A taste of what I do here in America

I'm taking TV production class. I think it's my favorite class here!
This one of the assignments we did. Christoffer was producer and I was director. So much fun!

New York

This week end we went on a trip to New York!
The bus left from campus at 7 a.m., 8 hours later we were in the Big Apple!
We stayed at the West Side YMCA, which was ok, great location at Columbus Circle, right next to Central Park!
We had so much fun! I really, really, really love NY!

We met up with Gisken :)

Hope I'll see you again really soon, beautiful city!

Pittsburgh

Yesterday, September 10th, five of us (two Americans, two Norwegians and one Pole) drove to Pittsburgh. First we went to Kevin's house where his dad made us hamburgers. We got to see a real American home, in a real American suburb! Just like in the movies.

Then Kevin took us up to Mount Washington which has a great view of the city. Pittsburgh is such a cool place! If you look closely, you can even see that there was a rainbow over the city! Perfect timing!

After that we spent some time on a parking lot drinking beers. This is called tailgating. It felt very American, especially since the parking lot was located right between the football stadium and the baseball stadium.

And then we went to the baseball game! I didn't understand much, but I still really loved being there. Also, Kevin got some really, really good tickets from some people who were leaving, and he gave them to me and Sindre. So when we got to our new seats, I actually understood baseball a bit more than before! We sat just to the left of the batter, front row! The baseballs were flying everywhere, and at the end of the game we were this close to getting the bat that one of the players threw up to us! And we almost caught balls a lot of the time too! Maybe we'll actually catch one next time.

At the end of the game there was a great firework show! I've never seen a firework show this long or this awesome! I filmed it for you.

First two weeks

I know I haven't been blogging for a while, but there is just too much going on!
Also, I've decided to blog in English, so that more people can understand what I'm talking about.

A lot has happended since my last post. We arrived safely at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and got our rooms. That was exciting! It was even more exciting when we got to choose our classes for the semester! I registered for Animation, Beginning Photography, Communication Graphics, Application and Techniques of Motion Pictures and Advanced Video Production.
The first week was also called add-drop week. For a good reason! When we arrived in our first Advanced Video Production class, which I had really been looking forward to, we discovered that it was way too basic for us! What a surprise, since that class is the most advanced we could choose from in that area! It was basically what we had been doing at Oslo University College for the last two years crammed into one semester. No thank you!
So we panicked a little. Especially when we checked the internet to see wether there were any other classes we could switch to, and didn't find anything tempting at all.
But then we remembered that it might be a good idea to talk to a real person. So the next day, that was exactly what we did. We really wanted to take TV Production, but we were told that the class was full. After a few phone calls though we were suddenly accepted after all! And why? Because we are Norwegians! The teacher (wonderful Dr. Start) thought that the American students would benefit from having international students in their class.
And that is how we have been treated almost everywhere. I guess we're kind of exotic to the Americans.

School is going well so far. Although I'm a bit overwhelmed by the workload. But I'll manage. I feel like I've learned a lot more in the past two weeks than i have in the past two years in Oslo!

The social life is pretty good too! One of my favorite new traditions is "Laundropoly". We do our laundry, and while the machines are doing what they do best, we sit in the laundry room and play Monopoly. Can't wait to wash my clothes again!

Also, this last saturday we went to Pittsburgh on a trip arranged by the International Office. That was nice. When we were back in Indiana we went out for some drinks. That was even nicer!

Well, I have a lot of reading to do now. Good thing it's raining cats and dogs.

Getting there...

Søndag 21. august var dagen endelig kommet. Vi skulle til USA. Til byen Indiana i staten Pennsylvania. Det var ganske uvirkelig at vi plutselig skulle dra etter måneder med søknader, utfylling av papirer og skjemaer på nett, ambassadebesøk og masse mas og forvirring. USA slipper som kjent ikke inn hvem som helst, men vi skulle heldigvis få lov til å bo i Indiana i fire måneder.

Men å komme seg til Indiana skulle vise seg å ikke være så enkelt. Flyet fra Oslo til Newark ble 30 minutter forsinket. I og med at vi bare hadde fire timer på oss til å komme oss fra Newark til LaGuardia flyplass begynte jeg å bli litt nervøs. Men det var ført ved bagasjekarrusellen jeg begynte å tvile på om vi ville rekke flyet til Pittsburgh. Det var masse problemer med å få ut bagasjen vår, så vi måtte vente kanskje en time før vi var klare til å gå.

Etter masse frem og tilbake kom vi oss endelig på shuttelen vi hadde bestilt. Den tok oss tvers gjennom vakre Manhattan, og det var litt av en viljestyrke som måtte til for ikke å hoppe ut av minibussen på rødt lys.

Vi kom i hvertfall frem til LaGuardia flyplass én time etter at flyet vårt skulle ha gått. Så da vi gikk til skranken for å finne ut av hvordan vi skulle komme oss til Pittsburgh sa damen bare "You didn't miss your plane". På grunn av uvær var nemlig sånn ca alle fly forsinket. "Hurra", tenkte vi og løp til gaten. Lite visste vi da om at vi skulle få goood tid på LaGuardia.
Etter å ha ventet i omtrent to timer (heldigvis gikk vi og spiste litt) ble flyet vårt kansellert. Dermed måtte vi stå i en laang kø for å se om vi kunne få nye flybilletter ut av New York samme kveld (klokken var nå rundt åtte). Og det kunne vi! Etter enda litt mer venting kunne vi endelig ta av til Pittsburgh.

Klokken 00.30 var vi endelig fremme på hotellet der vi fikk en god, men alt for kort, natts søvn.