Came across something cool today. For those of you who know Norwegian, read the text in the picture. For those of you who don't...this is a copy of a Norwegian "skijumping club through a 100 years". What it basically says is that my grandfathers two cousins, Einar and Birger, were doing skijumping and combined for this club. Apparently they were really good. The second picture is the two brothers together. The first picture is Einar with another jumper. Quite exciting! This is from the late 20s early 30s.

Here are a couple of other pictures as well. This is Einar Burdal with his prizes. Just look at his clothes and the decor in this room. Amazing. He looks like a typical Norwegian guy with those trousers and long socks. Quite funny how serious he looks, even though he has won something!

...and this one is of Birger Burdal. Looks pretty heavy having to get through all that snow. But I guess he was some kind of professional. Again, the clothes look like typical Norwegian clothes. I bet it kept him warm. It looks like his sticks are made of wood.

Today I had a little talk with a guy in my class about the massacre that happened in Norway one year ago. It made me think... it made me think about what actually happened that day and how I was feeling. Even though I have moved to Sheffield to study, Norway will always be where I'm from. It's where I was born and it is where I grew up. It is my home.

I was home that summer. Not doing much, really. I remember that Christian and I were sitting at the kitchen table with our computers. Reading the news, updating social network etc. Just the normal thing you'd find yourself doing on a Friday afternoon. I remember updating the website I was on. A new headline popped up. "Big explosion in Oslo", or something along those lines. It didn't give much information, just where it had happened and when. I told Christian, and I updated my Facebook status "And Oslo has been attacked? Cool...". He put on BBC radio, I think it was, and the news came pretty fast. I remember saying to Christian that I thought it was odd that the explosion had happenend right outsite the government building, where our labour prime minister has his office. I said something like "I think this is an attack from someone who is unhappy with our government, someone from the right side". As we were talking about this, the woman on BBC news started talking about Al-qaeda... could it possibly have been them?

Not long after this the news ticked in about shootings on an island. At first no one made the connection, but it didn't take long to figure it out. I was absolutely devestated. When going to bed, the last thing I heard was that around 10 people were dead, I think it was. When I woke up, the number has risen to around 80. I remember the feeling of my stomach turning, I felt so ill. I wanted to cry, and I wanted to scream. What the hell had happened?

I still feel this way about what happened. It has been over a year, and the shooter has been convicted from the crimes he committed. He is behind bars, though it feels wrong to use that expression. Norwegian jails can't be referred to as that. Norwegian prisons aren't like other prisons, and this makes me angry.

Though I am sad we were totally unprepared for this, I still see it as some sort of comfort...let me explain...Norway is a peaceful country, and it is very unlikely that something like that would happen. It hasn't happened before, so why would we expect it? I do hope that Norway can continue being the country I know and love, but still remember 22nd of July 2011. So on that note, I would like to end this by saying rest in peace to all the people who were tragically killed in Oslo and on Utøya. And all my thoughts are still with their friends and family.

I was talking to Chirstian about the bus I take into town everyday, to go to my lectures and workshops. He said "why don't you blog about it?" Well, Christian, writing about the bus I take everyday, which I had to pay £1.95 on when I first came to Sheffield, then £2.20, because the prize just stupidly rised for no particular reason, then dropped to £2 and then decided to let students pay 60p, is not very interesting. Also the fact that the bus used to be a normal sized bus (on one floor), and when I came back to Sheffield after summer they had swapped most of them with double deckers from Leeds. How do I know? It says Leeds on the side of the bus, that is how. We are in Sheffield, not Leeds. Hard to mix the two up. Lately the buses have been very late (often almost 30 minutes late), and they are supposed to go every 10 minutes. This is extremly frustrating when you have to get to your lectures ON TIME! The most annoying part about this is when the bus eventually do arrive...THREE come at once! I need one bus, not three.

Anyway, this has made it difficult for me to trust the buses. Everytime I go to pay for my bus ticket, I keep an extra £1.40 in my other hand, just in case the bus driver is stupid and tells me I have to pay full prize. Don't trust them. This has also led me to leave the house a lot earlier then I normally would, just so I am sure I will get there on time. This, of course, leads to a lot of unnecessary waiting, because everyone knows that if you are very early, everything runs smoothly and you end up with 30 minutes to waste before a lecture. If you are on time, everything will fall apart and you will be late. #Fact