various and sundry.... quite a week

Ohlala I'm behind on things I've been wanting to share.  This last week was quite full and wrapped up with a weekend of sunshine.  I feel like a new woman!  Just what I needed!

Wednesday was quite a day and rather unexpected.

A Norwegian friend of mine, Egil, invited me to attend a 'meet-up' of BMUG: Business Model User Group workshop on Wednesday night.  It's a entrepreneurial oriented group and a mix of business people and IT app programmers.  We had some presentations about facebook and apps to begin... in Norwegian of course!  But, the best part was I actually understood a fair amount of the first presentation.  Yea!  The women spoke at a good pace and had a rather straight dialect which is helpful.  The second presenter had a pretty heavy dialect so I was outta luck.  It's all good.  Then we were presented with a business plan template, a new app idea, split into groups and set off for 30 minutes or so.  We reconvened and present our plan ideas.  I was chosen to present for our group ... somehow I always get roped into that :P  And, as I've mentioned before, Norwegians speak very good English so it was no problem to be involved.  I really appreciate this because it's been a great way to meet new people.  Overall it was a great night and I hope to take part in their future events.

Previous to the BMUG meet-up, I happened upon a royal spotting.  I was coming home from school, there was some commotion around Bryggen and I had heard Prince Charles and Camilla were in town.  I had a little time to linger and no sooner had I walked up than they walked out of a store front.  I kid you not.  Maybe 20 feet away... one of the perks of living in a town of 200,000.  Wild!  And, they were accompanied by King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway. 

Prince Charles and Queen Sonja
source: Bergens Tidende

Thus, quite a day on Wednesday and the week finished out strong.

I was fortunate to be invited to dinner on my friend Marius's boat with Trine, Christine and Kenneth on Thursday.  Good fun laughing and sharing stories.  And, Friday was sunset beers at 'the boathouse'. Always good company at the boathouse.  The photo below was taken from the deck there the weekend before.  I post it to show you the fantastic location and my good fortune that the 3 guys that live there have extended me an open invitation.  Ah yes, and, Sunday waffles in the sun with this view= la vida.  Jealous yet?  Just remember this sight is rare, most of the time it's overcast and rainy.  My flatmate put it well- if Bergen had this weather consistently, it would be the San Diego of Norway. True!

Pictures from my sunny weekend this weekend coming soon....

riding on my sunshine high,

lisa liv 

Back to B-Town, My Second Home

Aside from fighting some gnarly jet lag, it's great to be back in Bergen.  My body won't let me fall asleep so I just ran 7 miles, took a hot shower and am working on a generous glass of wine.  Come on home remedy!  Until then, I'm all yours.

I arrived in Bergen on Thursday afternoon and it looked much like this picture which I took from my flat in December just before heading home for the holidays.  Yup, from 70 degree sunshine in San Diego to this.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thursday evening some NHH masters friends were having a gathering a few blocks away.  Many of these friends were abroad last semester so it's great to have them back and many living close to me in 'sentrum'.  One of these is dear friend Bea who I got to visit in Paris last December.  Ahhhh Paris!

Fondue with Bea!

Notre Dame.. went to mass on Sunday for advent



Cite Universitaire- where Bea lived for the semester,,, rough life

Le Tower Eiffel

Back to Thursday night- I left the pre-party since it had been a long day of travel.  I'm so darn responsible :P  I swung by Cafe Opera to say hi to all the 'jam session' friends which was fun.  Then, upon arriving home, my fabulous flatmates, Bjornar and Kenneth, from last semester (I'm in a new flat this semester- sublet each semester) had texted they had a beer waiting for me.  Ugh!  How can a gal say no?!  So, like any responsible person, I promptly walked my way back out to meet up.  I love that I can walk everywhere in Sentrum- it's awesome!  So, Thursday night was a wonderful night of reconnecting.

A big thanks to all my wonderful friends in SoCal who made the winter break at home truly wonderful.  And, thank you mother nature for providing some insane weather.

Up next- a very full week at school.  And, I think I'm headed off to a cabin next week for some friend time and cross-country skiing.. so excited!! 

hugs from the great north!

lisa liv

48 hours...

.... until I'm up-up- and away back to lovely Bergen, Noway.  I've been enjoying a nice extended stay in San Diego while starting work on my thesis.  As mentioned I'm looking at algae as a biofuel source.  And The Algal Biofuel Organization (ABO) just launched AllAboutAlgae.com (click on it to head to the site).  Cool!  It's a nice little intro to everything algae.  Enjoy!

More posts about life in Norway soon, I promise.  I've been laying low at 'Garza', the family home.  A big thank you to all the wonderful friends I've been able to see while I've been in SoCal.  You've been a real highlight.  And, thank you sunshine for being so abundant.  I've soaked you up and stored you for the next few months in Bergen.

back to packing,

lisa liv

ps. weather looks good to go in all my connecting cities- Chicago and Copenhagen.

pps. i checked my seats and I have all isle seats, score! 

chasing the sun

Finally, some rays of sun last Friday and Saturday!  I must say, Bergen is really beautiful... when it's not raining :)  Eh, even when it is raining it's a beautiful little place, just a bit trickier to enjoy (like my very wet ill prepared feet today... I thought I could get away with flats. Negative).  The result of all the rain is a very serious enjoyment of sunshine when it comes.  It seemed as if everyone in Bergen was out in full force on Friday afternoon.  I loved the sense of joy and community in the air.  As I walked past restaurants people were at outside tables enjoying each other, sunglasses and a beer.  

I arrived home from school on friday afternoon to my flatmates orchestrating a little BBQ for the park.  We grabbed a one-time-use grill, some burger makings, beer, blankets, veggies and my guitar and headed over to the park.  What a great evening!

Bjørnar, Ida and Knut Anders readying the feast

2 of my 3 fantastic flatmates-Knut Anders and Bjørnar 

Then, to enjoy a little more fresh air and the local mountains around Bergen, some good friends from school and I did a nice local day hike, 'vidden,' from Floyen to Ulriken on Saturday.

Martha, Anette and Eli

Vidden success!  A celebratory beer atop Ulriken looking down at Bergen

Alas, the rain returns.  And so we study until the sun shows up again so we can then scamper outside for some more fun, sunglasses and afternoon beer.

klemmer,

lisa liv 

Time's a flyin

This is my last week in San Diego as I head back to Bergen on Sunday, August 21 (arriving August 22).  I'm working surf camp in the mornings because it's just darn fun.... yahoo, I'm back in the water (see last post)!  Then I have time to wrap other things up and see friends and family in the afternoon/evening.

More soon on exciting and positive things that happened this summer.  California is alive with energy... literally, dare I use a surfing term.... there is a exciting 'stoke' here on new technologies and the continued push for renewable energy sources as part of the energy mix.  I love it and I love seeing application for my classroom studies.

Here's to a week more of some lovely sunshine at my favorite beach, I'm savoring every minute.

hugs,

lisa liv