I will be posting a critique of The Interpreter on my film blog, so you can read that there soon. But I'll just say that it was better than I expected and really could have been a lot worse, so a happy movie experience.
Skien was pretty. I forgot to mention that her family and I went on a hike Sunday morning, which was beautiful. We got to see some Viking carvings on some rocks. Skien is half valley, half hills. The valley used to be a lake after the Ice Age, so there are these rocks that would have been on the edge of the lake, showing symbols for animals and boats and the sun. So, they probably hunted and shipped the animals back down the lake to the fjord. Their camps by the ocean were the site of these huge rock mounds as burials. But it was tres cool.
Also, I have pics of me tearing the head off a poor, dead shrimp. That was good because you worked for your meal. I felt like I earned it. :)
But it was really good to see the ocean again. It was windy and cold, but the sun was shining. I always feel at home by the ocean, so that relaxed me and made my weekend. Month, actually.
Yesterday was super cool. Nearly half the women I saw were wearing bunads. They are these traditional costumes for men and women. The women wear long skirts and shirts, embroidered vests and waist satchels. Some of them are very beautiful and intricate. And apparently, they cost somewhere around 20,000 kroner. Divide that by 6 and you've got a rough estimate of how many dollars that is. But for something you only wear one day of the year - that's a lot of money. They cost that much because they have to be made by hand only and with special material. If you type in bunad to any search engine, you'll get an idea of what they look like.
But it was kinda hot yesterday, until it started raining. But I was inside in my pajamas by then, watching tv and being all veggie. Thank god - I mean, I love meeting new people. But when you'll never meet them again and have to try to think of things to talk about, besides trying to follow their conversation in Norwegian. But Hanne's friends were cool people - very open and funny. Two of them were sisters from Lofoten, dressed in the bunad from Lofoten. (Every region/county/whatever has a different bunad.) They were pretty.
So, since I had a nice experience with Hanne's friends, I thought I'd have a similar experience at Camilla's. Wrong. I introduced myself to people, but they didn't seem keen on talking to me. Therese, a volunteer from YFU, was there. She was on exchange to SLO, so we had lots to talk about. She'll be in Madison next year for school, which is pretty cool. Anyway, I mostly talked to her and left when she left. She had to finish studying for an exam this Friday, so she didn't want to stay out too late. She's so sweet - hopefully, she'll be working here at the office this summer. Just four weeks, but that would be fun. And another intern, Scott is coming. So, it'll be a busy and full office this summer. This is a good thing, because maybe I won't have to come into the office so early, or work SO hard on my projects.
Enough details.
Except for the fact that I pretty much have my schedule of classes figured out for this fall. Two graduate german courses - Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The teaching associate prerequisite class (pedagogy) - Thursday evenings. And then I have to decide: a film class (since I want film to be my side focus next to the german stuff) on friday afternoons OR an upper-division german class on tuesday and thursday afternoons before my other classes. Ilona (advisor) said I could audit the upper-division german class. Which would make some sense, especially if I'm already taking three graduate classes. Three is a good number - magical, I believe. Thank you schoolhouse rock!
K, off to find out online who killed Veronica Mars' best friend Lily Kane!