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 -

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 Channels, darestudio, 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 -

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 -