Pretty Damn Spectacular

Yesterday some girls from the Markle and I went to see the Norwegian film The Trollhunter (Trolljegeren) at Tribeca Film Festival.

I had heard a lot of good things about the film when it played in Norway, and had wanted to see it for a long time. So when I saw it was scheduled to play at the Tribeca Film Festival, I was very excited. Fortunately, I was in no way disappointed.

The film was great. Of course not only because it was shot in Norway. The story, the characters, the special effects, the filming, the acting and the great mixture between horror, sci-fi, comedy and absurdity. It was all done in a great manner.
Still, it was extra fun when the movie was Norwegian, especially when I got to see the fjords and the mountains and the valleys and the great forests again. It got even better when a big part of the movie was shot in the area I'm from. It was simply hilarious to hear the strange but so familiar dialects of my county again. That some of my favorite Norwegian comedians was in the movie, too, just made it even greater.

But the best thing of all was that we got to see this film in NYC. It was so surreal to sit there, in a cinema in one of the biggest city in the world, and see this so very small and so very Norwegian movie. 'Cause it was indeed SO Norwegian. The nature, the people, the humor, the theme and the storytelling. For a while it felt like I was back in Norway, just to walk out to the busy streets of NYC and discover it was only a movie.

It was simply a big piece of Norway. And I found that I wanted more.
Even though I love this city, I think I love Norway the most.

Up in the heights of the evening skies I see my City of Cities float

Saturday, it was about time again that the Gateway-students came together and did something fun. This time we were sceduled to go to the amusement park Six Flags, located in New Jersey. Unfortunately, as usual, the weather was not too god. Actually, it was terrible. It was cold and windy and raining as hell. So when we got on the bus to Six Flags, we were given a choice: either we could get the tickets from Gateway, and go by ourselves another day, OR we could stay on the bus and hope for the best.

About 1/3 of the group decided to stay, included me and my friends from the Markle. We would not regret that decision, 'cause when we came there it was nearly completely desolate. You hardy saw any people at all. And no people equals no queues. Further, this meant that we were able to try nearly every roller coaster, since we spent no time in queues.

Still, there was a small problem. If it rains the park have to shut down some of the biggest roller coasters. When we arrived, it was still raining. But we easily solved that problem by going on a safari-trip. You see, right next to the roller coasters and carousels, there was a rather big park packed with (mostly) african animals. You could drive trough the park, looking at the animals up close, like a safari. And since there were no one else taking the ride, we got the tour-minibus to ourselves.
Most of the animals walked around freely, but some, like the lions and tigers, were held inside fences.

The safari was so great, with all the amazing animals we got to see so up close. At one time one of the giraffes even came in through the drivers window, longing for some snack, which she of course got from the nice driver. When we drove off, the giraffe followed the car for a while. She wanted more snacks. The giraffe totally melted my heart, along with many other cute and beautiful animals. But I was also quite sad, since the driver told us that many of the animals we got to see, was on break of extinction, or was moving towards extinction. It is a horrible thought that some of the species we saw on that safari might not exist in some decades.

After the safari we went on to the roller coasters again. Finally it had stopped raining, so most of them were open. We drove the roller coasters till we were dazed and confused. Helene, Stine and I even took the largest and fastest roller coaster in the world, the Kinga Ka. It was crazy.

All in all, this last week has been fun, adventurous and busy. I mostly have my family to thank for that. The whole time they've been here, I tried to show them as many fun and unique placed as possible, and I hope they had a good time here in the city. Now it's back to work for them, and school for me. The final exam is only three weeks away, and my return to Norway only four. I'm still nut sure if I look forward to leaving, or if it will be terrible. Probably a mixture of both.

Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul

We started off the weekend good, as I got to introduce my family to the amazing rock-bar Cafe Wha?. They loved it! The music, the drinks, the people, the mood - everything. Still, they liked the music most, since the band is so talented and the songs they play so great. It is even grater when they play everything from the oldest rock-and-roll to the slowest ballades to the funkiest rhythms to the captivating latino to the roughest rock songs of my age. There's something there for every age, and maybe especially for the older generation. My mother told me it was like going back to her youth, if only for just a moment.

If you're ever in the city, I recommend you, from all my heart, to visit this fantastic place.