Tomorrow is the big day!

So I'm moving to Tokyo tomorrow, with one of my best friends.



I'm moving to Tokyo.



Tokyo.



......tomorrow.



I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight.

Days Hours until departure: 14 hours

Bergen - Melhus (WARNING: Picture heavy!)

Here are some pictures from our trip up to my home town! 
Warning: This will not be super interesting, but if you love Norwegian nature then you're in for a treat :) Maybe I'll make and upload a video with some beautiful nature as well:)

Pictures: (All pictures belong to me)

 Dad stuffing in the last of my stuff, bye bye Bergen! We started driving around 9.30am. The car was more packed than Tokyo during rush hour.

 An ice cream truck was behind us for some hours. We were very close to stop the car and buy some ice cream!

 Since I'm not used to the bright snow reflections, we stopped in Førde to buy sunglasses ^^

 Ferry! It was windy like fuck. Damn, I almost litteraly got carried away by the wind.

 Beauutiful Norwegian nature!

Moooo :) 

 More nature!

 Skogstad is a brand of outdoor clothing, but it's also my last name! So my dad showed me this store to have my picture taken :)

 Dem mountains.

 The nature scenery most of the trip was like this. Absolutely mezmerising!

 This truck was in front of us a big part of the trip, we never found out what the huge containers contained :P 

 Up over the mountains! It was reeeaally bright, had to wear sunglasses all the time. Really nice weather, with a warm sun ^^

 Starting to get dark.. 

Now this is kind of where I started to fall asleep, and the nature wasn't that exciting anymore, so I don't have much pictures from here! We arrive at my dads house around 21:00, and it was completely dark So the trip took in all 11,5 hours. We did stop a couple of times to eat and such, so it was reasonable!

So when we got home, I was greeted by this little adorable pooch! My dad and stemoms new Tibetan Spaniel, Cindy! She's just super sweet :) 

In about one hour I'm getting on the bus to Oslo, one step closer to Japan!

Days to departure: 4

Outfit post

I decided I wanted to post outfits here, it probably won't posted that often though! 

White top, Skirt: Punkyfish

Black top, Boots: Linosug

Socks: H&M

Jacket: Adidas

I've come home to Melhus now, to my dads house :) It's soooo good to be back, and so strange to think I'll probably never move back to Bergen ever again... So weird! My dad came on Friday, we loaded up the car. It was seriously more packed than Tokyo during rush hour, lol. Then we went to Steakers to eat! Mmmmh, tenderloin with mushroom stew and bearnaise sauce. ♥ A real good meal before a long drive the day after. We're going to have the family come over for a small gathering before I leave, and on Tuesday the same thing, but with my Trondheim-located friends :) My dad and me made some cakes and other preperations for tomorrow, with a glass of wine ^-^ It will be nice, I'm sure of it! 

Days to departure: 7½

2 weeks!

Aaaah this is almost too much for me to handle. I can't believe it, only two weeks until I'm on the plane to Tokyo, to the land of oddities, contradicting cultures and efficiency!

This won't be an informative post, I'm just counting the days for when I leave Bergen, and for when I leave Norway. I've been packing and packing, but I can't pack anymore, because I've run out of boxes and tape. Those are kind of the essentials when one is moving... So when my dad comes this Friday, he'll bring more boxes and tape so I can get the hell out of Bergen and move! I feel free again just thinking about it :)

I made a checklist last Wednesday, a day-to-day schedule of what's going to happen and what needs to be done before I leave Norway. It's... packed, haha. I've at least now gotten one thing out of my life, and that's my presentation of my thesis. I'm writing a paper about Lolita and Gyaru, the use of language in those subcultures and how they're portrayed in the media. Hopefully they liked it, and I have a around 30mins of guidance with my teacher about it on Thursday. I'm hoping she can see my "vision", hehe.

Right now my only problem is to find a new tennant for my room here in Bergen, from April 1st. I'm moving this Saturday, and still haven't gotten any luck.. So I'm worried that I have to pay a months rent for April when I don't even live there anymore, and I can't really afford that when I live in Tokyo :S
So I hope everything will turn out all right! Cross fingers and toes for me, everyone xxxx

But now I'm going to bed, tomorrow I'm going to three mini-guest lectures on Japanese linguistics.. fun fun! 

Good night sweeties~♥

Me, Emilie and Oda somewhere in Tokyo, 2010

(Also, Emilie is moving to Tokyo as well, in October! super psyched!!)

Days until departure: 14

How I'm able to do go abroad.

When I read other peoples blogs on going to or living in Japan I often see this question: "How did you get to Japan?", so I figured I should tell you guys how I did it!

1. Reconsider it.
Hehe, this may be a bit off-putting, but I'm also a bit serious about this. 
Are you really prepared to leave friends and family, and your comfort zone, for a whole year (taken you don't go home for Christmas/winter break)? Are you ready to be thrown into a culture where everything's different, everybody speaks a language you don't speak (very well), and meet people you will have to leave after that one year?
If the answer to these are a big, fat YES!, then this is the thing for you! 
Luckily in these modern ages we have sooo many way to communicate, and I can't wait calling my mom and the rest of my family through Skype or something similar! And, to use eg. Facebook, Twitter og other social media to keep in touch with the friends you made overseas will become very handy, so I look forward to meeting lots of new people! 

2. Google.
Find out if your country has exchange programs you can sign up to, or if you can take a bachelors degree where you live. Now if you want to eg. teach English, the JET Programme is the one for you. Go to JETs homepage, and watch the video under "Aspiring JETs" to learn more. Google has a lot more answer than I do, but what I've heard about the JET programme is that it's a professional company that gets you overseas and back home safely :) 

Now for my part, I wanted to learn more about the language and culture before going there, I like to plan ahead. I signed up for a bachelors degree in Japanese at the university of Bergen, and I'm now going to Japan through their exchange program :) 
I'll be going to Waseda University in northern Shinjuku, Tokyo, where they have a program for me to follow, called the Intensive Japanese Language Program. I go to lecture for four or five days a week, and to get more credits (which I actually need to get my exchange program approved), I have to sign up for  3-4 more classes (these will be in English).

*******

I'm super excited, I've now also gotten my room details at campus! I'm living way too near a McDonalds, haha! (I hope they have a Krispie Kremes near campus as well lol) I'm really anxious to see what the actual campus rooms look like, because I can't seem to find any good photos? Maybe I should google a bit more. Yeah. 
I got a single room, equipped with (according to the document I recieved; 
Bed
Desk
Chair
Bookshelf (I'll probably be bottom shelves for my shoes, haha)
Lamp stand (Lightbulb included)
Refridgerator (AWW YISSS)
Curtains
Window Screen 
Hangers
Internet Modem (Which is weirdly not included in the rent...)
So it's pretty basic stuff. The say nothing about a closet, maybe the "Hangers" they mention is this kind of thing? because that' not nearly enough. No no no. Luckily I have a little "foldable" closet from Ikea that I'm bringing.. I need shelves, not hangers! Haha!  

I also have now applied for the student visa needed, I went to Oslo (from Bergen, 6-7h train ride) last Tuesday night, arrived Wednesday morning, applied, and went back home again the same night. Phew! I slept a lot when I got home again, hehe. It was easy applying for the visa, they were really helpful at the Japanese Embassy in Oslo :)

I don't know if this post was very helpful, I'm just very good at rambling.. Have a nice day!

Yum yum yum! @ Meiji jingu, Tokyo 2010

Days until departure: 22