news? not really.. working is great and I love "big city life" (although our housemate Devin from Chicago calls antwerp a town) but it was nice to get out of the city this weekend; housewarmingparty in Hoogstraten and bicycling in the countryside.

Tomorrow im off as well and see my books and coffee in heaven.

There is a sort of irish-pub community going on here..within the Irish Times, Kelly's and the Celtic...everyone knows your name and they know all about you even though you have never met them..and my gosh how gossip travels fast between the pubs. When the boys in the Irish Times are off work they come hang in our bar and vice versa. Bar-people always have a lot of stories to tell.

Tonight Im making Marlous start a Harry Potter-marathon with me.

Skunk Anansie - Carmen Queasy

Been played waaaay to often in the Celtic....
The Streets - Fit but you know it

or maybe this as well...

Aerosmith - Pink

Here its just one festival after the other... last two days its been Vlaanderen feest on the Groenplaats which triggered a bomb in the bar and on our terrace...when five policeofficers walked in it wasnt funny anymore. Until they got some Ice Tea. Where they are now taking down one stage they are putting up another.. the EuroGames start in Antwerp today. And this sunday we ll visit Gent for the Gentse Feesten:)
Laundry-corner
______________________________________________________
Today Im doing laundry like they do in the movies.. you know, you go to a laundrysalon with your washingpowder.. read half a novel next to an old women, throw in the dryer and read the other half. Although I dont really trust dryers.. you never know what or whos clothes you might get back.
Be sure to tip the waitress!

Charlotte:
“Those flowers were supposed to say "We're so sorry, we love you," not "You're dead, let's disco"! “

Live music tonight!

Christy Moore - Ordinary Man


My Guinness he is good

A walk through ANTWERP

the central station

river Scheldt (the name took me 2 years to pronounce right)
The Steen; according to legend, the giant Druoon Antigoon lived there.
De Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (took almost two centuries to build!)
a nice street
The Groenplaats w/statue of P.P. Rubens
The Celtic Ireland (were I work) on the Groenplaats
De Sint-Carolus Borromeuskerk w/beautiful square
Het Stadhuis on de Grote Markt
De Brabofontein

a wall close to our house

K.K. - Grand Hotel

tonight only.

Im loving the bartenders life; waking up to stroling around in the city, coffehouse-hanging and a lot of reading in my favorite jazz cafe, de Muze - Im in deep Harry Potter (half-blood prince) - then working evenings followed by later outgoings.

Tonight is the meeting of the cookers (which almost sounds like hookers) of the upcoming 5day Youth movement camping in south of Belgium.. Our friend Tom has tricked us into cooking for hundreds of teenage scouts...this will no doubt be an experience.

speaking of that I heard "Bomba" played in public for the first time in about 5 years.. this was due to a sort of festival called Tuinfeest in a village called Beerse. you never know where life takes you I guess.

Vive la fete - Tokyo

MY GOODNESS MY GUINNESS!

How to greet.. am I the only one in need of a manual?

In Iceland (at least in my neighbourhood) we shake hands when meeting first time and with friends we give a "half hug one kiss on the cheek" goodbye.. or very good friends and very possibly drunk straight on the lips. But a kiss or hug from first meet would make you look weird.. and possible attacksituation which I witnessed in Bifrost where Seb wanted to give a countryside icelandic girl a friendly kiss.

In Sweden there seems to be an unwritten rule:
first time you meet you shake hands.
second time and forever more you hug eachother. Swedish people are very fond of the "hug-term".. they hug you everywhere and after every single sms or email they write "hug" or on a good day "hugs"..it took me quite some time to get into this hugging with people im not that close with. But even more to get rid of my icelandic habit of giving people a kiss on the cheek.. when I think of it i might have scared some sweeds away.

French friends..my dears give me 2 kisses on the cheek.. and Im aware of this and always prepared.

In Finland.. after a long time to get to know eachother you might get a hug.

Let me tell you about Belgium... here anything goes and there doesnt seem to be any rules to follow!!!! This makes it very hard and can lead to embarrassing situations.
At first meet Ive had everything from handshake, one kiss, two kisses and even three kisses (which I heard was a belgian thing..but still only with some people??!!!?) And then it is very unclear when you are close enough to give a more friendly goodbye.. god im so lost.
At the Celtic on my first day of work my BOSS gives me a one cheek kiss goodbye. Second day and onward all the people at work give you a kiss hello AND goodbye... which now makes us one big happy family behind the bar. And we also get daily kisses from regulars... The Celtic is some kind of Cheers and you hear alot of "cheers" (irish accent) instead of "thank you".

Skunk Anansie - Brazen

Im alive! and so much more.. also very trashed from limited sleep this last week.

Yesterday Jutta and I drove (well more her since I cant drive) to Germany..Through Aachen, Koln, Dortmund and finally to Paderborn where Marlous is doing an internship. Getting back was less than fun.. late, dark, heavy rain and Germany has NO streetlights!!! I was very uneasy in some turns. In the end we reached Hasselt where I crashed.

I HAVE A JOB!!! I met these 2 nice irish boys in a bar and they told me to apply at this irish bar.. I applied some more places and soon enough I was swimming in joboffers. An angel, Joke, at Infopunt Europe helped me with all numbers after super unfriendly people at the district Antwerpen.

So now Ive been working 3 days in an irish bar at the Groenplaats which is the square on the picture up there... So that is where youll find me, at Celtic Ireland keeping the Guinness and Kilkenny floating;)

K s choice - not an addict

In the fashion city itself there is a fashionshow going on from the Academy. All 4 years students show their collections on a runway. Eva wanted to go and told me she "had a plan".. cause tickets for the show were like 30 euros! So what was the plan? yes.. in pooring rain me and Eva come riding together on 1 bicycle with a bag of OUR OWN clothes and some coathangers... I havent been sneaking around like a criminal since I was 15 years.. so I was very sceptic of this plan going in through the backdoors... Eva told me that the secret is just to "look like you are suppose to be there"... believe it or not but we got in easily and saw the whole fashionshow with free cocktails!! and let me just say WAUW what a show.. some of the stuff was so great:) Thank you Eva!

here is the website of the show; http://www.antwerp-fashion.be/

Hoi!
A very hectic last week in Sweden with thesis, jury, housewarming/goodbye/firestation parties and such .. This summer the people of AF are remodeling our kitchen..hùrra! For you who have seen it before dont need explaining why; to make this possible we had to spend a whole day going through50 years of kitchensupplies...including "The Nostalgic Box"with photos of students living there through time..Dont people just look great in the 80s? And in the name of ROCK! we threw that smelly sofa from the 70s off the roof.

Im now arrived in Antwerp.

I came here wednesday evening and already thirsday morning I found myself working in the University Hospital kitchen..Just for a day. People didnt really speak english there, which gave my dutch a real push for the better. The whole experience made me feel a bit disoriented since Id just landed a few hours earlier. In the evening we met Tom and his friend for a real belgian beer. Sweet!

Our house i a very nice old one and very central. As you see Im already adapting here by exagerating through "very", which Antwerpians like to do; they say "kei"(something like "very") a whole lot.. Keigoed. Keimottig. Ive also learned that you should refer to Antwerp as "THE CITY" (t stad) cause it is obvious to Antwerpians that Antwerp is the center of the world.

Friday was another barhopping now with Eva and brother, Sami and finnish girlfriend, Jutta and girlfriend. In the end we picked up Amy and stumbled into an Irish bar, where actually I might get work. For the first time I experienced KRIEK which is CHERRYBEER.. and it wasnt bad at all.

Saturday we touristed the whole city with Amy.. went to an interesting museum with a lot of Rubens paintings; after all this is his city. After dinner in the countryside at Marlous s parents, the evening started with Sangria at Meintjes and Thijs new house.... it ended with a Singstar teambattle!!! Jaeks! I think the shall we say highpoint was Thijs vs Marlous rapping Tricky with Run DMC.

Yes, I have a new phonenumber: +324476301909 which you are welcome to call.

More news later!

Groetjes!

Run DMC - Its tricky

As you may have guessed..I´m letting time pass by keeping busy. This is one of my favorite websites which I recommend to all you www.bored.com working as receptionists or so.

www.sleepinginairports.net
..I think I should contribute with my horrible experience sleeping in Kastrup Airport where hell broke loose due to a bombthreat at the railwaysstation shortly after the drawings. Wasn´t that fun.

REYKJAVIK (Leif Eriksson International Terminal) 2006 (Terminal 1 - ML) -

"I am an airline apprentice and so have to travel stand-by.
After a two weeks stay in Iceland, the most expensive country in the world (even tiny villages are more expensive than London or Tokyo) I had no freaking Dime left for accommodation.
When I arrived at the airport in the evening with my flight departing early the next morning, I found myself surrounded by signs saying "sleeping in the airport is prohibited".
Rumours also told me, the airport would be closed at midnight.
Desperate as I was, I sneaked around the check-in area and actually found a hidden place: a customs-room with two small tables (else nothing) which made me a nice bed together with my sleeping bag.
So I stayed there, but the door could not be closed (why? No idea), and I heard the noises getting less and less, until there where only construction workers, security staff and cleaning personnel.
I guess I would have made it quite comfortable through the night, unless I wouldn't snore like a sick hippo.
I found myself shaken by a grinning security guy later that night, who had the nerves to throw me out of the airport at 3o'clock in the morning, with my plane leaving at 7.
So I had to spend the night at the open air parking space of Keflavik airport, with freezing 5°C.
May that guy burn in hell.
So remember: there's a little customs room right to the drinks machine and the ATM machine in the check-in area.
But may heaven prevent you from snoring."

Dave Brubeck´s - Take Five (my favorite)

very high knowledge reading at this point in my life. It does seem humanly possible to learn, opposed to finnish. Perkelen paska.

Ligt mijn koffer open,
dan gaan mijn knuffels lopen.
Piept daar een gezicht?
KLIK-KLAK, mijn koffer dicht!

Two years of university almost at its end, thrown in the trunk of my non-existing car. nor license.
Or as we rockstars say: Thank you Lund! You´ve been a wonderful audience!!!!

Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing

(I guess it´s just the Monday)

Má ég bara nefna. Fari þessi ritgerð og veri. Við erum núna í alls konar basli í sambandi við beygluna og lesum aðrar ritgerðir til þess að gagnrýna. 4 júni er komið sumarfrí.
Það er búið að vera hrikalega næs veður hér á bæ og minns er bara búin að flatmagast í stórborginni Malmö með nýtilkomna dellu fyrir pocketbókum! Til dæmis John Grisham! Sjáið þetta fyrir ykkur, sól, mannlíf, ískaldur og spennó bók. Ég fæ gæsahúð.

(mynd: fallega Universitets bibliotek í Lundi)

Ég fann líka annað æðisgengið safn..

Skissernas Museum ( Museum of Sketches – Archive of Public Art): ekki á hverjum degi sem ég segi upphátt “Váá!!”.. þar má meðal annars finna verk eftir ERRÓ, Ásmund Sveinsson, Leif Breiðfjörð og ómerkari menn Picasso,

Míró, Henri Matisse etc. Missið ekki af þessu ef þið eigið leið hingað.

Billy Idol - Rebell Yell

Eins og þau segja; á morgun á að skila "STÓRU ritgerðinni"..enda hefur nú ekkert lítið gengið á! Öss já, komin með nóg. Við erum búnar að vera þrjár í hóp og ein stelpan er ekki alveg á sömu blaðsíðunni í lífinu.
Þið munið ekki verða þeirrar ánægju aðnjótandi að lesa engilsaxneskuna mína lengur (eða kannski í bili)..það er kominn tími til að hressa upp íslenskuna sem hefur aðeins og mikið farið á mis.. Spennið beltin, búist er við mörgum málfræðivillum, sænsku/enskuslettum og almennri ómynd.

Á morgun koma þeir Atli bró, Steini og Eggert!! Strákarnir ætla sumsé að "crasha" í 16 m2 villunni minni. Góður. Þeir eru á roadtrip-i um Evrópu þar sem Eggert, búsettur í Debrecen Ungverjalandi, er að flytja bílinn heim via Norrænu. (það mætti halda að ég væri að skrifa ritgerð ha..) Ojbara.
Fótboltaleikur í Malmö. Búist er við æsispennandi leik Malmö FF/Dam (þær heita víst Lbd FC núna, sem er húðkrem..) og Umeå; ef ég fylgdist rétt með eru þetta tvö efstu liðin. Allir á völlinn!!

Eftir leikinn skellum við Emma og Linnéa okkur á ekki meira né minna en dragshow, Cabaret Moulin, með "gellunum" í Babes, þær Frk Vega, Babuscka og Elektra! Trúiði þessu, það eru mest eldriborgarar sem sækja showið - Alger snilld - Bjórinn á skíðogingenting nb!

Joe Cocker - You can leave your hat on

Dresden Dolls - Coin-operated boy




I will share with you some of our recieved answers to our McSurvey in USA.
These are the most random answers.. but people seem to have very strong oppinions on the subject.

"Here you go to McDonalds because you get a lot of bang per buck."

“It’s fast food for lazy people.”

“McDonald’s is part of American pop culture. It’s known as American around the world.
Media makes it so. “

“The American food culture is hard to define because of all the different cultures within, but the hamburger is pretty American.”

"It’s a “good” option for poor parents to get cheap dinner quickly for their family. When you have big current problems you don’t care about if food is healthy or if you’re fat or not. You’re putting food on the table and that’s your first priority"

"At McDonalds it seems as if "Bigger is Better". Mega meals with two Big Mac, extra large sodas and fries are promoted as a good offers...."

"I have not ate at McDonalds since August 2006 and I am proud of not paying a corporation like that to continue feeding garbage into our bodies. I used to eat there all the time. I feel more healthy now, and have lost 5 lbs."

“McDonald’s? People are addicted to McDonald´s. “

"McDonald’s is cheap, fast and actually quite tasty but you feel crappy after eating it."

"I eat at mcdonald´s a couple of time a week, we have a restaurant on campus. It’s very practical and fast to go their for lunch."

To exaggerate. This stupid thesis is sucking my will to live... Been translating since 7 o´clock this morning; from english to swedish, swedish to icelandic, english to icelandic and even english to icelandic to swedish...what a soup of mess! !
At this moment Raggan and mint-tea is keeping me alive/awake;

Ragnheiður Gröndal - Ferrari

Laundry-Sunday with Annie and Christoffer

Congratulations Serbia! Amazing voice and well deserved victory!

The whole sofa at home agreed there have never been so many generally good songs competing..Serbia, Germany, Sweden, Georgia, Latvia and many more.. and the stage in Hartwall Areena kicked ass! Hyvää Suomi!!

However. I fully support the idea that this competition will be divided into East/West. This "neighbourhood-voting" has lost all control (Nordic countries included!) CLEARLY there is not the same musictaste going on here...

And honestly speaking. How tha hell can a deadboring song like the Armenian "Anytime you need" come eight?!! On top I think there is an historic lowpoint in Eurovision when Ukraina comes second with this shit of a "song".

I am very disappointed with the voting for Sweden and Finland, they should not sit close to performances like (Not-so-great)-Great Britain. I have to agree with my best Sandra that Hanna Pakarinen "was INSANE!"!! Oikein HYVÄÄ!!!;)

Today it´s FOOTBALL! A couple of Icelanders are going to see:

Malmö FF/Dam vs. Kopparbergs/Göteborg


(mainly to cheer on the footballstar Ásthildur Helgadóttir)

Chuck Berry - School Day

Well well..no time to cry although this competition has moved itself far away to the east. Our Red Viking was great non the less and this whole day will be schlager, dancing and celebration! (and studying:() The whole neighbourhood has started with baseball outside and HUGE musicspeakers directed to the streets.

Happy Eurovision tonight!

For you swedish speakers this is something you have to see..listen to the lyrics!

Linda Bengtzing&Markoolio - Värsta Schlagern (worst schlager.. a joke on Eurovision and schlager)

"if you don´t want to ruin your chances of winning

you can steal something from ABBA

and see that risk fade away

...and here come the eurovision high tones!"

Linda Bengtzing - Alla flickor

EUROVISION-WEEKEND 2007

Tomorrow semi-final!
I´ll be joining my dear brother Atli and his friend in Copenhagen to cheer on Iceland!




12th of May FINAL!
Eurovisionparty in our corridor! Ulrikedalsvägen 4p2 welcome!

Who is going to win????

Some of my personal favorites are:
Sweden (of course)
Germany
Serbia
ok..Seb, France

Most horrible:
Ukraina - first of all this is not even a song..just a man dressed up like an annoying discoball. (well just like Silvia Night and that didn´t go too well;)..)

I want to start by thanking everyone for their great help! People are so nice these days and I think in the end of all we´ll have around 50 american surveys:)

I´m probably not the only one getting bored with school stuff.. Just want summer and be able to read whatever I want.. I´ve decided this will be the summer of literature; hmm though...what to read? If you have some life altering books to share please do.

Lasagna-updates;
* Marlous and I tried for the first time to make Vegetarian-Lasagna.
* Had the "best in test" spinatlasagna made by Linnéa and Emma at dinner party in Malmö..it is weird not having Emma around the house anymore but I´m jealous to the bone of their new house next to "Möllan".

Barbecue at Lomma-beach:

Now it´s just schoolwork, schoolwork, schoolwork....and 28 days til Belgium!
The first month I´ll be living alone there (except some random flatmate..hope she´ll be nice)..Let´s see how that will go: me and my map again.

ik heb geen auto maar wel een fiets!

I´m going to get the girls from home to visit me;) Koma svo Brynja, Solla, Tinna og Dóra!

ah now Desperate Housewives evening with the housemates, got to go!

Kent - Dom Andra

Attention shoppers!

We are three girls headhunting for american people!

We are making an emailsurvey on the image of McDonalds from consumers point of view!

So we would very much appriciate your (or your american friends) help..the survey takes about 5 minutes to answer.

If you can/want to help please send us a mail at:

drifa_i@hotmail.com

The Cranberries - Ode To My Family

Pictureshow II - Valborg in Lund (last of april)

This is the greatest in Lund.. This year I planned to actually be conscious past half three; well succeded! We moved and planted ourselves in the Stadspark around 9.30 in the morning..the hardcore people started at 7! I think the picures speak for themselves:

why not?

Cecilia, Annie and Martin (from the corridor)

Stadsparken

Marlous at the radio

Amy and Emma
Jimmy
Linnéa and Madhav
Sofia and Dirk

our "barbique"

Christoffer (f/corridor)

Thijs

hmm..
kl.20:47 update of the day
I just got a confirmation concerning my dislike of MUSICALS (with the exeption of Grease and Sound of Music)... my god aren´t they just annoying??!! Now I will try to shut up about it around people who live for musicals. Whoever that might be. Hnuss.

I´m having a writersblock and lacking all words; here you have the latest photos from my life

Pictureshow I - Kullaberg with Meintje&Thijs

hiking in Kullaberg

Marlous&Meintje

lost our way in the wilderness
we got tired
picnic
risked our lives the Tom Cruise way
more climbingMeintje was awarded for her climbing shoes
spying on boats
found a cave

Carla Bruni - Tout le monde