Éire!

Ireland was just as amazing as I've always believed it was...! Just everything about it, weird enough i felt like home... So i do hope that I'll be able to study there... Or work in/run a pub there, that would be the dream...

But yeah, we did have a few problems before we came to Ireland, when we came to Copenhagen, all of a sudden we had to take a plane to Frankfurt and then Dublin, so we lost 6 hours there... But at least we weren't travelling with children, felt really sorry for 3 of our fellow passengers, but the kid was great, didn't hear her cry once...But yeah when we arrived at Dublin airport we got some more bad news...our backpacks were still in Copenhagen...a bit bummed...but there was nothing we could do about it anyway, so we filled out the form, and since it was so late we took a taxi to the hostel...

The next day we walked around Dublin, got to see Dublin Castle, Trinity College, and the Book of Kells..and being us of course we did some shopping.. :S bought a few books and gift for the family..:P When we got back to the hostel we waited one hour or so, then we got our luggage, and we were soo happy..:P Freshened up a bit, then we went to Temple Bar to see the match...:P It was the UEFA the week we were there, so we had to watch..:P Even got to use my polish! yay:P hehe started talking with a polish guy, he was working for Ryan Air... after the match we got some live music, was really great..knew two of the songs..:P "Fields of Athenry" and "Whiskey in the Jar" but it was good fun! Or great craic! :P

The next day we went to see The Chester Beatty library, that was neat! Later that day we were going to Cork, it started pouring down so we took a bus to the bus station:P didn't quite figure it out at first, but a sweet old lady helped us out..:P We were actually the first norwegians she met:P her parents were irish, but they lived in Boston until they were 6, then they moved back to Ireland... We got to the station and took the next bus to Cork, we didn't have a hostel here, but trusted our "bible" the lonely planet..:P and ended up at a fairly nice hostel, but the rooms almost felt like a prison cell, it was 8 beds, and just enough room for two people passing eachother sideways... Really felt sorry for Alexander then, and knowing that it's even worse where he is... Since we just had 8 days in all we only stayed 2 nights in Cork, and the next say we took a sightseeing tour, first a city tour, then they drove out to Blarney Castle. Here we kissed the Blarney stone and achieved the gift of the gab..:P And of course with our luck, we came there at the same time as a bunch of americans that were on a cruise, so the line up the castle was much longer than it usually was...ah well, been through worse..:P (Eiffel Tower) when we came back to Cork we went to the pub to watch the match..:P And JB started making a plane out of paper...:P After awhile Humphrey and Eamonn came over, turned out that they had done exactly the same thing, so we had to test them...turned out JB was the expert! :P Both of them were from Kerry, but were studying agriculture in Cork. Sat there talking until the pub closed, surprisingly enough very early, but it was good fun :) even got to practice on my Gaelic..:P Conas ata tu? :P

The next day it was time to move on...Our next stop was Galway, we didn't have time to plan anything before we travelled, but Consi was nice enough to help us out with places to see ++ :)
and Galway was amazing! Might be the sun made it even better, but the first impression was very good, and it stayed that way..:P only thing was, we didn't have a hostel...and that turned out to be a problem, went to one hostel first, but they didn't have anything available, but they called another hostel for us, and they had two beds that night, but nothing after that...so we checked in for one night, and then went hostel hunting...:P was turned down 2-3 places before we found one, but then it was all good..:P walked around the town a bit after that, JB found a toy shop she just didn't wanna leave..;) and later we found a pub and got to see live music and the match...life was good..:P hehe

The next day we were ready for yet another sightseeing tour..:P yeah i know, but we wanted to see a bit..:P The driver was great, funny and knew a lot..we drove over The Burren, got to see Dunguire Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Poulnabrone Dolmen, Aillwe Cave ++ was great! The weather wasn't that great, but at least it wasn't foggy when we were at the cliffs, so then it's all good...:P

When we got back to Galway , it started pouring down, but ah well, we found a pub, and tried to watch the match, but this time it wasn't that easy, turned out to be stag/hen night, and at first they didn't believe that we were there to watch the game...convinced them later though:P After the match we started talking with some and had a fun night, even learned some sort of dance:P But we left rather early 'cause we were going back to Dublin early next morning...

Back in Dublin we just walked around, watched some street bands, one of them "Slainte" was really great! :) We were also back at Kinlay Hostel, this time we slept in a 26 dorm, but we were upgraded, to make a long story short, JB is a light sleeper, and she woke up, and thought she heard water pouring... but it was a guy urinating in the corner...she kept him awake (he must have been drugged or something) and i went down and told the receptionist, they came up and helped us out... Darn the strangest things happens at hostels, but it's weird though, we travelled around in South America for 2 months and nothing weird happened, but one week in Ireland... well enough said..:p hehe must be something in the air.. ;)

Well after 8 days it was time to go home....I really didn't want to, but there's one thing for sure, i'm definitely going back!!! at least once before Nicaragua, and hopefully study there...time will tell i guess... :) at least i got the dream...

some more photos...just click on them to know more..;)

IRELAND on monday!!

wow time really passed quickly lately, and i'm so glad, super excited now!! actually going to Ireland on monday, one more day at work, and then it's time...Ireland here we come! Haven't actually planned much, we were gonna do it, but never got the time really..well we'll figure something out tomorrow i guess, got the lonely planet book, and we also got some advice on what to do and where to go from Consi (an irish guy we hang out with in Bolivia/Peru) too bad he's not gonna be there, he's one of the lucky ones still travelling around...luck of the irish

But yeah, we know a few things we wanna see, the cliffs of moher, the book of kells (trinity college) blarney castle (to kiss the blarney stone and achieve "the gift of the gab") a typical irish pub ++++ there's a lot more still:P

an i guess my dad and oldest brother really would like to go aswell, daddy never asks for anything, but this time he actually asked me to buy a cd to him, with typical irish music (he loves that) and my brother wanted me to find some cool signs etc for his basement pub...:P and people ask why i'm so into ireland? :P

well apart from that life here is still as usual, working every day, hanging out with friends, taking sjakk for a walk, and finally got up with my reading again, been reading Frank McCourts books lately since we're going to Ireland, and might go to Limerick... But now i'm gonna start read the classics i never read at school :P started with Alexander Kielland, gonna read Ernest Hemingway later...:P

Going to IRELAND in 24 days!!!

Here in Sirdal life is as it always is...rather boring in other words..;) hehe nah it's not to bad... But when you work every day (even weekends, and yeah sunday aswell) for a month, you get bored. And especially when the job 'aint that exciting either... But yeah wasn't gonna write a blog about the job, 'cause there's something better coming up: After many many years of dreaming of it, listening to irish music, reading stories and books about it, I'm finally realizing my dream about travelling to Ireland! :D



JB and I have talked about it for ages, there's just something about Ireland, the music, the stories (fairies, leprechauns and what not) the scenery, not to forget the language, and the people! Ireland just can't be bad..:P

We started planning a little bit yesterday, we're gonna start off in Dublin, maybe rent a car (depends on the cost, and if we're old enough, some places it seems like we have to be 23 :S) but i dunno if we want to drive on the "wrong" side of the road either, so might be better just taking a bus..:P Haven't planned much yet, but we wanna go to Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick +++ thing is, we only have 8 days, so we aren't sure where to go yet. Ah well, got 7 months before I travel to Nicaragua, so will probably visit Ireland again before that:P

Apart from that, there's not much new happening, or JB and I got this Sunday off, so we're going down to the city, or Jæren, can't call that a city..;) going to the market, and probably watch a football match:P (Viking - Brann) so yeah life 'aint to bad..:P

Nicaragua here I come!

Well the decision is made, I'm going to Nicaragua to study spanish and Latin American culture in the spring semester, gonna work and most likely travel a bit the autumn semester...so yeah everything worked out pretty good the way I see it! :D Gonna live in a city called Leòn

"A refined, intense and politically progressive city with volcanic views.

León provides what many frustrated visitors look for in Managua: a cultural center with mind-blowing churches, thriving universities, fabulous art collections and historic sites. Its colonial architecture may still bear bullet holes from the 1970s, but its appeal is undeniable."

And I'm gonna study at the beach, with hammocks close by:D and there's a surfing school nearby... Gonna have 12 exciting weeks..:D there are also vulcanoes nearby...yeah kinda excited at the moment:P

Då blir det kanskje Nicaragua ja....

Går litt fram å tebage her, å såvidt eg klare fylla me sjøl...:P Men he alltid sagt eg vil læra spansk, å komme liksom aldri lengre enn det. Vurderte å ta et friår t, å sjå ke som skjedde, men nå he eg fonne det perfekta studiet...så lenge d funke å ta d..:P He våre i kontakt med dei som drive med det, å sjøl om fristen e ute på samordna opptak, så he dei spesielle avtala me universitetå/Høgskulane... Tingen e at det e kun et semester (30 studiepoeng) men eg lege me tanken på å ta det eina semesteret, å så jobba det andra å søga på skule igjen høsten 2009...Har sendt mail å spurt, så nå blir det spennande å se ke dei seie...*fingers crossed* funke det, så blir d Nicaragua på mg ja..:P

Studietilbudet i Nicaragua Høgskolen i Vestfold tilbyr i samarbeid med Kulturstudier fulltids studium i spansk og latinamerikastudier i León, Nicaragua. Studiet går over ett semester og gir en innføring i spansk språk og latinamerikanske samfunnsforhold. Dette kurset øker studentens kommunikasjonsevner i spansktalende land, samtidig som en får en forståelse av grunnleggende trekk ved latinamerikansk samfunn og kultur. Denne kombinasjonen giør studenten bedre egnet til å studere, jobbe og reise i Latin-Amerika, samtidig som en får en større evne til å jobbe i prosjekter og organisasjoner som arbeider med latinamerikanske forhold i Norge. Studiet er åpent for alle som er interesserte i å tilegne seg kunnskaper i spansk språk og innsikt i latinamerikansk kultur og samfunn. Emnet kan inngå som en del av lærerstudiet, særlig i kombinasjon med andre språk, eller i bachelorutdanninger innenfor fag som historie, sosialantropologi, samfunnsgeografi, sosiologi, statsvitenskap og språkfag. Studiet er delt opp i to fagretninger – latinamerikastudier og spansk – med to alternative nivåer innenfor spansken (nybegynner og viderekommen). Spansken utgjør to tredjedeler av kurset, og Latinamerikastudiene utgjør den siste tredjedelen. En diagnostiske test bestemmer hvilken av spanskmodulene studenten bør velge (se nedenfor). Alle studenter må ta eksamen i latinamerikastudier og en av spanskmodulene. Det vil bli gitt én samlet karakter, og en må bestå alle deleksamener for å bestå kurset. All undervisning for kurset vil bli gitt i León, Nicaragua, og undervisningen for de forskjellige kursene og modulene vil bli gitt paralellt.

Studera elle redda skilpadde?

Kjenne tvilen melda seg litt nå ja, va ganske fast bestemt på å begynna å studera å bli ferdig me deg, men i d sista e eg i tvil...Har eg valgt rett fag? Vil eg bli sosialantropolog? Lege litt me tanken på å stikka t Hawai et par måneda å jobba me skilpadde, ta et 4 veges spanskkurs å læra d skikkeligt, å reisa litt mer rondt i Sør/Sentral-Amerika..men så e d d at d blir jo bare vanskeligare å begynna å studera, livet slutte jo kje sjøl om eg studere et par år, kan alltids reisa seinare åg, men kjenne eg e så rastlause når eg e her heime...men flytte eg t Bergen så e jo d forandring d åg...hmm må nok bare fundera litt t ja...innspill e hjerteli velkommen...trenge litt råd å tips ja...

men må nok bare fylla rådet t spådamå i ecuador, kje stressa å ta ting som d komme..:P ting ordne seg som regel..:)

Dette e prosjektet eg konne tenkt mg å jobbd me...frivillig arbeid e jo åg en ting som ser bra ud på cv-en så heilt bortkasta hadde d kje våre, + eg hadde lært meg t å bli mer sjølstendige, å d trengs! :P

15. ARCAS Sea Turtle Conservation – Hawaii

Description: In 1993, ARCAS initiated its conservation activities in the Hawaii area, primarily as a response to threats to leatherback and olive ridley turtle populations by local egg collectors. Despite their endangered status, virtually all turtle nests are harvested and the eggs sold to restaurants or markets. Turtle eggs are popular in Guatemala as an aphrodisiac, clearly not a basic need given a population growth rate of nearly 3%. In this program, ARCAS solicits donations of turtle eggs from local collectors and then reburies the eggs in protected hatcheries. After an incubation period of roughly 45 days, the hatchlings are released into the sea.

Activities: During the egg-laying season (June-October), volunteers spend nights walking the beach in search of nesting turtles. Once found, they collect the eggs and bury them in the hatchery. Once the eggs begin hatching (mid-July – December), volunteers assist in releasing the hatchlings and excavating the nests to determine the hatchlings’ success rate.

Minimum: 2/3 weeks

Spanish: Intermediate

Schedule: Flexible

Location: Hawaii is located 8 kilometers east of Monterrico, on the west coast of Guatemala. Volunteers buy and cook their own food.

Paris je'taime

Kom tebage frå Sør-Amerika å reiselysten va ennå sterke...Så i påsken snakkte Britt, Janne Britt å eg om ke kjekkt d hadde våre å toge en tur t Paris...fant någen billige billetta å då hadde me kje någe valg, måtte bare benytta sjansen..:P

Me budde på St. Christophers Inn/Belushis å d e seriøst et a di finaste hostellå eg har budd på, begynne å bli et par ettekvert:P D va nytt i Januar, va kjempestort, me koselige bar/restaurant nere, tv ståva, koselige rom, reint å fint...sånt kan me liga...me budde på 10 mannsrom, me en amerikaner å to frå canada...resten rakk me kje møda:P
Dn fysste dagen valsa me rondt å kikkte litt, gjekk bort t Eiffeltårnet å såg d by night:P va kjempefint!
I løpet a dei 4 dagane me hadde rakk me en heile del, va i toppen på eiffeltårnet (kun 2 tima i kø) tog en bådtur på Seinen, såg Mona Lisa å Louvre, reiste t Versaille å såg solkongepalasset, Notre Dame, Sacre Cour, Moulin Rouge, Montmarte, en gravgård der Jim Morrison ligge begravd (huske kje navnet på an), såg triumfbuen (akkurat den dagen va dar masse krigsveterana å hadde en samling, la ned buketta å sto me flagg å greie) traff rare franskmenn å koselige franskmenn:P
Alt i alt hadde me 4 travle, kjempekjekke dage, va ude frå kl9 t ca 11 på kvelden, å d kjentes på beinå ettekvert:P blei någe vannblemme hehe:P men men va absolutt verdt d...
Bittelitt shopping blei d åg, va i et kjøpesenter som låg onna jordå, 3 etasja onna bakken..:P klarte åg gå åkke litt vill der:P





Notre Dame
Sacre Cour
Hadde god plass t bagasjen :P
Rommet åkka..
3 sledne jente inni Louvre








Någen som sa turist?
Udforbi Louvre
Britt fotograferte ivrigt, dette va en a di normale stillingane..;)
Blei en tur t Versaille åg
Fekk sett Mona Lisa, litt mindre enn eg hadde trudd ja...