January 27, 2009
The last couple of days...
Thursday last week I left work after lunch due to a heavy cold, and stayed home also Friday. Fianlly, the wanting for food returend again Friday evening, also letting me attend the party hosted at my flat. Resulting in a night with very light sleep (the party lasting to 8h the next morning) and several hours of cleaning on Saturday (50-60 participants is quite a handfull).
Well, "la oss ikke gråte over spilt melk", Sunday: SKIING in the Alps! A group of 9 people set out heading for Avoriaz! For pictures I will again send you to the ones taken by Kim-Eigard; see Alpetur.
Markus, one of the people I (more or less) share a flat with.
Marthe on her way up the jump.
Speaking for the 8 of us, we are still amazed over the back-flip Kim-Eigard did (wow!!), after stating to everyone that "no, I'm not a good skiier". When later asked "how do you do it", the simplest answer came; "lean back [as you can clearly see in the photo below], close your eyes and hope for the best!" (Kids: don't try this at home!)
Kim-Eigard leaning back as the start of his backflip.
Well, "la oss ikke gråte over spilt melk", Sunday: SKIING in the Alps! A group of 9 people set out heading for Avoriaz! For pictures I will again send you to the ones taken by Kim-Eigard; see Alpetur.
Markus, one of the people I (more or less) share a flat with.
Marthe on her way up the jump.Speaking for the 8 of us, we are still amazed over the back-flip Kim-Eigard did (wow!!), after stating to everyone that "no, I'm not a good skiier". When later asked "how do you do it", the simplest answer came; "lean back [as you can clearly see in the photo below], close your eyes and hope for the best!" (Kids: don't try this at home!)
Kim-Eigard leaning back as the start of his backflip.January 26, 2009
CERN
Now you're even sending me e-mails asking what it's like working at CERN. I guess the time is ready for discussing the topic of work...
First impression: Grey and falling apart like another bad neighbourhood... Waiting for the trembling sensation of actually being at a place that is considered to be the centre of physics, eating in the same restaurants previously housing several Nobel Prize winners -- Sorry, but you're going to have to wait a looooong time for any sort of trembling, except of course from the one given by the cold travelling down your spine!
I haven't taken many photos my self, but another Norwegian student (Kim-Eigard) at CERN has, and you can see them all at CERN 2009 (there are also some pictures from Geneva here).
The work: Well first I, and my now new office mate, had to wait 2 weeks for new computers and our office to be ready. If you do the calculations I haven't gotten around to do much work during the total of 3 weeks I've been here. - Except reading though! (Meaning that I'm starting to get the hang of some basics).
The view from the office I was staying in for the first 2 weeks.
First impression: Grey and falling apart like another bad neighbourhood... Waiting for the trembling sensation of actually being at a place that is considered to be the centre of physics, eating in the same restaurants previously housing several Nobel Prize winners -- Sorry, but you're going to have to wait a looooong time for any sort of trembling, except of course from the one given by the cold travelling down your spine!
I haven't taken many photos my self, but another Norwegian student (Kim-Eigard) at CERN has, and you can see them all at CERN 2009 (there are also some pictures from Geneva here).
The work: Well first I, and my now new office mate, had to wait 2 weeks for new computers and our office to be ready. If you do the calculations I haven't gotten around to do much work during the total of 3 weeks I've been here. - Except reading though! (Meaning that I'm starting to get the hang of some basics).
The view from the office I was staying in for the first 2 weeks.January 12, 2009
Ski trip to Mont Jura - Crozet
Well actually, I'll try to make a long story short;
We (me and Marthe) have no car, we don't know anyone with a car available to take us, the bus from the airport is € 55 (NOK 500) per head (round-trip), and we did not manage to assign for the CERN ski club. So we desided to rent a car, which would be only CHF 70 (NOK 450), then divided by 2, plus gas, for a total of 24 hours.
When arriving to the airport, they have no car for us, we are not on their list, and it was never reported that we were coming to get a car, etc. So we have to turn back, with the bus... And, as I have now learned the hard way, the bus routes to St. Genis is very limited. On saturdays its only every 1h 20min. Yes, during ~3 hours there will only be 2 buses.
So we can wait in the freezing cold for 1 hour for the bus or start walking, and, in both cases miss the dinner that's being prepared back in my new flat, or... we hitchhike.Both me and Marthe is sceptical about this as we have never done it before, and, well..., you never know. But since the bus transport here is the way it is, it's a rather common thing to do.
The 5th car picks us up, a french speaking guy, hardly knows a word english. Although we do manage to communicate that we would like to go skiing the day after, and he suggests the Crozet, because it's only 5 km away from where I now live.
So, safely back in my apartment, we start to discuss what to do. At the end of the great dinner my flatmates have prepeared, we end up talking to Cesar (spelt correctly?) who 1) would like to go skiing (or snowboarding in his case) and 2) have a car!
We got a lovely weather; + 7 degrees (C), no wind and sun... =D
Below are some pictures from the first ski trip this year:
The view of the Alps from Crozet (above the constant level of skyes covering Genève).
All the participants, f.l. Marthe, 3 portugese guys and Cesar (also potugese).
The 'not-so-easy-to-recognize' Anita. (Takk til mamma og pappa, lua er kjempegod!)
We (me and Marthe) have no car, we don't know anyone with a car available to take us, the bus from the airport is € 55 (NOK 500) per head (round-trip), and we did not manage to assign for the CERN ski club. So we desided to rent a car, which would be only CHF 70 (NOK 450), then divided by 2, plus gas, for a total of 24 hours.
When arriving to the airport, they have no car for us, we are not on their list, and it was never reported that we were coming to get a car, etc. So we have to turn back, with the bus... And, as I have now learned the hard way, the bus routes to St. Genis is very limited. On saturdays its only every 1h 20min. Yes, during ~3 hours there will only be 2 buses.
So we can wait in the freezing cold for 1 hour for the bus or start walking, and, in both cases miss the dinner that's being prepared back in my new flat, or... we hitchhike.Both me and Marthe is sceptical about this as we have never done it before, and, well..., you never know. But since the bus transport here is the way it is, it's a rather common thing to do.
The 5th car picks us up, a french speaking guy, hardly knows a word english. Although we do manage to communicate that we would like to go skiing the day after, and he suggests the Crozet, because it's only 5 km away from where I now live.
So, safely back in my apartment, we start to discuss what to do. At the end of the great dinner my flatmates have prepeared, we end up talking to Cesar (spelt correctly?) who 1) would like to go skiing (or snowboarding in his case) and 2) have a car!
We got a lovely weather; + 7 degrees (C), no wind and sun... =D
Below are some pictures from the first ski trip this year:
The view of the Alps from Crozet (above the constant level of skyes covering Genève).
All the participants, f.l. Marthe, 3 portugese guys and Cesar (also potugese).
The 'not-so-easy-to-recognize' Anita. (Takk til mamma og pappa, lua er kjempegod!)Finding a place to live -- part 3 of 3
Finally, I have internet up and running again, and I can let you all know about my "end-of the-rainbow" finding;
The entrance, and where I keep my clothes (please notice the nice wooden floor).
The livingroom.
The INDUCTION oven, really great!
One of the bathrooms.
The entrance, and where I keep my clothes (please notice the nice wooden floor).
The livingroom.
The INDUCTION oven, really great!
One of the bathrooms.I am unpacked and again feeling that I have a home to go to (not just a borrowed room, which is more like a hotel room). ;)
January 10, 2009
MEMO håndboka
(Sorry, this one is in norwegian only)
Nå har jeg begynt å lese MEMO håndboka av Oddbjørn By. Jeg hadde vel aldri trodd at jeg skulle lese en bok med undertittel "Den enkleste veien til bedre eksamen" -- hvordan kan man tro at sånne teknikker liksom skal funke, og det funker nok uansett ikke for meg!, men etter å ha deltatt på kurs med forfatteren ble jeg fasinert. En fasinasjon som gjerne alltid har vært til stede, mye takket være en mor som husker alle kort som går i et kortspill. I løpet av 10 min hadde Oddbjørn lært oss en metode for å huske de 10 største landene i verden (etter areal), i rekkefølge.
Du tenker gjerne at det skulle alltids du og klart å gjøre, men ville du virkelig klare i hvert fall 8 av 10 etter 10 min? Og i tillegg klart å si alle landene i riktig rekkefølge baklengs? Så umiddelbart? Og like mange igjen dagen etter, og dagen etter det, og til og med en uke seinere? -- uten å tjuvtrene/repetere i mellomtiden? Det gjorde og gjør fremdeles (nå med noe et par runder med repitisjon) både jeg og Tor Arne med denne teknikken (som er veldig enkel). Og jeg lærte rekka, og teknikk, videre til Ann Therese rett før jul. Vet ikke om hun har hatt noe repitisjon, men hun fikk den i hvert fall til ved første forsøk etter å ha hørt gjennom lista et fåtalls ganger (max 3-4).
Det rare er at like etter lærte han oss hvordan vi kan klare å huske landene i Sør-Amerika med hovedstad (som er noe vanskeligere, det synes hvertfall jeg som ikke nødvendigvis hadde hørt om alle disse landene før) -- og i tillegg få med riktig plassering på kartet, og jeg tror jeg husker de fleste enda. Dessverre kommer man aldri helt unna repitisjon hvis man vil huske noe veeeldig lenge.
Ellers kan dere som har norsk IP-adresse (dvs. sitter på en PC knyttet til norsk nettverk) gå inn på nrk.no og leite dere frem til 4-5 episoder av Schrödingers katt som gikk i høst (fritt tilgjengelig å se på fra nettstedet) hvor Oddbjørn lærer ulike folk de utoligste ting; f.eks. er det en som er ekstremt dårlig med navn, som får i oppgave som toastmaster å lære alle de 50 gjestenes navn og hobby, samt gjenkjenne personen. (dere må dessverre se episodene for å finne hvordan det går med ham). Her får dere også et kjapt innblikk i noen av metodene.
Oddbjørn klarte også å lære en blondine og en frisør (ikke nødvendigvis et politisk korrekt valg av forsøkskaniner) 1005 desimaler av pi, i løpet av 10 timer. Før dette var rekorden for kvinner bare 700 desimaler ;) -- og for menn: 83 431. Så bare sett i gang medsøstre, verdensrekorden er ikke langt unna!
Så for alle dere som har lyst å brilijere på eksamen, quiz, som toastmaster, foredragsholder, underviser, lærer (mange navn i mange klasser), så kan jeg på det aller varmeste anbefale Oddbjørn Bys MEMO teknikk. Bøkene er bra, men kursene er enda bedre -- man får med godt med underholdning på kjøpet! se www.oby.no (begge bøkene finner også på dansk og svensk, samt norsk lydbok)
Nå har jeg begynt å lese MEMO håndboka av Oddbjørn By. Jeg hadde vel aldri trodd at jeg skulle lese en bok med undertittel "Den enkleste veien til bedre eksamen" -- hvordan kan man tro at sånne teknikker liksom skal funke, og det funker nok uansett ikke for meg!, men etter å ha deltatt på kurs med forfatteren ble jeg fasinert. En fasinasjon som gjerne alltid har vært til stede, mye takket være en mor som husker alle kort som går i et kortspill. I løpet av 10 min hadde Oddbjørn lært oss en metode for å huske de 10 største landene i verden (etter areal), i rekkefølge.Du tenker gjerne at det skulle alltids du og klart å gjøre, men ville du virkelig klare i hvert fall 8 av 10 etter 10 min? Og i tillegg klart å si alle landene i riktig rekkefølge baklengs? Så umiddelbart? Og like mange igjen dagen etter, og dagen etter det, og til og med en uke seinere? -- uten å tjuvtrene/repetere i mellomtiden? Det gjorde og gjør fremdeles (nå med noe et par runder med repitisjon) både jeg og Tor Arne med denne teknikken (som er veldig enkel). Og jeg lærte rekka, og teknikk, videre til Ann Therese rett før jul. Vet ikke om hun har hatt noe repitisjon, men hun fikk den i hvert fall til ved første forsøk etter å ha hørt gjennom lista et fåtalls ganger (max 3-4).
Det rare er at like etter lærte han oss hvordan vi kan klare å huske landene i Sør-Amerika med hovedstad (som er noe vanskeligere, det synes hvertfall jeg som ikke nødvendigvis hadde hørt om alle disse landene før) -- og i tillegg få med riktig plassering på kartet, og jeg tror jeg husker de fleste enda. Dessverre kommer man aldri helt unna repitisjon hvis man vil huske noe veeeldig lenge.
Ellers kan dere som har norsk IP-adresse (dvs. sitter på en PC knyttet til norsk nettverk) gå inn på nrk.no og leite dere frem til 4-5 episoder av Schrödingers katt som gikk i høst (fritt tilgjengelig å se på fra nettstedet) hvor Oddbjørn lærer ulike folk de utoligste ting; f.eks. er det en som er ekstremt dårlig med navn, som får i oppgave som toastmaster å lære alle de 50 gjestenes navn og hobby, samt gjenkjenne personen. (dere må dessverre se episodene for å finne hvordan det går med ham). Her får dere også et kjapt innblikk i noen av metodene.
Oddbjørn klarte også å lære en blondine og en frisør (ikke nødvendigvis et politisk korrekt valg av forsøkskaniner) 1005 desimaler av pi, i løpet av 10 timer. Før dette var rekorden for kvinner bare 700 desimaler ;) -- og for menn: 83 431. Så bare sett i gang medsøstre, verdensrekorden er ikke langt unna!
Så for alle dere som har lyst å brilijere på eksamen, quiz, som toastmaster, foredragsholder, underviser, lærer (mange navn i mange klasser), så kan jeg på det aller varmeste anbefale Oddbjørn Bys MEMO teknikk. Bøkene er bra, men kursene er enda bedre -- man får med godt med underholdning på kjøpet! se www.oby.no (begge bøkene finner også på dansk og svensk, samt norsk lydbok)January 09, 2009
Finding a place to live -- part 2
Then I hear that a friend of my office mate migth have an available room in the apartment he lives in. However, this is on the French side (not exactly what I was hoping for), but why not, I could always have a look. At least this is in a shared apartment with other students.
So yesterday evening, going straigth from work to a salsa clas (with a level way above my head) and then home, hungry enough to eat a horse, taking a quick shower before arriving at this appartment for a dinner (thank you all for the food and wine) and to have a look around, I realize I must have found the gold pot at the end of the rainbow!
For you to really understand this, let me take you through a journey;
The room I live in for the moment, I am only borrowing from the italian Sandro, who is travelling for a longer while. He'll be back next week, which is why I have to find something before then, or else it's off to the hostel for me.
As sick and tired as I am from all the back and forth with the apartment search, I am getting more or less ready for staying where I am (there will be a girl leaving this place at the end of february). Here are some photos from this place, please note: in building no. 7.
The living room
The kitchen
A piece of worn out floor
One of the bathrooms
The room I'm borrowing (sub-sub-letting)
The rest of my borrowed room and me
So the apatment I had a look at last night is in building 12, i.e. in the same street. In the picture below you can only just see number 7 to the front right and number 12 to the back left. From the outside they look entirely the same.
- However, they are everything else than alike. The numbers of rooms and placement of kitchen and livingroom is quite similar but the rest is not even comparable!
Stay tuned for part 3; and you'll understand the rainbow comment about the appartment in number 12, which I just love already (I'll be moving in tomorrow!)
So yesterday evening, going straigth from work to a salsa clas (with a level way above my head) and then home, hungry enough to eat a horse, taking a quick shower before arriving at this appartment for a dinner (thank you all for the food and wine) and to have a look around, I realize I must have found the gold pot at the end of the rainbow!
For you to really understand this, let me take you through a journey;
The room I live in for the moment, I am only borrowing from the italian Sandro, who is travelling for a longer while. He'll be back next week, which is why I have to find something before then, or else it's off to the hostel for me.
As sick and tired as I am from all the back and forth with the apartment search, I am getting more or less ready for staying where I am (there will be a girl leaving this place at the end of february). Here are some photos from this place, please note: in building no. 7.
The living room
The kitchen
A piece of worn out floor
One of the bathrooms
The room I'm borrowing (sub-sub-letting)
The rest of my borrowed room and meSo the apatment I had a look at last night is in building 12, i.e. in the same street. In the picture below you can only just see number 7 to the front right and number 12 to the back left. From the outside they look entirely the same.
- However, they are everything else than alike. The numbers of rooms and placement of kitchen and livingroom is quite similar but the rest is not even comparable!Stay tuned for part 3; and you'll understand the rainbow comment about the appartment in number 12, which I just love already (I'll be moving in tomorrow!)
Finding a place to live
To find an apartment is really difficullt in Geneva. The first thing you should know is that 80% of all apartments is owned by big companies, e.g. insurance companies, banks etc. due to their heavy investment in real estate. And of course they have their agencies renting out the apartment for them. So you would go the these agencies (meglere på godt norsk, de samme som du vil gå til for å kjøpe hus) to apply for an appartment. Yes -- apply! With a proper application, and somethimes also including your CV.
A first filtering is performed by the agency, basically remowing most of those not having swiss nationality. They'll have a look at your police records, payment records, work stability, your family situation etc. Then the last selection is of course made by the owner or their representative.
As you can know understand, this is a troublesome process, which is why I was only hoping to find a subletted room, i.e. a room I could rent from someone who had already come through this needle eye. Well, even that's hard. I got plenty of responses located about 1 hour drive from CERN, and also some downtown Geneva living on (or is it with) a family... But this things REALLY depent on the family/the people already living there.
After looking at 5-6 different rooms, and a 150 e-mails later (half in French) I'm now so sick of looking for an apartment/room. This is the only thing I have been doing outside working hours, all week (except for talking with Tor Arne at skype). None of the appartments were tempting.
Exhausted...
A first filtering is performed by the agency, basically remowing most of those not having swiss nationality. They'll have a look at your police records, payment records, work stability, your family situation etc. Then the last selection is of course made by the owner or their representative.
As you can know understand, this is a troublesome process, which is why I was only hoping to find a subletted room, i.e. a room I could rent from someone who had already come through this needle eye. Well, even that's hard. I got plenty of responses located about 1 hour drive from CERN, and also some downtown Geneva living on (or is it with) a family... But this things REALLY depent on the family/the people already living there.
After looking at 5-6 different rooms, and a 150 e-mails later (half in French) I'm now so sick of looking for an apartment/room. This is the only thing I have been doing outside working hours, all week (except for talking with Tor Arne at skype). None of the appartments were tempting.
Exhausted...
January 06, 2009
Route planners
Here in Genève, we have a very practical website (www.tpg.ch) for finding the best means of public transport from A to B. You simply type in your stops or adresses, the time you want to arrive or departure, and like magic some various suggestions comes up.
When Tor Arne left Genève on sunday, he needed to be at the airport at 9h30. With this input to this genious website, it suggested (see pic.) to leave at 00h17, and spend a total of 5h 45min travel for a trip that actually takes less than 30 min. In other words, it suggested to spend the night at a busstop at the half way there...
When Tor Arne left Genève on sunday, he needed to be at the airport at 9h30. With this input to this genious website, it suggested (see pic.) to leave at 00h17, and spend a total of 5h 45min travel for a trip that actually takes less than 30 min. In other words, it suggested to spend the night at a busstop at the half way there...
Snow in Trondheim
A heavy snowfall in Trondheim during the holidays, approx. 40 cm. Too bad I'm not there to experience it! Pictures like these (taken by Tor Arne) makes me want to go out and play in the snow...
January 03, 2009
Genève vs. Geneva
Did you ever find it confusing when the name of cities and countries change with the language? Well, I do. And for Swiss cities this is even more pronounced, as Switzerland has 4 official languages (German, French, Italian and Romansh). Due to this, all official information, posters, food ingredients, etc. is stated in in all the 3 first of these 4 languages.
And the city of Geneva (Eng.) has of course a different name in each language; as copied from wikipedia "The name Geneva is probably of Celtic origin; the city was mentioned in Latin texts with the spelling Genava. The name takes various forms in modern languages. French: Genève, German: Genf Italian: Ginevra, and Romansh: Genevra."
Well these might not be all that confusing, a worse example is the name of Germany in different european languages (ex: Tyskland, Allemagne, Deutschland, Германия, Njemačke, Německa, Duitsland, Saksasta, Germania, Германии, Alemania, Niemiec, Alemanha...) (http://www.howtosayin.com/Ich+komme+aus+Deutschland.html)
And the city of Geneva (Eng.) has of course a different name in each language; as copied from wikipedia "The name Geneva is probably of Celtic origin; the city was mentioned in Latin texts with the spelling Genava. The name takes various forms in modern languages. French: Genève, German: Genf Italian: Ginevra, and Romansh: Genevra."
Well these might not be all that confusing, a worse example is the name of Germany in different european languages (ex: Tyskland, Allemagne, Deutschland, Германия, Njemačke, Německa, Duitsland, Saksasta, Germania, Германии, Alemania, Niemiec, Alemanha...) (http://www.howtosayin.com/Ich+komme+aus+Deutschland.html)
January 01, 2009
Catalonian christmas/new years eve
Me and Tor Arne togheter with 6 other people (3 spanish and 3 german) celebrated new years eve together, including various christmas and new year traditions. We had cheese fondue for dinner, and the dessert was brought to us by Tió (see below).
From the left: Anna, Robert, Tor Arne and Utah.
From the left: Tor Arne, Utah, me, Jörg, Marina, Daniel and Anna.
We had Tió, the log (see picture), who had been fed since December 8. In order for him to provide us with presents, we sing him a song which goes like this (english translation in brackets)
Caga tió, (shit Tió)
caga turrones (shit turrons (a type of chocolate candy))
si no vols cagar (if you don't shit properly)
et donaré un cop de bastó (I'll hit you with the stick)
(http://melisand.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/tio-de-nadal/)
Then we hit the poor guy... And out from under his blanket came some chocolate.
Everybody grabbing the stick preparing to hit Tió...
Now, midnight is getting nearer, so we prepare the grapes... Everybody gets 12 grapes, and from the stroke of midnight, one grape must be eaten at each of the twelve rings from the bell. If you manage all twelve you're supposed have good fortune in the following year. (A bit of chewing was demanded before we could all yell "Happy new year!!")
From the left: Anna, Robert, Tor Arne and Utah.
From the left: Tor Arne, Utah, me, Jörg, Marina, Daniel and Anna.
We had Tió, the log (see picture), who had been fed since December 8. In order for him to provide us with presents, we sing him a song which goes like this (english translation in brackets)
Caga tió, (shit Tió)
caga turrones (shit turrons (a type of chocolate candy))
si no vols cagar (if you don't shit properly)
et donaré un cop de bastó (I'll hit you with the stick)
(http://melisand.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/tio-de-nadal/)
Then we hit the poor guy... And out from under his blanket came some chocolate.
Everybody grabbing the stick preparing to hit Tió...
Now, midnight is getting nearer, so we prepare the grapes... Everybody gets 12 grapes, and from the stroke of midnight, one grape must be eaten at each of the twelve rings from the bell. If you manage all twelve you're supposed have good fortune in the following year. (A bit of chewing was demanded before we could all yell "Happy new year!!")
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