When someone googles "epic definition" and my blog is number one on Google. Nuff said.
In other news:
We only have 2 days, 14 hours, 31 minutes and 23 seconds left in Grand Forks. So 4 of us figured we'd squeeze in another road trip before we leave. So in approximately 12 hours we'll be leaving for Minneapolis to catch a gig, The Black Keys. And drive back to Grand Forks on Monday. No worries! I've packed most of my stuff already. I think I'll be able to finish all my loose ends before I leave. I think.
You know that it's going to be a tough day when you wake up on a floor... Just sayin'.
Oyh... Last night the local waterhole threw a "going away" party for us. I seriously didn't think I would drink that much, but 2 shots later, I was doomed. But it was a kick-ass party, and I had a great time. And I even got a ride home. On my bike. While a classmate peddled. ^^
I ended up on an afterparty of course, but it was all good. I didn't have to get up until 0830 anyways to shower and put on my nice clothes to take a CLASS PICTURE at school! Only... I never left that afterparty.. I woke up at seven on the floor. The recipe for an awesome day was in effect.
The good news was, I wasn't the only one with a bad day. Nonetheless! I got up, took my shower and put on my prettier clothes (even though all I wanted was to curl up in my bed). Got to school, took the goddamn picture and went home. Period. It's safe to say that nothing much happened that day.
But today we had our real graduation day! Weee! I'd love to put up a picture, but it's too much of my class and too little of me in the group photo. So I won't. Safe to say, I didn't drink the day before cuz I didn't want another day like yesterday. Most followed that rule, except for one guy...
Cut to scene:
(This is 3 roomates in another apartment, on facebook)
Roomate 1, 13 hours ago: A few cold ones at Rhombus? I think so!
Roomate 2, 3 hours ago: ROOMMATE 1!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Roomate 3, 1 hour ago: The last 9 months "Roommate 1" has managed to get to school in time. But on graduation day? No. Then he disappears. Give me a word if anyone sees him..
Take it easy, he made it. His roommates brought his suit to school, and he came tumbling in a little later than us. But the show hadn't started yet, so it was all good.
In other news:
My twin sister wanted me to use this gif:
I believe it's her way of showing me what I can expect when I come home. Because when I talked to her on skype earlier, she was really disappointed that my dialect isn't as clean as it was before I came here... I'll brace myself for the blow. Maybe buy a helmet.
Anywho, since we're now officially done with school, and graduated and stuff, there's only one thing left to do. I'll give you a hint:
PS: I've sold my car! The Cadillac. AND I get to keep it until I leave. Life is good.
I just thought I'd inform you of that. It's time to start packing and sell stuff you don't need anymore, I guess. The boys upstairs haven't been able to sell their car yet, and they've tried for a few weeks. So it was only logical of me to not try to sell mine until TODAY. No worries, right? I have 8 days left... Pleeeeenty of time. *ahem*.
So I took my awesome Cadillac to a dealership in town, wondering if they'd buy it from me and resell it. And when I parked, a guy greeted me at once and told me that he wants to buy my car :D So we'll get in touch later in the week so he can take it for a drive and look at it more closely (He works there, but wants to buy it for himself. Which he obviously couldn't do there.) SCORE! It only took me 10 minutes to do what others has tried to do for a few weeks ^^. The reason? Because my car is truly awesome. Period. I'll miss it.
In other news:
We're having our graduation this Thursday. So we were thrilled to find out that it might be 38 degrees Celsius that day! Oyh... Guys in their dresses and us girls in our gowns. Yeeeeeey....
So I've made it through all the exams! :D I had my practicals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So now I officially have a licence to practice in a real tower! (Or... I will once I get my graduation papers. Next week.)
It's almost like I'm on a vacation! I can sleep in, and I don't have to read for any more tests! At least not until August. Also, the Kindle has been a success so far. I've finished one book already, and begun another one. Who would have thought that? Me! Reading books! Gee whiz.
PS: I have to show you these GIFs that my roommate made from our little trip this Easter holiday:
Did my final exam in theory today, and I can gladly inform that I passed it :D. So now I'm one step closer to graduation. The only thing remaining is the practical exam, which will be on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Wish me luck!
All of us remaining students (4 of 24 didn't cut it, sadly enough...) passed, and most of us spent the evening celebrating at the local waterhole, more commonly known as "El Roco". They love us there, most likely because we've given lots to charity (aka lost alot on Blackjack) and are generous tippers since we still haven't learned the normal % when it comes to tipping. So one of the waitresses at the bar told us that they have planned a farewell-party for us on the 28th of June! Yes. We are just that awesome, so that a whole nightclub/bar is throwing a party for us. Epic. Win.
I have bought myself one last toy before I leave the US. Since I'm horrible at reading (I tend to start a book, read a few chapters and quit), I've figured that if I make it into an electronic toy, I'll read more. So I ordered myself a Kindle, which came in the mail today :D
Time will tell if my theory is correct. I might update on during the weekend.
Also, one of my roommates flipped the switch to turn of the lights in the bathroom the other day, and this happened:
By. Flipping. A switch. I have come to the conclusion that she's working out too hard, but I'm afraid to tell her since she obviously can kick my ass like a soccer ball. Or something like that.
I know, I know... I've been lazy on the blogging again. But are you really surprised? Really?
We now officially have 24 days left before we leave this charming place called Grand Forks and turn our heads towards Norway :D I gotta admit it, I'm really looking forward to it. Really.
News since last time you read about me:
- We rented a partybus one weekend and drove around in the city while drinking and partying! It was our way to say goodbye to two classmates who had to go home before their time... But I think they got a really good party before they went, at least.
- A bunch of us had weekend plans to go to Winnipeg and see the U2 concert one weekend when we had the Monday off, but the school managed to screw us over by telling us that the week with 3 tests in a row was moved one week ahead, aka the week right after the U2 concert. Thanks for the heads up (not). So a couple of us decided to drive up to Winnipeg the day the show was, and go back home early the day after since we had lots to study. They could at least have told us earlier so we would have the chance to study before the weekend, when they (again) knew that many of us had plans.
Here's a few pics from the show:
Pretty awesome screen in a 360 degree circle around the whole stage. Just one minor glitch...
Proofreading isn't always a bad thing...
And BTW, I did good on the tests. All three of them =)
Funny thing, though. When we went back to the US (Winnipeg is in Canada) the border-guy obviously didn't believe us when we said that we had no alcohol or tobacco in the car with us. I don't get it! Five 20-year old people? We looked like angels! So we had to drive our car into a garage where they searched our stuff and the car. They didn't find anything, though.
Also, on the way back we went low on fuel. Like really low. So I took a detour off the highway in search of a gas station, and when we finally found it, we also found a sign pointing us in the direction of Voss. You gotta love it ^^. (Oslo is also nearby here)
- We're finally done with the weekly tests! We had the last one yesterday, and all we have left now is the final exam on Thursday. And the week after that, we start our practical exams, so we're really close to the finish line now.
PS: Sometimes it's bad that we don't have the norwegian letters Æ Ø Å on our mobile phones over here. I got this message the other day:
"Har sendt mld og bedt dem ga til dae. Men du kan kanskje stikke opp og hore."
Which translates to:
"I've sent a message and asked them to go to you. But maybe you can go upstairs and whore."
It was supposed to be listen =) I got a good laugh from it, though.
When the tornado siren goes off and all the Norwegians runs outside instead of down to the garage.
It went off 3 times, but all we saw was an amazing show of thunderstorms. I did film some of it, but since I managed to displace my iPod I don't know if it's good or worth putting up... Let's hope I find i tomorrow
But I do know that I only have a little over 6 weeks left! :D To be more precise, 46 days.
May 17th has been celebrated here as well. School gave us the day off, so we decided to party on the 16th, in true Norwegian tradition. the weather was nice, and we rented a park (!) for 60 dollars (!!) including a permit to drink alcohol (!!!). So we grilled and ate and drank and played in the park until sunset, and then went back to one of the apartments where the party continued.
The day after, I had lost my wallet. But I had been smart enough in my drunkenness to take all my money out before I lost it. Genius! I did, however, find it later on the day at El Roco, where we went out the day before, so all is good.
On May 17th we were invited to our training coordinators house, where we got sour cream porridge and a light buffet. That was really nice. Surprisingly enough, his garage is big enough to hold 36 students plus 2 families. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he has 3 garages combined O.o.
After school yesterday, most of us students and 3 instructors met up at a soccer field to have an epic battle between ACC and TWR/APP. We played with 11 persons on the field, and what do you know! TWR/APP won! 4-3. One might say that it was kind of unfair since ACCs only 12 persons while TWR/APP is 24 persons, so ACC only had one substitute and we had like... 5. But I choose to ignore that fact.
Also, I challenged a buddy to only make left turns while we were on our way to the cinema. It's a great way to experience new parts of the city! And it let us spend some time before the movie started as well.
We had what is called a Milestone test this Friday, so I've been building a study guide (which ended up being 103 pages... oyh...) and studying since last Saturday. So this weekend will consist of very little studying until Sunday evening. A present from me, to me ^^. I ended up with a 92%, so I'm satisfied. Especially since I got 84% the week before.
In other news, I found a dessert I just had to try... FRIED CHEESECAKE! Seriously, if there's one thing the Americans are really good at, it's frying stuff. Cuz if it's good, it's gotta be better when fried!
Also, I'm working on my negotiation skills.
Cut to scene:
Creepy/perv classmate: Liv! You gotta buy Portal 2 so I have someone to play multiplayer with.
Me: Meeeh...
Creepy/perv classmate: Come on...
Me: Hmm... only if you share the dessert with me (I couldn't possibly eat it all by myself)
Creepy/perv classmate: You're buying?
Me: ...Sure!
So not only do I have to buy a new game, I had to buy the dessert as well.
I forgot to mention that my sisters visited me the week before I went to Deadwood. Here's the top 5 list of the visit:
1. I had to tie my big sister's shoes.
2. We went to Winnipeg for the weekend, but spent most of the Saturday in the hotel room due to a tired big sister. Inlcuding dinner.
3. I bought new shoes, decided to walk them in, got blisters and the shoes didn't get walked in.
4. My big sister got a present from my boss! And he said that since she's ATC, she's family. Does that mean that my boss is my stepbrother?
5.Cut to scene:
Me: You know guys, I'm not as narcissistic as I appear to be in my blog.
Sisters: We know.
Me: Hah! See how I managed to put the topic back on me?
5.1 Cut to scene:
Sister: We've found out that you're not original. You're just a copy of all us siblings.
Me: I know! I took the best from all of you, and made myself an awesome person.
(You can't fool with a person as awesome as me)
Also, yes, I got Vigra. Just as I wished for. Dirty tricks really help! Like telling our training coordinator at school (who also had Vigra as a student) to say that it was awful there. He took it to the next step and compared it with Silence of the Lambs. Score.
Also, I had my sister tell an air traffic controller at Vigra to make life hell to the students who got to Vigra if I didn't.
Hello my little followers! Long time no see. Mostly because I've been too lazy to write lately, I'm selfish that way.
Anywhoozles, I've been on a roadtrip this easter, to a small place called:
That's right, Deadwood! I didn't know a single thing about this town before I started watching the series Deadwood, which I borrowed from one of my classmates. Me and 2 others (and one extra) who had watched the series decided to go there for easter break. But I hadn't watched the whole series yet, so I ended up watching 19 hours of the show the weekend before. Oyh...
But since those 19 hours didn't cut it, I watched the remaining hours in the backseat of the car. I actually managed to finish watching the show just a few hours before we got to our destination.
Shortly summed up, we saw a lake:
Just kidding! It was only the flood alongside the interstate. This used to be flat, dry fields.
I got to see Mount Rushmore :D
And a thing called Devils Tower:
A freaky stone, really.
A cemetery in Deadwood with some known graves (Known = from the series. I don't read history):
Also, we drove through the city of Sundance! But we were greatly disappointed when there only lived about 1500 people there, and there were no movie theaters to see anywhere! So we drove off without taking any pictures, too embarrassed to even think this was the place they held the Sundance Film Festival.
To sum it up more, we had an awesome view from our hotel room:
I lost at gambling.
We ate at Kevin Costner's Casino. We didn't know it until we put two and two together. E.g. why it said "Kevin Costner's Sports Bar" and had a bunch of clothes from his movies all over the walls, and later on, the restaurant above the bar; "Kevin Costner's Jake Restaurant".
PS:
I'M GOING TO VIGRA (ÅLESUND) WHEN I GET BACK TO NORWAY! WEEEEE!
I had to bite the dust and fix my drunken deeds from the night before.
The roof said "Liv was here" with blue chalk from the billiard cue. But I think I was being nice by washing the roof! Seeing that one of the guys living there had facebookraped me.
Also, if you use a rough sponge, the paint comes off. Heh..
When you go to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles...I think) to take a road test to get your drivers licence, only to get a flat tire minutes after you've gotten the licence.
I guess that's how life tries to keep my pride balanced. NOT GONNA WORK!
PS: I only took the theory test last Autumn, which gave me a Operators Permit. I now have a Drivers licence. Don't ask me what the difference is, cuz I have no idea.
Oh, gosh. This week has been painful. The simulator took us all by surprise by multiplying the amount of traffic we had last week. And we barely managed the one last week! But on Tuesday we got the nice little information that the evening class didn't have to go to school because of an imminent blizzard around the corner. Whoop whoop! The dreaded blizzard ended up being a little bit of snow in a little bit of wind. So a few of us decided to go to the movies instead. Only to get a new shocker when I got up the day after and found a revised study guide on my e-mail, going from 17 pages of reading material to oooh, about 65! O.o Needless to say, I didn't do much else than read after opening that e-mail. But I ended up on a 92% score! :D Phew...
In other news:
The plant got a little bit of alcohol last Saturday. It still hasn't recovered from that.
Definition of illogical:
When a bunch of people wants to watch the soccer-game between Norway and Denmark, and ends up at our apartment since we have a big-ass TV. But the illogical thing is that there are 2 other apartments with the same TV, and people living there who actually wanted to watch the game. The 3 of us living in #109? Not really that interested.
Look at all them people!
But I gotta say, it was fun. We rearranged the living-room a little bit and stole a couch from an apartment upstairs.
This Friday I found out that I'm great at multi-tasking! I sat down on my computer, only to find that 3 people wanted to chat with me on facebook.
- The first one was my cousin who wanted me to play an online game with him. And I really wanted to, since I hadn't really talked to the guy for a long time. I know. Geeky. But is't social in an anti-social way. Honest!
- The second person on facebook wanted me to come visit him and his roomies and watch TV.
- The third person was 2 guys who wanted to just hang, drink a few beers and chat.
The solution:
Get the 2 guys to join me to the second guys apartment to watch television, chat and drink a few beers while I sat in the corner in their living-room and played games while skyping with my cousin. Problem solved!
Also, a quiet evening the next day with just a few drinks and playing board-games with a handful of people turned out to be a slightly huge party instead. The best part? When one guy was going to pierce another guy in the ear with a needle. When he was sterilizing the needle with a lighter, he burned his finger and dropped the needle in the toilet. But that didn't stop them! They just picked it up again and didn't bother to wash it before sterilizing half of it again.
Cut to scene:
While Drunkard 1 was trying to make a hole in Drunkard 2's ear, which was harder than you would think:
Drunkard 1: Oh. Oh! OH! Yes!
Drunkard 2: Owowowow! Did it go through?
Drunkard 1: ...no.
When they finally got it through:
Drunkard 1: It's through!
Drunkard 2: Awesome
Drunkard 1: Don't push it further in. Or you'll get toilet water in your ear.
Note: I have it on film. All 11 minutes of it.
Later on, when people started leaving our apartment for another after-party upstairs, I had trouble going to bed. Mostly because 3 of the guys from the party took over my bed. So I took some pictures of the bromance, and went upstairs to the after-party and stayed there until 6 AM instead.
In other news:
I just agreed to help a buddy out with his 1979 Mustang Fastback while he was trying to get some air pockets out from the braking liquids. The reward? Join him when he tested the brakes afterwards. On the highway. at 80 miles per hour. :D
Cut to scene:
Buddy: *brakes* That's all the brakes I have? Let's hope no moose runs onto the road. *vroooom*
This Sunday was the day we went over to daylight savings time. And my clock decided to do a practical joke the day before:
.... Perfect... just perfect. timing. FML.
Cut to scene:
Roomie: But you can just wait until autumn, and then it'll be correct again! .... only... you're in Norway then.
Me: Yah.
Roomie: But you can just wait until it runs out of battery or take the battery out, and put it back in when the clock is right!
Me: It's solar-driven.
Roomie: Ah.
Not much to tell here! Finally returned to the simulators this week, and we all had some dust to brush off of our phraseology and stuff. But it was still much more fun than the awesome power point lessons in the classroom.
Since I had the late shift this week, I got to drive my fantastic Cadillac to school :D But since I don't have a student parking slip yet, I have to park further away from the school entrance. It may be only 50 meters, but those who know me knows I'm a lazy b*stard.
So I went to the traffic office one day to buy one, but when I got there a sign said that the office had moved to another building, which I didn't know where was. FML. So I gave up that day, and decided to come back the day after when I had found the new building on the internet. But when I showed up there, the guy said I couldn't buy one, because I had already bought one. For the car I share with my roomies. FML.
In other news:
I showed off my brilliant spelling skills to my roomies the other day.
Cut to scene:
Me: I'm off to get some food! F O D!
Roomies: ...
Me: ...err... F O O D!
Also, the interview of me and that other guy in my class came out this week. It didn't really say much. But, apparently, I'm "afflicted with a hereditary taint" by having a sister who's an air traffic controller. Why didn't I come up with that sentence myself? I like it!
Sis, you're a taint. Shoo! (Yes, yes... the translation from Norwegian to English can also mean hereditary streak... but I chose to ignore that fact.)
Aaaaand here's a picture of my shoe in another shoe.
I'm so going to borrow these shoes one day and walk around outside. My feet fit perfectly in my shoes in his.
Yeah. That's about it for this week! Not much going on, really.
When you go to the gas station across the street from school and buy 30 dollars worth of call time for your cellphone, and then manage to throw the receipt in the garbage moments later. Where the needed pin-number was written on... FML
Also, I didn't dare go back and buy another one since I know it's most likely the same clerk working there every day this week.
Also, also, the phrase "Death by Power-point" finally made sense to me this week. I don't have to go into it, but here's the short story:
I LOST THE WILL TO LIVE THIS THURSDAY! But then I wen't home and ate some cheesecake, so it's all good now. 297 slides. In 8 hours. All text. You do the math.
LA was great! We didn't really have any clue on what to do, so we basically just drove around in the Mustang while figuring out what to do, in the worst cases we let the GPS decide for us.
On Monday, after we leased the Mustang and ate a really good burger at the In and Out diner, we took the drive to Hollywood, walked on Hollywood Blvd and looked at the stars in the pavement. But for the most part we just drove the car. :D Sadly, my camera ran out of space kinda early that day, so I didn't get to take that many pictures. Other than that and a dinner, we didn't do much else since we kinda got up a little late that day... *ahem*
On Tuesday we took the ride to Hollywood once again to see the Hollywood sign and the scenic view over Los Angeles from there.
While the rest of the class were at school. In cold, cold Grand Forks. *smirk*
We really wanted to go to the sign itself, but the road was blocked and a sign threatened with imprisonment if we went further. So this was as close as we got:
We went to find a place to eat, but first we got a little bit lost and ended up at this place:
Universal Studios
But sadly, we didn't have time to visit it... We ended up on a small restaurant slightly hidden in a semi-alley, but their bread there was to die for. Afterwards we went back to the hotel, since the guy traveling with us got the rest of the week off to go to Florida and watch the Discovery space shuttle launch. *envy* So he had to book tickets, which ended up costing him 1000 USD total, including the trip back to Grand Forks. I hope it was worth it!
But anywho, after he finished, which took forever, we decided to go to Long Beach to watch the sunset. But it was kinda a long ride, and the voice on the radio said there had been an accident which slowed down the traffic. So we ended up at the Santa Monica pier instead:
We barely reached the sunset. But it was beautiful.
And here's a small picspam of a few other things:
POSE!
The wind was flapping my hair everywhere. But I found the solution.
The only downside we found on the car
Salt bars(saltstenger)! Only 10 times bigger. O.o
Wednesday we finally got home (except for the Florida guy), at approx. 1 AM. So I got about 3 hours of sleep until school, went to school, got 15 maps and charts that I had to learn until today (e.g. one day). FML. But I did good! =) scored 95% with only 2 errors (we only got one of the maps on the test)
Basic is offically over, and I got through the show-off in the simulator easily. Phew! Also, the interview went well... I think... I'll find out when the article comes out, which, by the way, is in a magazine for people who work in Avinor. I'm kinda curious about the pictures he took, though. He had the lense about 30 cm from our faces, while taking the pictures in frog perspective. Oyh.
Anywho! The reason I haven't updated lately is because I've been in Cancun, Mexico <3!
Aaaaaaaaaah......
13 of us decided to go, 2 girls and 11 boys. So I guess it's kinda a boys trip. But after 2 days there, 2 of the guys told me how awesome I apparently am :D Granted, they may have been under the influence of alcohol, but my narcissism tells me they're right. It's no coincidence my nickname is MissFantastic. It doesn't matter if I came up with the name myself.
One of the perks of being this awesome, is that one of the boys let me be his wingman! Never been that before, and I loved it! Yes, I didn't really do that much. When he didn't remember the name of a girl he had been talking to, he just took me over to her.
Cut to scene:
Buddy: Have you met my friend?
Me: Hi, I'm Liv
Girl: Hi, I'm <insert name>
Me:<insert name>? Nice to meet you.
*Buddy standing behind her smiling and giving me thumbs up*
Also, I think maybe one of the girls we met on this trip doesn't like me much. First, we made her believe that I couldn't speak English, except 'yes' and 'no'. Which we had a lot of fun with. Alot. Until she found out. And one evening when we went out on the town, one of my classmates asked me if I could help him not get drunk since the same girl tried to get him drunk. So when I saw her give him a shot of something, I just walked right over there, took the shot, drank it, gave it back and walked on while I heard the word "bitch" behind me. My buddy loved me for it, though. I also switched his drink with a glass of water. But as I woke up the day after, it might not have been the best deal for me, though. I was slightly reduced.
The nightlife is awesome, btw. We pay someone 45 USD and then we get free entrance, VIP seats and an open bar. And all the places we've been to has been a great experience. But that's not all we did. We went to see one of the 7 wonders of the world! I dunno if it's the new wonders or the old, or something else, but it's a wonder. That's for sure. Chichen Itza! (Apparently, people has the tendency to say 'Chicken Pizza') The Mayan ruins!
A game of noughts-and-crosses. The crosses lost.
A fancy stone
Most of us were pretty reduced on the trip. Most likely due to the impromptu Toga party we threw at the hotel the evening before with sheets from our beds.
I also went to the market one of the days and bought myself a little trinket from the trip. Obsidian stone. The guy who sold it to me also showed me which Mayan zodiac I am, Tzec. Apparently I am of Balanced Intellect and Rejects Negativity! After a few minutes of thinking I figured 'balanced intellect must mean "you're not stupid, but you're not that smart either." Sounds about right to me.
One of the coolest things 5 of us did was that we found some kind of a pier, only it was rotten and mostly ruined. So of course we decided to walk on it to get to the shore side!
The stone building on the far side was too intriguing to pass.
Here is also a vid I took from my iPod while walking back from the far-side:
The last day 3 of us managed to hire jetskis for half an hour. At first I thought that 30 minutes wouldn't be enough, but when I was done I could hardly grip anything due to holding on for dear life while having an awesome time! Oh. By the way, my sunglasses are now resting at the bottom of the Caribbean somewhere. While jumping on a wave I managed to knock my jaw and my sunglasses off me. Sadly, I didn't get a bruise from it to show off...
In other news, I learned that my watch is only WATERPROOF-ish...
It still works, though.
And that the control tower at Cancun airport has the best commercial on its wall:
CORONA!!!
Anywho, as you all know, I'm stuck in Los Angeles at the moment, but it's OK. We're managing. We figured it was smarter to rent a car than to use the buses or taxis all day long, so we found ourselves across the road from our hotel at a car rental place.
Cut to scene:
Classmate: Hi, we would like to rent a car.
Clerk: Okay, but the only ones we've got left are a small SUV and a Mustang convertible
Us: ...... Mustang please! :D
