The new adventure of Hamza

The Hamza that most of my friends have heard of now, showed up tonight. He had barely been in the flat for five minutes until he had invited himself to look at his old room, which is now occupied by a very nice girl. Oh, Hamza! When Dee came up after his Senior Residents meeting we took the party into the kitchen where we were going over old times. And Dee of course had to bring up the matter about his body, because Hamza was always trying for a six-pack. During the exams he disposed of his diet and basically went for all the things he was always preaching about being bad for you. And then the conversation changed into the discussion of bodyhair. Joking that Hamza had been shaving his arms, Hamza blurted out that it was wax. Okay, laugh as much as you like, nothing is going to be more hilarious than the why. He has been posing for photos for gay magazines, not that they aren't legitimate things in themselves, but for those who know Hamza, they find that incredibly funny. What? This crazy guy askes with a feigned innocence. This guy who is having a difficult time keeping a friend down since he overdosed on almonds.
I really must admit it now, that I really did miss him.

Come rain, come shine ...

I still have to shop for groceries. And today it was raining, that is, until I came home then the sun started to shine, but only for thirty minutes or so. And I finally phoned Laura today, I'm not that much for phones so I had been putting it off, hoping she would contact me through e-mail, but hey, it wasn't so bad. And I went to her appartment, the first time I have been in a scottish home, and it was so nice. I especially liked the window, I love windows. And it was so nice and cosy and it was incredibly fun to meet her again, so much to talk about. And then I came home to have my diner, but .... big problem. The oven was taken so now I am taking it easy for a few moments, but I have to tell you about the taxi driver who drove me here from Lauras. I asked me shortly after I had gotten into his cab where I was from: "Iceland" I answered, and then he said "Égelskaþig" and it basically took me a minute to figure out what he had said. He had been in Iceland 30 years ago and still remembered that sentence, Ég elska þig, I found that amazing. And he kept talking to me and saying stuff in Icelandic inbetween and hearing a scottish person talking to you and throwing icelandic words in between is amazing and fun to listen to. Klúbburinn, Valur, Akranes, he had been playing football there and he and his buddies were still remembering being there.
Tomorrow is a holliday here, but no one seems to know why. That seems to happen a lot here, but hey, that means that I won't start school until tuesday. Fine by me!

Cellular

Fun day today, I helped my friend Árdísi to buy a computer. Yes, I am so proud of me, helping another Icelander to spend money, like they need any help when it comes to shopping in Glasgow. Grins! And if I do say so myself, I think she got an o.k. deal as well, so good for her. I also showed her Silverscreen the store that only has DVD's and oh my god, she is as bad as I am. I was telling her that I liked this DVD and she just "why don't u just buy it, then!" and there u have it, everything in Glasgow is justifiable buy for an Icelander; "it' only costs ₤6.99." And we are both trying to save money not spend it, hehehehe.
Because we were both in sort of a cinema-go mood we went to UGC to see what was on offer, and decided to go see the movie Cellular, which actually turned out to be a good movie, well ok, mediocre but still watchable and in some instances it was really nerve-wracking as well as incredibly dramatic and corny. But still a very good movie.

Enrollment

I went to Uni just before ten o'clock this morning for enrollment for the courses I'll be taking this year. My first enrollment session was at ten for History, then I had one for one o'clock for Gaelic and at last at four o'clock for Celtic Civilisation. So I basically spent the whole day in school, but mainly doing nothing. I met up with my friend Claire just before twelve o'clock, she was enrolling for another history class but we will be together in Gaelic and Celtic Civ., then at two we met Joanne, who is going to be with us in Celtic. So the three friends from last year were finally united. We went for a late lunch at Rubyiat which serves really good food at remarkably low price, well it is for an Icelander, where else could you get a 60oz burger with chips, bacon and cheese and then coke for about 600 kr, not many places serve that back home unless you count McDonalds but I don't take that to be a burgerjoint. It's more like rubberjunk.
And another thing you usually wouldn't see on a Wednesday around three o'clock is that, me and Claire went to Jim's Bar to wait for Joanne, we saw a young girl really out of her mind, dead drunk. And that is because the freshers week is just about to finish and school is starting and the guys and girls are basically testing the waters since they don't have their parents hanging over them now. But this was really sad.
I am working on getting more photos up on the net again, but I am soooo lazy right now, plus I haven't been feeling the best but it will happen sometimes in the foreseeable future.

A nice surprise

I got a very nice surprise today around five-ish. I got a phone call, from who I thought would be Laura welcoming me back to Glasgow - but no it wasn't. It was Árdís, my Icelandic friend from last year here in Glasgow. Ok, it was nice to meet her again and all but there was more surprise for me to come. I had kept a few things over the summer for her and of course assumed that she would be coming to collect her things and go back to the appartment she would be leasing with a friend. But no, only one was right, she was coming to collect her things but we were only carrying it, basically, across the lawn. She is now living in Block 9 almost directly across from me who am in Block 6, so I have an Icelandic friend on campus now. Isn't that sweet. So I helped move her across the yard and then we had pizza and watched some television, and then it's enrollment tomorrow, fun, fun, fun. Although this year, we won't be taking any courses together. But I will have my friend Claire with me in Gaelic and Celtic Civilisation.

More lousy weather ... but a nice day

Hey, the bossy Icelander had her way. I get to keep my room, so I don't have to move. And I went shopping what's better than that. Although I didn't buy much. But I finally did some grocery shopping so I won't starve completely.
Ohh, and there is this really cool JUST dvd shop in Buchanan Galleries just opened, and it is sooo cool.
I went to see my Advisor of Studies today and I did what I didn't want to do. I signed up for two more history courses, jaaaaaaaa. Why? Because I couldn't decide what else I wanted to do, because sadly as much as I want to learn stuff I really don't like the reading bit, and exam bit and essay bit and that stuff. I really wished I could just take the two courses in Gaelic and Celtic I am signed up for but no you have to take three.
But damn, the weather, you should see this, it is horrible. I close the drapes so I won't have to look at it. Okay, closing the drapes so I'll write more later.
Hehehehe, you can really see how much is going on with me now, I am always writing something on my website because I have nothing else to do. Maybe I should cry!

Lousy weather

The weather yesterday was horrible and is expected to get worse. Although I have recieved a little respite from it now so I could open my window. I came home yesterday from shopping and I turned the heater on full blast and I even slept with my socks on. No wonder Dee keeps making fun of me, of what kind of Icelander I am if I am so cold here. But he can't say much, since he was freezing yesterday as well when I met him, hehehehe.
I will be meeting my adviser of studies today and then we will see what I will be studying this year. I really hope I won't have to do any more general history. I know my history and I really don't want to spend my time on more history, I want to learn something fun, something interesting and something I wouldn't probably get to learn back home. So we will see.
I am hoping that I will be getting news soon about me room. By what Dee told me yesterday I am hopeful but you really can't tell until you hear from someone high ranking in the housing accommodation thingy. Beaurocracy, I really loath it.

I made it ...

to Glasgow that is! And boy, it is raining cats and dogs here, of the big variety. For the time being I am in my room, and Dee thinks there is a chance that I will get to keep my room. If I wasn't brimming over with sarcasm here I would shout hooorray. But it will all come clear in the morning, I hope, that is if anyone can be bothered to do something else but stare stupidly at you.
Well, on to more enjoyable stuff. I think, and recomend that every one at least once travel in Buisness Class, it's sweet. You really feel loved then. The most fun thing about flying in buisness class in the morning, is the menu for breakfast, that offers three different kinds of omlettes, hehehehe.
Ahhhh, I didn't want to move, but I did and got my sorry ass up to my room in QMR and finally met Dee there when he woke up. We went out and bought some chicken for lunch and then I went into town to do a little shopping. Ooooh, it is dangerous to let an Icelander loose in Glasgow I tell you.
Right now I am just lazy-ing away at my room, watching bad TV and wishing I knew what to do for dinner.

To the Queen and back again!

Aggravation! That's the word for it. I have been talking to the Management(I doubt there is any) at the QMR for the past week. They just shrugged all responsibility off of their shoulders and said they couldn't do anything, that I had to talk to these guys higher above them or such sh#$%, right : So I talked to them, guess what they said. "Thank you for your email I will have to conntact the Management at QMR to get comment from them. I shall be in touch with you soon". You can guess when I get to hear from them, on MONDAY, right, that is if they answer me at all. This tells me what I have been telling everyone around me for the past year and a half. The first person you talk to about a problem sends you on a wild goose chase all the way to the Queen of England just so she can tell you that the first person you talked to is the person to help you. And when you crawl back to the first person, angry and really really pi"##$$ off they finally do something for you. Although it is sometimes not what you wanted to hear.
So a matter that has taken me a week to get to the bottom off before I went to Glasgow won't slove until I get there. I swear ÞESSIR ANDSKOTAR ERU AÐ GERA MIG VITLAUSA!

A short story

Ok, here it is. Scottish people aggravate me, well, really only Scottish beaurocrats. So please don't hate me. But it is true, you could go to the moon to please some people there and they only talk to you when you have talked to someone else who says the other person is going to help you. You feel like a ping-pong ball, with the headache and everything that followes being tossed back and forth between to hardheaded people. Why can't they just work together to keep everyone happy. And why do I always have to be one of those that get caught between them. And these are supposed to be organisations working for the same thing. The Accommodation Office and Sanctuary Housing in Glasgow. They are trying to make my life living hell. Why can't I just stay in my old room with all my junk around me and be happy and start monday off with seeing my teacher. Ahhhhh, I am going to kick someone soon. No, I have to start working on a big mess created by others, to see if I will have any place at all, when this is through. So please pray for me or else I will pop a vein soon.

Grapevine

www. Grapewine.is. This is truly a spectacular newspaper, that you can also access on the internet. It is distrubted free in Iceland but since I will be going to Scotland soon enough it is nice to know that I can still read it from afar. The writers for the paper are intellingent and witty (not that common at once) with a magic pen in hand. And the best thing is ... it is all in english, so everyone who has interest in Iceland but doesn't want to brave the icelandic newspapers this is the newspaper/website to look at. The latest edition Issue 6 is one of the best so far, but only because of two very very good and funny articles, titled; There is No Ham in Hamburger and The Politness of Icelanders. Check this out!

LoonyElín Back in action - I got bugged

Hey there, my fellows on the web. I got bugged so my website was a bit down in the dumps the last week. Am starting again now, some of the updates are missing but will be added again soon. There has so much been going on that I hardly know where to start.
My grandmother was 85 last friday, thank you, thank you, and she took us on Saturday to a very very nice resturant at Hotel Geysir í Haukadal. And yes, if you know your geology you know what geysir stands for = hot springs. It was wonderful, and the weather couldn't have been better reached almost 30°c where we were. I will post some photos from the trip later.
But then tragedy struck, yess, my faithful tv for 10 years died. And of course I couldn't survive more than a day and a half before I was going crazy so my mother, my brother and I went shopping for one on monday, and now I am the proud owner of a brand new Phillips flat-screen tv. Nice one eh!

Multi*lingual*ism

Is it possible to be too multilingual. I am afraid so, everytime I fling a sentence at my friends they never know what it is or how to take it. Usually you combine a couple of words or prhases from other language you and your friends know, but when you know languages your friends and family don't it complicates things. And most important of all, YOU CAN'T SHOW OFF, because they have no idea if what you are babbling is even correct or makes any sense at all.
My problem is I can speak fluently Icelandic (I should hope) and English (getting there every minute) and then I can read and write in Danish, French and German. I can also understand Norwegian, Spanish. I am currently studying Scottish Gaelic at the University of Glasgow and now my favorite hobby is studying Hindi. My friends Dinesh and Hamza (and wee Raj, have too include him as well), they introduced me to Bollywood movies and I fell head over heels. I know have seven and I love them to pieces.
Oh, and the reason I haven't written in many many days is because I have been so busy I haven't been able to call one minute my own. Hope it will not bee this long until next time.

Back to work

The Verslunarmannahelgin is finally over, which is not a good thing. I really liked sleeping late and it was an added bonus that all the stores were closed as well over the weekend, although some were open on Saturday, but none of them were very interesting. But this meant that I could stay home and not having to go shopping and spend money, and I know those that know me will find this very peculiar indeed, since shopping and I go hand in hand.
I met with my good friends Margrét and Guðbjört on Saturday evening at when we had gotten the latest gossip off our chests we watched a few episodes of "Chewin' the fat" which are very cool scottish sketch shows.
On Sunday I went to my friends Hrafnhildur's house, since we were both showing withdrawl-syndrome from one another having spent a week together in Glasgow and not having seen each other since we got home.
And last but not least, my brother and his family invited us to a BBQ, Monday night, (with his very new Broil-King grill which he is very proud of) and it was D.E.L.I.S.I.O.U.S. !!!! (he got four !'s for it, not just three). Thanks a lot dear bro.

Nothing to do & Verslunarmannahelgin

I brought a book with me to work this morning, in case there was nothing to do.  Well, that is an understatement.  The book in question I had never read before and now I have finished it and I still have at least three hours to kill at work.  I am so bored.  Now for the rest of the day I will be sitting in my chair twiddling my thumbs in hopes that someone might come and disturb my peace of mind. 
Tomorrow is the start of Verslunarmannahelgin, the busiest weekend for travellers of all.  It is a three day weekend and everyone goes out of town and go almost "Woodstock" but with clear Icelandic agenda.  Get drunk and stay drunk for three whole days.  Well, that is an overstatement, some will only stay drunk for two days.  But the weather, at least yesterday and today, has been less than ideal for camping and I am a person who thinks that the human being evolved into a bed for a reason so you will never find me shivering in a tent. No sir.  And so, I am discovering a rather nasty side of myself.  I couldn't care less about the souls now shivering in a tent somewhere on a god-forsaken island (Vestmanneyjar, heheheeh) or any other place in Iceland this week, simply because they find this cool, it probably is but right now I think they are more cold than cool.

Hindi craze

I am freaking out here at work, there is absolutely nothing to do and therefore I took my new cute MP3 player with me filled with Hindi songs from my two favorite movies, Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham (Through smiles and through tears), and Kal Ho Naa Ho (Tomorrow may never come).  And I love it, I am listening to it for the second time this morning, along with doing some work in my gaelic homework for the summer.  Yes, because I have decided to keep on studying Gaelic and I don't want to be a chick with amnesia when  school starts up again in September.
But right now, I am so into Hindi that I have decided that if I ever start learning another language it is going to be Hindi.
Even now I have started to amass a vocabulary in Hindi and could at least tell people that I am "out of my head" (completely crazy) in Hindi.

There and back again

We are back from Glasgow and I have started back at work.  The past week was wonderful, great and amuzing.  We were able to do so much and see so much and shopp soooooo much.  My luggage alone was over 25 kilos, although I didn't even take everything I bought home with me.
We came to Glasgow on Tuesday 20th of July and started shopping.  On Thursday me and Hrabba went to Allison street and browsed through tons of shops looking for materials for a sari.  That task took us many many hours, but it was fun. Even I bought some material although it is not for a sari.
On Friday we took a trip up to Loch Ness and Inverness and although it was fun, it could have been better because, although the bus stopped often enough, it was never at very interesting places and when it did stop in interesting places it was only for a few minutes and never enough time to get something to eat and to just wander around as well. So that was a bit of a let down.
On Saturday we took the train to Edinburgh and took a look at the Castle among other things, and then had both lunch and dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Edinburgh.  There we bought 2 martini glasses but when we were on the train heading home we noticed that one of the glasses was chipped.  So what did we do, we went to Edinburgh again on Sunday, although not until after five, so we did a little more shopping in Glasgow before leaving.  Had dinner at HRC again, very nice food there, I reckomend it.
And then on Monday more shopping, and some last minute shopping and then home to pack for coming home on Tuesday again.
So this was truly a very eventful week for us all, and I have put a link for part of the photos, not all of them are there yet. I have still to upload some of the photos to the internet.

Oh, so much to blogg, so little time

Hi, we are on our way to Edinburgh today, gonna have fun.  It's been crazy here, we have gone all over Scotland.  Went on a trip yesterday all the way up to Inverness and back again, yep, we spent more than 12 hours in a bus (with a couple of stops but they were few, far apart and for a very short time). 
  We have gone to the cinmea twice, first Shrek 2, which is amazing and then Around the World in 80 Days (and because I saw the old one, from 1954 with David Niven, nothing compares, but I managed to watch this one and enjoy it because I just imagined it was a whole different movie not even called the title it is (yeah, I know, I'm a strange one)).  We have taken a lot of pictures and are going to continue today and then soon I hope I will be able to share them with you.
  We have also done a "little" shopping, nothing too much, hehehe!  Gonna do a lot more today and tomorrow and the next day. 
  Well, have to get ready to leave for Edinburgh, will share more later on. Bye for now.

We made it!!!

We are in Glasgow!  Hooray.  But we are sooooo tired after the flight and waking up at four o'clock in the morning (well, me anyway, Hrafnhildur and Gummi never went to bed).  Gummi was working until 2 o'clock in the morning and Hrafnhildur just went to get him right before I picked them up on our way to the airport.
But now we are gathering our strenght and getting ready to head downtown for something to eat.  They got their room and not problem there, and it is actually quite nice.  Which makes me kind of green with envy since it is much larger than mine. :Þ
Fill you in on our shopping excursions later.

See, see, see

I have added photos to my website, and it works brilliantly even if I say so myself.
I know these photos are not the newest I could find, but they were meant to be there. So at long last there they are.
OOOh, this is going to be nice, only a few more hours and then I am off to Glasgow.
It was incredibly hot yesterday, reached 25°c when we were around Gullfoss and Hveragerði (don't worry I will post some picutres from there as well, just be patient).
And on Saturday I dragged my friends Hrabba og Gummi to the cinema, went to see Spiderman 2.  Must say I quite liked it, but I thought they could have skipped a few parts and just started where the first one stopped in one particular scene in the second one, but that's me and the Holliwood buisness.  None of my buisness!