The very tiny room had no windows. We had to make one to survive.

We took a little break to see one of the highlights of the event User Research Friday that was hosted in our studio. As we were very busy with our stickies, the only speaker we got to see talking was Daniel Stillman. He talked about buttons, knobs, bicycles and washing machine design.

The SVA IxD events always means mingling, bubbly and some yummy snacks. That was an excellent warm-up to prepare me for life outside the studio cave. Studiomate Guri and I went to an gallery exhibition opening at the .NO gallery. Filled with interesting Norwegians, nice art and more bubbly in red plastic cups. Yes.

I took a train out to Bed-Stuy to attend a house party concert. Very intimate, very interesting. First tune heard from the apartment living room had the catchy chorus “If you’re high enough you can do whatever you want”. The last one was about a beaver with a tail that was too fat, but that found a way to be cool through wearing some awesome sunglasses. Uhm yeah. In between we had several sing-a-long opportunities that the 25 guests in the living room did not hesitate to join in on.

The day ended after that house party. But a day is not complete without a brunch, so I will cheat a little and add my Saturday brunch with Yiannis the Greek and Mathias the Musician. We had a creative session where we talked about app development, travel and eggs benedict—fueled by endless coffee refills in Carroll Gardens.

Life’s intense, but wonderful!

Speechless. That’s what I am. The actions towards my home town, my country, my government, and towards innocent children are just so unreal. For me a Facebook status update about a horrible sound, possibly an explosion close to the Government building in Oslo was what startet my work day here in NYC. Then my day went on with some meetings, and otherwise constantly refreshing Facebook and Twitter to make sure my friends are OK, and of course following all Norwegian online newspapers, streaming news reports from NRK – just waiting for the number of deaths to increase. Then another status update from my sister came along:

So. People on an island hiding in the bushes, and we should not call them. I was just – WHAT is she rambling about? But then again shooting innocent children at a summer camp is simply madness, so no wonder I couldn’t believe her message. But now all I see is love for the city and our country all around. And I wanted to capture that. So I did:

That’s all.

And btw, I am as far as I know NOT related to that maniac.

Okay. Back to presentation mode now.

I visited my roommate’s amazing family in North Hampton, New Hampshire this Thanksgiving. This was my first time out of New York City – and I ended up visiting 4 new states. So I’ve basically seen 10% of America now. Easy. Here’s a list of things that might mean nothing to you, but a lot to me, just to remind myself of this great holiday:

• GF = gluten free
• Schrimp vs. Scrimp
• Renting phone from the 70′s. Still working!
• Flower tea
• Rutabaga
• The Heart and the Bottle – iPad picture book
• Why Norwegians put feathers on twigs and hit cats out of barrels during fastelavn, and put candles in blonde girls’ hair
• Dog show on TV. Some dogs have no eyes.
• The first and best Thanksgiving dinner I have ever eaten. Sweet potatoes, and even sweeter potatoes. OMG.
• Explaining the vegetables of Norway to a nice and extremely interested 91 year old New Hampshirite
• MacGruber
• I cross-stitch to become married one day
• Gigantic houses in taxfree heaven
• Ocean and beach
• Mobile homes
• Walmart
• Thrift store. Got a New Hampshire scarf.
• Pawn shop. Old coins, Beatles and Kennedy for president pins
• Bought a ridiculously warm Overland Sheepskin coat – best buy of the day!
• Charming Portsmouth
• Mexican food in Maine
• Federalist houses
• Candle pin bowling
• 50 cent golden necklace from a gumball machine
• Hot rocks in living room
• Harry Potter #1. Do I like pointy ears movies now?
• Fatherly advice: See 9 twice a day. As in 9 AM and 9 PM.
• Walk in sun on Atlantic avenue
• Cemetery with Carters, Browns and Tarltons
• Cute dog with angry necklace
• Rotten pumpkins on a porch
• Stop motion animation. Sadie Benning.
• Rainbow sailboat kite
• Through vs. Thru
• Hyggelig vs. Cozy
• Roommate tells the story about how the Grinch ruined Christmas. Then he sings.

Some photos from my North Hampton Thanksgiving

Being sick for me is not a big deal. It’s usually a 2-day thing, some light fever, headache, and the occasional sneeze — and then it’s all over. Although I don’t feel like I’m about to die right now, my brain is not ready for the heavy school assignments that are lined up. So. I do silly things I never do normally, like painting my toe nails even though it’s November.

Come to think of it, maybe I can use nail polish for my flowery Craft and Communications project? I think that was a pretty bad idea. Such a slow brain. I’ll sleep on it.

The actual creation of the map makes up another great memory of a more recent date; Veronica and I were at my family’s summer house while connecting pins and strings to map and memories while sharing a bottle of port wine, some delicious cheese and crackers, struggling to stay awake, part laughing, part trying to not drive each other crazy as we realized this project would take us about 10 times as long to finish as we first thought. It was raining a lot the days we were there, but if you wear garbage bags over your rain coats like my family usually(?) does, there’s no need to complain:

Anyways. I wish Ida and Tamam will have a wonderful time in Africa, that all my other friends enjoy their time in Norway even though the darkness (a.k.a. winter) is sneaking upon them, and I’ll try to make the best out of my time here in America! Maybe it’s time to visit this cafe today?

I’m more familiar with a regular piano, but all of a sudden I’m the owner of a Multivox 700 Electric Chord Organ. It has legs too. It sounds like this - but that little clip isn’t exactly inspiring music… Every time I try to think of something to play, I just think of old Christmas Carols. So. What would be good music to play on this organ? Give me a challenge, and I’ll see what I can do :)

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

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

Organic low-fat diet vegan burger
Og når vi er inne på mat. Jeg er vant til å kjøpe “normal” mat i Norge. Lightprodukter holder jeg meg som regel unna. Her er imidlertid det som tilsynelatende er normal mat, så søt og feit at det nok ikke er så rart at folk blir nødt til å vike unna det “normale”. Organic food, og ikke minst vegan food er hot her borte. Så 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 altså amerikanerne å være på den sikre siden. Mulig det er derfor de er pliktige å behandle melken så mye at den dunken jeg har i kjøleskapet varer helt til påske. Eller i alle fall til langt ut i oktober. Samtidig bor jeg i en leilighet uten noe særlig sikring med tanke på brann. Jeg kan dessuten klatre opp en ynkelig stige for å komme opp på 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 oppå taket her forleden i mørke natten uten inngjerding. Samtidig er stiene i parkene godt gjerdet inn så folk ikke skal forville seg ut i “the wilderness” – altså 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. Nå 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 så utbredt at det ikke er snakk om en type mennesker, er ikke godt å si ennå. Har inntrykk av at mine kommende klassekamerater er hakket mer oppegående 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 på en fancy restaurant på 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 frempå at det kanskje var på tide å dekke bordet. Jeg ble møtt med skuldertrekk i hovedsak, og forstod at jeg skulle roe ned etter et par forsøk på å rydde plass ved kjøkkenbordet. Vi endte med å forsyne oss av den diggeste pastaen i hver vår dype tallerken, og snafset så opp herligheten med gaffel i hånd – noen stående, andre sittende litt strødd utover kjøkkengulvet. Jeg følte jeg var uhøflig både mot mat og mot kokk, og kjente dessuten en trang til å kombinere kniv med gaffel under inntakelsen av måltidet. Jeg var tydeligvis alene om det… Å sitte ned, tenne noen stearinlys og virkelig kose seg med maten, er visst ikke helt kotymen. Heldigvis har jeg et fint lite IKEA-bord på rommet mitt der jeg kan hylle fremtidige måltider 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.

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.