Sunday, July 22, 2012

Thailand, finally: First Days

The flight and waiting was long, but we finally got to Bangkok around 1500 local time on Thursday.
Lars' father Tormod picked us up by car, and not long later we were met by Lars' mother Ellen. Tormod then popped a champagne bottle and apple cake with ice cream was served! A real nice Norwegian(/French) welcome :)

Since Thursday we have already seen and done some stuff. Friday me and Lars bicycled all around Jomtien and Pattaya all day, and also visited a Buddha Hill where you can overlook both towns (if all the trees around were cut). My first impression was that this country is very chaotic and has a lot going on in the streets at the same time. You can probably get a whiplash trying to see everything and everywhere.

Over the weekend we have spent time with Lars' parents. We've eaten good Thai food in various places (pictures of the deliciousnesses will come when I have some) - we have visited crazy Walking St. in Pattaya and seen too much for my eyes and psyche (that being the life of certain ladyboys and prostitutes), getting to know quite a different world than where I'm from, - I have witnessed the differences in the country between the rich and poor, as well as seen a bit of religion (more Chinese than Thai actually), - and we've ridden on elephants!

Other than that I have so far understood that it's much cheaper here than I first anticipated. I do not know what I will spend 10 grand on here, except blowing of some of it on a upcoming scuba-diving licence (which I absolutely can't wait for!)

Oh yes, we also visited a place where a giant golden Buddha was placed on a great mountain wall. Picture says it all.

That's it for now. Three days down and so many to go! This upcoming week we will meet some friends from Trondheim and hang out with them.

So long.

- vic -

Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Big Apple Part 2!

Well hello again!

I figured I should tell you the rest about my stay in New York in February, so - in this post you'll get to see a bit from West Village, NY Public Library, Grand Central Station, Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park.

First of - I think we were in West Village a couple of times, and I absolutely fell in love with it! I didn't take so many pictures there, because this place works this way: if you go into a shop, you stay there for at least an hour, and also if you go to eat, you stay there as well for at least an hour. We managed to get stuck at Juicy Couture for two hours I think, because there was a great seller there, hehe.. It was actually really fun to have a personal shopper.

I got out there without buying anything, luckily. My wallet was just screaming "NO, PLEASE NO!!", so I didn't. The other two girls, on the other hand, spent some paper there...

The atmosphere in West Village was so peaceful and lovely.

This café was a little treasure in West Village, placed in Washington st., I believe.
















It's a shame I don't have more shots from this part of the city, because it really was a nice place. Loads of cafés, restaurants and unique shops here, and we also found the "Friends" (the TV-series) building here!

The "Friends" building.

While I'm talking about dining a little bit, I just have to mention that we visited amazing TAO in Midtown Centre. The place was beyond amazing, designed, literally, between two stories! So when we were downstairs the ceiling was probably 8-9 m over our heads! Also we met up with one of Eli's friends who lives in New York in TAO!

The food.........was to DIE for. People who know me, know I loove good food, so this place; 
perfect for me.

Standing on second floor, looking down on the Buddha statue.

The Buddha statue is almost 5 metres high.

Here is a photo of the incredible restaurant (where I think Everyone who is going to NY should visit!), from www.insidenewyork.com.




Moving on to the New York Public Library. It was established in 1895 and is the second largest library in the United States. Really amazing inside, as you can see in the photos.










And look at that, an old picture of the Times Square.
I can't believe it actually looked like that before.





Tired girls from all the looking around.

After visiting the library, the three of us took the subway to Grand Central Station. I remember I was extremely excited to see the Station, as I had heard about it and seen so beautiful pictures from it. So when we entered the _huge_ hall, it took my breath away.




The ceiling has astronomical details.







Can you guess how high it is under the ceiling!?



38 METRES!!!




We ended our visit to this fabolous city on Thursday. On this last day we decided to see the two of the "must-see" things to see as a tourist in NYC that we still had left; the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park. Brooklyn Bridge was beautiful. We walked half-way over it, and then turned around to get another skyline view of the city. A great way to say goodbye to New York.





Me and Eli bought souvenirs from this man.
He sold lovely painted pictures of New York.

Another NYC skyline.

Many couples have hung their love locks to symbolize their everlasting love on the bridge, 
and some have also hung memories to symbolize their own visit to the city.










When we got back up to "our" part of the city, we took a stroll in Central Park. We had half an hour or so to see a bit of the huge park.


Horse carriage ready for the romantic couples!

This cute squirrel was lucky to get a peanut!


















Then we headed back to our hostel where we checked out a short time after we got back.

The stay in New York City was short in time, but long in activities. It was intense because of all the things we did and saw, and I definitely feel like I need to come back here for a longer stay sometime. Even though I did so many things, there are still loads of things I want to do in NYC, like experience Broadway and Brooklyn. Those are things at the top of my head, because it is hard to think about what to do in a city that has so much to offer. I'd definitely want to do all the things I've done, all over again!

For you who are interested, we stayed at Hostelling International Hostel. This is in the Upper West Side at  891 Amsterdam Avenue. As for transport, we bought a 1-week Subway pass for $29 I think, and it was a great way to get around Manhattan. I think we took a cab once, so I can't say much about those prices.

Any other questions, just ask.


So that's it for New York.
In the end, words can't describe this city.

- vic -

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Serious Update!

Look at that, I'm back!! It's about time I update you isn't it......

I feel so bad that I haven't written anything since February!!, and a lot has happened since then!

I'll try to update you the best I can without writing too much about everything, and I won't write everything at once in this post, so stay tuned. This will be a long post, but don't worry it won't be all text, there will be many many pictures for you to enjoy.

To start, I had a project during Christmas that I didn't work much with then to be quite honest, so when I came back after the holidays I worked my butt off every day and night to make it before due date!! I remember that week..God was I stressed out.

I had everything planned out in my head though, so all I had to do was to get it on paper.

I loved this project; YIDA - Young Interior Designer Awards. 5 out of 54 students in my class would go on to the YIDA competition which in the brief said that you were to produce innovative and unique design. I didn't make it to the top 5, but I got a great mark and like I said; I loved this project.

I did a Scandinavian design type of project, though I called it "A Northern Haven". This was more fitting as I didn't just use Scandinavian design and products in my project.

Here's my two boards with the result, and I must say I'm proud of it.



And some of the photos from the boards so you can see some of the actual work.


* I've taken away the big photos as I am afraid of people copying. 
If you wish to see my portfolio, please contact me *


This project was a real challenge because for the first time ever I had to design everything from scratch. I didn't even have walls to decorate on the start of this project, so I had to be an architect as well as an interior designer and design a 450 square metre floor plan. Hard? Yes.

I was so relieved when I handed this in, though it wasn't the end.. I had a photography assignment due the day after as well. I've never really worked with photography and SLR-cameras, so this assignment was a challenge. But I believe I have an eye for photography, so I wasn't too worried.

The assignment was to capture an interior set, a location set and objects in focus.
You can check out my photos here.



You want more?

Alright. For you who don't know, I was lucky to go on a study trip to New York in the end of February!! I must say, I am still struggling to process everything I did and saw, because I was there for 6 days and did about everything that is tourist must-see! (Except for the Rockefeller Centre).

I'll give you New York in pictures mostly because it's simply too much to write about.


New York is a funny city. On the first day, that is Saturday, we came in late (we being me, Eli and Rebekka). So we decided to see Times Square since it was evening, because we thought we wouldn't have the chance again. 

What can I say about Times Square... It's not like in the pictures. In the pictures everything stands still. Times Square doesn't stand still!!! Times Square is the craziest place I've ever been at, crazier than standing on The Strip in Vegas. You can only look at all the flashy stuff for 5 mins, then you're outta there!

Don't misunderstand me, The Square was fascinating and very cool, but also a little too much.
And the reason for why I say New York is a funny city is because no matter where we walked in the city centre, we always seemed to find our way back to the Times Square!





On Sunday we went to the 9/11 memorial. This was a very peaceful place, as you can imagine.. What they have done white the location is very beautiful. 

"Dedicated to those who fell and those who carry on."









After the memorial we took the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.



It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be!

The Coast Guard was extreme....

And here we have the beautiful skyline of New York City.

Skyline a little more close.

We explored SoHo that day, and we took a long stroll up 5th avenue and did some shopping (mostly window shopping) (except for when the other two girls went nuts in Victoria's Secret, haha).

Another evening we decided to visit the top of the Empire State building. I think this was the best experience I had in the city. Standing on the roof to see the city 360 degrees was _amazing_.

Empire State Building from outside.

The beautiful Crysler Building.


All that light down there is Times Square!! It's THAT flashy.

That corner building is the famous Flatiron Building in the Flatiron District.


Just amazing. Here as well the photos can't describe the amount of amazingness I felt standing there on the 86th floor! And don't you think the views are georgeous??

While we were in New York we attended a lot of school events. It was mainly a second year trip, so as third years students we could tag along to the second years' events and tours, and we did. As a school event, we went to the Design & Decoration building to get inspiration and input from American interior design. This building is 14 stories high and we started on top (thinking it would be easier and go faster??) and really, this place was incredible! So many great interiors and decoration! But by the time we got to the 6th floor we just wanted it to end, haha. Waaay too much information at the same time for our brains to process. I took loads of pictures though, so now I can go through what I saw again and use the inspiration for my Final Major.


Here's a photo from the DDBuilding. Interiors are so different in this country than what I'm used to in Norway. Very inspirational!

After that we ate Sushi and it was Rebekka's first time! I thought it was YUUM!!




Also as a school event, we visited Radio City Music Hall. The Grammy's and MTV's Video Awards have been held here, as well as basically all music legends have held concerts here.

The building is an Art Deco building for you who are interested, and was yet another fascinating place to see in New York.


The entré blew me away! But when I came into the actual music hall I got speechless...

Look at the tiny people down there at the stage!



Sooo many incredible things in New York. I actually feel like I've processed some of my impressions now just by writing this post, going through some of what I've experienced over there.

But to be quite honest I don't think I can't write any more for now. I'm about half way through my New York visit, we just did sooo much that it's hard to go through all of it at the same time.

I'll leave you with this for now, but stay tuned for the next part of this incredible trip.

- vic -