Yesterday I finally made my casino visit, the one I needed for my gambling addiction class. As disappointed as I have been with that class, I realize I do have learned some things afterall. Like, that my visit yesterday may very well have resulted in myself becoming addicted to gambling- IF I did not know what I know about becoming just that. So here’s why I was entering the danger zone.

1) I have never been to a casino before, and the blinking lights and sounds and smiling cashiers and all of that- LOVED it. That is the first sign of DANGER. A healthy person does not care too much about all of that. As my teacher says: “If you love it, you’re in deep shit.”

2) After observing for class, I decided to try myself. I had a $20 limit, and was determined to stick to it. Sat down at a slot machine, put in the $20, press play. WINWINWIN, more blinking lights and sounds! $150! On my very first hit! Now THAT is how addicts are made! But I was strong, hearing my teachers voice in my head: Take the money and LEAVE. It was tempting to keep on going, but take it and leave is what I did (after spending the rest of the $20 that I was allowed to. Did not win any more, though).

Then I had a disturbing conversation with the waitress at the buffet. She was a grown, German woman. It went like this:

Waitress: This credit card looks weird, where are you   from?

Me: Norway.

(Her German accent was undetectable, so I did not realize she was German before she told me. She must have been here a while. I did NOT give her the “Oh, I am German, too!”- speech. I just wanted to eat.)

Waitress: Oh, I see.. So will you go back? why are you here?

Me: I’m just a visiting stude..

Waitress: GO BACK.

Me: Ehh, hum?..

Waitress: Go back. It’s no good here..

Then she just left. That was very Shutter Island-ish. WTF.

I did finish my cake-testing-procedure, though. Prepaid buffet. Very Marie Antoinette.

Now back to reading for my last exams. I have 6 more exams, starting tomorrow. As I realized my standing is pretty decent in all of my classes, my aim is now straight A’s (that’s pretty hot). It should be doable, just have to hang in there for these last days.

Then I’m DONE on May 3rd! BAM!

So back to reading now. TTYL, love y’all! <3

Howdy y’all! So much for becoming a better blogger.. My apologies.

Some of you showed some worries about my safety here yesterday, due to tornado warnings (those of you who weren’t, no offence taken. At all. NONE. <3.) But I am happy to let you know that no tornado ruined Kansas City, only a little wind and rain. Because over here, this is how we handle nature’s forces.

Besides averting tornados, I am busy with schoolwork these days. Only three more weeks, and this semester is over. So final exams are coming up, papers need to be handed in, and so on. Today I’m spending my day (and the next 4 days) writing a term paper on premarital sex, sin or not. Tough one, yes. I’ve known that I needed to write this paper all semester, but well. I’ve cut it down to do so in five days instead, just to challenge myself.

Besides schoolwork, I also go to the gym, and do other stuff people do. I spend some time planning the last weeks in the US. I’ll have three more weeks in KC in May, and then three weeks in NYC in June before going back to Bergen. I need to find places to stay in NYC, and figure out how to not let my luggage be overweight. I might go to Chicago before going to NYC, as it is not too far from KC- and pretty awesome, people say.

Not too crazy exciting news to share, my friends, sorry ’bout that. But I am safe and sound, and isn’t that the most important thing? That’s right.

Love you all, TTYS.

Aaaand back in Kansas City! After the initial ticket-trouble, I made it to LA. Peew! The trip continued to San Diego the same day, which is a two hour drive. San Diego is a beautiful city, sunny, clean and with a nice energy to it. I haven’t been too hard on the camera on this holiday, my bad. But I’ll show you the pictures I have.

Lunch in Little Italy, San Diego

Old Town, a really nice area. And they made the best coconut margarita.

My visa-situation is a little tricky, but it’s too boring to explain. Anyways, I have been in contact with the American embassy in Oslo for a long time now, about what to do when and how. So I did what I thought they wanted me to do, namely cross the border in order to reenter the US. San Diego is 30 minutes from the border, so how perfect wasn’t that.

Entering Mexico was an interesting thing. There were many grumpy looking, armed Mexican officers watching you. One wrong step, and you’ll get shot. Or so it felt. But- there was NO checking of anything whatsoever! Not my passport, my purse, nothing. I could have had 50 hand grenades, 3kg of cocaine, or a rabies infected little kitten in my bag. Nobody cared, you just walk right in. Olé.

Entered Mexico, crossed the street, stood in line to reenter USA. Spent 10 minutes in Tijuana- as it is NOT the place to stay, everybody told me. I really just wanted my passport stamped, and get outta there. But- they wouldn’t stamp it, just let me right in. I explained my situation, but there was no mercy in that officers eyes. I have now been in touch with the embassy again, and I guess I’ll have to do the same thing in june. As it simply was too early now. I will spend the last three weeks of my America-time in NYC, so I guess I’ll go see Niagara Falls from there, which are basically right next to the Canadian border.

Back to San Diego, Pacific Beach.

Then back to LA. First stop: Universal Studios!

Everything looks scarier in 3D.

Wisteria Lane. Personally a highlight on the studio tour. It’s really a street, and the houses are  actually used as sets. But it’s so much smaller and shorter than it appears on tv. It was hard taking pictures out of a moving little bus. But here’s proof.

The Simpsons ride, the best ride in the whole park, without doubt. I am not a rollercoaster person, but this one I took three times.

Never made it to the real Hollywood sign, but thankfully Universal Studios took care of that.

Just some guys I met.

Then I spent the rest of the week in Santa Monica. Really nice place to be. But- LA is BIG. They have no subway, and the busses take forever (an hour ride from Santa Monica to Hollywood). And it is expensive. And it is dirty! But there are a lot of really beautiful people.

Santa Monica, 07:30 am.

The pier.

Forest was here.

Hollywood. The walk of fame was a big disappointment. I expected some shiny, glittery street. But it was just a dirty street. I met Batman, or Larry, as his real name is. His accent was Italian.

Spidey and me waving hello to Zakarias back home!!

Rodeo Drive. Where even the street signs are made of diamonds. Turns out this also is just a street. A clean one, though.

Here I spent the afternoon waiting for Richard. But he never showed. He must have checked out already, I guess.

Having the name that I have is not always simple outside of Norway. So I tend to lie, to be honest. My new alias over here is Ann. But, turns out, that is too complicated, too. “M” it is from now on.

Melrose Ave. This street reminded me of Viertel in Bremen. A punky, cool street (dirty, too). Tatoo shops, second hand, art. I loved this street, coolest I’ve seen in LA.

Yes, everything is bigger over here.

As much as I love being bi-cultural, sometimes it simply makes me look like a compulsive liar. I was having breakfast at the hostel, when I realize the two girls sitting at my table are Norwegian. “Oh, hi, I am Norwegian, too!”. We had a nice breakfast together, exchanging sightseeing tips and stuff. Then another girl sits down, and I hear from her accent that she is German. “Oh, hi, I am German, too!”.                                                                               I have become rather quick in summing up my life to five sentences, so I got that situation cleared out.

Anne, my German friend from KC spent some days in LA as well, only that our dates didn’t overlap perfectly. But we had some time together in Santa Monica.

I also met up with Nora, a colleague back from Hotel Cæsar times. She is married and lives in Hollywood now. We got so caught up in catching up on the eight years we hadn’t seen each other, I totally forgot to take a photo. But it was so nice to see her again!

I also went to the Getty Museum. People say the MoMA in NYC is big- it is not. The Getty on the other hand is. I saw just a fifth of what it had to offer. Beautiful museum located in Bel Air (1,5 hours bus fom Santa Monica each way..). And it may be the ONE thing that is actually FOR FREE in LA!

Overall, I had a good time in LA. But I do not feel the need to come back. If you don’t have a car, and you’re not stinkin’ rich, it’s rather exhausting. I definetly prefer San Diego, not to mention NYC. Nothing compares to you, New York. <3

Now this was one long entry. Back to schoolwork. TTYL, love you all. <3