Last stop!

I'm in Englang :) This is the very end of my trip before returning to Norway and I have been spending it in Yorkshire! Do you remember reading about a farm I stayed just outside York in October? Well, that/s where I'm at now. I have been here since the 5th and leaving tomorrow. I'm flying back on Friday to Oslo. There is no Internet on the farm so I can't keep an update now but I will write some when I'm back home to wrape things up :)

Sad but glad this girl is returning to Norway in less then 48 hours...

Yesterday was a good day!

Right next to the house where I'm staying there is a small lake. In this lake we recently found out that there are turtles! Yesterday we went to have a look and they were swimming around in that lake! Small and black water turtles about the size of a A5 paper or a bit less. Cute little bastards! (I think Tingeling would like this as a vacation place Alva;)


Afterward me and Alex went to a town called Ronda, which is 45 minutes from Marbella up in the mountains. This town has a bull fight museum that claims that THIS is where it all started, the only problem is that this is actually what Seville is saying too ..... I think there is a bit of a conflict between the two cites about this, but really I don't care because I don't even like this sport. Anyways, the other thing this town is famous for is a huge bridge that connects the two parts of the city. The city is located on both sides of a huge and steep valley and so it was amazing to see how they have manages to build a bridge like that. Almost impossible! This is the touristic website for anyone who is interested in having a look: http://www.turismoderonda.es/indexeng.htm

In the evening Alex took me to a traditional, almost a bit secret, Spanish restaurant to eat proper Spanish food. Here I tasted ox tail for the first time in my life. The only thing I could say to justify it's reputation is I hope is not my last time. It was very very good! I also had what I up until this point in my life can say is the best lamb I have tasted. Lamb shoulder cooked for something like 5 hours and god know what, amazing! For sure the best meal I have had in a while:)

A lot of bad English on this one but I'm speaking Norwegian frequently and it's confusing me :)

Life in Marbella

I'm enjoying lazy days on the south coast of Spain, that's for sure! A good lunch here, a couple of hours on the beach there, maybe a afternoon nap even:) Yesterday I tried golf for the first time in my life! Petrified I entered the field (or what ever it is called) where people stand in line and practice their shots. I quickly realized that I was the only girl and that made me start freaking out right away. But lets go back a bit first here. I, Gro, know nothing what so ever about golf and therefor had no idea what so ever how this goes down. To be honest I did not expect it to be more than just grab the club and try as best as you can to hit this thing (that being the ball!) For those of you reading this who have some previews understanding on this "game" you have already long time ago understood that I could not be further from the truth. It could not be further from the truth. First of all it should not be called a game but a sport. I was rather exhausted and tired in my back and arms. Secondly I was informed that people spend hours and hours finding to learn how to hold the club right. Thirdly people spend days and days to be able to hit the ball at all some times. Last but not least, people can spend years before they have there first good hit. Ah well! Lets not go further in to that. I decided that this is not something I will be frightened by and my goal for my first half and hour ever playing golf was to hit the ball and make it go strait.

It went like this:
????????????????????!??!!....
....................?..????.....!.?....
... .#)(/%..---::;_("/&%.......Yes!
............................................
........SHIT..........!?........!!.......
- break for 5 min -
...... Jepp! NO?... Okay...........
//&"¤)......(/&%.......................
DONE!

A couple of good ones and less bad ones then I had expected! The ball went the right way when I managed to hit it and I walked away happy in the end! All in all a good introduction to golf :)

Monkey!!!

Today I went to Gibraltar to look at the monkeys :) Me and Alex took his car and I got a Gib stamp in my passport as well!! They are absolutely not afraid of anything and they basically own the place. They can go anywhere and they have loads of food - what a life ! There is a saying that goes like this: "as long as the monkeys live on the rock, England will have Gibraltar", so lets see then how long it will be... If you ask me it might be about time for England to give back all the stuff that do not belong to them, but hey, lets not get in to that!

Afterwards we went to Tarifa to look at the beaches there, they are famous and the base for kite-surfers in Spain, maybe even Europe, I don't know ! Anyways! The beach turned out to be one of the most beautiful I have seen in my life. Opening up to the Atlantic, a view to Africa, , basically everything one need. I also saw something most strange!??! Black pigs..... I did not know that existed... Did you??

What a week!

As I'm writing this I'm laying in a sofa in the shadow, it's warm and sunny so life is not to bad. I'm in this moment located in a pent-house apartment in Marbella surrounded by golf courses and huge villas, Julio Eglesias living right down in the valley. He! What a strange world we live in. Aleksander, which is one of the other people from the course lives here, working in Marbella. He offered me to come until I know what to do next. Since I have absolutely no plan what so ever I sad yes thank you and here I am. Internet, a proper shower and a little taste of what this coast is best know for, Costa del Sol.


Let's move on to the serious stuff now, SAILING! What a week!! I have spent the last 6 days on the boat and really learned so much. The weather has been sunny and warm and a fairly amount of wind as well. I have tried to make out the route we did to make it all very explainable. We went from Gibraltar to Estepona to Sotogrande to Gibraltar a cross to Ciuta and back to Gibraltar. The places has been different and fun to see, not that I went off the boat that much.

It was me and two others attending the course, one doing coastal skipper course (Konrad) and one competent crew (Aleksander) like me. The skipper turned out to be a old military guy who also had spent a great deal of time on submarines. Because of that he had a wide range of experience and know basically everything there is to know. What can be better than that when you have about a thousand questions you want to ask!?

The first day we spent "getting use to the boat" and we had a slow sail upwards to Estepona. The wind was perfect and I came to understand the basic operating of the sails. The weather as well was not bad at all and so I started working on my tan for the summer :) Of course it's not like there is something to do every second after you have rigged the sails and the wind is on the right side - so I have had some time to tan all week! But Chris has also been good at testing us, showing us knots and made stuff happened for us to learn as much as possible.

Second day we practiced tacking for some time and also had "man over board" training more times then I can count for. Going in to Sotogrande I got to see yet another heavy tourist invasion of the sea front and also quite posh, as I have discovered is mostly the cost line here. Third day back to Gib there was not really much wind and so we were on motor for most of the time. Not much work but yet another great day. Heading back in to Gib we passed Europa point and to see the ship that crashed into the rocks due to hard sea. Huge container ship smashed against the shore in strong sea a couple of years back. No body died amazingly enough. They are still cleaning up and trying to remove the wreck piece by piece.

Day number four was very exciting! I suddenly found my self on the way to Africa, fair enough on Spanish territory but still Africa. Strong wind and tide against the wind made a bumpy ride to the other side, perfect for a sailing school! I was steering for about half an hour when it was at it's most rough - and that I must say was heavy for my arms :) Keeping course when it is force 6 was not for kids:) As the sea calmed down a bit and we were closing up on Ciuta and lucky enough to get company by dolphins for ten minutes or so. They came up and jumped in the front of the boat and we were surrounded, what a day!! Arriving in Ciuta I was excited to take my first step of the boat to the new continent, and after all the work was done off to have a beer at a bar. Since I had forgot to put of sunscreen that day and it had been hard work I past and stuck to cola, for a while that is. After dinner me and Aleksander headed off to the casino where I had some drinks and learned how to play Black Jack properly! That was a really fun night. (Don't worry dad, no money spent!). Last day, Friday, me and Aleksander had to fill the dingy (small rubber boat) and take it for a small paddle around in the bay to show Chris we could master it. After lunch we set course for Europa again, but had a strong tide coming in so it took a while. When we reached the other side we practiced anchoring in a bay. Here we stayed for some hours, swimming, eating and sleeping while waiting for it to get dark. Friday evening we had three hours of night sailing to get an idea of how different it is to be out at night. We spent three hours talking about light signals and on a constant look out while going in and out of harbors. Around 11 we headed back in to Gib as a competent crew with a not to nervous coastal skipper at our side. Chris (the real skipper) was mainly watching us and just checking if we could figure it out our self.

Today I was very tired waking up, I tend to sleep like a baby on a boat, basically it was a slow morning. We had breakfast and then Chris came over to sign us off. A proper cleaning of the boat took about an hour. Scrubbing the deck and washing, whith ALL the windows closed (Not like yesterday when I was in charge of the washing. Enough about that....! Ehe:)

So, the sailing week is over and it has been a fantastic week. I now have "Basic Navigation and Safety" as well as "Competent Crew" and is even more eager to sail more! Chris sad that he thinks I have enough knowledge to move to Day Skipper if I want to, if I can only collect some more miles. Time will show!

Still blogging :D

Malaga is really nice! I'm still staying in this hostel, longest I have ever stayed in one place i think... Anyways! Yesterday this girls from Poland had her birthday and so we had a small celebration. We (me and a room mate) decided to make a cake, which turned out to be a huge success. She was very grateful and happy and that really made my day! This is pictures from the celebration.






The hostel is well organised and such a nice staff, there is a free breakfast and every night dinner for 5 euros. Yesterday it was rice with seafood, tasted great. The day
before the polish girl made a traditional polish dish called "Bigos" made for cabbage, mushroom, carrot and two types of meat. I was also asked if I wanted to make something but turned it down kindly :) What to make from Norway that people would like? And also a dish where I could actually find all the ingredients.. And to a reasonable price. Well, I decided that this was to much work and so I have to save this project for another time.

Yesterday, me and my room mate Mark went with his rented car to Marbella. In my rough guide it is described as Costa Del Sole's most stylish resort, expensive and occupied by Italian and Russian mafia bosses. I find the mafia part intriguing, the rest not so much. It's is a typical place I tend to avoid, full of tacky tourists. Sadly but painfully true the Norwegian people contribute to this quite strong as well and so it makes me just want to get out of there as fast as possible. After a some hours we returned back to reality and Malaga.

Today, I had another go for the beach, but it is a bit to cold still, no tan made but of course a lot of freckles :) To night we are going flamenco hunting and then somewhere to dance salsa so this should be a good night. Maybe pictures will appear here, maybe not :D

So, tomorrow I will go sailing for the week and so there will be no update on the blog, but I will update when I return to mainland! I will take a bus from Malaga to the border tomorrow and then walk across to Gibraltar. I am very excited about the whole experience and what tomorrow will bring :)

Malaga

Arriving Malaga! It's not as warm as I maybe had expected - but don't get me wrong, it's not cold either! I arrived at the airport and quickly discovered that I don't think people down here are so friendly. Lets not jump to any conclusion yet but this is my first impression at least. My Italian don't do me much good here and I'm back to nothing when it comes to communication. I can see that it is similar to Italian but I can't say anything... This sucks!

I think I spent almost an hour trying to find out how to get to the train I read about in my book.. A bad explanation combined with bad markings had me walking around for some time.. I find my way into town and find my self a bus going my way towards the hostel. I'm now checked in at Picassos Corner Backpacker hostel for a reasonable price of 18 euro. That's cheaper than Roma, that's for sure!

I spent the afternoon walking around trying to get a feeling of the town. I guess you can say that I did, but I have not got it under my skin yet, like I usually do. Now I will check the weather forecast and decide what to to tomorrow. I will stay by the sea anywhere between here and Gibraltar, where the sun shines the most! This is photos from today :D



1. This is a tree I found. Strange and really cool.
2. Half a house.. Where is the the other part...?
3. Outside stage down by the sea side.

New country!!

Tomorrow I have a flight at 8.15, destination Malaga, Spain! Why you say? Well! On Sunday I'm attending a sailing course for a week. Very excited about this :D It's in Gibraltar and there are cheap tickets for Malaga so here I go. I will either stay here for some days and then take a day bus down or move slowly against the target using the days to see the coast. I hope to have Internet and tell you guys as it happens :)

I am very aware of the fact that I have been rubbish at updating my bolg lately but there has not been much to tell. The only thing of importance is that I was not in the earthquake area when all of that happend, I was travelling in Toscana with my beloved brother and his girlfriend. We had a really good week driving around, covering the area from Rome to Bolognia, eating good food, some sightseeing and we even built a sandcastle!

The farm

Moving around quickly here... Now I'm back in Rome..

I left sunny Napoli for rainy Rome, not my smartest move.. But anyways. I have to say I did not expect to like Napoli as much as I did. Before going I had several people warning be and even saying I should not go. I am very happy that I did not follow that advice because I would have missed out on what has been included on my top ten list over cites I like. Napoli is indeed a bit dirty and all of that, but this is what makes it so cool. I spent most of my time just walking around, looking at life and people and taking pictures of graffiti. They don't have this waste problem anymore, the mafia did not kidnap me, so all in all a good couple of days! I found this amazing sweet called Baba, very simple. Sugar bread soaked in rum!! Don't miss out if you are there.

To night my favorite, my brother, is arriving with his girlfriend. We are traveling around together for a week-ish, looking forward to this :) Rome is shining today and I'm planning on doing some sightseeing! Have a nice day people!

Ciao ragazzi!

Hmm... The Internet on the farm, well, how to put this, it sucks! Therefor I have not had a change to tell anybody that I left the farm. Three weeks are over and I have had a wonderful time but it is time to move on. I hope to return one day when the fruit trees are in season and the temperature have raised a bit. I took with me the Austrian girl, Anna (the girls who never left) and went to Napoli. I'm in Napoli and it is very exciting!! Here I will stay for two nights before heading back up to Rome. I stay at a hostel called 6 rooms (www.6smallrooms.com) and it is a really good place. Small and very sociable, a nice common room and kitchen as well, definitely a place I recommend.

So, today we left the farm at 6 o'clock to catch the train for Napoli. We arrived here at 10 and left our luggage at the hostel. Then we went to Pompei. Jepp, that is right, now I have been there. I think that is very cool :) I did not have any idea of what to expect form this place and so the 3 hours I spent there I was very excited... but also different from what I thought a lava city would look like... Which btw is not really a lava city... But burried by ashes! My new knowledge for the day :)

Domani!

Long time, no see...

Enjoying lazy days, not much blogging.... But here is som high lights.

Horseback riding!
The farm offers many activities for the guest during there stay here, among them horseback-riding. So, whenever a guest book up for riding a volunteer can come along. Lucky for me I am the one who had been here for longest, the veteran, and so I got to go! Me, Antonello and an American family with mam, dad and this adorable little boy got in the car and off we went. Fifteen minutes of fun conversation and comparing of languages went by and we were there. The stable is called "Ok Coral" and it is a good and well organized stable.
The guy who took us riding is called Bernardo and is a Italian cowboy. He has the style, the smile and the relaxed attitude. He cannot speak English, but that is really not a problem when all comes to all.
Everybody well up on the horses we went off in to the typical Mediterranean forest. The ride is about an hour and takes you by a church ruin, along the river side and actually across as well if you are lucky! We crossed the river twice. It was a great experience, since my horse was the shortest one we got quite wet - but I really needed to clean my hiking shoes anyways! What a good day!

Cooking:
I love to cook and I come from a family where food play an important part of our day. Imagine how fantastic it is for me to go to Italy. Every time I go to Italy I get just as exited and I eat a lot more than usually. The pasta is amazing, the pizza can't and should not be compared to any other place in the world. Ravioli, mozzarella, vine, olive oil, I can probably keep going forever :) Anyways, I arrived at this farm and I knew that the food would not be a problem, 100% organic raw material always.
- They make there own marmalade, which by the was tastes so so good. It is pumpkin made with a kilo of love, a teaspoon of magic and even a dash of joy I think.
- The olive oil is made here, and by here I don't mean near by, I mean here just out side my window!
- The wine we are so lucky to get served is from this farm as well, they even have two types, strong and very strong! No, I'm just kidding, there is one white and one rosè. Every lunch and dinner it's there, on the table!
- Some times we get fresh pasta as well, and if you never have tasted that I can tell you right away: You are missing out! Learn "how to" - it is so easy and so good.
- Last but not least Maria makes bread and cakes. Back home I have lately been making bread my self but I have had some difficulties with the structure. I don't think Maria and her bread have ever had that problem. I decided that this is something I have to learn while staying her and therefor asked Maria if I could help here the next time. On the picture you can see that she sad yes and I had a really good time:) We made bead with 5 kilos of flour, you can therefor imagine the quantum. We also made pizza and cake.

Good morning!

Me and two of the other volunteers spent two days building a road so that the tractor could be used more places. It is hard work but I have to say I enjoined every second. With different tools (spade, hakke and spett) we worked all together 9 hours on it. The photo is small part of it. Anyway, this is not what is I want to share with you guys, what I want to try and describe is the feeling of working on something like this and then the next day use it! As I said we spent two days digging, then when we were done we spent the next day working with big wood logs and the road made it all possible! Love the feeling! With this feeling in my memory I'm now eating breakfast and is ready for a new day. Its a bit cloudy today but I hope the sun will find its way to my farm valley soon! Have a good day everybody.

By the way, I just had the most traumatising moment when I discovered that there was a big bug in my newly washed pants! How can this be before 8 o'clock!?

Busy bloging.....

I'm creating a blog for the farm now, so where to write what is a bit confusing. If you want you can go there and read as well, but don't leave any comments for me there....

http://www.italyfarmstayblog.blogspot.com/

Photos

Yes!!!

Italian farmstay.

Writing as it happens...

On Friday I started my very exciting journey to THE farm. A two and a half hour bus ride took me to a town called Sora, which btw I could not find on any map or in my rough guide... In a hurry I hopped on a bus which I was 95% sure was going the right way. I therefore spent the next two and a half hours a bit worried that I was on the wrong bus and would get lost in who knows where. I arrived in Sora about 7 ish and called Antonello which has been my contect by e-mail. He said they would come and pick me up straight away. The ten minutes I was waiting, a thousand things went through my mind. What do I expect from this? How are the people? Am I alone as a voulenteer which was my biggest fear. What will I do there? Why would I ever leave beautiful Rome, I mean WHY?? Anyways! A car came, full of people, all happy and very friendly. Turns out there are two other volenteers here and a girl who never left! The main house is big and have a nice common space. Me and a girl from Berkeley called Gianna share a room, a bit cold, but a nice view facing the valley. A good dinner and a bottle of home-made vino later I am content wiht the situation and the people surrounding me. Domani it is rise and shine at 07.30 for breakfast and then work.

First day working I found it a bit hard and different than expected, although I did not really expect much. We work from 08.00 to 12.30 every day and then we have the rest of the day to do what we want. The family has a big property, houses and other places as well. We all went to another "farm" where there is a big project going on. We helped cleaning a creek for trash and moving big wooden logs down a hill and up the other. That was hard work! Since this is not what I had in mind when I first found this farm, it was a bit of a shock. As the viking I am I pulled my self together and got through the day but I must say I was happy to discover that I was not the only person that found it hard. A bit low spirited and with sore hands, I rested in a hammock while enjoing the sun. With a cup of tea and a volunteer friend by my side, I recharged my batteries and decided not to jump to any conclusions too fast. If there is anything I have a lot of, it is time.

The farm has another project running a "farm" nearby as well, for now there is one guy from Austria but in the summer there will be more. I would go there if it was not for the fact that there is no hot water and no heating and all of this, and as my mum knows I have certain standards which I can't go below. I wish I was this strong but I have nothing to give.. Maybe when I grow up and out of it :) Anyways, we went there and I had a good look around the property. We found wild asparagus, a bit undone but still, wild asparagus! After a while we returned home to discover that one of the goats had given birth to two kids! Wow baby, that was cool.

There are four volenteers here, me, from Norway, Gianna, from Berkeley in California, Radu ,from Romania and Anna ,from Austria, the girl who never left... Anna also studies here and join us every once in a while but most of the time is the 3 of us working. We have a lot of fun and get along well. This is the third day working and we have done all sorts of things. In the morning we help Giuseppe, "the grandpa" with the animals before going off to do other work. We have picked trash and and moved big wooden logs and who knows what :) Inspite of everything I'm happy here for now and am enjoing my days in the Italian countryside.

Our biggest question today is, Do we set the clock back an hour or what is going on? California thinks so, nobody on the farm cares and I don't have a watch so it is non importante! All the volunters are sitting here is still wondering... Maybe somebody can post a comment here and share their knowledge about setting the time. Any takers?

Moving on..

So, it was raining in Rome yesterday and that is not cool so I have decided to go to the coast. I need to be by the sea for the view and the fresh sea air! Here I go :)I meet someone at the hostel that I will travel whit. Destination unknowend, but don't worry mum, I'll be safe!

Oggi

Tomorrow I leave Perugia, February has gone by fast and it have been a lot of fun! However I am now very ready for a change. The last month has been contented with various activities. First of all the language course which I satisfied with, both the out come and the course plan. The social part has been busy and very nice as well, a lot of good wine, dancing, me as a dj, I have been working out a lot and meet so many nice people! I will miss my Andrea a lot, she is so much fun to hang out with;) Next destination: Unknown.. I think it will stay that way for a couple of days and I will go where the wind takes me, I know that eventually the wind will take me to Rome and that is more then enough! On Friday or Saturday I will go to my farm, where I have no clue what will happen! Updates on this subject will come after some time :) This is there home page btw! http://www.italyfarmstay.com/

Yesterday I got to experience a really distinctly part of Italy when trying to get my diploma. Patience..... Money.... Time.... This is the three secret ingredients for success! First I have to go to the secretariat to get a form, fill this out and get both my teachers to sign. Of course the form was in Italian, and all though I now know a whole lot more then when I came I was not able to understand all on the information written. So back to the secretariat I go, there they tell me that I have to go to the bank and pay 10 euros (for god knows what, I sure don't!) and bring back the receipt. So I do that and return to the secretariat as told. No,no,no ragazza! You have to go to a tabaccheria and get a special sticker (15 euros) and bring this back as well. So I do, I always do as I'm told you know ;) So back to the secretariat I go with my signed form, my sparkly sticker and my bank recite. Yes now everything is okay and I have all that I need for success, or do I? He sign this and stamps that, smile and tell me that I can collect my diploma in a week. He??? A week, what can possible take so long? I ask the man if is a option that someone can pick it up for me because I will not be here in a week. Of course that is possible, I just have to fill out this form! The form require information about my friend that I don't have, so I therefor ask him if it possible to send it to me in the mail. The man tells me that this is not a problem, i JUST have to go to the bank and pay 7 euros and bring him back the recite. So that is what I do, returning to the secretariat I no longer wounder why everything in Italy happens so slow. Walking down the stairs heading for the secretariat I can't help but laugh and I was very pleased to know that I had all the time in the world today to succeed in this mission and no appointments. Back at the secretariat for the 100s time I give him the recite and I am asked to write my address twice and that is it. Finito :) I expect this certificate to be signed by the Vatican, smell like lavender and to be made by gold :) Time will show !

Lets move on! I have also a new camera now, and you can all imagine the struggle I went thug to get this after reading about the certificate. Anyways, a really nice Kodak camera, 10 pix and 120 euros. Not bad if you ask me :)

Last night in Perugia and I will stay at Andreas casa. No plans for to night but hopefully some good food is coming my way! Ciao!

Ho ancora vivo!

Long time no see ragazzi! I'm not so good with updates in Perugia, that's for sure. But I doubt anyone is interested to hear what I eat for dinner every day and what shoes I had on; everyone except for my mum that is :) Love you mum, don't be so worried now!

Anyways, life in Perugia is nice but have been a bit cold lately. Maybe because its so high over sea level or something like that... Any takers?
Today it is much better so I spend my time sitting in the sun! This day is a good day and the only thing that would make it better was if I had amnesia! Only then would I not remember that I busted my camera on domenica... Sadly and luckily I don't have amnesia so I am very aware of the situation; my camera died l'altro ieri... My loyal squire through many years finally found peace on a bench in Viareggio a sunny noon. Time of death 11.47 the 22th of February. RIP friend, you have been here for some of my greatest moments the last 6 years! I am happy that it was sunny Italy I took you for our last moments together. This is his last picture........... not to good ah? He was tired!

Enough of that now! Because I want to tell you all about my weekend, which was not spent in Perugia. Me, and two girls from Austria went by car across Toscana on sabato è domanica. Steffi (not my flatmate but another one) car took us from Perugia to Siena to Lucca to Viareggio. Siena I came to remember from when I was there as a bambina, an adorable mountain town where they have a famous horse race in the summer and tasty ice cream! After some hours looking at this and that we went to Lucca which I also now remember for a trip with my family. Here we spent the night an absorbed the Italian culture, wine and food. Lucca is a special town with huge impressing town walls on which we walked. Everyone should have a look at this place if in Italy. But for now you should google it. One - due - tre - google!!!

...........................................

Are you done already? Sure? Okey, then lets continue then. On Sunday we went to Viareggio for a big carnival parade. This was a one of a kind experience which I'm glad I got to be a part of. What I found the most amazing is how the people dress up. Whole families dress up in different or alike costumes and there was tigers and dogs and clowns everywhere. Also it a quite funny sight to see a rabbit at the mini bank or a devil in line at a restaurant :) I will post pictures of this eventually but for now... Google, perche camera e capot, or something like that!

Tomorrow is my final test in Italian so now I'm on my way home to study:)

Nevicare???

Over and over again we have had problems with our washing machine. At first,when we arrived to the apartment, there was no door. After a while this was fixed. But then we busted the door... So we had to wait for this to be fixed. Yesterday evening finally this problem was solved as well so we had a big washing party:) I have now just clean nice smelling clothes!

Everyday I have class at 8am, which is kind of early for a backpacker like me:) Today I was especially tired and it was hard to get out of bed, but I did! I walked out the front door to discover it had been snowing through out the night! Che?? Okey, it's not anything near to Lillehammer, just a shell of snow, still I was quite surprised! (I have a photo on my camera that I will upload when I get a chance).

For those of you who have read the last comment from my sweet Ole, yes I'm planning to learn the guitar :) I have decided not to buy one i Perugia because where I'm going next they have one! Where am I going next you might ask. Well, it a farm down from Rome that I found on Helpx -
http://www.helpx.net/host.asp?hostID=991

That's all for now ragazzi!

Ciao!

What have happend i Perugia lately? Hmm.. I have got some self-confidence back after the bad "non ho capito" moment! To my friends who was a bit worried after reading about that, I back on track and doing fine ;) I have joined the local gym and that was at first a rather odd and funny experience. "The stereotype Italian": The girl looks very pretty in her make-up, nice thigh work out cloths and almost never sweat. She runs on the machines and join classes but not so much else. The boys are there in there tight t-shirts as well and hopefully a baggy pair on pants... I'm saying hopefully because that is not always the case. Some boys show up in some short boxer - which is kind of scary. The boys are there to work out of course but more importantly to look at the beautiful girls when there is a class going on. I can't help but smile, and I would recommend to anyone to go to a gym here if you ever have the time :) hehe!

I have the last two days been hanging out a lot at this place called La Tana Dell Orso to try and learn how to spin music. After a late Saturday I decided that I wanted to learn and asked the DJ to teach me. Yesterday he showed me the basic and today I have been practicing. Don't get your hopes up people but this is fun :)

My Italian is going cosi-cosi and hopefully improving... Now I have to move on to my homework.

Ps. I like the debate thing that goes on, on comments, here every once in a while:) Welcome to my blog Daniele, I'm stopping by tomorrow :)

Google Earth!!!

Me and Steffi (my German flatmate) is now at a WiFi hot-spot called La Tana Dell'Orso. We have now had a virtual tour of Norway and Lillehammer, Frieburg in Germany and even Perugia! For anybody who would like to see where in Perugia we live, it is possible! The photo here is not bad so for anybody that want to have a look go to yous Google Earth and type in: Via San Giovanni dell Fosso, Perugia. We live in number 12, but that is not so important :)

I have a mailbox here as well if you want to send me a postcard!! SI? That would be nice :) Are you feeling me Jane??

Il mio piccolo segreto!

This is my cafe :)

Ai Ai Ai!

Where to start!?? The last couple of days has been hard.. I have now reached the very bottom and there is only one way to go, UP (I hope....). My first class was, as you maybe know, on Tuesday (martedi). I arrived on time (of course) but no body was there. After 20 minutes or so the teacher showed up, that's Italy baby :) Okey, good, the teacher was there and I was there and that was it. No other students! Voila! For the next two days I had my own private teacher. Christina (the teacher) don't speak English and Gro (the student) don't speak Italian, so this was rather difficult. I have now for two days only spoken Italian and is more confused then ever... Somehow we made this work and it has ALMOST been fun. Up until today that is! Today, giovedi, has not been good what so ever. When I got to class this morning there was several other students waiting as well, not that that was a problem! The problem was that they all understand a fair share of Italian. One girl had a Italian father and somebody was half Italian. Why the fuck were they doing in a easy course the??? So after an hour without understanding nothing what so ever, I took my low self-esteem and my non excising self-confidence and dragged my lazy ass out of there! I have now changed class level from beginner to VERY beginner, starting tomorrow!

Now I'm sitting at my favourite cafe feeling blue, its raining and its a bit cold... Still I can not help but feeling happy! This place has WiFi and the most amazing view of Perugia and Umbria.

I'm sharing apartment with two girls from Germany and Cyprus. It's not big, nor very pretty but central and warm. It's on the top floor but there is still no view, that's why I go here:) These are photos of the apartment.

Dolce Perugia !

On Saturday night I arrived in Perugia which will be my home for the next month. The city is located east just between Roma and Florence. It's a two hours train journey from Florence.
Websites: http://www.perugia-info.com/ http://www.perugiaonline.com/

So as you might already know I took a night train from Zurich to Florence, that was intense.. Hehe! I decided to have a a drink or two before taking the train so I would easier sleep, turned out that was a good choice! It was noise and crowded and... YES, you can probably imagine your self! Hehe! I had a few hours sleep that night and arrived early morning in Florence. In the evening I headed for Perugia and spent the first night in a hostel. The view from my dorm was breathtaking and I fell in love within a second! Everybody should go to Perugia at least once! The next morning I called my landlady and I'm now all arranged in my apartment. It's me and two girls from Germany and Serbia. We are getting along just fine and I feel it's going to be a fun four weeks! Tomorrow I have my first class in Italian, I am excited to see how this will all works out... I don't feel like I'm "on top of things" but I staying positive until the very end :D Hopefully not a bitter end....! Actually, today I ordered all my food in Italian so there is hope!


This is my student ID-card so Gro Arnesen Nyhus is officially a student again now! (I know one dad in Norway who is happy to read that :P) At last for a couple of weeks that is. Hehe! After a brief chat with a Italian teacher today I got my schedule, school in Tuesday to Friday every week. 9 AM tomorrow is the first class. Non ho capito will probably be my first words... Meaning, I don't understand! Wish me good luck!?

Now I have to go! Dinner is next, and I have the fridge full of delicious Italian food that I'm going to cook :)

It' a slow start for everything this year...

So, as I have already told you I'm in Switzerland, or actually WAS is more correct! Yesterday evening about 10PM ish I hopped on the train to Italy. Walking up in Fiorenze is not to bad I guess <:D Today I'm exploring the city. I had a date with David just a couple of hours ago, he's not a shy guy! What more? Piazza del Duomo(pretty church at least from the outside), Ponte Vecchio(special bridge), Marcato Centrale(amazing food marked). I have seen some other stuff as well when I decided to walk around without map but since I got lost I don't know the names :) Hehe!

I have a thousand nice things to tell all of you about Switzerland as well but that is not going to happen now.

Oh! Important travel information: I'm going to a town called Perugia, between Florence and Rome where I plan to stay for a hole month. Why? I'm attending a language course studying Italian:) Si, Si!

Arrivederci!

Better late than never !?

I wanted to find time to start writing again before departure but that never happened :) Instead I'm telling you now that me and my backpack and sexy ass Acer computer is now cruising around in Europe, final destination is Perugia, Italy, 1th of February. There I'm attending a one month language course to try and pick up some basic knowledge... Time will show :) This is as far as my plan goes for now but at some point I will write about further plans!

So! Now I'm in Switzerland for 3-4 days. I have a friend here called Renato, for those of you that remember this is the guy I meet in Monterey and went to the aquarium with :) Today we got up really early to do some sightseeing, first Zurich then Bern. I'm only giving you two words here efficiency and systematic :) After a loooong day of sights I'm now stuffed, on the coach,from fondue and pineapple.

Lets not get ahead of our self here and give to much information away:) That's why I'm stopping now and saving some for another time...