Hihi

Seems like I was the first person who finished the test! That`s not a good thing you say? Jeez, you should`ve mentioned that earlier... Actually, I finished 3 minutes ago. The test started 09.20 GMT. Which means 30 minutes of 60. Oh well. Coffeetime! :D

Test tomorrow...

As the headline suggests, tomorrow will be the first time abroad when I'll be tested... It's just a non-compulsory test in Financial Mathematics and Statistics, and the result won't count. Still, with my 10 day history of coughing I have only been to 0.3 of 10 lessons... So it will be interesting to see my level compared with the others. Actually I spent the entire day at school today! The guys I already know wondered whether I studied there, and I trully felt like the new kid in town!

Music tips of the day (Norwegian): "Hei Reidar" by Vassendgutane :D The beginning of the song is: "Hei Reidar, har du kjøpt deg ein ny gjødselspreidar?". Fantastic... Well, I think I'll go to bed early, hopefully I'll be in shipshape tomorrow morning. Here's today joke: (courtesy of Odd).

Surfing tip of the day:

I just HAVE to post this: The Swedish irony metal group Black Ingvars have launched a cover version of Schnappi: das kleine Krokodil... And it's a blast! They wanted to release it on their new record with rocked child classics, but the German record company refused to distribute the rights.
Just to give you an image of their twist on old classics: The good old Led Zeppelin hit "Whole Lotta Love" was covered by Black Ingvars as "Whole Lotta Engberg"... Fantastic! Just what Schnappi needed, more guitar riffs! :D





You gotta love those guys!

On the link here you can actually stream the song (Courtesy of Aftonbladet). Up yours, German record company! :D

Anders - The Cold: 2-0

This and yesterday evening I went to see Champions League games at local pubs. Yesterday we ended up at a Russian vodka bar, Potemkin, mostly because they were the only ones showing the Man Utd match... So there we were sitting, four Norwegian guys, in a Russian vodka bar, watching an English team play against a Portugese one. Quite strange!

Tonight we were at a local place called Printworks. They showed the game between two of the most boring English teams, Liverpool and Chelsea. Of course the match ended 0-0. Now I'll look over a couple of Statistics excersises. That should do it to get me sleeping in no time! Tomorrow I might be well enough to go to school. Hopefully there are some persons there who will recognize me. I haven't exactly been often there. To be honest it's been over a week. This isn't the start I was hoping for, but I suppose that makes me a underdog. Well, in this class I'll be a underdog no matter what I do!

I have also bought a telephone card now. With it I can phone home to land lines for 6p / minute. That's quite cheap. The only drawback is that I have to punch in 35 digits before the phone starts to ring on the other side... Puh! But at least it means I have increased my chances of terrorizing you guys back home!

And Ragnvald: No, I'm just fine. Have been to busy recovering from the cold and feeling sorry for myself to post anything the last two days... I'm glad you're coping with life in Berlin! And from the comment on my post, it seems like you've been cathing up a bit German as well... ;)

I'm listening to Minor Majority now; "(In that) premature way". Time to go to bed!

Today's top 2 list of unpleasant discoveries

1. The box with Nescafe I bought had a word written with VERY small letters: Decaffeinated. This means I have been drinking the crap WITHOUT GETTING ANY CAFFEINE FROM IT! No wonder my head aches...
2. I can't taste anything from my breakfast.

Have a nice day!

War is declared!

My cold just don't seem to let go, which forces me to find better remedies... Today I went to Boots and bought 2 bottles of coughing syrup, 2 packs of Strepsils Extra and one pack with Echinacea (In Norway known as "Rød Solhatt") Hopefully this, complemented with a strict indoor-policy will help me defeat my enemy!
If you can hear me, cold: You have won the battle, but I will win the war!

I'm 27!

Finally the day has come, when I go out of the grey, miserable life of 26-yearolds and into the even more grey, miserable life of people turned 27. No, just kidding! Life was great last year, and I'm confident it will continue in the same way! I would like to use this opportunity (yeah, I know.. I can write whenever I want..) to thank all of you who have called, sent messages and even presents! Thank you, it is really appreciated! Later today I'll probably go out to eat dinner with my room-mates, Alexander and Pavlos.
Pavlos and his girlfriend were kind enough to serve a variety of greek specialties on Friday, such as cheese from Chania... Briliant! I'm not sure I'll have the same success with Norvegia or Jarlsberg (which they have in many grocery stores)...
Yesterday I sat in front of my computer and listened to webradio, Radio 102 to be more precise. the occasion was the match between Vard Haugesund and Notodden, two of the top teams in Vard's group. It was really an exiting, nailbiting experience! Luckily, Sami Sakkas overtime goal turned the game in Vard's favour. 2-1 is plenty enough! Today I'll probably see Start vs Vålerenga on NRK Web TV. (Hopefully it's possible... I've never tried to see live broadcast there before.) If I'm lucky I'll se my aunt and her family as they are ringside in this "finale" of the Norwegian "Tippeligaen". Well, I'm on my way to the kitchen to make a typical English breakfast; egg, bacon and toast (OK, it could have been beans and small sausages as well, but.... I don't think so!)

The plot thickens

Finally the cold seems to be letting go of me. I went to buy some books and a water boiler today. Great! And Joakim: No offence, but I'll be drinking Nescafe this year... Hopefully you'll just feel sorry for me. I trully miss you incredible espresso. Sorry; RISTRETTO. Argle....
I received my schedule for the Autumn Term. I tell you, this will be hectic! My final test is December 16... And my exams starts January 3. So the Christmas holiday will probably be filled with reading and "Pinnekjøtt" (Stick meat? :D )
Right now I'm cleaning my room as well. I have to start studying today, to be prepared for what I will meet in the weeks to come. I just found out that a standard UK postgraduate year equals 120 Credits. In my course we will have 235... So hectic? No doubt. Fortunately the weekends seem to be spared, so hopefully I will be able to say hello to visitors from Norway!
By the way, let me present my favourite bar in London: Smiths of Smithfield/SOS. It is packed with people having the after work beer. Great place, and the customers seems to be mainly office workers in the area. did I mention it is in 3 minutes walking distance from my flat? :D

A day off...

I didn't go to school today, because I have a cold. It started yesterday, and I suppose the beer and not wearing a jacket mainly is to blame. Which points out ME as the reason... Even though, my day hasn't been a complete waste. I shopped some groceries and did my laundry. To be honest, I'm still a bit shocked over the British (and apparently other countries') educational system. Here, a 3 hour lecture is a 3 hour lecture. Period. No pauses, no coffee, no fresh air... I probably just have to get used to it, though.
Long lessons aside, the school really looks great and extremely professional. I mean, we all pay a shit load of money to attend, and that, I think, is reflected in every inch of the school. My first impression of my class is that I think it will be VERY hard to excel... But I really look forward to the challenge! The class is 50 % Greek, 10% Norwegian and the rest is from all over the world.
This week and the next are induction weeks, with classes in elemetary math, economics and excel. I am not sure why I didn't say that I didn't need this when applying, but it is after all a good way to get used to lectures in English. (not to mention the lack of pauses...)
I have to say I really miss you all back home, I suppose the summer have been so busy with refurbishing that I haven't prepared myself for it. But now I have my internet up and running, which means I can listen to terrible radio commercials from Radio 102 and also see the entire "3 Brødre" on the NRK website.
Now for something different: English food... It's just not that bad. Why? Well, what is English food now? The only typical I have come across are eggs & bacon and meat pie. Both I can easily eat. Maybe the reason is that I haven't looked for it yet... Guinness is good, though ;)
I haven't bought a digital camera yet, I just can't agree with myself which one to buy. This is where you should feed me with advice, Joakim. England, digital camera, between 100 and 200 £. Go!
I think I'll move over to the school now. The lecture I'm not attending ends at 6pm (7pm in Norway), so I guess I'll hook up with the others and grab a bite. Not a beer though, I don't think my immune system will enjoy that as much as I. Take care, all!

By the way, the phone number to call me is: +44 79 149 15 796 (in case you got confused with the zeros, Håvard.. ;) ) I haven't called many, and I'm really sorry for that. But the price is sky high, so I suppose Elisabeth and this blog will be the main information sources. (Along with MSN Messenger (Sorry, Joakim: Adium))

Internet cafe update

Right now we're sitting in an internet cafe ny Tottenham Court Road, surfing the Norwegian news pages and checking our mail. The internet is down in the flat this weekend, hopefully this will not be normal. I really feel isolated without the web here, because that is the main way for me to update myself on issues lik Norwegian football, what's going on in Haugesund (not much) etc.
Had a great night out yesterday, at a place called Underbelly. They were supposed to play a lot of Scandinavian music, but for some reason they didn' fell like it... Damn!

Life in the City

Great match! I saw Arsenal vs FC Thun yesterday, the first Chapions League game for the season. The electric atmosphere on English football matches is really something missing in Norway. At least in Haugesund... Anyway, as you can read in any newspaper and internet sports site, the game ended 2-1 for the Arsenal (instead of the usual one-nil) the climax of the game was when Dennis Bergkamp scored the winning goal in overtime. I took the opportunity to test the function of my new K700i mobile phone camera. Here's a picture of the pitch before the game:



But I should also present my two room-mates now: First, Alexander from Germany:



Second, Pavlos from Greece. Actually he is from Chania, I have a gut feeling that some of you who read this have been there...



That's all for now. Have a nice day! I'm off to buy some books. See ya!

Finally, online...

Well, things are beginning to sort themselves out (with a little help from me), and I really look forward to staying here with my flatmates Alexander(Germany) and Pavlos(Greece). Pictures will come here shortly, both of the flat and my neighbours. I went shopping today, for some reason I forgot to pack SOCKS. And I tell you, City of London is NOT famous for its variety of clothing shops... After wandering around in the area (without a map, that should probably be mentioned) for hours, I found a small shop where the socks cost 4£ each. Well, good enough for one day. I also bought a Sony Ericsson K700i today, just to have a English phone this year. Tonight I will shut down my Norwegian phone, but of course you can all reach me on the English one. My contact details now are:

Address:

Anders Kolbeinsen
Flat 505, room A
16 Briset Street
London EC1M 5HD

Telephone:

+44 (0)20 7040 7991

Cell phone:

+ 44 (0)79 1491 5796

Oh, by the way: When calling from outside the UK, don't include the (0) in the number you're using. I will update soon, take care, everyone!

Anders

Hi, all!

Just a quick message to say that I am safe and sound. At the moment I'm sitting on an University Computer, trying to get internet for my room at the Francis Rowley Court. See you all later!