Class of 2013: Graduation

I am not graduating until next year, but because I was part of Student Government, I was a volunteer helper at this years graduation. The ceremony was held at Craneway Pavilion in Richmond this year, because the regular place in Nob Hill is under construction. I have to admit, I was skeptical at first because it´s so far, but it turned out to be a really nice place with an amazing view of the city.

With around 3000 family and friends and 500-600 students, there was more than enough to do!:)  I was in charge of keeping parents off stage when they really, really wanted to climb up for a picture of their student. We had yellow tape on the floor and I held out my arms with a glow stick in each hand, and for some reason someone still though they could cross the line? I almost felt like I was a bodyguard at a Justin Bieber concert and not at a commencement:)

The ceremony went pretty smoothly and it turned out to be a great day! Julia held a really good student speech, as she was the president of Student Government. Usually these speeches are very general and not really inspiring, but she really nailed it with a personal touch!

It was great too be able to see my friends graduate, but I also realized that almost all of my friends graduated and will no longer be in school:( so I guess I need to make some new ones when I go back for fall:) I am really excited for next year, when I’ll be up there with my cap&gown and hopefully my honors bands:)

Julia’s student speech

Class of 2013 has graduated!

Julia and Johanna, Honors and all!:)

Class of 2013!

Julia and Professor Michal

Julia and Rana, Honors and all!:)

Julia and Navret, Honors and all:)

A preview of next year? Class of 2014:)

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Oh my god it´s raining!

For about a week now I have been listening to the weather report warning me about the rain. “The rain is coming by the end of the week”, “There is a 20% chance of rain this week”, ” Latest report in, it will for sure rain” and so on. Today it rained for 1 hour and I could walk outside in the “rain” without an umbrella and still not get noticeably wet. It is clear to me that rain to a San Francisco, California resident is a whole other matter than rain to a girl from Bergen, Norway.

I am born and raised in Bergen, Norway and for people who dont know where that is, look here: Bergen map

Bryggen Bergen

Beautiful, I know! The only downside? It rains, A LOT! According to Wikipedia it rains on average 2,250 mm per year, or 88.58 inches! In San Francisco the average is 600.2 mm or 23.63 inches, and usually its always at night. So when its about to rain here in San Francisco, everybody goes crazy! OMG its gonna rain! “Did you hear it´s gonna rain?”

FIY, this is not rain guys: (Notice the people being able to stand outside in the “rain” and not really care)

Rain outside of school, GGU in San Francisco

THIS is rain:

Rain in Bergen driving

 

And THIS is rain! (Torgallmenningen aka Union Square in Bergen on a saturday! Not a single person can walk in this rain!)

Rain in Bergen walking, in my California shoes! #Ruined…

After I came back from my trip to Norway on the 26th of August, it has not rained a single day, not once! That is 46 days with no rain.  To be honest it was kind of nice to have a little drizzle today, but maybe thats just the Bergen in me talking:)

 

How many of those 46 days has it rained in Bergen? According to my mom, around 42… or what do you guys say my fellow “Bergensere” ?

French weekend!

First of all, I have decided to write in english only. Doing the translation thing was just to much;) and this way everybody can understand. This weekend we have had a proper French weekend! The weather has been so good and I almost feel like I have been on vacation for a few days! On friday night Kris and I went to Café de Bastille for dinner!;) The place is French and hidden away in a back alley together with a few other really kozy restaurants. You can sit outside! (Which in SF is almost impossible) or enjoy the inside like we did;)They had lots of delicious real french food and even Cassolet which is the traditional dish of Toulouse, France where I used to live! We had a lovely dinner with good food and great wine! Afterwards we went to Local edition, a kind of new bar in the city. It used to be the old print area for the SF cronichle and it still smells like fresh newspapers in there! The place was really cool and had a real 1920’s era to it.

On saturday we went back to our old neighborhood to pick up Kris’s shirts from the tailor. Kind of nice to see the old neighborhood, but at the same time I am really glad we moved! The new area is so much better;) Later that day I decided to pamper myself so I went to the hairdresser, got a manicure and did some secondhand shopping! I got this really good deal on living social a few weeks ago and no better time than now to use it! I went to John Brody Salon in the Castro, which is really good! I have been there once before and they are always so nice and understand how i want my hair. My hairdresser Anneleice had just come back from a roundtrip around Europe and the first thing she asked me was: Are you scandinavian Hege? Hahaha!;) I had a good time talking to her and got a deep conditioning treatment and a nice haircut at the same time;)

After my workout on Sunday Kris and I continued our french weekend with a lovely lounch at Café de la Presse. The sun was shining, the food was amazing and again I truly felt like I was on vacation in my own city!

The next few weeks is going to be crazy with finals, presentations and projects so I might not be as active, but i´ll try to give you small updates:)

And to all the Norwegians: only 11 days and I am back in Bergen for a few weeks!

Cafe de Bastille!

Local edition!

A weekend on vacation in my new San Francisco neighborhood

Color Run San Francisco and AIDS walk 2012 San Francisco

What a weekend!

On Saturday I ran the Color Run San Francisco! Yes, you read that right, I ran all the way! When I signed up I was told that we were not supposed to run, but rather just throw color and have fun so I didn’t train for the race at all. That might also be why I didn’t think of it as any big deal. Two of the people in our group were properly trained and tends to run half marathons on a regular basis. For some reason I found myself surrounded by real runners and my competitive nature struck. I ended up jogging with them instead of casually walking with my other friends as planned.  It was so much fun with all the color thrown around and the general energy of the race! This is truly a happy/fun run. There were different stations where they threw color on us as we ran by. In addition, we had a separate bag, which everybody opened and threw at the end during the finale party! Afterwards there was a great show on stage and one guy actually came up on stage and proposed to his girlfriend! Really cool! She said yes and of course it was a very romantic thing;)

Ps. most of the pics are taken through a ziplock bag on the phone so the quality is not perfect:)

 

This morning I was ready for the AIDS Walk 2012! When the alarm clock rang at 8:00, I wasn’t a ready, but I was on my way eventually;) The AIDS walk was in Golden Gate Park and we were a team from Golden Gate University who walked together. It was a 10 k and even though it was long with lots and lots of people is was a nice day. When we were finished we had a delicious lunch as a prize;) The AIDS walk raised almost $ 3 million today!

This weekend, in other words, have been very active and now I think your feet should get some rest in the library for a few days. Realized today that before 2 august I have 3 exams, 3 presentations, 4 case studies, and 2 projects! Time to get to work…..

Wow! Raised almost 3$ million for the AIDS cause

 

AIDS walk 2012

 

I totally agree with that saying!