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 

late night study aids...

.... My flatmate Kenneth got a wild hare to make some 10:30pm waffles on Sunday evening.  What a grand idea indeed!  He made the batter from scratch and didn't have to ask Ida, Bjornar or me twice to help him polish them off.  And, standard Norwegian heart shaped!

yuuuuum

And, Norwegians cover surfing too!  This was in the weekend paper... quite a big wave ride.  I of course told my flatmates these are the kind of waves I surf all the time.  Riiiiiight.  Though, I will admit I can't wait to get back in the ocean when I'm back in San Diego in December

Back to the books.  Finals- they just keep coming.  I'm done December 6th.  I can't believe this is semester number 3 down?!  Woah, it feels like just yesterday I was applying to programs.  And now I'm eating waffles at 10:30pm on a Sunday night in Bergen, Norway.  Goes to show you really just never know where life will take you if you are open to it.

xoxo, 

nerd girl

ps. gossip girl is a little indulgence here and there, especially during finals period :) 

pps. my flatmates and I are doing a Thanksgiving dinner on Friday!  So excited!