Blogging?

I wasn't a good blogger last week. I had a realization how incredibly self centered it is to write a blog about myself. Yes, it took me seven months to realize that. All I have been doing here is writing about me. Me, me and me. Don't get me wrong there is no way Im stopping writing about me, who doesn't love thinking/writing/obsessing about them selfs. But I guess I just got chocked by the late realization of my own egoism. But then again for those who know me/has met me at least once know that I have never pretended to be modest. That is for the unsuccessful. Plus, really this blog was initially meant for Swedish/Norwegian/British people who wanted to see how I was doing without them, funny how it turns out that they consist of 10 percent of all the readers. I either have bad friends or the random people for the north east corner of the States find me intriguing. Either way.

But I guess writing a blog about yourself is the new black. I mean everyone is doing it (if your not your a sucker stuck in 1997, get with the program). Small kids, teenagers, old people, dogs, lawyers.

I wish my mum would have a blog. That would be funny. She phoned me the other day heart broken asking if I had started taking drugs and do porn. She had read all the spam comments and she was getting really worried. Bless her.

UPDATE (12.31 pm, 2/16); As I was on my own blog again I realized that in tune with this post and my own self-loving there is no more than circa 7 pictures of myself here dotted all over the place. Really. Should I be worried? Is it time to speak to someone?
UPDATE (12.38 pm, 2/16); Or am I just like 99 percent of every other blogger that thinks people are interested in whether I prefer peas to carrots? And maybe people really want to know, before someone blows up the world. Peas. Ok, enough, back to writing book report.

Valentine Schmalentine.

Went out for dinner yesterday and the outrageously overpriced risotto was almost worth it because of humor of the whole thing. Ok, well I didn't pay for the risotto so I guess it was definitely worth it. Women and men were sitting along one wall stacked up around the little tiny square table. Women towards the wall the men facing them (first I thought this was odd that all of them had chosen to sit the same, but then I figured it was because the men let the women walk in front of them, aa detective Stine).
Everyone looked uncomfortable. It was a bit like that saying with a big pink elephant in the room. Everyone knew that no one really wanted to be there but no one can admit to it. I guess what it really is, is a romantic arms race! You cant stay home because everyone else goes out, but you go out and everyone hopes that someone in the restaurant is going to be brave enough to stand up on the their little white table-cloth covered table and say; Lets all go home, this is ridiculous, we don't have to do this, if we all go home together no one is going to feel bad about not paying 20 more dollars than normal for creamed rice on this stupid holiday! And then everyone can write a treaty where we promise not to go out for dinner, or buy flowers or chocolate or teddy bears or anything on the 14th of February and then we would all be better people for it!

Scientifically proven connection between Hair and imagination?

Deadline tonight at nine, I cut my hair off on Saturday and I have no idea what to write about, is there a mystical connection? Did my imagination actually sit in the end of my blond hairs? Well, clearly not as I am imaginative enough to come up with such junk that I have writers block because I cut my hair three days ago.
Im sitting in Gelman library (GWU library for outsiders) and Im incredibly bored. A guy in tracksuit bottoms is aslseep next to me whilst snoring quietly, some girls in spandex black tights, Ugg boots and furry jackets are chatting away about what happened at Platinum last weekend and someone else is photocopying frantically in the corner. Maybe its the setting that needs to change?
I started to take all these Journalism classes because when I got here I figured; I wanna write, thats my call! (last summer the call was International affairs, the summer before I believe it was voluntary work in China). And I figured I have a lot to say, people always say I talk a lot so how hard can it be? Well, its hard. Its hard trying to write something creative, funny, touching, moving or gripping like four times a week. Maybe I should write about not finding anything to write. I mean that is the gist of this post, and well done to you if you have made it all the way down to here! As a surprise you then get to see the new hair;

It is so cold outside today that when I walked to the Metro to pick up my ibook (who is finally feeling better) the wind made me cry and my tears froze on my cheeks. That is cold, even for a Swede.

Mall of Death

Pentagon City is the labyrinth of death. In this mall (Shopping Centre for you Europeans) life is slowly and painfully sucked out of you by the lifeless atmosphere, the fake palm trees and the extremely slow Starbucks staff. I happened to know this because I spent 5 hours dying today, and 4 hours on Friday waiting for the Apple store to cure my ill ibook. Both days I arrived with joy in my steps just to leave with a paler face and slowly dragging feet. For those of you who have never been to Pentagon City it is a collection of stores inside a gigantic brown building only a few metro stops away from my home in Foggy Bottom. There is a food court that serves MacDonald’s, sushi, and Thai food from suspicious little stalls located along one wall. You eat on hard, green metal chairs on big long tables that are very reminiscent of a school canteen. And not in a good way. It has like five floors and everything is painted in a cold, white colour that kind of steals the colour from your face, like it needs it really bad. So you become whitewashed. No one really seems to be enjoying themselves walking around, no happy Sunday shoppers just angry people trying to get up the slow moving escalators. Pentagon City has this affect on people. You become angry for no apparent reason. The Apple store is a bit of a refuge, the white colour in there is warmer. But still. Still you just want to get on that blue metro line, bury yourself in the Washington Post and ride that train until you're in the District again. Far away from that hollow place that manages to make shopping a pain, mesh your brain and eat your will to ever be nice to someone again. Phew Im glad I made it out.

Blog for Choice Day!

Why I am Pro-Choice:
Hi, good day everyone. Today is a little bit special. Today is the 34th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision, which firmly established the US constitutional right to abortion. Today is therefore Blog for Choice day; and today everyone is therefore encouraged to blog about why they are pro choice.
Here is my reason:
I could write this post about how it is time to start treating women as adults who can make their own decisions. How it is time to trust women that they know what is best for their own health and their futures.
I could write about how I am sick of the belittling of women in the anti-choice campaigns, like our views don’t matter, like if we got left with a choice of terminating an abortion we would instantly make the wrong one and regret it.
I could write about how I found it weird that last time I saw an anti-choice demonstration they showed factually incorrect images of foetuses and the crowd consisted of only men.
I could write about how abortion is very rarely a solution a women chooses to use as contraception. How we rather take a pill and/or use a condom to protect ourselves, and how abortion is a lifesaving last option, not something we do out of laziness or because we love it so much. Abortion is a hard choice. But believe it or not, women can make hard choices too, and abortion should be a choice no less.
I could write about the overwhelming evidence of the increase in illegal abortions and their disastrous consequences. I could point out that 80,000 women die each year because of them. Or that the number of abortions does not decrease because you ban them. Or that 288,700 women were hospitalized in Brazil last year following illegal abortions.
I could write about any of those things because they are so important.
But you should know about them already; you should be convinced by them already; you should have heard them before and told other people about them.
I want to blog for choice because I have a slightly different viewpoint than many of those reading this. I come from a country (Sweden) where there no longer is an abortion debate. Where we have realized many of these things; taken them into account; looked at our own values and morals, and our healthcare ideas; and we have come to the democratic conclusion that banning abortion is not right. It is not only unhealthy, deadly, immoral, old-fashioned, and repressive, it is also a breach of a fundamental human right. The right to decide over your own body, should we start restricting the handicapped to have sex? If you restrict one reproductive right then others will follow.
But neither of this is really the point. The point is that the Swedish way works; we have less abortions and less illegal abortions, but more compulsory sex education, an open and honest discussion about sex, and an outlook of sex as health and good. You have to believe Women, and young women are independent and intelligent enough to make informed decision, the school provides, by law, help with these decisions.
This goes for all of Western Europe. For example, in the Netherlands, where teenage sexual activity is about the same as in the U.S., pregnancy rates are only one-ninth those of the United States. Education, education, education, and a little bit of honesty. Banning abortion is not a solution, it breaks my heart to see that people still fighting for it. Few of them has the experience I have been lucky to grow up in, few of them have lived in the most obvious example how reproductive rights are healthy, and must remain a fundamental human right.
For my favourite feminist blogger Jill's, excellent "Why I am Pro-Choice" blog post check here! (Creds to her for the figures in this post).

Age... I dont like it.

I know you are going to say 22 isnt old. And it’s not really. Maybe. But I turn 22 today and I don’t like it. When I was younger I wanted to grow up, wanted to have responsibility, wanted to know more. I still do, but I could stay 21 doing it. I have done a lot in 22 years, lived in some foreign countries, met a lot of strong people, gone to some unforgivable parties. But 22 is just unnecessary. 21 goes better with my hair I think.
I feel like girls are given a bad share in this age thing, we do better when we’re 21 than 22 whilst the guys just get better. My age has caught up with me I need to do something that few 22 years olds have done. I take suggestions. Maybe I should sail across the Atlantic in little a self-made boat whilst finding myself again. Or go live with some rainforest people and find myself again. I feel like I should find myself again. Or just go out in Adams Morgan tonight, maybe I’ll find myself around there somewhere?

Hibernation

My parents live in a village in Sweden, I grew up here til I was 16 and moved to boarding school in Scotland. The village is called Sjötorp and has around 700 people living in it. Sweden's biggest canal starts here; Sjötorp is its connection to the biggest lake in Sweden, Vänern. It is not famous for much more than that. I think it should be because it is a beautiful place, especially in the summer. However, regardless of the canal it also has a magical effect; the village is able to freeze time.
Well, it doesn’t freeze it as such, but it makes everything go really really slow (maybe much like any small town anywhere in the world I guess). So I have been here for the last week and nothing has happened, I have done nothing, I have spoken to no one, I have written nothing, I have not seen anyone; it is much like a short-term human hibernation. I actually think my heart is beating slower than ever, that is how relaxed I am.
It has been great, I say I haven’t done stuff but I have done something; I've started knitting a scarf, and read loads of books. These activities are a good change from my usual slightly more hedonistic pursuits. Vie read The Perfume, which is a great book describing a travel through France in the 18th century by the sense of smell (its just coming out as a film too). I have now started reading the bible. Yes, a very surprising choice I know, but I wanted to read a classic, you know, find out what all the fuss is about. And wow, you have to look hard to find a more patriarcical book. I am only on like page 20 but there has only been two women of any mention so far (but there has been a hell of a lot of men) and one of them screwed up the whole world because she wanted knowledge (I think we girls really deserve to be held to that for the rest of time), the other one is the wife of Abraham, and she so far she hasn’t said anything she is only so beautiful that the whole of Egypt wants to sleep with her and might kill her husband for it.
I go back to the normal universe on Friday when I first go to Oslo, and then I am back in the US on Monday. Hibernation is great but only short term and it’s going to be great to go back to DC. I’m going to try to maybe get an internship or something. Be a better person. Have more fun. See more than Georgetown. There is a lot to do in my final 5 months there!

Finally got the ibook connected to the internet at my parents house so in a sudden spur of activity I have uploaded the pictorial documentation of my last two weeks. It includes christmas in Oslo, and new years in Copenhagen, and it is all on my flickr, over two pages of it!

New Years Resolution

Pictorial New Years resolutions are not that common. But I have one this year. The picture above is taken sometime around 2.30 on the 1st of January 2007 in Ideal Bar in Copehangen, Denmark. I want it to be model for the next 365 days to come and by this i mean; in 2007 I want to be;
1. Happy
2. Dancing
3. Dressed Up
4. as often as I can With A Beer In My Hand
5. In A Foreign Country
6. With Amazing Friends (not visable on the picture though)
7. Have Orange Nails.

I feel like if I am any of those 7 things within the next year I shall be ok. And If I have all at once as much as possible 2007 might even be as good as 2006 was. happy New Year.

Smoking at airports and Sparkling Water

So yea, back in Scandinavia now. Its really nice to be back for a while. I must say I was pretty beat from the four months in the US, I slept for like four days when I got here. Oslo has been welcoming. Its not that cold, and just a little bit of snow. Ok, so Im pretty low on time right now as I am leaving Oslo tomorrow to go to Copenhagen for New Year. A sexy 10 hour bus ride through Sweden. But all banks close at 3 here so I got to go and get myself some Danish Kroner. Just two thoughts on the advancement of Scandinavian society (for better or worse); When I got to Copenhagen airport on my way here I saw this thing in the corridor. It was like a smoking booth but it looked a bit like a bus stop, i.e. it was just a roof and a bench. But the roof contained superstrong ventilation so the smokers could stand literally in the corridor and smoke openly while the ventilation effectively took away the all smoke. I thought it was pretty hi-tech, wonder when that will hit the rest of the world. Secondly, I love sparkling water in Oslo. It is so cavalier. Its not just sparkling water, first it comes in three different levels of bubbles. Like; a lot of bubbles, normal bubbles, and light bubbles. Then comes the flavor; it could be natural, or infused with natural fruit juice, or just flavored in everything for the berries of the forrest to mango and guava. It also comes mixed with a little bit of milk and juice to create this kind of smooth, lightly bubbled juice explosion. Its soo good. But I mean, is it a sign of a well matured society when it takes you 20 minutes to choose your sparkling water. Don't even get me started on the still.

How to dismatle a fire alarm?

No, its still beeping because there is just little bit of battery left lying around in the cord. That was Fabi's reply to why the firealarm was still beeping after we craftedly (if that is a word) took it out of the roof and pulled out the battery. But, yes it was still beeping. Like once every two minutes. So I had to phone my friend Jarryd and he explained that it was because it had a little Chinese watch battery so it could still warn you to change the batteries. Damn. But anyway the noise wasnt that bad so we could live with it whilst we were pre-gaming Saturday night. But then I came home on Sunday (dont ask) after brunch and the beeping drove me absolutely insane. Crazy. I felt like hitting with a hammer because the battery wouldnt go back in again and my head was hurting very badly from the night before. I couldnt do anything but magically my friend Durita could. She made it stop beeping and I dont think I have ever loved anyone so much. These are pictures of us trying to dismatle the thing in the first place. Enjoy. We did.

Epilogue

Ok, so its not really an epilogue. I mean a term is coming to an end and in less than 36 hours I'll be in Scandinavia. But I am coming back so. But epilogue is such a good word, it kind of makes this post seem important. Ive been here for 4 months now. To quote, well, someone; "Its been emotional". DC is far away from home; America is far away from Europe. I have learned a lot. A lot about having no personal space, a lot about being friendly, and a lot in general of transatlantic relationships and what Americans really think of Europeans and the other way around. Americans think Europeans just smoke cigarettes and ravel in old glory from old empires. Partly true but no. Europeans on the other hand think Americans are stupid. Not entirely true either, however, I am getting slightly tired of people mixing up Sweden and Switzerland and asking me if I speak German.
My friend Dave is already in Europe, he informed me to be prepared that everything is really small over there. I dont know if I should expect a reverse culture chock. Ill be writing from Sweden and Norway to let you know. I am also going to see the Danish girls in Copenhagen for New Years which I am very excited about. I mean they are not coming back to GW like me, so it is easier to do the good bye thing this way, its more like; See you next week. Rather then erhhm, good bye, for a like, ever.. No no. Dont like that. Just see you next week. Better. And DC ill be seeing v soon to, so not too sad about that either.

Ok. So its 22.52 Sunday night and I have yet to start my paper due last friday. But hey, I am an international student, allowed to be a bit of a slacker. Democracy in Lithuania isnt something you just dive into. Heavy procrastination is needed before. The Danish Girls and me have been incredibly geeky and teaching ourselves HTML. It is seriously funny, and dont tell anyone I told you. Look I made the description of my blog in a lightsalmon colour.
Anyway, We have also during our hours of studying/ procrastinating /lying on the floor crying with laughter developed a slight obsession with Eddie Izzard stand-ups. This is our favourite. Whenever I am stuck with work now I watch this. It helps. Press play and try it yourself.

I just needed to post this. V cool logo for a (I think) Duch design firm. Love it.

I feel terrible. Ok, so there had to be a point where my body said enough to the constant drinking, hard core studying til 4 in the morning, the deprivation of sleep, and the lack of regular meals that have been the theme of much of my last two weeks. And this point is now. Its had enough. I feel terrible, tired all the time, havnt eaten since Tuesday, feel weak and just want to get better. Im today slowly trying to eat some oats.
But what gets me right now is that, what is going on in DC? Why are they rebuilding the whole of Foggy Bottom the days that I am tragically ill. Construction works are everywhere, they have been really bad at my friends around New Hampshire Av and M for a while so its impossible to sleep there. Now they have seemingly come to my part of 24th street too. Its like waking up to World War I. Or how I imagined WWI to sound like anyway. Bombs, hammers against steel etc etc. It is very hard to sleep to. Not even my French friend's French sleeping pills helped. They still hammer their way into my sleep. I just wish they would stop building, I like Foggy Bottom as it is. Its fine by me to leave it like this.
But I guess my calls will go unheard and I must return to essay writing instead. i'll leave you with this; "Women, conditioned for millenia to accept the partriarchal definition of their role, have sexually and emotionally serviced men and nurtured them in a way that allowed men of talent a fuller development and a more intensive degree of specialization than a woman ever had" - Gerda Lerner The Creation of feminist Consciousness

I feel very post-modern in my procrastination today. Back in the days, like in 2001, when I tried my best to not do work I tidied my desk. You know, stacked my post-its in a pile, threw away receipts lying around, lined up my pens in a straight line and opened my notebook on a fresh page, all ready to work.
Now, in the future I do this virtually in this place with no tangible things called my desktop. Its exactly the same but computerized. I put the Youtube videos in the entertainment folder, stack all the .pdf's about the European Common Foreign and Security Policy in the EU folder, put some iPhoto labels on the pictures I just got from Fabi, throw away some rough drafts of an essay in the Trash, and get everything clean to start work eventually. Its all very 2006.
But Im thinking now; what is the next step? I already communicate mostly over email and MSN, I get all my news here, I find out about all the events I go to here, I could do my shopping. Will I eventually be able to shower virtually? That would be handy, maybe.

Everything is bigger in America. The cars, the buildings, the TV shows, the politics, the coke bottles, the road signs, the tequilas, the military spending, yea pretty much everything. When everyday stuff is bigger I notice it more, like food sizes. I just had a sandwich. I ordered a small. Always order a small. It was huge, I could barely finish it. If you order a salad somewhere in DC you get a mountain of lettuce, like really, a mountain. Ok so I know this whole obesity thing is a problem over here, but Britain is the fattest European country, and most people I see everyday here in DC is average size, so I don't think that's all it. Am just wondering; where along the line did American's get more hungry than the rest of the World?

I think my to-do list is now 2 A4 pages long. Single spaced. 12pt Times New Roman.
Finals are hitting GW firmly, and it is so tiring. Especially for a girl who has been spending most term focusing on having fun; fun in Dupond Circle, fun in Adams Morgan, Fun in Georgetown. Not so much focusing on having fun in Gelman (GW library) or the Library of Congress or any other DC hot spot for studying. I mean, I have been working a bit, but I have figured out I am one of those people who can only work under deadline pressure. So when it comes to a 20-page paper I prefer to leave it to 3 days before, and then have 3 hour sleep a night and go slightly crazy. Not so healthy. But during this 20-page paper stress I have been so dry on inspiration to work on the blog, completely out of anything interesting to write. And then today I figured out; Oh, I can write about how I am stressed and all out on inspiration. So yeah; I'm all stressed and out on inspiration.
But I'm not going to become one of those bloggers that keeps on apologizing for not posting. It feels like most blogs I read once in a while leaves a big post about; Oh sorry I have been so busy, and oo I promise I will write more, and aah I have had such a full plate but I’ll be better.
So anyway, I will not apologize (even though in Sweden my mum seriously worries if I am dead every time I haven't posted…ok, so I am slightly sorry about that. Sorry mum). Instead I will think positively and think ahead; I'm looking forward to do xmas shopping in Georgetown, going to a free concert with my favourite Norwegian Jazz band; Tord Gustafsson Trio, in the Kennedy Center, and then going to a rave on Thursday, and all good things I am doing in DC before the 22nd when I go back to Scandinavia for Christmas.

Oh, and I have uploaded a bunch of pictures onto Flickr. From Thanksgiving, and working hard in the library, the Army v. Navy game in Philadelphia this Saturday, and other ones. A little random collection basically. its to be found Here!