Thursday, December 01, 2011

Counting the days 'til Christmas!

It's getting colder in Southampton, and today it was constantly raining as well. Which is kind of nice, because there was a lot of digging in our street because of some water-business - very muddy, and now hopefully the rain has washed it away.

On Tuesday me and Torun attended the Norwegian Christmas Party, which was held at Grand Café - check out the link and the gallery. It's beautiful there. (This is where the wealthy(er) guests of Titanic had their last dinner (or should I say the last supper...) before they boarded the ship on April 10th 1912.)
We also stopped by a "vors" (pre-party) with girls only - a lot of noise there as you can imagine. At Grand Café I think we were 98 Norwegians who attended, out of 120, which is really amazing! We did not have the traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner, but as a main course we had a delicious lamb shank with mashed potato and veggies on the side.

Greta & Eli Marie, both in my class.

Me & Torun.

I didn't take any pictures of the food or the seating area, I was too hung up on the delicious meal. If you know me correct, you know I LOVE food, therefore, well; I was distracted.

After the meal we went to two clubs and enjoyed the rest of the night! Sorry for not having more interesting pictures to show you.

Yesterday me, Torun and Unni decided to check out a store called The Range which apparently was supposed to have an art section - which we all like. Torun left us early, but me and Unni stayed a bit more and bought some items. We stayed for quite some time actually, so it was starting to get dark when we got out to walk back home.

A random, but interesting alley.

Now, walking back home wasn't so easy, as we decided to take another road from the one we walked to get there earlier. The sky was greying, but we thought we'd make it home before dark. We came to a point where many roads crossed and found out we had no idea what so ever of which road to take further - I wanted to go up a little hill because I found it promising, but Unni meant that that would be the wrong way. So we took another way, in the opposite direction and walked..............

Still walking.
It's getting dark. And we walk on for around 15-20 minutes.

The area wasn't all that light and bright, and it looked shabby and lost (at least now that it was dark). We decided to take the bus, no matter what direction; we saw familiar bus routes (18 and 17A) that go through Shirley, and we took a chance. Now guess what; the bus ride takes 5-7 minutes and UP THE HILL we suddenly go, and a little further, and we're at the Shirley precinct, by Sainsbury's. Whaaaaat do you know, and Unni; We should've gone up that hill in the first place!!!

You guys may not find this little story so entertaining, but boy was it an adventure for the two of us! Farmers in the city, as you could say in Norwegian.

Other than that [exciting] tour, not much interesting is going on. I'll show you a few pictures from Unni and Torun's school, the Graphic Design, Illustration etc. department of the Uni downtown, which I went to with them to work the other day. This is some sort of manual printing studio.









Don't you love it? I get so inspired by these things, well, art in general!!

Today I worked [hard] on my essay, and this is what I am going to do the following days until December 13th. After that I'm pretty much done with school here in Southampton before I go home to my friends and family for the holidays! I just can't wait, I looong for the break. 

I especially can't wait to be together with Lars, and also to see my best friends - Andrea, Rikke and Mathilde!

This is how it somewhat looks like when you're a hard working student.

14 more days before I leave for home on the 16th, home to Norway <3.

Have a good night.

- vic -

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Winchester, Norway and lots of school in between!

School has recently been kicking my behind and I was drowning in work right before the past weekend.

I had my mom and Robert visiting me in the beginning of November, which was very nice, and that gave me some time to both explore restaurants and be a tourist. We went to Santo Lounge again and tried the tapas they offer, which turned out to be Delicious!


When my mom went to the hairdresser later the same day, me and Robert explored the city "behind the scenes" and strolled through the Old Town. Here we found a real local pub that we came back to, with great atmosphere, great people and great beer and food! I drank Guinness again for the second time of my life, the first time not liking it (when I was in Ireland), but this time I was sold. The pub is called The Duke Of Wellington.


Guiness.

We we're also lucky to experience the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day, which we did right after the pub visit. There was lots of people and fireworks!

Guy Fawkes day!

On the Sunday we took a field trip to Winchester after being recommended to go there. Winchester is a very small city, but with a lot of great atmosphere and soul. I really liked it here - different architecture, different shops and also great food.. We ate lunch at Maison Blanc where they serve French couisine. Lovely!

Winchester high street.

Even further down than in the picture below, there was a marked out in the street, and you could buy so many nice things, many of which was vintage and antique furniture.

Winchester high street.

After having mom and Robert over, I had a lot of school to do before going home to Trondheim to Lars for a weekend. I was really looking forward to this and it was only around two weeks before travelling home, but those days felt sooo much more than that!

I had to hand in my first project early because I was going away, so I sat up until the wee hours of the last 4-5 nights there to get it done. Luckily I got done in time for my hand-in last Thursday, so that I could breathe and start to look forward to my trip back home to Lars!

I left for London and Marianne that Thursday and stayed the night there, before I got up veeeery early again to catch my plane at 9am over at Gatwick Airport. It was nice to spend a little time with Marianne again, it's been a long time since I saw her last and it's always fun!

The weekend in Trondheim I don't have any documentation of, only my plane and transport tickets. This is because all me and Lars did was just spending quality time together, laying on the couch watcing A Modern Family and other stuff, taking strolls in the city centre, and we also did a little bit of Christmas shopping!

It was unbelievably great to be in my own home together with him once again, and now we both just simply can't wait to get back to Sykkylven for Christmas!

I'm leaving December 16th, and I looking forward to it so much!!

So that's it for this time, again. Now I'm gonna to be working very hard on my essay on consumerism which is due Dec 13th, and the new project which is also a competition - YIDA, Young Interior Designer Awards!! I'm extremely excited for this one, as I've got tons of ideas for what I want to do already! I won't spoil it yet, as the hand-in is in January, but maybe I'll give you some hints in the near future.

Here's the brief:



You can catch some of the hints in my personal inspiration blog on Tumblr:
vichaa's inspirations

I post stuff here all the time, everything from design to music to art.
Stay tuned.

- vic -





Saturday, November 12, 2011

Bristol, 21.-23. October - Street art and Katy B!

Hellooo there!
I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything new recently. I can't seem to remember to write a post whenever I finally have time for it!

So what's been going on.. Well, last time I mentioned I was going to Bristol to meet a friend and to go to a Katy B concert. So; - Bristol blew me away, in every way. First off; the city is so vibrant, it's crazy. I mostly feel like this because of All the street art that's over there. I learned that Banksy, the street artist, is from Bristol, so no wonder the city was packed with graffiti from top to toe.

From the street right below high street and all the shops.
I believe there was a graffiti competition here between the best street artists in Europe,
so all you see is their work.

It was really great to see my friend Therese again as I haven't seen her since the summer! We lived in a hostel while there, or, I lived in two and she in the same one all her stay, and I checked in at her hostel for my second night. It was very hard to get a place to sleep there, some place decent at the least (female dorm...), since the season obviously wasn't over. (That's what the lady in one of the receptions said).

We walked around the city centre mostly and down by the harbourside. It was _so_ nice to relax for a while together with Therese, and the atmosphere was so much different than in Southampton. First of all you could feel the culture really swiping over you, and second the city centre had a lot more to offer than back south. Third, I remember live guitar and keyboard music in the streets while sitting on a bench, just listening and enjoing life. Oh Bristol, I liked you!

I visited the city from Friday to Sunday, and the second day we took a stroll uptown and walked into a a memorable street, Stokes Croft, where magic happens. I mean, not really, but I just felt so at home and so inspired here! This area of the city is very shabby and not particularly pretty, with, I guess, a lot of garbage laying around randomly. But here you could see more of the original street art part of Bristol - the origins. Here's another of my slideshows starting with street art in the city centre to the shabby neighbourhood of Strokes Croft.



I have to mention a café both me and Therese fell in love with in Stokes Craft. Café Kino. This was just a little café hidden on a corner, but a charming place with with lovely ambience, good cappuchinos and lovely home-made kake! We sat there for like an hour, just mezmerized by the street and the people. Artists, retros and simply the core of craft in Bristol. Loved it!

Café Kino on the end of this block.


We took strolls down the hight street and of course payed Cabot Circus a visit - that place is huuuge! We enjoyed Costa coffees and the beautiful weather on a bench in the street while listening to the rythms from a guitar and a keyboard. Oh yes life was good in Bristol, but about to get better.



One of our favourite shops - Urban Outfitters!
I miss that from the US!!

In the evening on Saturday was the long anticipated Katy B concert! Before the concert, we ate dinner in a local irish pub, right by the Bristol O2 Academy, before queuing at 6pm. The doors were to open at 7pm, and we were lucky to be one of the first to get in to the academy, with a long queue forming behind us.


Exciting girls!!

We got in and were lucky again to get some nice places amost in front and almost in the middle, before the scene. Before Katy, there was a line-up with different artists, among them DJ Zinc and P Money, which were both _amazing_!! P Money joined Katy on stage later as well, backing her up on some of her songs. 

When Katy B herself came on stage the atmosphere got Electric, Energic and just Magic! I loved every second of it. And Katy turned out, not only, to be the most down-to-earth person you can meet, as we thought she would be, but she also sang as amazing as we had anticipated ever since we first started listening to her music. 

Here's two clips from the concert - first a clip from Katy's song Whiches Brew, next Perfect Stranger (a featuring Magnetic Man (he wasn't there)):




Katy said herself that she makes music that just makes you feel good, and her tunes are a blend of R&B, dubstep, electronica, pop and house. The whole night we danced to the music along with her and just had an great time.

We checked out some nightlife in Brisol as well, and fell in love with a bar on the harbourside called, guess what, No. 1 Harbourside! A small bar, packed with people, good music and good beer. I absolutely recommend it to everyone visiting Bristol in the future.

Goind down the harbourside.

Sunday me and Therese parted although we really didn't want to. Unfortunately I had school waiting, but Therese was lucky enouth to stay in this great city for a few more days. We're definitely go back together some other time.

That's all about Bristol folks, next awaits a family visit from Norway and a nice little trip to Winchester!

- vic -



Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Daily Life

So I'm well into working with school now. I have three assignments going on at the same. One is an essay based on consumerism where I have to write 5000 words. I've decided to investigate how alternative designers and artists are affected or unaffected by the gobalization of the world, and how some of them use old techniques and preserve values and culture, or use the authentic elements within cultures in their work.

The second project is a 6000 word practice dissertation with an additional practical part. I will be writing about how people should avoid using too much white in their interior spaces, and rather use colours that really reflects who they are and their perspoalities. I don't like a white wall.

I'd rather have a red wall.
Wallpapers & Paint.
Or at least drown my white wall with art, books and photography, and add colours in furniture etc.
Cabein.


Or drown my white wall like this.
Now this reflects personality!

My third assignment is a live project. With this I'm going to take on mine and Lars' apartment in Trondheim, which we plan remodel next year, when I return from the UK.
I've not come very far with ideas and sketching, but together we have many ideas for changes whithin the apartment, like tearing down some walls, hehe... So far I'm on a retro inspired idea when it comes to the concept, and I get a lot of muse and inspiration from this picture:

Love the interior, and the georgeous colour.
Other than that the girls and I went to the movies the other day with two german girls from their class, and saw the movie "Midnight In Paris" which was _amazing_! I recommend it to everyone who are interested in litterature and art, and Woody Allen - who is behind it. It's beautiful and charming, and it takes you through the streets of Paris in a way that makes you fall in love with the city even more, if you haven't already. At the same time makes you feel like you for a moment go into this sweet and magial world.
Go see it!

This upcoming weekend I'm going to Bristol and meet my friend Therese, and we're going to a Katy-B concert!! I can't wait, that's all I can say!!

Katy B - Katy B On A Mission

Katy B - Perfect Stranger (With Magnetic Man)


That's it for now folks!

- vic -

Friday, October 07, 2011

Our Home

Finally, here are pictures of our house. It is of course of real british standard with wall-to-wall carpets in all rooms except for the livingroom, kitchen and bathroom downstairs.

Hallway

Livingroom

Kitchen
And here's my room.



The furniture, lamps and curtains in the house came with it, so luckily we didn't have to spend a lot of money on that, on top of everything else. All us girls live upstairs, but we have a spare room downstairs for family and friends too, which we use as a storage room for now.

The street we live in, from my window
Even though we live outside Southampton central, there's no problem in taking the bus everyday to school. Plus we live in a great neighbourhood - only families with kids, older people, no students (no noise), and it's safe. Which is the most important thing :)
- vic -



Friday, September 30, 2011

The club scene, and London again!

The past weekend the girls and I checked out the club scene here in Southampton. Friday night we went to Junk which was, well just okay. I mean, we had fun, but the place wasn't fun. And the DJ(s) played annoying music, because they would play an intro to some hit and then go on to the next intro. So we NEVER got to hear a whole song.

Saturday night we went to my friend from Sykkylven Sarah's place. This is where we started our evening and got to know three other girls that she knows. We continued to Orange Rooms this time and this place was way better than Junk. I actually read that they have won Southampton's Best Bar Award. Here's a picture of the interior from their website.

I loved the interior, and the place was packed, so the atmosphere was really great! (Also the music was normal in comparison with Junk...) I'm not dissing Junk, it's probably a great place on other evenings when they have more people and other music-themes. Just, not this Friday...


Before the weekend, actually when I was in London on Tuesday and met Marianne for the coffee, we talked about me coming back for this weekend for 100%DESIGN. That's basically a huge event where a lot of designers and companies gather to promote their products and prototypes. I really wanted to go, but didn't know if I would really be in shape for it after two days out in a row. BUT, I found myself up and running at 8 o'clock Sunday morning, sat on the bus to the Central Station at 9, and had my butt placed in the train to London at 10! I'm very pleased with this achievement.

I met Marianne at Earls Court, where we later met Runa (from my class in NKF). I really didn't know that Earls Court was as big as it was, I had only heard about the name. 

But, it was this big.




And actually that's just half of it.


So as you can see, this place was big enough to have fun for hours. 
But after 4 hours you're pretty tired and don't have any more space in your head to take in what's left.

I've made another slideshow for you, (I think I'm gonna stick to this when posting loads of pictures...), and they show some of my favorites from Channelsdarestudio, Il Vetro Dei Dogi and Melin Tregwynt.


I stayed in London for the night with Marianne. On Monday before she left for her first day of school, she showed me a place called Brick Lane. Basically this street is a designer/artist/musician street, and you can find many cool vintage shops, not-so-known-(yet) designer stores and a great music store called Rough Trade. I loved this little colorful strip.


When we said our goodbyes for now, I went to the Victoria and Albert museum that I had heard many great things about. Sure enough, this place was filled with amazing art and design from different periods. Divided into different styles and countries, it was way too much for my head to see absolutely everything. That is why I stuck to checking out the Asian part with beautiful decorations, handmade furniture, ornaments and amazing and colorful textiles. I am very fascinated by the Oriental art and culture. Maybe this is something I can use in my coming dissertation later on this semester?

I also checked out the iron section, the glass section (mostly window glass paintings), and last but not least the performance and theatre section - something that I'm also very interested in. I love both the stage part of the theatre and the costumes. I love colors and patterns, and think the idea of forming a role or a character's clothing is very exciting, with all the different textiles and masks and what not.

Here's a little bit from the V&A museum.





There were extremely many cool things at both 100%DESIGN and at V&A that I will take with me in future projects. I gathered very much inspiration before school-start, and think that when I've digested all the impressions and sights, I will be ready for this coming year. And it's all starting on Monday October 3rd!

After everything I'd seen and learned I decided to go be a real tourist before I headed back to Southampton. I'm not going to tell you much about that, because everyone who's been in London have probably done the same things as I did, which was seeing Picadilly Circus and take a stroll through Chinatown and Covent Garden. After that my head nearly exploded, so I took the next train at 1635, 1 1/2 hour earlier than planned. 

Picadilly Circus.

When walking in Covent Garden, I stumbled upon this place, a dear memory from the days back in high school, when visiting London for a week together with my dancing class.

Pineapple Dance Studio.
London - you showed me Way too much - but I loved it!


- vic -

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Induction week and London

So the induction weeks have begun and there's been a lot going on. These weeks are really only about getting to know the school, the teachers and fellow students, and so far we've also been going through how things work, such as loaning photo- and videocameras and the IT-system. We haven't gotten our student ID's yet, and won't get them until this thursday. Pity, because all around the city there's 20% discounts off on clothes and shoes! Who doesn't love discounts...!


Last thursday I met up with my course leader, Sarah. She showed me and another girl I'll be studying with, Rebecca, our study room. It is pretty modern, spacious and light, and we got to see previous student projects. (Everything that's hanging along the walls and some dissertations in the picture under). Very inspiring and great work.

I'm really looking forward to start school now. Sarah told us that this Thursday we're going to meet the rest of the interior design students and pretty much start the course, and than next week we will be going full speed.

Part of our studio.


























On tuesday the same week we went to London with the international students to visit Tate Modern. Me, Torun and Unni walked around for about three hours; the museum was so HUGE. There was very much exciting to see, everything from interior and sculptures to paintings and textiles.

I also met up with Marianne very quick. Our bus back to Southampton left at 6 and we had to meet up half an hour before, so I felt a little stressed not having any idea what tube to take to where. But I made it for a short cup of coffee at Café Nero in Leicester Square, and it was so nice to see her!

Here's a short slideshow with pictures from the London trip early in the week. I don't have the patience to upload 13 single pictures here at Blogspot, hehe.



This was a short post, but many pics. I'm sorry I still haven't posted pictures of our house, it will come soon, I promise!!

- vic -

Friday, September 23, 2011

Southampton so far!

It's been such a long while! I've been wanting to write since Sunday but I never find time for it, and when I have had time I've always forgotten! (It's so typical...)

So hello again. I hope you are ready for a (long?) breakdown of the past week - moving to a new country and getting to know the city of Southampton a little better!

I'm ready to check out the city!

You all know what happened Tuesday so I'm gonna go straight to Wednesday. On this day we had a viewing booked with Marques Letting Agency and when we got there at noon, a slightly pale faced agent welcomed us to sit down and tell us that they almost didn't have Anything suitable for us three girls, which would be; central, furnished and 3 bedrooms. Luckily, going through their list of what they still had available, there was 1 house suitable for us, about 10 mins away by car, in Shirley, and long story short - we took it!

We didn't get to move in, until Monday this week, though. But we have a apartment, I'm sorry, a HOUSE!, which means we didnt' have to stress the rest of the week, instead we could enjoy exploring the city!

My mom and I walked for miles during the next days, around 8000-11000 steps (she had a step counter along with her, just for fun). We walked countless times up and down the High Street and we explored Ocean Village, the area around the Civic Centre/Guildhall/Central Library and Bedford Place. The pics under are from High Street. To the left you see one of the Titanic memorials,  with me standing on the left, Torun on the right, and Unni in the middle.






Walking towards the old town.

High Street, heading north.

We did a lot of shopping of course, and we were at the hairdresser Sanrizz, me coming out looking like Jesse J, and my mom having a completely new, modern haircut of the decade! We also treated ourselves with some Tropical Paradise Pedicure at Vikki Pink Beauty saloon. That last one right there... It was magical!

The saloon was down in Ocean Village, the high-end part of the city. It's very pretty there, and not so much people like in the city centre. We had a glass of very good white wine that I unfortunately don't remember the name of, at Banana Warf before we headed north again to the beautiful and relaxed Oxford Street, not far away from Ocean Village. Here we had yummy lunch at Olive Tree.  


During the week my mom and I went to many different restaurants and learned that there's lots of great places to dine out in Southampton. Here's a quick recap for you if you ever visit the city; go to Zen for fantastic Japanese cuisine (as mentioned in my previous post). For sensational Italian food you go to Lupa, and trust me; you'll get blown away. At Coriander you'll get, just, breathtakingly good Indian meals, while at City Beijing in High Street they have tasty chinese cuisine. 

Indian. YUM.

Here is a very delicious white wine we had to the Indian, at Coriander.

Up in Bedford Place there is also a delicious Mexican restaurant, Cantina. Personally I recommend all of these places. Which one to pick really just depends on what cuisine you prefer. At Sunday we came back to Cantina to celebrate Unni's birthday with good food and drinks.


Later in the week we learned that every Thursday to Saturday or Sunday there is a marked in High Street, Above Bar. Here you can find many different snacks, or meals if you would like some Thai for instance. There's also many booths with clothing, flowers, books and other stuff that usually is useless or in poor quality. But it has a great charm and it was nice to walk around and try some of the home cooked food and look at the goods and chattels. On Saturday me and my mom went up to Shirley to see the house again and check out the walking distance and area from the house to the high street. Shirley is its own little part-of-the-city centre and we have all facilities that we need here for when we move to our new place.

In front of our house!

What I've learned so far living here for a week, is that it's perfectly normal to have pink hair, 70% of the people in Shirley are polish (and so are the supermarkets), Always look to the right when you want to cross the road unless you have a deathwish and for crying out loud - stand on the left side of the road when you're waiting for the bus too!

There are also palms this south on our planet; we have proof in our backyard, everyone is so friendly and more outgoing than Norwegians, they even interupt conversations when asking other strangers for directions, and finally the food is three times cheaper than in back home in Norway.


I think I'm going to like it here. So far, so good.

- vic -