UPDATE from my life~

Holy marshmallow I am a horrible blogger...!

.

.

.

.

Yeah... I have been really dead on the blogging front, as well as on youtube.. >< Exams just completely throw me off. The good part is that they are soon over! :D *happy dance*

The weather has become really nice lately, almost feels like spring is actually here to stay now! *knocking on wood to not tempt fate* When the sun is shining and the temperature reaches almost 10-12 degrees celcius, I get so motivated to do stuff. I even went for a hike today! It was so refreshing and relaxing to be outside, listening to the birds sing and the movement of the forest. I will try to make that a regular thing for me to do.

This increase in sun and heat will also make my outfits a tad more interesting. I won't have to jump into my big, warm sweaters and jeans all the time anymore. Believe it or not, I actually managed to wear a maxi-dress today when I went for a info-meeting at school. That made it feel like spring.

What else have I been doing lately..?

Went to an x-russ party.
An x-russ party is a party where we who have been russ in earlier years dress up in our russebukse and re-live the old memories for one day.

If you don't know what a russ is, I'll quickly explain it now: In Norway when we graduate from high school, we celebrate this for approximately half a month to a month in the last spring semester by dressing up in colorful overalls that represent how many years we are graduating from. The color depends on what kind of line you have been studying. We have three main colors that are the most common: Red, Blue and Black. There are also Green ones, but they are not a common.

• The ones with Red overalls have finished three years of general studies, which is the basic that you need to get into a university. It means they have gotten general study competence, or special since some take extra math and chemistry and such. 

• The Black or Blue ones are for them who have finished the two years of vocational studies, which are lines where you specifically study a trade such as health worker, chef or art. These lines only go for normally two years and then you go out working for two more years as an apprentice. 

• The Green overalls are for those who study agriculture and such. There are not that many schools who provide this, so they are kinda rare. 

I myself have been both a Red and a Black russ. I was first a Black russ in 2013 after finishing culinary school, but I chose not to go into apprenticeship, and instead take one extra year where I studied to get the general study competence. Which meant I got to be a Red russ in 2014. 

If you want to know more detailed stuff about this fun celebration, there is a wikipedia page about it; here. (The information there might be a little different when it comes to the representation of the colors, but that is how it used to be before. The way I've listed it here is how it was at the school I was attending. Don't know if they do it much different in other schools.)

So anyway, we get to dress up in our old overalls one day every year to party and have fun. I chose to wear my Black overall since that is the oldest one, and there are fewer people who have Black compared to Red. I think I might wear the Red one next year. It's nice to be able to wary from year to year. We first had a pre-party at a friends apartment where we started at like 10-11am in the morning. This is a day where we drink all day. Then there was a gathering at an old fortress ground, so we went there. There was so many people there. Of course the amount of Red overalls were overwhelming compared to the other colors. We spent some time there, before heading back to our friends apartment to chill and drink some more. When it got around 11pm some of us went in to town. Didn't spend too long there since it started raining. Then I went home. It was a long day, but it was so much fun. I am already looking forward to next year. The sad thing is that when so many young people gather, and people are very drunk, they make a complete mess. And this day was no exception. The local news paper had been at the fortress grounds early the next morning, and it was flowing with trash, grills, an armchair and more stuff. I do not understand how people manage to make such a mess. I at least made sure to bring back all the empty bottles and trash I had with me. It wouldn't be such a big job cleaning if everyone just took their stuff. Hopefully they got it cleaned up. 

.

.

Otherwise I have been sitting at school or at home preparing for exams. Been reading and re-writing lecture notes. Nothing fancy going on at all. Just plain, boring me digging myself down into books. 

So I said earlier that I went for a hike today, and it really made me remember what it is I love about Norway; the nature. Spring and summer are my favorite seasons, and I dare say they are the most beautiful seasons in Norway. I am not a fan of cold weather, so it says itself that I am ecstatic when the degrees climb upwards, but there is just so much beauty in spring and summer as well. The trees grow new leaves and flowers, the birds sing and people seem generally happier. So when I went for my hike today, I took a couple of pictures of the beautiful norwegian nature that we are known for. 

Here are a couple of pictures: 

These pictures were taken on my Samsung, so they don't completely do the nature justice, but I think they do give a good idea of how beautiful it is. Next time I might bring my camera, but it's just so nice to walk around without thinking of pictures and internet, and just relax; taking it all in. But I do want to showcase the norwegian nature, so I might just do that. 

Now If you might excuse me, I need to drift off to dream land because I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning. 

Bye Bye~