"Graceling": The toughest girls struggle with the simplest things...

It's time I wrote a new post. And what a surprise: another review! What can I say? I love books! I endeavor to post more of them. I know I like to read what others think of a book before I read it myself, so it's about time I returned the favour. Some of my future post may even come in Norwegian. Why? Because I will write the review in the language I read the book. If it's a translation I will have to make judgement call, I guess. ;)

Title: Graceling
Author: Kristin Cashore
Series: 1st book in the Seven Kingdoms Trilogy
Publisher: Harcourt Chlidren's Books
Language: English
Print length: 481 pages
Read in e-book format: 1038 KB

In most of the kingdoms those with one iris of a different colour than the other (heterochromia iridis), also called Graced or Gracelings, are the property of the monarch. They are people of extraordinary abilities, some more useful than others, such as a talent for baking, swordplay, singing or mind reading.  Lady Katsa of the Middluns is Graced with the ability to kill. She is the worst nightmare of any who opposes her. There are no one in the seven kingdoms who can hope to best her in battle. Her social skills, however, could use some work. Katsa struggles with controlling her violent Grace and how her uncle, the King of the Middluns, forces her to use it to his political benefit. Katsa will have to cnfron her cruel bully of an uncle and discover the truth of why the old Prince of Lienid was kidnapped. A journey that leads her to discover new truths about herself and her Grace.

Katsa is one of my favorite characters of all I have ever read. She is tough, straightforward and stubborn. Most importantly: she kicks ass! What intrigued me most about her is that she struggles with the most basic aspects of social interaction. In some ways she reminds me of Dr. Brennan in the TV-series "Bones", except Katsa uses her strength and exceptional fighting skills as a shield in stead of science. The confidence Katsa has in her abilities is impossible not to like. She is unbeatable. She knows it and everybody else knows it, period.

Plenty of the young adult novels I have read have a protagonist writhing in teen angst, indecision and some boy she has a crush on. I am not saying that there is on teen angst in this book, simply that Cashore presents it very differently than other authors. Struggles are important, but some authors dwell far to long on one struggle. It is refreshing to read about a girl who dares to stand by her decisions, and trust the people around her to be true to their character.

Cashore's prose is to the point and packed with action. I can honestly say that there was not any part of the story that I found lacking or boring. Katsa's struggle to be good, her can-do attitude and her explorations into what love means are thrilling and captivating aspects of the plot. The fact that the book does not end on a cliffhanger, even though there are more books to come connected to this one, is a huge plus in my book.

I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading fantasy, but also those who like a strong heroine. However, in my opinion, this book is most suitable for readers of around 15 and up. Simply because I believe you need some maturity to appreciate this book to its fullest.

In a later post I hope to come back to the companion novel "Fire". Very much worth reading as well.
Happy reading!

A book review: Touch of Power

I thought I would try something new: Short theme based posts. I say short, but time will tell...

Title: Touch of Power
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Series: 1st book in the Healer series
Pages: 400
Language: English

Avry of Kazan is a Healer, which means that by touching people she can absorb their wounds and diseases into herself. However, the healers are blamed for the plague that swept through the land and wiped out six million people. Now healers are being hunted down and executed. After healing a child in the city she stays in, Avry faces the gilliotine, but a band of rouges help her escape in exchange for her help healing a friend, Prince Ryne. They travel across the land toward the Nine Mountains, chased by mercenaries, facing magical danger and are mixed up in the struggle for power that insued after the plague. All the while, Avry will have to decide whether she will heal Ryne, the last man she would ever decide to heal, and sacrifice her own life for peace.

I found this book very entertaning and had a hard time putting it down. Snyder knows how to keep the reader longing for more. It is not one of the most challenging books I have read, but it does not have the sappy, muchy love talk that so many other fantasy books suffer from. The feelings are hidden between the lines, and that is something I can like and it also leaves something to the imagination. Underneath every line is a feeling of curiosity that I cannot help but be affected by and this is what I believe keep me reading.

Avry is a strong, stubborn, intelligent and kind person, many of the qualities I aspire to maintain – and what I love the most about her is her fantastic sense of humor and sarcastic remarks. it is facinationg how she can be so annoying and sharp-tounged and still endear herself with almost everyone she meats. Her traveling companions brings lovely flavours to the story: the kindhearted giant, the hyperactive inexperienced boy, the two sharptounged monkeyes and the guy who you can try to hate, but in the end is too good not to love. I could go on, but I am going to leave you to aquaint yourself with the rest.

This book deserves a six on the dice. It is everyhting a fantasy novel should be and I cannot wait for the next book to come out in 2013 – I will have to console myself with Snyder's other series (Study and Glass).

Looking Forward to a New Year

Happy New Year! The thing about the special dates of the year is that they make me think. Never a good thing... hehe. Time flies by so quickly, even when it doesn't feel that way. Even though I do like this blogging thing, I'm not sure if I'll ever figure out how to do it well. The thing is that when I have something interesting to say/blog about I either forget or I'm too busy. I am willing to make an effort again though, and try to make it interesting.

First, how about some reminiscing? It's been a while now, so I'll try to be brief... right...
I wish I could have published another post before I left the US, but I guess I'll just be able to give a picture in retrospect. Not very accurate, but there you go.

Just over New Year's, last year, my uncle took my aunt, cousin, his friend and me on a boat trip. I can't say I know a lot about boats, let's say I never found my sea legs, but that boat is fancy. With six TVs, sonar system to analyse the sea bottom and plenty of horsepower, that is not empty praise. I was even allowed to seer it for a while and crawl out to the bow stand there with the wind of a seeding boat in my face, kind of Titanic moment - without the romance... The really fun part was seeing all the bird life. I don't think I've seen so many birds at once before, and I don't think I can name even half of them. I'm not very familiar with birds, but I know I saw pelicans, small storks and what I think was a hawk (one of my favourite bird species).

When I arrived back in South Carolina, I was surprised to fin that it was below freezing outside. Luckily I had asked my parents to bring my winter coat when they came to visit for Christmas. We were supposed to start school the next day, but the weather forecast predicted snow, and classes were cancelled. Yup, "cancelled due to hazardous weather". I wasn't sure how to react to that... Here in Norway, we would never cancel classes because of snow - unless it was really, really cold. The snow came... well, we got about two inches of snow. Hazardous? HA! The really funny thing is that classes were cancelled for the next two days as well... Three days of for a couple of inches of snow.

My second semester at Winthrop was actually quite an improvement to the first. I believe I had figured out the ropes, as they say. The fact that I also could make my own schedule played a significant part as well. I was especially happy to take music classes again, though they were simpler than what I was used to from upper secondary school at home. The Americans do love giving multiple-choice tests. The other subjects I chose were also quite interesting: psychology, nutrition and fiction writing.

Advice to future Norwegian exchange students in the US: Choose simple classes and classes you have competence in for the first semester and the more difficult ones for the second. Travelling abroad is absolutely recommended. Do it while you can!

After being ten moths away from home - and not just from home, but from my own country - I have definitely felt the saying "home is where your heart is" in my bones. I made sure to get back before the seventeenth of May - nothing could keep me from home on Norway's national day. I would never let a chance to wear my bunad (Norwegian national costume) pass me by.

Coming back, it almost feels like I never left. Things are pretty much as they used to be. Now that I have been home for over half a year, my year abroad almost seems like a dream. One thing I can say with certainty: it was definitely an experience that I have grown from. I believe I have achieved my goal: improving my English and adapt to a different culture.

I know I said that little had changed when I came home. Truth, with some modifications. I have become a godmother over the few moths I have been back, a very proud one. One of my best friends got a beautiful little boy this summer and I hope he is prepared to be spoiled. A part of me is undeniably jealous of her for having a man and baby, but mostly I could not be happier for her. Seeing that she has the things I want in life, I feel hopeful that it might happen for me as well.

So, here I am hopeful for the future and nervously anticipating what is to come.
May God watch over us and may we listen to His guidance.

The American experience

Well, I think I’m getting better at this, it’s just been a month since my last blog… ehm, yeah… Seems I’m hopeless.

I survived finals! Pew! It was quite a week. That part of the American school I definitely do not like, not that the exam period in Norway is my favourite time of the year, but at least we have more time between the exams. In my opinion, one week of exams is just too little time for tests that count for a majority of my grade and it’s just unfair. Amazingly, I still did well in all my classes, just A and B. I’m not sure how I feel about that, since I don’t feel like I put all the effort I could have into it and I still did good… 

That said I’m closing in on the end of my winter break now. It will be nice to go back to school, but I’m going to miss it here in Florida. I’ve really enjoyed my time here and it’s always nice to see my family here. I only wish I could see them more and really get to know them. I’m not very good with small talk or making conversation and so I have problems with getting to know people and letting them know me. Anyway, I still have another semester and I’ll have a chance to see them again.

Christmas here was really different. It is definitely my first Christmas with +22 degrees Celsius.  For that same reason Christmas really snuck up on me this year, I just didn’t feel ready. I tried playing Christmas songs, went out on Christmas shopping and the Christmas spirit just wouldn’t take hold as it usually does.  However, once Christmas Eve arrived and the smell of cinnamon and eventually pork ribs and finely ground pork as a patty and sausage filled the air, Christmas was finally here. It was really nice to eat the traditional Christmas food from Norway; the only thing missing was the pork rind. Still, I was impressed. It’s always a treat to eat when my aunt Åse cooks. I can only hope to be able to cook as well as her one day. It was a really nice evening. I met my cousin Vibeke for the first time in… well, I don’t really know in how long and it doesn’t really matter. It’s always nice to see someone you haven’t seen in a long time and especially when it’s family. Her daughter Jasmine is just adorable and so energetic. The best thing of all was that my mom, dad and brother came over to visit and spend Christmas with me. It was so nice to see them in real life again. We talk on Skype all the time, but it’s just not the same – it’s better than other ways of communication, but to be able to touch them and hug them felt incredibly good.

Just before my parents and brother went back to Norway, one of my best friends came to visit me here. I guess I haven’t mentioned that I spent Thanksgiving with her family on the other side of Florida. You wouldn’t believe how wonderful it is to see more of the States. Normally, I just stay on campus since I don’t have a car and none of the friends I’ve made have a car either and I don’t like to ask for favours and be an inconvenience to people. Anyway, her family is wonderfully nice people with a very welcoming home. It was really nice that she could come visit me as well here in southwest Florida as well. We went to the movies (twise), visited the Edison and Ford Winter Estates and went shopping a couple of times. Vibeke had a New Year’s party at her house (where we lived and I live now). It was nice to meet my family’s friends and meet other Norwegians. I could have been spared seeing my cousin and her friends drunk, but it’s not the worst I’ve seen. You would think that the 21 year olds would be the drunk ones, but at the end of the evening we were the only sober ones except the kids. Imagine that. I’m so glad I don’t drink ;) All in all New year's was a nice day we even went to the beach. Going to the beach and sunbathing in 26 degrees Celsius on New Yeasr's Eve, can't complain about that!

I can’t say I have any New Year’s resolutions. Don’t see the point, I won’t keep them anyway. I'll take the new year as it comes :)

“Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does.” – Bella’s thoughts, New Moon

WU - Life in the US

It has been a looooooooong time since I wrote last now. I have warned about this and I am sorry for fulfilling my own fears and becoming too caught up in my daily life to even think about blogging. I have decided to make this blog entry more opinionated, the last one sounds like a how-to guide and that is not really my intention with blogging. It is a try and fail experience to blog, so you will just have to forgive my inexperience.

 

I have no idea where to start! Time passes in strange waves... Well, the good news is that I have pretty much gotten used to the way school works around here. Not that I can say that I like it all, but it is not as stressful anymore. Okay, it might have something to do with the fact that I dropped ENGL 203 Major British Authors. Note to anyone who wants to take literature courses abroad: take one at a time (one each semester). They demand a lot of reading for each class and that on top of everything else is a lot. If you choose to have two anyway I can promise you that you will have no life. I have a picture of my stack of books before I dropped the ENGL 203 class:

 

 

Impressing isn't it? I'm glad it's a little smaller now at least. There is always something due in some class around here, whether it's a test, assignment, blog or a quiz. It gets on my nerves and I can't remember the last time I was as tired as I am now. The thing that bug me the most is that we haven't had a real vacation yet. We had something they called Fall Break, but that was just a joke. We had Friday and Monday off, and I have Friday off anyway, so it was just a way to tease us. Now I can't wait for Thanksgiving Break that starts on Wednesday next week. For once I'm getting away from campus! I'm visiting one of my friends in Florida. I can't wait!!! On that note I might take the time to warn others that there is no public transportation here in Rock Hill, SC. And when I say no, I mean that it is nonexistent. No bus, no train, no nothing. If you want to get to the airport, get a cab and pay 60 Dollars, you want to go to the small mall they have here, 20 dollars. This is my greatest frustration. Which is why I got myself the SC driving license and will be getting myself a car sometime in the near future. So be aware! However, it's not all bad at least it keeps me from spending all my money.

 

From all this it seems that I don't like it here at all, doesn't it? Well, I actually do like it despite all this. I like that I can just go down to the cafeteria, slide my ID and eat as much as I want. The food isn't always the best, this is America after all, there are lots of unhealthy options to choose from. Somehow I always manage to leave there full anyway, I just have to use my imagination and pick and choose form different "stations". If I get really tired of the food in the cafeteria I can always go to the student center and use cafe cash  to eat there. Another thing I really like is that it's free to use the gym here. So if you don't use it's your own fault that you're out of shape. They have a climbing wall, pool, running track, cardio equipment, a weight room and a normal gym hall for volley ball, basketball and such. You can basically do whatever you want :) The one thing that really pleases me is that I've actually managed to make a friend. My roommate is a really nice girl form New Hampshire, which I have strangely much in common with. It makes me really happy to have an American friend and that I was this lucky with my roommate.

 

I don't really think there is anything else I have to say right now. If there is anything that I forgot, it is too bad. Next time, I guess. Whenever that will be ;)

WU - moving to South Carolina

Hi y'all!

I'm going to try to get up to speed with what's happened since summer started. You see I've moved from Norway to South Carolina to study at Winthrop University. I want to make the experience a bit less frightening for other Norwegians who want to study in the US and explain how I got here.

 

The hardest part for me is all the waiting - my patience has been throughly tested. I'm the kind of person who wants things done as fast as possible, so that I don't have to make the effort to remember to do something or have to worry about it until it's over. I didn't receive my letter of acceptance form Winthrop until the beginning of June, and when our applications were sent in the middle of  April I think that's too long to wait for an answer. It could have been worse, I know, but I'd expected better. On top of that I had some problems with financial support from the State Educational Loan Fund (Lånekassen). You see, to receive support for the tuition the Loan Fund needs a document that states your name, how much you will have to pay (specifically) and a signature from somebody at Winthrop. And as it turned out, Winthrop does not determine the fee until the middle of July. Luckily, it's possible to receive support for the year itself and send the documentation for the tuition later and receive the support for that when they have approved your documentation.

 

In between all this comes the visa application of course, which was my biggest worry. That is why I went on the web as soon as I got my letter of acceptance and submitted my application. You might want to visit the site beforehand though, as it's a lot of information to digest there. Among other things you will need to submit a picture of yourself. The requirements for this picture are endless so take the time to read it and test it on the website. Yes, you can test the picture without really starting the application process. There's not really much to tell about the interview. You can bring a bag, but it has to be small or you have to be able to fold it. You can bring your phone and other electronical devices, but you can't take them with you into the embassy building. I stressed a lot about this. There's really not much to be afraid of. You just have to be prepared for a lot of waiting.

 

When it comes to communicating with Winthrop over the summer. Be persistent! If you don't receive an answer within a couple of days send a new one and to another person. All the Norwegians had problems reaching Lindsey, who was our assigned contact. On the Winthrop web page under the international center tab there should be a general e-mail address to the international center and then someone will respond. This has been my constant worry over the summer. Will everything work out? One important thing: to get the document that states what the tuition is, you need to ask someone at the international center for it.

 

Generally, they are good at what they do here, but this year they changed the computer system. And like in Norway people + new systems = a lot of waiting and confusion. Let's move on to nicer stuff! When you came here there will be an option to go to Walmart to get stuff for your room. Really fun, especially if you're arriving late. I arrived at 8pm and there was a pick up at 9pm and we got to leave our bags in our room and then we went to Walmart. Imagine walking around in a huge warehouse like store at 11pm, strange feeling. What I regret not doing is reading about the residence hall that I would be living in. I ended up finding out that you have to buy your own toilet paper where I live. So go to the web site and read about it.

 

The classes here are pretty demanding. The fact that everything counts a certain percentage of your grade is stressful to me. Being used to just handing in papers every now and then that won't be graded and leaving it all on the final exam, it takes some time getting used to quizzes and participation in class being graded along with all the tests and hand-ins.

 

Campus is really beautiful, I must say. The only downside, as in all of the US, you can't get anywhere without a car. Luckily, you have the basic needs in walking distance. We even have a Starbucks shop on campus! I'm sure that I'll come back to other aspects of campus life, but this will have to do for now.

 

Later!

Working and reading 'the Vampire Diaries'

Hi!

It's been a while since last time I wrote. I will try to write more often and find something interesting to write about.

I'm working much these days. For those of you who don't know, I work in a coffee shop. My boss called me this morning and told me that the girl who was supposed to work the evening watch had the stomach flu. Since nearly everyone of my coworkers are on holiday now I had to take her watch. Surprisingly, this annoyed me to the point that I almost got mad, and those who knows me knows that it takes a lot to get on my nerves. I can't really explain why I reacted this way, other than I really had been looking forward to having the day off. There is just so little to do at work these days and of course that can be a relief when you are tired, but mostly it just makes you even more tired (or maybe you just take notice of it, since you don't have anything else to do).

 

I came prepared for a quiet day at work for once. I had stopped by a bookstore and bought "The Vampire Diaries" by L. J. Smith. I've watched the show on TV and liked it. A friend of mine have read the books and said they were pretty different from the series, but I took the chance. In my experience 'different' doesn't have to mean 'bad' and can be quite refreshing. I've read three chapters and I must agree with my friend, the book it quite different. My first impression is that I don't like Elena in the book, which is a different experience for me. Most of the books I've read have a main character that I can sympathize with on some plain, but I just can't stand Elena's shallow, self-centered personality. We'll see if she grows on me, but I'm a bit sceptic. It is Stefan that makes me want to know what happens, for once I sympathize most with the guy. That's a new one. It will be interesting to see how I feel when I've finished the book.

 

Since there's not really that many people who know about my blog yet, I guess it doesn't really matter if I'm not that good at blogging just yet.

 

See ya!