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I feel more comfortable reporting from this weird country known as the United States of America in Norwegian right now. And this is my blog, so I’ll do just that. Here it goes…

Advarsler
Det er advarsler strødd rundt overalt mot alt mulig rart. Min personlige favoritt er denne – plassert inne pÃ¥ ethvert toalett pÃ¥ kafeer og restauranter:

Som om ikke det er en selvfølge? Synes det forstyrrer matopplevelsen en smule at jeg skal bli minnet pÃ¥ at kokker og servitører muligens kan glemme noe sÃ¥ essensielt før de tafser pÃ¥ maten til gjestene…

Organic low-fat diet vegan burger
Og nÃ¥r vi er inne pÃ¥ mat. Jeg er vant til Ã¥ kjøpe “normal” mat i Norge. Lightprodukter holder jeg meg som regel unna. Her er imidlertid det som tilsynelatende er normal mat, sÃ¥ søt og feit at det nok ikke er sÃ¥ rart at folk blir nødt til Ã¥ vike unna det “normale”. Organic food, og ikke minst vegan food er hot her borte. SÃ¥ hot at man kan bestille en salat med bacon som hovedingrediens i det grønne, og servitøren vil likevel si “There’s bacon in that one. Are you SURE you want bacon?”

Sikkerhet
I en del tilfeller liker altsÃ¥ amerikanerne Ã¥ være pÃ¥ den sikre siden. Mulig det er derfor de er pliktige Ã¥ behandle melken sÃ¥ mye at den dunken jeg har i kjøleskapet varer helt til pÃ¥ske. Eller i alle fall til langt ut i oktober. Samtidig bor jeg i en leilighet uten noe særlig sikring med tanke pÃ¥ brann. Jeg kan dessuten klatre opp en ynkelig stige for Ã¥ komme opp pÃ¥ taket av det tre etasjer høye bygget jeg bor i – og kaste meg rett utfor taket om jeg skulle være i det humøret. Vi hadde 30 mennesker og mengder med øl oppÃ¥ taket her forleden i mørke natten uten inngjerding. Samtidig er stiene i parkene godt gjerdet inn sÃ¥ folk ikke skal forville seg ut i “the wilderness” – altsÃ¥ litt busker og trær langsmed veien.

En liten flik av takterrassen til leiligheten min i Williamsburg. Fritt frem for å hoppe ned fra taket på hvilken side du vil :/

Dyr
Apropos parker, så kryr det av hunder i dem, og ellers i byen i og for seg. Mange har også flere hunder. Litt merkelig med tanke på hvor dyrt bolig er her, og hvor små leiligheter de fleste her bor i. Samtidig er det stas for meg med litt hunder rundt om, med tanke på at jeg for tiden bare skyper med fine hunden til mamma og pappa:

Et av de siste bildene jeg har av Lotta – den fineste hunden i manns minne. Fra Nordstrand bad, Oslo. NÃ¥ sosialiserer vi via Skype.

Mennesker
Mulig hunder også er en del av nøkkelen til en slank, veltrent kropp. Jeg vil nemlig ikke si fedmen er særlig utbredt her. New York city består av en god dose freaks, men også en mengde pene, vellykkede, hippe mennesker. I tillegg er de aller fleste veldig hjelpsomme, imøtekommende og høflige. Der vi i Norge skygger unna, ser sjenert ned i bakken og er klønete i situasjoner med fremmede mennesker, ser amerikanerne med det samme om du er litt lost, trenger en hjelpende hånd, en guided tour eller en drink, for den saks skyld. Folk er rett og slett litt mer laidback her. Samtidig har jeg endt opp i en del merkelige samtaler som har en tendens til å gå i ring grunnet noens mer avslappede forhold til røyking av sterkere saker. Samtaler i sjangeren:

- Hi, i’m xxxx. What’s your name?
- Hi, i’m Kristin.
- Do you smoke weeeed?
- …

…har faktisk forekommet opptil flere ganger. Om det er jeg som tiltrekker meg denne mennesketypen, eller om det er sÃ¥ utbredt at det ikke er snakk om en type mennesker, er ikke godt Ã¥ si ennÃ¥. Har inntrykk av at mine kommende klassekamerater er hakket mer oppegÃ¥ende i alle fall, og hurra for det!

Tilbake til mat og sånn
Ellers er jeg jo over gjennomsnittet opptatt av mat, og jublet litt inni meg da min fantastiske samboer inviterte tre venner over – hvorav én av dem er kokk pÃ¥ en fancy restaurant pÃ¥ Manhattan. Han kokkelerte en deilig pastarett med kjærlighet, god tid og kylling som viktige ingredienser. Vi andre stod rundt og fjaset og glante for det meste. Da jeg hadde inntrykk av at maten nærmet seg ferdig, ymtet jeg frempÃ¥ at det kanskje var pÃ¥ tide Ã¥ dekke bordet. Jeg ble møtt med skuldertrekk i hovedsak, og forstod at jeg skulle roe ned etter et par forsøk pÃ¥ Ã¥ rydde plass ved kjøkkenbordet. Vi endte med Ã¥ forsyne oss av den diggeste pastaen i hver vÃ¥r dype tallerken, og snafset sÃ¥ opp herligheten med gaffel i hÃ¥nd – noen stÃ¥ende, andre sittende litt strødd utover kjøkkengulvet. Jeg følte jeg var uhøflig bÃ¥de mot mat og mot kokk, og kjente dessuten en trang til Ã¥ kombinere kniv med gaffel under inntakelsen av mÃ¥ltidet. Jeg var tydeligvis alene om det… Ã… sitte ned, tenne noen stearinlys og virkelig kose seg med maten, er visst ikke helt kotymen. Heldigvis har jeg et fint lite IKEA-bord pÃ¥ rommet mitt der jeg kan hylle fremtidige mÃ¥ltider som seg hør og bør :)

Det var vel det viktigste for nå. Når undervisningen kommer i gang på skolen skal man ikke se bort i fra at bloggen vil preges av mindre mat og mer faglig innhold. For nå avslutter jeg med hva samboeren og jeg ler mest av for tiden:

Sjalabais!

The day is finally here. I leave for New York City this morning to start my 2 year Master’s degree in interaction design. I bring a ton of stuff even though I really have been trying to restrain myself. But my globe will stay here in Oslo – looking out on the rainy weather. And yay for the rain! Much easier to leave my hometown when it’s all grayish and wet. Which reminds me of the last decision I need to make: should I bring my fancy yellow Hunter boots? I think they will love New York.

I have been accepted to the MFA in Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Even though this program started up last year, I guess attending a Master’s degree in this field has been my dream ever since I first learned that one could become such a thing as an interaction designer at a seminar at the University of Bergen in 2005.

Back then I thought I would need this degree to get into the field professionally. When I signed the contract with Logica’s UX department a year later, I understood that this was not the case – and I have been calling myself an interaction designer since that very day.

I am moving from my beloved garden city house to live with my parents now. Renting out my apartment is one of many necessary steps to remove the red numbers from my “Student in New York budget”… I am trying really hard to put stuff in boxes tonight, but stumbled upon these colorful notes I made when taking a class at the University called ‘User Interface’, and got all nostalgic:

I put the word interaction design in the middle, and tried my best to get a better understanding of principles, processes, methods, tools and approaches to the field – just by reading this boring book about it. I guess I’ve got the hang of many of the things at this sheet now. It’s in my guts. But I am ready to explore interaction design in another way than you get to as a consultant. I want to both get inspired, and to inspire through design. I want to read long articles without feeling guilty. I want to write, write, write. I want to be able to blog about anything again – to be open. With a brain focused on things that I am not allowed to tell anyone, the blog has almost died a sloooowly death.

I can’t wait to be student again, to get to know my fellow students, to get to know New York, a new neighborhood and a new home! In September it’s getting real.

PS! I have no idea where this new home will be yet. Let me know if you have any tips on living in New York, know of a room that will be available from September, want to go apartment hunting with me, or can let me stay a couple of nights at your place while I find my future home :)

PPS! If you want to live in my beautiful house with garden and parking lot and furnitures and everything at Valle in Oslo for NOK 10500 a month, say so. To me.

Renovating bathroom means not being able to take a shower in own house the next month. I am aware of that. It apparently also means toilet generally is nicely placed in my living room although I was promised to be able to use it most of this period. For some reason I don’t feel like using the toilet when it is on my living room floor… So. I am a nomad at the moment – sleeping wherever someone can offer me decent bathroom facilities.

The life of a nomad is one thing. All the choices to make when renovating is another. Although my main concern is to get a bathroom that is not leaking, all of a sudden I have to choose things within the world of tiles, sinks, taps and mixers, toilets and shower doors. I really thought I couldn’t care less about what to fill my 2,4 m2 bathroom with. Now I am very enthusiastic when it comes to my Damixa Tradition basin mixer and my Porsgrund Seven D toilet with a black “Slow Close”-seat.

My dad is worried that I am more enthusiastic about basin mixer choices and tile patterns than making sure the carpenters do their job right. I definitely want them to do everything by the book. However, I haven’t read that exact book, so how am I supposed to point out any mistakes they might make? I guess I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed while reading a book I actually want to read – The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.

Third day of the music marathon. Efterklang (DK), Death by Unga Bunga (N), CCTV (N), Susanna and the Magical Orchestra (N), Monzano (N), Moto Boy (SWE), [ingenting] (SWE). I was so tired that it should come as no surprise that the concert where I got to sit down became one of the best experiences from this day. But seriously, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, was amazing. Their cover of Hallelujah almost made me cry. Listen to the magic.

My best friend, Veronica, and I were running from concert to concert yesterday too. But this post is mainly about glasses and a hot dog. I wore my glasses yesterday. I see better with them. That’s why I have glasses. My sight is not that bad, so I don’t have to wear them to function in society, but I should use them permanently. Still I generally try to avoid wearing them around drunk people. I always get some weird remarks from people who think they are just a fashion statement and have no real function, and it annoys me. But since yesterday was all about music, and I like to see as much as possible at a concert, I did wear my glasses. Confident.

When lounging for some minutes after a bunch of concerts I told Veronica about these remarks I usually get. We agreed that these drunk people are stupid, and that my glasses are really nice and frame my face in a good way. Then she went to the ladies’ room, and I went to buy us a hot dog to share. A minute later I come running into the ladies’ room with a hot dog in hand to tell Veronica this story through the walls:

Hot dog guy: What do you want?
Me: Well, I want a hot dog – I will just check if I have enough cash.
Hot dog guy: I will give you the hot dog for free. Just because you have such nice glasses.

If I get free stuff, then I can handle the stupid remarks.

Veronica and me at By:Larm last year. I am the one with the glasses, obviously.

Yesterday’s concerts:

• Hafdis Huld (ICL). She needs to practice her English pronunciation, but a funny girl, cute songs.
• Humming People (N). Charming, energetic boys. Straight forward rock.
• Forza (N). They made two very hungover girls dance, scream and shout at an early hour. Highlight! Hip Hop/Balkan/Folk/Latin.
• Kathinka (N). From what I heard – very good. Glasses no help when tall people are standing in front of me.
• Manna (FIN). Charismatic vocalist, very enjoyable concert.
• The Pink Robots (N). “Hello. My name is Macintosh”. Fun!
• Asha Ali (SWE). Talented girl with a great voice and some catchy tunes made Mono extremely crowded and hot hot hot.
• Cacadou (N). Crazy ol’ Norwegians with clarinet, accordion, banjos++. Made me dance funny.
• [ingenting] (SWE). We saw [nothing]. We ate hot dog instead.

I made my first vector illustration some days ago. The occasion was the birthday of a friend of mine. He often goes by the name Den Toppeste Hund (The Top Dog), and we thought he needed a t-shirt to confirm this fact. The illustration isn’t fancy, but the shirt was still a great success amongst all the guests at the birthday party! Rumor has it that there will be produced buttons in the near future too. Yay!

Watch the full-size image with all 28 happy party people here.