruined the Dracula myth...and the steel from the Eiffel Tower is from Resita...


All who tried loved our tuica! They went: brrrrr, phuuua, mmm wtf?! Nice to see distorted faces in the dim lights of the University street...because the guys from the bar did not let us serve it inside...but tuica is best when in nature, when it’s cold outside, when shared with friends :)

If you don’t already know...I have my own radio show.
It’s at the Agder University student radio...every Monday from 5 to 6. So have your tea and listen to Exchanging sounds...an international beat of the heart!


I just have exchange students over and talk about their countries, traditions, music and about how they like/hate it in Norway.
Here's the link:
http://lyd.uia.no:8010/listen.pls

You can search for Exchanging Sounds on facebook also and give me a piece of your mind...

Oh and I really wanted to write something about a phenomenon!
You know how in the olden days it was said that each town should have it's crazy person...so other people would know they are sane, well in Brasov we have the old beggar who calls everybody Lenon, the dude with the radio...and in Cluj...we have the phosphorescent guy {he has to be maaad to walk around like that :))}
In Kristiansand they have Santa! It's an old guy, white beard, tall, friendly.
He just stops everyone and says "hai! hai!" And then ask other things which I can't understand. So I told him sorry and he began in English. Each time it’s the same story.
"Are you from England? Scotland? Ireland?
You are a young girl, pretty young..."
And I just smile and say "takk" and "ha de bra" and go my own way...

So yeah...guess things do happen in every part of the world...things that make you wonder, that remind you of who you are, what you have, lost, might never understand...

In other wooords...please be true to yourself and others...it's a great thing to be insane sometimes...ok..ok..I had tuica myself...I'm rambling...I'm going to stop now...any moment...now! :))

duminică, 24 octombrie 2010

zboara zmeule...zboara

The flight of the kite, the waves of the sea, the wind through the birch trees...
















De temps en temps l'automne est...
Causerie


Vous êtes un beau ciel d'automne, clair et rose!
Mais la tristesse en moi monte comme la mer,
Et laisse, en refluant, sur ma lèvre morose
Le souvenir cuisant de son limon amer.


— Ta main se glisse en vain sur mon sein qui se pâme;
Ce qu'elle cherche, amie, est un lieu saccagé
Par la griffe et la dent féroce de la femme.
Ne cherchez plus mon coeur; les bêtes l'ont mangé.


Mon coeur est un palais flétri par la cohue;
On s'y soûle, on s'y tue, on s'y prend aux cheveux!
— Un parfum nage autour de votre gorge nue!...


Ô Beauté, dur fléau des âmes, tu le veux!
Avec tes yeux de feu, brillants comme des fêtes,
Calcine ces lambeaux qu'ont épargnés les bêtes!


— Charles Baudelaire





cateodata tomna e o...
Convorbire intimă

Tu eşti un cer de toamnă în dulce transparenţă,
În mine însă plânge tristeţea-n flux pustiu,
Pe buzele-mi simţindu-i greoaia persistenţă
A mitului tăcerii cu gustul vineţiu.

— Ţi-aluneci mâna-n sânu-mi cutremurat de jale;
Zadarnic, minunato, aici e-un loc prădat
De ghearele şi dinţii femeilor fatale,
Ce inimă, ca bestii feroce, mi-au mâncat.

Mi-e sufletul ca templul prea-pângărit de gloate:
Se-mbată, scuipă, ţipă, dau foc şi se ucid!...
— Ci trupul tău e-n taina miresmelor curate!...

O, Frumuseţe, biciu-ţi in sângele-mi placid
Izbească cu văpaia-i atotmistuitoare
Spre-a arde-aceste zdrenţe rămase de la fiare!















sometimes autumn is a...
Conversation


You are a lovely autumn sky, clear and rosy!
But sadness rises in me like the sea,
And as it ebbs, leaves on my sullen lips
The burning memory of its bitter slime.


— In vain does your hand slip over my swooning breast;
What it seeks, darling, is a place plundered
By the claws and the ferocious teeth of woman.
Seek my heart no longer; the beasts have eaten it.


My heart is a palace polluted by the mob;
They get drunk there, kill, tear each other's hair!
— A perfume floats about your naked breast!...


O Beauty, ruthless scourge of souls, you desire it!
With the fire of your eyes, brilliant as festivals,
Bum these tatters which the beasts spared!




vineri, 22 octombrie 2010

yo yo yo...listen up darlings!

Today was sick!...in a good slangy way I mean :)

Beat Culture keeps making my stay here even more unique! I got to spray pain on a wall todaaay!

~ www.sprayboks.no ~

I got at the place 10 minutes before 9, so early. I was the first and got to talk a bit with the guy who came up with the idea for this nonconformist gallery for graffiti artists here in Kristiansand.

It's this warehouse that has a few rooms, in the first one black walls dripping with colorful paint at the base wait to be painted on. A smaller room for the clean art...canvases of stencils and sprayed portraits. Also...they are responsible for the vases that turn up through town, just black vases with dripping paint...so spontaneous, so beat.

Then they have rooms for storage and for chilling out on cold sofas surrounded by graffiti on the walls. They showed us a Power Point presentation of the beginning of the “trend”...by this American dude...who used to write his...name, actually his tag, and the number of his street: T..something 138...but of course wikipedia says nothing of the sort...so watevs...

They split us up into groups of 4-5 people and gave us a task...find your crew name, make a sketch and then get to work on the wall. My group...4 girls, one boy. Our name: NAKAN (the last letter of our first names)
Dominik drew up an awesome draft so we got our masks and colors and were ready to begin....of course the guy there first gave us a lesson on how to do what and when...

We drew the sketch; we filled the color, again the outline, effects, second outline, and more effects.


All in all it turned out pretty awesome as you can see for yourselves.



Our teacher’s kids were also there, getting a kick out of spraying vivid colors, watching the paint drip...drip...drip.


After immortalizing our spontaneous, fade away into black so that others may use the wall art...we all felt dizzy with fumes of spray, with a feeling of...oh yeah...this is a first! We thanked the kind artists for their time and walls and talent and our nice teacher Frida for this chance and went on our way.




Myself and April went shopping for gloves and then ended up in a bakery/cake shop... After all that “gangsta” activity we needed to feel girly and needed to fill our tummy as well :) We shared two pieces of cake...and I actually had cremsnit in Norway for all you Romanians at home :P

Now the sun is high, the ice melted and another group of people are showing off their talent on the black canvas of sprayboks...

joi, 21 octombrie 2010

Zen

Looking out my window...not towards the sea, but just a little to the left, I see a rainbow and snow floating along with yellow and red leaves as part of a carrousel made out of trees and clouds, pink and grey, fluffy...

You all ask if I like it here. I answer yes to all, but add that I would not live here if I was given the chance.


A long vacation of 4 months is enough of Norway for me...
Painted landscapes, changing weather, interesting faces to engage in conversation, to go from smiles to laughs, from hand shake to hug...but not all of these people want a smile, not all want a hug.

I want everything that reminds me of you, and I find it sometimes, but it's still so cold here.

Today, in my Beat Culture class we had a guest, a Buddhist monk. It seemed as though a tree covered in autumn colors: shades of brown and yellow walked into our class room. He began to speak about how Buddhism spread across the world...of course with migration; about how in America “strict monks were expected to eat their rice and shave their heads” and not to be an influence to the rebels, to the beatniks in other words.

These two separate worlds did collide and...I think ultimately the hippie generation was born.

He explained what Zen might mean...after some of us gave our humble words to describe it....I said a state of mind...but could not continue to describe everything I thought I had learned from Hesse’s Siddhartha.
So to him it means: “the perception of every phenomenon from here and now just before it hits the intellectual part of the brain” in other words...a state of mind :)) that can vary in length in which you break from the dull routine of thinking and feeling, and just drift away or you just let the world drift around you.

He works with disabled children by day and he underlined that being sane and healthy enables you to change, to evolve, to not need a hand to carry you through your own life.

Two Zen quotes made my day seem even more meaningfuly weird...with everything that happened these last days in my mind, in my subconscious, things I could, but won’t tell you of course :)

Mu ga mu shin = no object disturbing your tranquil mind

Ichi go ichi e = one opportunity, one meeting; or one chance, one life...or each person you meet might turn out to be the most important of your life, can be life itself...

Then of course we went to discuss the meaning of being one with something or someone.
What does that mean? Putting all the differences beside, tearing down the walls that separate you...or maybe just giving each other a chance. Dare to win, dare to risk :)

Ok...so this guy is Norwegian. He went to Japan a lot of years ago to start his journey. He was there, in a monastery for 13 years, and he returned here to give some tranquility guidance to other people...so it seems.
He took his brush, he put black ink in a special object, he took a moment of silence, and he interrupted it by saying that was the Zen moment...

He was playful, he was loud and he clapped a lot...he wanted us to be awake before we drifted of....
So he put the brush filled with ink on the paper and stroke it powerfully, quickly as from his mouth came sounds of great pain, concentration and basically the stuff you hear from a martial arts master when his fingers clutch air as if it were a thorny rose.

He finished with an AAAAA...and he added that the AAAAA was Zen as well...
A fun man...not what you might expect...so why expect anything...
That one meeting, one opportunity I think is al about not passing judgment, about considering the other as important as yourself, just for a moment.

So...what do YOU think?

joi, 14 octombrie 2010

and the beauty of it all - english edition

just because I felt like writing in english... stuff I've been doing these past weeks in photos and video:

1. Oslo

2. Kjerag

3. Bad taste party

4. International dinner


5. Kristiansand Brewery visit


6. Oktoberfest


7. Preikestolen



later!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebqdwQzmSHM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkJf0md1kG8