11. CHALLENGES

After the first month of perceived holidays, real life has started again. Suddenly homework, assignments, intensive courses and whatever else have taken a prevalent position in my everyday life, and now I'm finally finding my place here. With things that are pleasant and things that are not, but at least I am living this place fully.

Today I made a quite complicated cake following Jessica's suggestion. Even if the result wasn't perfect I had a lot of fun, and the tart tasted pretty good. I'm getting more and more involved in cooking. We had a really nice dinner and after that we watched "Once", that still is one of my favorite movies. 

10. STUDYING

Today I went for the first time studying in the common room in my student residence. I will definitely do it more often: half of the room is surrounded by windows, so when you want to take a break you can just look up and watch the sea. 

These are strange days. Melancholia and excitement keep mixing in my head, and I must admit that the final sensation is pleasant. I keep writing songs without finishing them. At least I have plenty of drafts to work on. 

9. ONE MONTH

One month has already passed. It seems to me at the same time a really long and short period.

Yesterday I went to listen to Robert Post playing live at the Kvarter. It was definitely amazing. He's got one of the greatest voices I've heard in the last years, he is a really good musician and, most important thing, he reaches souls. His songs hide a kind of truth.

After that, we went clubbing. That's definitely not my style, even if I'm on Erasmus. I just prefer sitting on the floor listening to a songwriter telling his story. 

8. LONDON

This weekend I've been in London for celebrating Emanuele's birthday. I cooked chicken nuggets for him, and he seemed to be quite satisfied. 

I always like that city. I love the record shops, I love the gigs with few people and great artists, I love walking beside the river in Camden, I love losing time in hidden pubs. 

7. MY GIRLFRIENDS

Christine, my Californian friend, taught me that when girls speak about their friends they call them "girlfriends". I find it really cute.

Yesterday we had a really girlish afternoon. Elisa dyed her hair with henna and she brought lots of nail varnishes. We gossiped a lot, finally speaking Italian. When you always speak a foreign language sometimes you need to take a break: yesterday was ours.

In the evening Khurram cooked a Pakistan dinner for twenty people. We started having "international dinners" three weeks ago, and there's always someone new coming.

   

6. IMAGINE US ON THE MOON

Sorry for the picture: I took it with my iPhone and when it's dark it doesn't work well. Moreover, I hate taking pictures at concerts.

The duo you can see is called "Imagine Us On The Moon", and they played yesterday at Campusfestivalen. They were definitely great. The singer reminded me Adam Green, and the songs were direct, simple and touching. They spoke a lot during the gig but I didn't catch a single word, except from "Tusen Takk!". We just smiled, wondering about what they say.

5. COOKING

I've been cooking a lot last days. This night we made this broccoli-mushrooms-bacon-eggs-whatever quiche, and it tasted really good. Staying in a student residence gives you the chance to discover new languages, new recipes and new jokes. I found out that Norwegians have jokes about Swedish people, Polishes have jokes about French and Russian people and Americans have jokes about races in general. I tried to explain that we usually have jokes about policemen.

4. MY NEW GUITAR

I finally bought a guitar. After comparing the prices of shipping mine and of the guitars I found here, I chose this one. It is pretty good, and now I'm excited like a child. I really hope to finish writing my second album before going back home in Italy.

Yesterday I had my first Norwegian class. It was fun, but the pronunciation is really complicated, specially for a Latin language speaker. German people find it easy, I don't. I learnt how to say "My name is Lavinia" and "I come from Italy". 

Jeg heter Lavinia.

Jeg kommer fra Italia.

3. SUNSET

The sun goes down early here, but I forgive it because it gives us such beautiful sunsets. Today I started composing, and I must say that it's definitely different from doing it in Milan. From my window there I just see buildings. Here, this.

Next week there will be the Campusfestivalen: several Scandinavian bands will play there. I'm really looking forward to go there: the more I listen to Nordic music, the more I love it. They've got a cheerful taste even when they sing sad songs: like lightning candles in a dark room. 

2. AQUARIUM

This afternoon we went to the Aquarium of Bergen. I'm really fascinated by animals, but it makes me sad to see them in captivity. 

Penguins are such strange animals: today I learnt that if they raise their wing, it means they feel too hot. Their plumage is better than any human technical jacket. 

After that, we had dinner in a very cosy restaurant called "The Pingvinen", just to stay on the topic. I ate fish sufflè. It was great.

1. THE WINDOW

Welcome to my room. This is the view from my window, and I think it's better than any television. The sea emphasizes the colors of the sky, and they both change painfully fast. I can spend hours looking at it. 

I arrived in Bergen on the 7th of January, in a foggy and cold afternoon, and I slept with my jacket on during the first days. Then I went to Ikea to buy a blanket and I started drinking beers. Suddenly, I started calling the student residence I'm in "home" and calling the other exchange students "friends". 

I tried to find a guitar, but here the cheapest is 2300 krones, which means more or less 300 euros. So I went home without buying anything, and I decided to start a blog.