Picture Update!

Only some pictures today, more later! :)
Dean has passed.. we noticed some rain.. :p

Mariachi's playing not far from our apartment.

Daniel has been in the shower! :p

Our Sunroof!
The view from our classroom!

We found this sign at a giant mall in Guanajuato called Mega Comercial

The view from "our" plane!

We live right by the purple building :)

Me by the school kiosk.

Hola! Que tal?

Our alley!

Our school is just behind the university!

Dean passing by!

The computernerd!


The view from our roof!

Dean is coming!!!

A wonderful day in Guanajuato, starting with us getting up really early, throwing ourselves in the shower!

We went to the University of Guanajuato to register with Escuela de Idiomas (NOT Idiotas! :p )
That was a long process... We were told they opened at 08:00, but since we`re beginning to understand the Mexican way, we arrived at 09:00, and had perfect timing because when we got there they were unlocking the door to the office! :) Nobody is in a hurry in Mexico! Wonderful if you're not in a hurry, but terrible if you are!

We had to take a little test so they could place us in the correct Spanish levels, and even though it looks like I'm trying to look at Heidi`s test, I didn't!

Me and Merethe are starting the at level 1, while Heidi who is a Spanish speaking goddess, is starting level 5.. :p
But we`ll kick her ass in Spanish later! (hopefully)

After the test, we had to go to a different office, and fill out some paperwork.. Then go to a copy place to have our passports copied, then take some passport photos for our student Id, and after that.. Go to the bank, pay our Spanish course, and take everything back to the University..
took us around 3,5 hours :p
As I said before.. nobody is in a hurry in Mexico!

It was a nice day, and after some relaxing in our flat me and Merethe went out to look around!

Guanajuato is such a gem! It`s really beautiful everywhere!
We went shopping and bought a blanket and some cleaning products for when our toilet is fixed..
Now we are using the bathroom next to Heidi`s flat until ours is done..

oh! And since everybody is asking us about Hurricane Dean, here is what I know..
We are 2000m above sealevel and just about in the middle of the country, and according to the locals here they never have any real problems with hurricanes.. :) They did get some grape sized hail here a week before we arrived..

Oh well.. Now it`s off to have some food! :D

Finally in Guanajuato, Mexico!

It all started Wednesday, 15. August, early in the morning, we got up, drove to Kristiansand airport, Kjevik and took off for Oslo!
After about an hour we were there,tired and grumpy and of course, Johnny, who we were going to stay with had forgot where to pick us up, so we had to wait about an hour more at Gardermoen, so he could pick us up and drive us to his place! :)

Suddenly "problems" started.. While i was online checking my mail, the guy from our travel agency pm`d me on my msn.. "Looking forward to your trip?"
Then he told me that there had been some complications with our tickets, and if we wanted to travel on Sunday, they would give us Business Class all the way down.. The plane we originally had booked had been "overbooked" and we were suddenly missing one of our seats..
WE WERE NOT HAPPY!
So I told him he HAD to fix that extra seat for us, because we were starting School on monday, and NO way could we travel there on Sunday! FRIDAY WAS OUR BOOKED DEPARTURE!! *grrrr*
This of course, ruined our day, and we were pretty angry with them. They told us they would do everything they could to get the extra seat we needed, but for now, we only had one seat on Friday.. So we had to wait for someone to cancel their seats, so we could get it..

Thankfully, Preben, a friend of mine came to visit, and took us out on a sightseeing of Oslo, so we could think of something else than that stupid travel agency..
Took some nice Tourist pictures, but there was a lot of fog, so not the BEST piccys! :D


After sightseeing, we were treated with some real Oslo-food at Maliks and then went to visit Preben`s cool flat.

It was a long day, so when we went to bed, we crossed our fingers and hoped everything would be alright Thursday..
Johnny woke us up early and we drove him to the airport, he was leaving for Prague, and probably lost his cellphone (again)
Then we got the message we were hoping for!
Everything was ok for Friday morning! He had booked us World Traveler seats instead of normal Economy! We were happy!
They finally had some Sense! (!!)

The rest of the day we were in a good mood! :D We met up with Jessica and her fiancé Ronny and their cute daughter Michelle!
TGI - Friday at Aker Brygge was a nice place to eat!
And Tony (Jessica`s brother) met us there too.



Then came the big day! Preben was kind enough to pick us up at 05.30 in the morning and drove us to the airport!
Then off to Heathrow, London, where we waited for 4 hours.. Heathrow looked like a big supermarket, I think it needs a real upgrade.. We were at a really sucky "restaurant" there, called Garfunkels DON`T GO THERE!


After more waiting, we got on our plane and were like two little kids who just got their favorite present for Christmas!
We had big recliner seats, and tv`s with a big movie library, games, gps and lots more.. !! Weee!!!
The trip was over in 11 hours and we actually didn't get too bored!
We took pictures of the gps as we got closer and closer to Mexico City, and were thrilled!

We arrived in Mexico City, and had to wait almost an hour for our luggage to arrive.. I think this actually set the bar for Mexico as I knew it.. they were throwing on 2-3 bags each time the trucks came, and ours were of course some of the last ones.. *grrr*

We were in a hurry to get to our connecting flight.. and I mean HURRY!! We had to run from one end of the airport to the other, and were totally exhausted when we got there.. Luckily we got on the plane, and met Heidi there too.. (We did`nt see her at the terminal, and thought she hadn't arrived yet.. she was going to show us where we were gonna stay the next few months)
One more hour on the plane, and we had now been travelling for about 24hours straight..


And were tired, exhausted, grumpy and ready for bed.. Didn't notice much around town until the next day.. :D

The next morning we woke up and it was just perfect weather for out looking around town and shopping..

One thing we weren't that prepared for was the height.. We are currently 2000 m above sealevel, and just to carry some bags from one end of the room to the other ends in us having a 5 minute breather.. It`s exhausting to do even the smallest thing.. Hopefully it's only in the beginning, after a week we'll be acclimated :D
Our apartment looked a little saggy when we first took a good glance at it, but after some washing, redecorating, and goodwill we made it livable!



Now we wait until school starts on Monday, then the real spanish learning begins! :)

As you can see on my last post, my timer now has started counting the time we have been away from Norway..
Don`t think we`ll miss it that much the first couple of months.. :)

The clock is ticking!

r>

Not long until we`re leaving now!

Really looking forward to it! Leaving from Kristiansand 2 days before, going to Oslo to Johnny Horve, a good buddy of mine to stay there until our plane leaves for Heathrow, and will have to wait there for about 4 hours.
Then it`s off to an 11,5 hour flight to Mexico City! And when we get there we have to run like hell to get to our plane to Leon, which is just half an hours ride from Guanajuato, where we`ll be staying the next few Months!



As I`ve said a million times before..
REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!
Whooopeeee!

The journey soon begins!

The talk is over.. Now it`s time for action!

I have been waiting a long time for this, and now it`s only 25 days until I`m leaving!

Plans have been made, and now everything is getting closer and closer to our departure date.
Reservations have been made, tickets are booked, new passports ordered and we are ready!
17. August 2007 is when I take off from Kristiansand, Norway and first fly to London, UK then off to Mexico City, Mexico and from there to Leon, which is just about 30 minutes from Guanajuato, where we`ll be living for the next few months

My friend Heidi has been studying there for a while now and has been bragging about this place a long while, and when I finally got my shit together, I had some money left..
I could use the money to buy a new flat, and be bored in Norway.. oooor.. I could just travel the world with it, and make it an adventure I`ll never forget!
Anyway.. My friend has set me and Merethe (my gf) up with an apartment there, so we have a cheap place to live, and both me and Merethe have applied to the Spanish Classes in Universidad de Guanajuato and we were both accepted! Oh joy! :D

So our plan is :

Move to Guanajuato, Mexico
Study Spanish, and maybe learn something..
Enjoy ourselves (this goes without saying)
Make lots of new friends
Check out the tourist sites, and the not so touristy sites..
(not get robbed)
Scubadive as much as possible
Meet up with some of my Norwegian friends near Cancun around Christmas for a few weeks.

Travel to Jamaica

Jah man!

Travel to Cuba
Got tips?

















Travel to Usa (maybe)




The good thing is we have at least 7.5 months before our ticket runs out, and even better, we have a good budget, so if we play our "cards" right we`ll be able to stay much longer!

So here is the million Peso question..
Do YOU know of any places we should visit while in Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba or the states?
Please, pretty please, with sugar on top..

Tell us? mail or comment! :D

We`ll be posting pictures both here and on facebook for those of you who know us! :)



Here is some information on the different places we`re going!
Will be updating this as time goes by :)

(Thank you Wikipedia)

Guanajuato was founded as a town in 1554

and received the designation as a city in 1741. It is located in one of the richest silver mining areas of Mexico, and is well known for its wealth of fine colonial era Spanish architecture.

The name "Guanajuato" comes from the Tarascan (P'urhépecha) word, "Quanax-juato", which means "place of frogs".

The city was originally built over the Guanajuato River, which flowed through tunnels underneath the city. However, after years of raising buildings to accommodate repeated flooding, in the mid-twentieth century, engineers built a dam and redirected the river into underground caverns. The tunnels were lit and paved with cobblestones for automobile traffic, and this underground road network carries the majority of cars driving through the city today. It is one of the most noticeable features of the city.

Cleanliness at Sørlandet Sykehus, Kristiansand?!

I was at my city`s hospital today, to take some blood samples..
When I had some time to spare, I went to the internet "cafè" our hospital supplies for the patients, and I was Horrified!

The Keyboard was full of filth, leftovers, hair, fat, and propably a whole lot of germs as well.
The Mouse was the same! Really filthy. And just recently the hospital has had a lot of critic because they had unsanitary conditions, making people who were`nt sick, sicker.

Why don`t they think about the one place the patients share? Sick people, using a computer, sharing it with other sick people, and then they are`nt even going to clean the filth up?

It`s incredible!

When am I going to die?